'The Deuce' Season 3: Here's a quick recap of Candy, Darlene and Lori's lives before the new installment on HBO
'The Deuce' season 2 left audiences with mixed feelings. There were multiple allegations of sexual harassment against actor James Franco, who plays the role of twin brothers Vinnie Martino and Frankie Martino in the show. In fact, his presence on the show did not even align with what the show was trying to portray in the first place. Revealing paradoxes in power dynamics, especially in the porn and sex industry is something that 'The Deuce' did excellently in its first season. Franco's presence in the second season, however, contradicts what the show was trying so hard to portray through the eyes of Candy (Maggie Gyllenhaal). And yet, the actor will continue to play a part in the show, in fact, he will play two parts and given that he is a good performer, there isn't much that the audiences can do except give the show a skip in protest.
However, if you do plan on watching the show for Candy, or Darlene, or Lori or any of the women in the show who have led fascinating lives and want to tell their story then here's where we left them in season 2.
Candy aka Eileen Merrell who transitioned into a porn filmmaker faces the wrath of men sitting in the power in Hollywood. As a woman and a former sex worker at that who wants to make porn movies, Candy faces some brutal times including a financier asking her for sexual favors in return for capital. While it might not have been shocking to Candy, who charged $30 for a blowjob once, Eileen is now a filmmaker and to have her do something like this is abuse of power. This is something Eileen initially finds hard to accept and yet, this is followed by resignation. In the finale episode, Candy is ousted from her home, but above it all, her obsession with filmmaking which began in the first season of the show still burns bright.
Then we have Darlene aka Donna (Dominique Fishback) who is pimped on the streets by Larry. In the first season, she begins as someone who is completely under Larry's control and she begins to step beyond the boundaries that he sets little by little. From starting to watch movies with a regular customer to visiting the library to read books, there is a lot that Darlene wants to explore and in season 2 she does so by finally leaving Larry. This is not like the time when she got on the bus in an attempt to leave town and instead came back with one other girl who would walk the streets, no. This time, she does it for real and it is as exhilarating for the audiences as it is for her to walk away from the suffocating presence in her life that abused her through many years. Her departure from Larry is so important that the finale episode titled 'Inside the Pretend' is named after her parting words to Larry.
Then we have Lori Madison (Emily Meade) who has to come to terms with the fact that she is no more under the control of any pimp following C.C's death. He was the most brutal of pimps who had women work for him by manipulating them, hurting them mentally and physically so that he could save up enough to retire to a normal life with a wife and kids. He picked Lori as soon as she stepped into New York and showed her the big city dream by taking her out for a breakfast in his Cadillac giving Lori the time to get seduced by the glamor behind all that he offered her. Lori is witness to C.C stabbing a man and killing him, and she has seen far worse. After C.C's death, however, there is a vacuum that Lori initially finds unsettling but the sense of freedom that she gains as C.C's absence continues and she learns the truth about his death is a different aspect of a relationship between a pimp and his woman.