Porn is booming in a plot-heavy episode
Why Me?
introduces a major turning point forThe Deuce.
A few episodes ago, it seemed unimaginable that pimps would be demanding prostitutes get off the street.
Credit: Paul Schiraldi/HBO
- But as Larry tells Darlene near the end of Why Me?
With everything going on out there…. Its about to be the movies or the whorehouse.
Vince pitches protection and comfort; Bobby assures hell be looking after things.
But nobodys buying what theyre selling.
Fortunately for them, things start happening outside the pimps control.
[Everyone] goes in the wagon.
She wants to know whats going to happen.
Sandras not the only one: Everyone in Why Me?
is preoccupied with how the industrys going to look if police keep up their new cleanup mandate beyond Christmas.
(Bobby gruffly obliges.)
Theyre not pleased about it, but they agree to give his Py Palace a try.
They know theyre running out of options.
Its all about new options, however, at the episodes other end.
Why the sudden interest for Rudy?
Many in the room cheer and snicker when yet another case goes their way.
And the evidence here is indisputable….
These personal freedoms are protected by the First and Fourteenth Amendments.
For rich, rule-bending businessmen like Pipilo, the possibilities of porn seem endless here.
But the workflow is slow, the money disappointing, and the job a definite adjustment.
And while Eileens developing some trust and intimacy with Harvey, it only gets her so far.
If she takes the gig, that reality will be staring her right in the face.
Eileen is at least one step ahead.
Everybodys chasing money onThe Deuce, and in Why Me?
But what character work Why Me?
Movies are forever…. What if I have kids?
What if my kids have little kids?
Shes questioning what her life is going to look like 10, 20 years down the road.
She hasnt needed to make a choice, even one as limiting as this, for a while.
That aforementioned final shot of Darlene resting quietly in her brothel room is despairingly claustrophobic.
Now shes cooped up.
Then, in the episodes final seconds, she turns, as if shes just woken up.
The questions are written across her face: Is this what she wants?
Or is it back to the movies?
New York is changing, and the life they knew is for better or worse quickly being street-swept away.
Now theyre left to face with what they want their next chapter to look like.
