The Deuce

:

Season 1
  • Network: HBO
  • Series Premiere Date: Sep 10, 2017
Season #: 3, 2, 1
User Score
7.9

Generally favorable reviews- based on 170 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 142 out of 170
  2. Mixed: 12 out of 170
  3. Negative: 16 out of 170
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User Reviews

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  1. Tony1984
    Aug 5, 2018
    4
    The first 3 seasons of The Wire were outstanding. Probably the best TV of the 21st century. Generation Kill was also very good. I tried to like Treme but it was just too uninvolving. I put it down to my indifference to jazz.

    And for me The Deuce is visual jazz. I can appreciate the artistry but I found it tedious. Too miserable and unpleasantly voyeuristic for my taste. Also I found    The first 3 seasons of The Wire were outstanding. Probably the best TV of the 21st century. Generation Kill was also very good. I tried to like Treme but it was just too uninvolving. I put it down to my indifference to jazz.

    And for me The Deuce is visual jazz. I can appreciate the artistry but I found it tedious. Too miserable and unpleasantly voyeuristic for my taste.
    Also I found the two Franco's were distracting. Maggie Gyllenhaal unbelievable. Positive portrayal of pimps repellent. Jarring over explicit sex scenes and vulgarity. No subtly.

    In short banal.
    Last Exit to Brooklyn is in a similar vein just way better execution.    … Expand
  2. Cooper1971
    Oct 17, 2017
    4
    To be honest I really had high hopes for this show. I just find it lacking. Maggie Gyllenhaal is great though, love her. Maybe it will get better, hoping so, but every episode I think something exciting is going to happen....it never does. I find it extremely boring.
  3. mrjohnstrong
    Sep 11, 2017
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Two pimps sit at the Port Authority and pontificate about politics and prostitutes. No, this isn’t the opening line of a bad joke; it’s actually the opening sequence of HBO’s new series The Deuce. We are escorted into this world (pun intended) via the prolific ramblings of a savvy pimp who relates the state of affairs (Nixon era) to the pimping game. Nixon is a pimp, and the nuclear shenanigans of the times…merely Nixon keeping his pimp hand strong. While others may have found this exchange to be profound, dare I say an example of writing at its absolute finest I found it to be absurd and unrealistic. Am I saying that no pimp in the history of pimping could have been up on current affairs – a poised political analyst ready to work the desk at NBC if the whole pandering of female flesh didn’t pan out? Absolutely not, but I am saying that introducing me into this menacing, underbelly of society in such fashion makes me question the authenticity of what I’m about to partake. Am I getting a factually relevant, accurate portrayal of the times? Or an artistic re imagining through the lens of someone who can’t relate to the material they’re presenting? This isn’t a rhetorical question I really asked myself this. And I got my answer later on in the episode when a prostitute compared leasing her body for monetary compensation, to a car salesman selling cars. The common thread you ask? They both are simply doing their jobs. So, a John who ejaculates prematurely is not entitled to another "go" simply because she (the prostitute) didn’t have to work hard. The John paid for a service and he got it. Just as a salesman who sells a car effortlessly, displays the same professionalism as if he had to haggle…pull out every shady sales tactic known to man. How you arrive at your goal is of no consequence, the point is you got there. This took me out of the episode. No, this moment was not real. It was not genuine. It was a plot point, a beat, and a writer showing off. A writer saying, “Hey, the training wheels are off…I’m a big boy. Look what I can do.” But yet again I digress, maybe there is a woman of the night out there somewhere, in a piss-infested (rent by the hour) room delivering eloquent soliloquies in the mirror. All while a preemie sits sheepishly on the bed with both a deflated penis and ego. Maybe there are prostitutes who are lovers of the arts. Who regularly get paid to watch classic films, converse, and dine with their tricks rather than perform sexual acts. This too could happen. Heck, Richard Gere plucked Julia Roberts right off the streets and gave her free range of his finances…anything can happen (side eye). Real. Game of Thrones made me believe in dragons and turn a blind eye to incest. I actually believe The Rock played in the NFL, gets black out drunk and does huge lines of cocaine after watching Ballers. My dog didn’t come charging towards the front door when I arrived home one day and I swore he had departed like The Leftovers. The list goes on and on. Before Boardwalk Empire, before The Wire all the way back to The Corner in 2000. Now The Corner ladies and gentleman...that is real. An Earthy, visceral portrayal of life that feels, smells, and taste genuine. Three-dimensional characters in situations so engaging, you think you’re watching a documentary. No reaches, just raw realness.
    Is The Deuce worth watching? Sure, why not. I didn’t fast-forward to the end like I’ve done recently with other shows. I can’t say that I "hate" any of the characters nor the story thus far. It simply does not ring true. Yes, I understand I am the audience. And the goal is to keep me engaged, to entertain, not inform. But please don’t play with my emotions and intelligence by doing things for Emmy consideration and shock value. Just don’t. Remember it's not just TV it's HBO.    … Expand
  4. OlivierPiel
    Sep 22, 2018
    5
    It's better than Vinyl and the Get Down, but most viewers are "sucked" in by the titillating subject and the gorgeous directing and70's decor...but forget that the acting is sloppy (Franco) or hamfisted (the Mafia guys) and the plot is actually very thin.
    It's like a 70's Americn sports car: Beautiful to look at but sloppy, unreliable and badly built.
    Or is it a parabole on the trope    It's better than Vinyl and the Get Down, but most viewers are "sucked" in by the titillating subject and the gorgeous directing and70's decor...but forget that the acting is sloppy (Franco) or hamfisted (the Mafia guys) and the plot is actually very thin.
    It's like a 70's Americn sports car: Beautiful to look at but sloppy, unreliable and badly built.
    Or is it a parabole on the trope that acting and whoring are not too dissimilar i essence?    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

17
#17 Best TV Season of 2017
44
#44 Most Discussed TV Season of 2017
46
#46 Most Shared TV Season of 2017

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
85

Universal acclaim - based on 35 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 34 out of 35
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 35
  3. Negative: 0 out of 35
  1. RogerEbert.com
    Reviewed by: Nick Allen
    Nov 29, 2017
    50
    The Deuce can’t hold all of its many pieces together, despite the pockets of strong writing and performances, making viewers bounce around a visceral world with just not enough emotional gravity.
    Read full review
  2. The New Yorker
    Reviewed by: Emily Nussbaum
    Sep 18, 2017
    90
    David Simon and his frequent collaborator, the novelist George Pelecanos, together with writers such as Megan Abbott, have made a show that is quietly transformative. ... In many ways, The Deuce is a classic David Simon.
    Read full review
  3. TV Guide Magazine
    Reviewed by: Matt Roush
    Sep 14, 2017
    90
    Vividly teeming with tragicomic life and reeking of desperation, danger and moral decay, the series takes a while to build an actual story--a common trait nowadays in high-minded long-form TV Narratives--but by the end of the first eight hours, an decriminalized porn becomes big business, you'll surely want to know what happens next. [18 Sep - 1 Oct 2017, p.27]
See all critic reviews »