Time Asia — October 10, 2017

‘THE CHARACTERS ARE NEITHER LIBERATED NOR OPPRESSED BY SELLING THEMSELVES.’—NEXT PAGE

TELEVISION

Porn,

prostitutes

and heart

on HBO’s

The Deuce

By Daniel D’Addario

New York the hard way: Pernell Walker, James Franco and Maggie Gyllenhaal in The Deuce

PRESTIGE TELEVISION IS, IN THE

main, notable for its seriousness of pur-

pose and for its grimness. But what’s

most exciting about HBO’s new drama

The Deuce may well be its lightness.

Which isn’t to say the series isn’t

ambitious. The show is set in early-

1970s Times Square and assays the

lives and livelihoods of bartenders,

prostitutes, pimps and cops at a time

when the concept of propriety had long

since fallen away. Given that setup,

The Deucewould have to get a lot of

things right in order to avoid cliché and

keep viewers interested. And it does.

David Simon and George Pelecanos,

frequent collaborators who worked

together on HBO’sThe Wire and

Treme, have conjured up an immersive

world that’s credible because it doesn’t

feel like pure history. Characters on

The Deuce speak with a brisk frankness

that’s often absent elsewhere on TV;

that makes it seem like real life.

The story begins with a pair of

twins, both played by James Franco:

Vincent is “good,” and Frankie is

“bad.” This would be facile if it weren’t

for the fact that the good twin isn’t all

that good. Vincent ditches his wife in

order to immerse himself in making

his business a success. Meanwhile,

Frankie, a gambler, gets tangled up

with the mob but also seems equipped

to deal with it, fluent in the language

of intimidation. (If Franco’s twins are

referenced by the show’s title, it’s only

a secondary meaning; “the Deuce”

is local argot for the seedy stretch of

West 42nd Street.)

Franco’s celebrity can distract from

his talent. But his double performance

PAUL SCHIRALDI—HBO