The Deuce Season 2 Episode 4: What Big Ideas Review

If you would like to read my review of the last episode, click here.

Synopsis: Ashley and Abby resolve to track down the identity of a 16-year-old sex worker killed in a recent fire. Vincent is shaken after witnessing the brutal side of Rudy’s operation. Frustrated by the progress on her new film, Candy recruits new faces to help with the production. Frankie finds his dry-cleaning business a less-than-perfect fit. Larry Brown shows off his improvisational skills. Lori looks to forge a deal with Kiki while keeping C.C. in the loop. (HBO)

Writer: Anya Epstein

Director: Uta Briesewitz

Rating: TV-MA

Running Time: 59mins

Airs: Sundays at 9pm on HBO Canada (Canada)/HBO (United States)

After the best episode of the series so far, this episode continues on that high as real change is in the air. This episode started with Larry making his porn debut by showing off his best feature.

Paul’s new club is still a work in progress. Rudy is trying to use the parlor attacks as leverage to convince him to get mob protection. The big event of the episode was when one of Bobby’s parlors burned down with a girl trapped inside. Ashley and Abby took it especially hard. They made it their mission to discover the girl’s identity and to get her the justice she deserved. Ashley discovered that she was an underage girl from upstate who was disowned by her father. Meanwhile, Ashley was continuing with her own prostitute outreach program. Vincent agreed to cover the funeral. Vincent wanted out of the parlour business but this was interrupted by Rudy’s right hand man Tommy Longo (Daniel Sauli) dishing out some retribution.

Candy’s ambitious porn film is also still a work in progress. She was constantly reminded to reign in her ambition. She was struggling with her script so she had to look for help elsewhere. Candy’s mother was worried about her son figuring out who she really was but she wasn’t worried just yet. Going back to Larry, he played a large part in the best sequence of the episode. In the sequence, he was working his first porn scene but he was struggling with his lines. Darlene shared with Candy that Larry had trouble reading. Candy’s big idea was to let Larry improv and lo and behold, he was actually great.

While filming a scene, Lori got distracted by a comically incompetent cameraman so C.C. actually had a helpful suggestion. His other suggestion about making a movie about pimps wasn’t nearly as good. Frustrated with C.C., she turned to Kiki Rains (Alysia Reiner) whom she met earlier. She agreed to help find Lori work and split her fee with C.C. as long as he stayed away from the work she brought.

In other news, at the emporium, Shay overdosed on drugs. Irene (Roberta Colindrez), the manager, brought her to rehab and vowed to visit her everyday. Frankie was regretting getting into the dry-cleaning business. Alston still couldn’t get away from the misguided Goldman.

The episode ended with the rainy funeral of the underage girl who died in the fire.

Overall, this was a great episode that continued the high from last week with almost everything working with a few subplots still not working as well as the others. Vincent is moving away from the mob who happened to be losing control. Candy is compelling to watch while getting her movie made and while fixing Larry. Ashley’s crusade has been compelling as well. Frankie is on an island with his dry-cleaning business. Alston and Goldman aren’t going anywhere. Just like last episode had a big moment, this one had Larry’s transformation. While not as powerful as last week, it is still on a promising path and it will be interesting to see where it all goes.

Score: 9/10

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.