Gritty Showtime series centered on the Irish-American Caffee brothers, Rhode Island state senator Tommy, and ambitious mobster Michael. The shows main theme appears to be loyalty, family loyalty, loyalty to ones mob boss or political patron, and loyalty to ones lower-middle class ethnic neighborhood. A violent series, where characters make many questionable to outright evil decisions, yet keeps you emotionally commited to, and even rooting for its characters. This is only possible through good writing, and some excellent performances from the able cast, headlined by Jason Isaacs and Jason Clarke, but also featuring Finnula Flanagan, Annabeth Gish (cast against type) and Ethan Embry (also cast against type).
A highlight of the first season are three very well executed sequences melding nearly the entire cast, which expertly intertwine the series impressive number of continuing story lines. The first is at a fundraiser for a decaying city movie theater, the second at the memorial service for victims of a bus crash (dropped on us literally from out of nowhere in episode 9 it changes much of the dynamics of the show), and finally the seasons final episode set entirely at a wedding reception. I’d seen the first few episodes of this series a couple years ago as they were included as extras in the Dexter Season 1 DVD set, and had been considering continuing the program for some time. I’m glade I did and intended to watch the reset of the series three seasons in fairly rapid order. Obviously not for everybody, but if you like Dennis Lehane novels and Martin Scorsese you'll probably like this show. Thumbs Up.
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