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Hercules Welcomes The Return Of Showtime’s Brilliant BROTHERHOOD!!
SPOILER ALERT !!
I am – Hercules!!
Greet again Showtime’s fascinating, suspenseful, plot-packed and character-driven “Brotherhood,” the tale of two Irish-American Rhode Island brothers – a mobster and a politician – who like to play rough, sometimes with each other. It returns for its second season Sunday night and solidifies for me its status as one of the most engrossing hourlongs in production on any channel.
Mobster Michael Caffee (Britisher Jason Isaacs) is now coping with brain damage – memory loss and seizures and problems with spatial recognition – and can’t even figure out who gave him the parking-lot beat-down that’s dislodged his grey matter. Menacing crime boss Freddie Cork closed down Michael’s liquor store and doesn’t trust him with business.
Politician Tommy Caffee (Australian Jason Clarke) has his own problems, trying to deal with his unfaithful, dope-addled wife (milfy, nakedness-prone American Annabeth Gish, above) as he navigates the campaign trail, and a daughter who – taking after her uncle Mike, one infers – has begun stabbing classmates with school supplies.
There’s also the Caffees’ childhood friend Declan Giffs (Ethan Embry, unrecognizable from his days playing bass for the Oneders), a cop whose ever-darkening association with the Caffees has driven him deep into the bottle.
Episode two expands the family with the introduction of colorful Caffee cousin Colin (bona fide Irishman Brian F. O’Byrne), who arrives from Ireland with an agenda of his own.
For those wholly unaware of the show, here’s what the critics wrote last summer:
The Hollywood Reporter said:
Let's get it out the way right now, the blurb that will be quoted after this review is run: "If you see nothing else this summer, watch 'Brotherhood.'" While I never consciously try to arrange a review so that quotes can easily be lifted, "Brotherhood" deserves every boost it can get. It's that good. No, it's better. This new Showtime series has it all: fine acting, superb cinematography, nimble directing and a fascinating world full of ethical ambiguities and constantly shifting moral ground. ...
Variety said:
... this character-driven family story is captivating on a multitude of levels. This is the jewel Showtime has sought for years. ... the most duplicitous character is Tommy's wife, Eileen (Annabeth Gish), a dutiful mother who slips out for pot 'n' sex rendezvous with a postal worker. Gish has a steady toughness that's engaging, and she pivots from that center to varying degrees of soft and hard. As her husband's political life begins to take a few twists and turns, Eileen's reactions should be as interesting to watch as his maneuvering in an increasing complicated world.
TV Guide said:
... richly plotted and totally absorbing, one of summer TV's best surprises. ... I've seen all 11 hours of Brotherhood, and I found myself hungry for 11 more. ...
Newsweek said:
... "Brotherhood" revels in exposing hypocrisy, from pious politicians to ruthless mama's boys, and much of the show's fun comes from watching them twist their perverted moral codes to fit their appetites. None of this is exactly new-"The Sopranos" covers much the same ground, and with more psychological depth. But "Brotherhood" may be the darker show. Everyone in Providence is corrupted, even Tommy's doting wife, Eileen (Annabeth Gish), becomes a lonely, philandering drug addict. That bleakness sometimes feels oppressive. After a while, you really want someone to root for, not to mention a sense that the world isn't so dreadful. ...
The Washington Post said:
... About the most that can be said for "Brotherhood," Showtime's new serialized drama, is that it's a first-rate secondhand "Sopranos." ... The best things about the show are the location shooting in and around Providence -- a highly photographable area that until recently has been little seen in other movies and TV shows -- and Clarke's charismatic, multilayered performance as the "good" brother, Tommy, tireless in his attempts to upgrade the city and its image. …
The New York Times said:
... HBO, which recently brought "Six Feet Under" and "Oz" to a close and will soon let go of "The Sopranos," no longer has a monopoly on great television. "Entourage" and "Deadwood" are superb, but the rival premium cable channel is catching up: "Huff" and "Sleeper Cell" are exceptionally good. So is "Brotherhood," which has its premiere on Sunday. ... "Brotherhood" revels in the kind of politics that are rarely seen on television shows: brass knuckle, not grass roots. ...
The Los Angeles Times said:
... It has a novelistic scope and pace, a fine sense of place, characters that are compelling without being ostentatiously extreme and whose reality the script does not betray for an easy effect or to make cultural or political points about things that have nothing to do with their lives. In a time when willful eccentricity, self-conscious style and pop-cultural knowingness dominate TV drama, it is refreshingly straightforward and unaffected, radical by virtue of being old-fashioned. In its emphasis on character over plot it reminds me of movies from the pre-Spielberg '70s, and is in so many ways what I want from television that I feel almost like phoning each of you personally to deliver the news. ...
The series’ quality is undiminished, at least in the first few episodes of its second season; if you’ve been craving something along the lines of “The Wire” and “The Sopranos,” while also mixed crime with politics absorbingly, I implore you to give "Brotherhood" a look. Grisly rewards await within.
10 p.m. Sunday. Showtime.
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but that one will do.
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Whist Jason Isaacs is excellent in pretty much everything he does.
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It took me a few episodes to really tell if I liked it, but by the end of season one, it was one of my favorite shows. Jason Isaacs is awesome as Michael, and the rest of the cast is top notch as well.
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With Brotherhood, Weeds, and Dexter on Showtime, I am tempted to subscribe.
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I watched the first couple episodes on the last Dexter disc and this show is lame.It's tries hard to be another Sopranos but fails miserably with its cliched plots.I think Jason Clarke is a great actor though and deserves to be on a better show.
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but it is plenty entertaining. i bought the season one dvd the day it came out, but it sat on my shelf for about eight months before i watched it. i gobbled it up over a few days, and now i can't wait for new stuff. the show also had some nifty cliffhangers from season one's fabulous finale.
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Having never really watched this show, my "clever", groundbreaking talkback message was going to be "Is that the show where Annabeth Gish is always gettin' naked?" Great pervs think alike.
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Its one of the most somber and depressing shows I've ever seen. At least the Sopranos had some moments that were trying to be intentionally humorous, this is like sitting through a funeral like atmosphere every week. Still a wonderfully acted and written show though.
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Putting that giant awful picture at the beginning as if it should mean something or be carnally suggestive to us men only makes sense from a homosexual's fractured view of women. Bizarre choice for an article opener.
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Some of the best writing anywhere. The acting is great too, but who knew it employed so many foreigners?
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And would be in if Annabeth Gish was constantly running around naked. She does look demonic in the photo, but maybe that's the point?
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I've seen it on other sites. Kinda makes me want to unzip those jeans, so I guess I'm as gay as Herc. Or maybe I'm just into demon-women. Brotherhood is awesome though, better than anything on HBO or FX or anywhere else for that matter.
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Impossible to watch.
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That picture is SCARY.
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Loved the part last season when Michael straightened out Tommy's daughter. Show rocks.
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Annabeth Gish only got naked ONCE last season, and it was just her rolling around on a bed AFTER sex. Then there was ONE sex scene with her and her husband character in a kitchen, with almost all her clothes on, shot from far back. Do not believe Herc's hype. P.S. Tommy better be able to get back at her for cheating by nailing some hot ass himself but, it looks like he'll only get to fuck Donna from THE WEST WING ...Ew.
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He will erase your posts and ban your account. It happened to me because I teased him for never having see the UK version of "The Office" and watching too much reality TV.
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She was naked when she was smoking pot in the bathtub a few times, too, TopHat.
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While not overall as good as that show, it's definitely one of my favorite shows and it's constantly riveting. Love it.
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Now I know your definitely a homo..or actually your a hbo nuthugger..good luck with that!
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Brotherhood,full frontal Elizabeth Perkins and Californication = good night of television.
As for The Sopranos comparison, Brotherhood stands up pretty well against the Sopranos last 2 seasons, which werent very good.
The Wire is one of the most underrated shows ever. -
like this-
The Wire > Dexter > Big Love > Brotherhood
But Brotherhood is a great show.
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