Time Is Money on 'The Deuce'
An early scene on Episode Three of The Deuce, "The Principle Is All," shows the roving reporter Sandra sidle up at the diner next to one of the many girls walking the streets of Hell's Kitchen. Sandra has been getting to know some of the women who work in the area, interviewing them and hearing their stories to get a sense of what life is like for them on the street. She tells the young woman that her stories will be anonymous, that she just wants to understand her life, that she won't take much of her time.
"My time is money," the girl replies.
We've had a sense of this "time is money" trope in The Deuce. Maggie Gyllenhaal's character, Candy, introduced the theme with her brilliant monologue about why she can't give a customer free sex. But "The Principle Is All" also makes it clear that "time is money" doesn't just apply to sex work, and The Deuce continues to depict the many facets of the stark, gritty world of nightlife in 1971 New York City in the same way David Simon examined the complexities of Baltimore's drug trade with The Wire.
"This is America, right?"
In Episode Three, Gyllenhaal's Candy continues her education of the burgeoning porn business. Last week she swiped a dirty movie from a porn set - a European flick more graphic than the American product that can't show penetration on film. Her research takes her to another porn set, but one with a twist: While a couple fucks before a crowd of onlookers, who all believe they are watching a genuine movie shoot, Candy learns that the director, Harvey Wasserman, isn't filming at all. His cameras are empty, and it's all for show to convince a group of guys to pay a $40 cover to watch a live sex act.
Candy calls Wasserman up for a lunch meeting to learn about his business. He has his own hustle. It's easier for him to pretend to shoot a movie, collecting a couple grand from his audience and paying his performers a little bit of cash for the easy gig. There's low overhead, considering he doesn't have to deal with the hassle of distribution; think of how long it'd take in post-production cutting a film, then releasing it and dealing with the cops in the event he gets caught.
Candy asks for an apprenticeship of sorts. She wants to learn how to make the movies, convinced that the European style of porn - the hard-core variety - will one day make its way to the States. "This is America, right?" she says. "When do we ever leave a fuckin' dollar for the other guy to pick up?"
Wasserman isn't sure, but he promises to give her a spot in front of the camera if he ever goes back to putting film in his machines. Although she's dejected, Candy's entire life is about bouncing back from disappointments. She's determined to make her way into the movie business one way or another.
The Hi-Hat is open for business.
I complained in my first two recaps that the James Franco twins were the weakest link among The Deuce's scattered story lines. Nothing makes me tune out faster than a dark scene in which a bunch of indistinguishable men (literally - there are two James Francos) talk about business. Luckily, some of those conversations start to play into the other story lines and are beginning to make sense as the Francos prepare to open their new bar, rebranding the seedy gay bar Penny Lane into a swinging joint called The Hi-Hat that will inevitably be the central meeting spot for The Deuce's array of characters.
But naturally it's not a seamless transition, and Frankie is causing plenty of troubles around the place. When he loses a game of cards and Vinnie turns down his request for a loan, he takes the sledgehammer to the vending machines - the cigarette machine, the pool table, the juke box - for quick cash. Soon the brothers get an uninvited guest in Healy, a representative of the Irish mob who, they learn, still has a stake in the bar (the vending machines in particular). Vinnie complains to Rudy, their Gambino family benefactor, but there's not much Rudy can do about it. (Does this eventually set up a war between the Italians and the Irish, which took place in the late '70s when the two factions fought for control over the Javits Convention Center in Hell's Kitchen?)
"When do we ever leave a fuckin' dollar for the other guy to pick up?"
Vinnie's reaction to his own brother is contrasted against the way he helps his brother-in-law, Bobby Dwyer, who has a heart attack at his construction site. Out of work and waiting for disability, Dwyer can't take care of his family, so Vinnie offers some cash to his sister. He has a good heart, and she deserves it - as opposed to their brother, who keeps finding himself in a bigger hole with each gambling loss.
There's also the business of staffing the bar. While Frankie recruits a couple of girls with whom he's been flirting for waitressing gigs, fresh college drop-out Abby shows up to ask Vinnie for a job. She's already walked out on one - a brief stint in a corporate call center - but Vinnie likes her, so he gives her a spot on the staff.
And it's a good thing, too, because he could use the bodies behind the bar. The Hi-Hat's opening night is a success, bringing in a large crowd - much to Rudy's surprise and appreciation. Healy comes by, too, demanding his machines and money back. Vinnie brushes him off, and Healy pulls out a gun. A customer, Mike, overpowers him before he can shoot and they kick him out of the Hi-Hat. Mike tries to leave quickly, but Vinnie runs out after him, offers him free drinks as a thank-you for saving his life, and convinces him to hang out in the bar.
The bar attracts the men and women who work on the street (including some cops) as well as Penny Lane's old queer crowd. Lori and C.C. show up, fresh from the pimp lecturing Lori about playing the long game, finding some regular customers, and making bigger payouts. She prefers working the Lincoln Tunnel - taking 10 bucks for road head to get to the Jersey side, where she can make more cash from the guys heading back into the city. It's safer, for one, and she can fit in more customers in a night. Time is money, after all.
Darlene also finds refuge at the Hi-Hat, finding a quiet place to read a book after running afoul of Larry, her pimp, after she accidentally spent the night with her regular guy, an older man who just wants to have a nice girl to watch old movies with. (This week's film: Mildred Pierce.) Darlene is reading A Tale of Two Cities after having watched the movie recently, and the Dickens novel attracts Abby - no doubt feeling an academic interest and excited to chat literature with someone in a seedy Hell's Kitchen bar. Larry notices the two women chatting, no doubt having an eye on the pretty young Abby as a prospective employee.
The many threads of The Deuce are finally coming together as the plot moves forward. We should be grateful; David Simon is known for taking his sweet time to get all of his plot lines together (that was, after all, the biggest complaint about Treme). In the third episode, we get all of our characters together in one spot, a meeting place that will likely serve as a center stage for the The Deuce's players to interact on their own time.
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