Please note: The following comment refers to seasons 1 and 2 only.
BROTHERHOOD is a gangster drama, but it is much more than that. From almost the very beginning, this show turned the expected gangster show archetypes upside down, delivering a story far more substantive then other offerings of this type. All of the actors involved give noteworthy performances.
The engines that drive this story are loss and frustration, reflective of the conditions in today's America, where economic depression and disappointment in failing institutions has become common place. The show's fearful, desperate heart is well reflected by it's bleak, overcast, dusty setting. Although comparisons to HBO's THE SOPRANOS are inevitable, BROTHERHOOD faces a hopelessness and vulnerability that David Chase never reached. Tony Soprano may have had familiar anxieties and fears, but at the end of the day he was still rolling in money and beautiful women, always went home to his mansion, and always beat the feds at their own game. The characters of BROTHERHOOD are not nearly so well insulated. Every single character on the show has to fight for every inch of ground and they usually end up losing anyway.
The premise of the prodigal gangster returning to his east coast turf and reclaiming what's his, settling old scores and winning back his girlfriend has been done to death. In the BROTHERHOOD series season one premiere, it seems we are presented with exactly this story. Jason Isaac's Michael Caffee returns to his home neighborhood after seven years, and the whole town reacts as if the angel of death has come to smite them. The cops have an emergency meeting where they refer to him as "Three-Part Mike"(judge, jury, and executioner). Michael immediately springs into action, cutting off a rival's ear and reclaiming all of his criminal enterprises in one fell swoop.
By the second episode, however, it becomes clear that this is something different. Michael's money is all fake, and outdated. Clerks at the store can spot it as counterfeit. Instead of charging his way to the top and running the neighborhood, he has to sell his services to the current mob boss, the revolting and hideous Freddie Cork, who constantly threatens his life and undermines everything he tries to do. The girl he cut off Moe's ear to impress, rather than swoon for him in adoring devotion, derides him for being old and ridicules him for living with his mother. No one mentions the "Three-Part Mike" title again.
And, of course Michael is not the only one with problems. Tommy, his brother, the neighborhood's representative at city hall, works day and night trying to use his influence to help "The Hill", but more often than not finds every deal he makes broken in the service of greater interests, even as his wife is carrying on a ridiculous affair with a poor, lovestruck mope and the house he can barely pay for is falling apart. And it is not just the main characters who struggle in such futility; their trials are reflected in the city at large as unemployment grows and opportunities disappear, substance abuse spreads among the children, and city planning threatens to turn the neighborhood into parking lots and highway spurs.
The cast is excellent. Every review on this board makes special mention of Jason Isaacs as Michael, and deservedly so, but every single performance shines, so just read the cast list. Every character is equally interesting as they struggle to find one last shred of dignity or life affirming experience. A lot of the comments say that there are no likable characters; I feel that to be an over-simplified perspective. It is true that there are no saints or Mary Sues, but every character (except Freddie Cork and Moe Reilley) are a mix of good intentions and compromised values. While every character commits dishonorable acts, these acts rarely define them. Rather, they shed light on their motivations and goals, which we can normally empathize with.
Knowing that this story takes some inspiration from the Bulger Brothers and Boston's Winter Hill gang, one might expect to see Michael on a reign of terror with the city in his fist, and Tommy as a crusading politician with the state's fate in his hands. What we have here is the background of all of that, a slow-burning genesis chapter where we see how such men find their way from square one. This is a wrenching, heart breaking, and fascinating study of family ties, shattered hopes and diminishing returns.
BROTHERHOOD is a gangster drama, but it is much more than that. From almost the very beginning, this show turned the expected gangster show archetypes upside down, delivering a story far more substantive then other offerings of this type. All of the actors involved give noteworthy performances.
The engines that drive this story are loss and frustration, reflective of the conditions in today's America, where economic depression and disappointment in failing institutions has become common place. The show's fearful, desperate heart is well reflected by it's bleak, overcast, dusty setting. Although comparisons to HBO's THE SOPRANOS are inevitable, BROTHERHOOD faces a hopelessness and vulnerability that David Chase never reached. Tony Soprano may have had familiar anxieties and fears, but at the end of the day he was still rolling in money and beautiful women, always went home to his mansion, and always beat the feds at their own game. The characters of BROTHERHOOD are not nearly so well insulated. Every single character on the show has to fight for every inch of ground and they usually end up losing anyway.
The premise of the prodigal gangster returning to his east coast turf and reclaiming what's his, settling old scores and winning back his girlfriend has been done to death. In the BROTHERHOOD series season one premiere, it seems we are presented with exactly this story. Jason Isaac's Michael Caffee returns to his home neighborhood after seven years, and the whole town reacts as if the angel of death has come to smite them. The cops have an emergency meeting where they refer to him as "Three-Part Mike"(judge, jury, and executioner). Michael immediately springs into action, cutting off a rival's ear and reclaiming all of his criminal enterprises in one fell swoop.
By the second episode, however, it becomes clear that this is something different. Michael's money is all fake, and outdated. Clerks at the store can spot it as counterfeit. Instead of charging his way to the top and running the neighborhood, he has to sell his services to the current mob boss, the revolting and hideous Freddie Cork, who constantly threatens his life and undermines everything he tries to do. The girl he cut off Moe's ear to impress, rather than swoon for him in adoring devotion, derides him for being old and ridicules him for living with his mother. No one mentions the "Three-Part Mike" title again.
And, of course Michael is not the only one with problems. Tommy, his brother, the neighborhood's representative at city hall, works day and night trying to use his influence to help "The Hill", but more often than not finds every deal he makes broken in the service of greater interests, even as his wife is carrying on a ridiculous affair with a poor, lovestruck mope and the house he can barely pay for is falling apart. And it is not just the main characters who struggle in such futility; their trials are reflected in the city at large as unemployment grows and opportunities disappear, substance abuse spreads among the children, and city planning threatens to turn the neighborhood into parking lots and highway spurs.
The cast is excellent. Every review on this board makes special mention of Jason Isaacs as Michael, and deservedly so, but every single performance shines, so just read the cast list. Every character is equally interesting as they struggle to find one last shred of dignity or life affirming experience. A lot of the comments say that there are no likable characters; I feel that to be an over-simplified perspective. It is true that there are no saints or Mary Sues, but every character (except Freddie Cork and Moe Reilley) are a mix of good intentions and compromised values. While every character commits dishonorable acts, these acts rarely define them. Rather, they shed light on their motivations and goals, which we can normally empathize with.
Knowing that this story takes some inspiration from the Bulger Brothers and Boston's Winter Hill gang, one might expect to see Michael on a reign of terror with the city in his fist, and Tommy as a crusading politician with the state's fate in his hands. What we have here is the background of all of that, a slow-burning genesis chapter where we see how such men find their way from square one. This is a wrenching, heart breaking, and fascinating study of family ties, shattered hopes and diminishing returns.