The character that's emerging as the most sympathetic one is Candy. She's been treated like dirt by her job, and it isn't getting any easier. But there's hope that she'll be exiting prostitution and entering the porn industry soon, with the beginning of Vincent's porn enterprise. Outside of her work, we see her enjoying sex for once. You can see her amusement at being asked if she came. Candy also shows how hard it is to break out of sex work into the normal world. When her boyfriend asks her to the cocktail party, she declines because she wouldn't fit into that world. And imagine the awkwardness when people would ask her what she does for a living.
But the real meat of the episode is in Vincent's business. This episode marks the moment when he turned to sex work. The disturbing thing is, it's not hard to imagine him ending up like The Deuce's pimps. There are already parallels. When Abby refuses to wear a leotard one day, he lightly scolds her for it. That's not miles off what C.C. does when one of his girls doesn't toe the line.
The other scene that's worth discussing is Sandra's investigation into prostitution. Her editor is sceptical about her story because it'll be too negative. He doesn't want the newspaper to report the truth, he wants it to report something uplifting. How true this actually is to real life I don't know, as newspapers tend to be full of negative stuff.
"What Kind of Bad?" is The Deuce's best episode yet. The pace is still on the slow side, with some unnecessary scenes that don't develop the plot or the characters in any meaningful way, but it's a great episode.
But the real meat of the episode is in Vincent's business. This episode marks the moment when he turned to sex work. The disturbing thing is, it's not hard to imagine him ending up like The Deuce's pimps. There are already parallels. When Abby refuses to wear a leotard one day, he lightly scolds her for it. That's not miles off what C.C. does when one of his girls doesn't toe the line.
The other scene that's worth discussing is Sandra's investigation into prostitution. Her editor is sceptical about her story because it'll be too negative. He doesn't want the newspaper to report the truth, he wants it to report something uplifting. How true this actually is to real life I don't know, as newspapers tend to be full of negative stuff.
"What Kind of Bad?" is The Deuce's best episode yet. The pace is still on the slow side, with some unnecessary scenes that don't develop the plot or the characters in any meaningful way, but it's a great episode.
