The Deuce Returned with a Time Jump and its Characters Dreaming of More

Warning: Full spoilers for the Season 2 premiere of The Deuce, “Our Raison d’Etre,” below.

With a sizable time jump, leaping us five years forward to 1977, David Simon’s The Deuce returned with a playful, swinging slice of Times Square sleaze. Most of Season 2’s premiere, “Our Raison d’Etre,” was spent catching us up with everyone’s life while we also witnessed which characters still loomed large on the scene many years later. Of course, as much as things changed, they also remained the same.

In the time away, Maggie Gyllenhaal’s Candy has risen through the porn movie ranks to become both a director and performer while James Franco’s Vincent runs a hit disco joint, Chris Coy’s Paul operates a gay club, Margarita Levieva’s Abby manages the old bar (while turning it into a CBGB’s-type punk joint), Lawrence Gilliard Jr.’s Alston is now an esteemed homicide detective, David Krumholtz’s Harvey has gained a wife and dropped about 80 lbs, Dominique Fishback’s Darlene aspires to take night classes, and Emily Meade’s Lori mildly struggles at being a sought-after skin flick actress while still having a domineering pimp (Gary Carr’s C.C.).

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