| Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to apologize for my inability to “get” the United States’ fascination with mobsters.
Yes, various gangsters and mafia organizations played a vital part in the development of 20th century America… and
many of the most recognized and respected actors in motion pictures today received their statuses from appearing as mobsters.
The whole thing simply does nothing for me, however. I can handle the vintage gangster films of the 30s and 40s just
fine: Bogart, Cagney, Robinson… as weird as it may sound, there’s even something “wholesome” about the debauchery
that’s implied in those movies. I can even take mob movies made between the 50s and 60s without so much as a pinch
of salt… and the Drive-In B-Movies made by the likes of Roger Corman never cease to entertain me.
When Francis Ford Coppola’s immortal classic The Godfather burst onto the scene in the 70s, the whole gangster
genre changed completely. In a big way. Now, that’s all fine and dandy, and I realize that it would be completely daft
of me to compare the classic Tommy gun antics of Paul Muni in the original Scarface (1932) to Al Pacino’s over-the-top performance in Brian DePalma’s film of the same name, which effectively brought the genre into the 80s (although
the latter film is always good for a laugh… just because it’s sooooo DePalma if nothing else).
 But I’m OK with those films, too. Really, I am. I’m good all the way up to the 90s with movies like Casino in fact.
And then came that Cable-TV series, The Sopranos and the seven million Z-Grade Direct-To-Video rip-offs that it
inspired. For me, that’s when the whole genre seriously got out of hand. I made it all the way through the First Season
of HBO’s The Sopranos and that was it… after that, I had become entirely desensitized to seeing what essentially
had become the same damn thing week after week.
Brotherhood completely passed me by. I never saw a single episode. I never even heard of the program for that
matter. So, when The Second Season hit my doorstep, I was a bit leery. I was also in the dark when it came to the
characters of the show and had absolutely no goddamn idea what was going on in the Season Two Premiere, “One Too
Many Mornings 3:4-8”. There were about fifty different people I had to get acquainted with… each of which had their
own problems, dilemmas, and moral stances.
 I’ll start with the character of Michael Caffee, portrayed to the hilt by Lucius Malfoy himself, Jason Isaacs. Michael is
the “darker” half of the series’ “two brothers on the opposite side of the law in a world where there are no good guys”
motif. At the beginning of Season 2, Michael (oh, yeah, SPOILER!) is having some problems with his mental status
after receiving the beating of his life last season. Then there’s Michael’s politician brother, Tommy (played by
Matthew Perry lookalike Jason Clarke), who, despite being on the side of justice and right and so forth, is really just as
much of a criminal and thug as his sibling. Life at the beginning of the Second Season is no better for Tommy: his
wife (Gillian Anderson replacement Annabeth Gish) is cheating on him and his daughter has entered that inevitable
rebellious phase all fathers (good or bad) dread.
Rounding up the ensemble of characters are crime lord Freddie Cork (Kevin Chapman); Colin, the bad seed cousin
straight from Ireland (Brian F. O’Byrne); the Caffee boys’ mother, Rose (Fionnula Flanagan); Declan (Ethan Embry);
Mary Kate (Kerry O’Malley); Alex (Karl Bury); Terry (Frank Ridley); and one or two other characters who won’t
mean a damn thing to you until you sit down and watch the series (and even then they might not mean a thing to you).
 If you’re looking for a show that the whole family can watch, try Diff’rent Strokes. But if you want some strong
emotional drama mixed in with some bloody bits-o-violence, then this Showtime Network series could be your next
favorite addiction (plus, it’s cheaper than heroin… so I’m told… ). Despite being described as “The Irish Sopranos” (an
unfitting nickname that I really don’t much care for), Brotherhood emerges from The Stereotype Ashes as a well-written and well-acted series that definitely deserves a look at… although (and I know that I don’t have to say this to
any Brotherhood fans out there, but I should reiterate the following words of wisdom to newcomers) it’d be best if
you started with Season One -- otherwise, you’re probably going to be very lost (unless you like being lost of course, in
which case, I wish you Godspeed).
Presentation
Showtime and CBS/Paramount have teamed up on yet another DVD release, housing all 10 Episodes of the Second
Season on three discs, each with anamorphic transfers in their original 1.78:1 glory. While the overall appearance of
these episodes looks fine, I noticed some jumpy interlaced scan lines during playback on my laptop (which I should
point out is cheap). Accompanying each chapter of the Caffee Family is an English 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround
soundtrack, an English 2-Channel Stereo one, and a third option in Spanish Mono Stereo. As is always the case with
Showtime releases, no Subtitles are included (although the Episodes are Closed Captioned).
 Extras
To put it short, the Special Features on this season of Brotherhood are a real letdown. You get a Photo Gallery and
some Talent Bios. That’s it. In the words of the Irish: Yippee ki fucking yay.The only real Extra of note here is the surprisingly Low Def-looking Season Three Premiere Episode of Dexter,
which will surely please fans of Showtime’s other fantastic series, but I’m not sure if Brotherhood fans will entirely
appreciate such a blatant “I Must Buy This!” gimmick (I didn’t mind, though).
The Bottom Line
A good series for those who appreciate (and can still tolerate) anything even remotely mob-based.
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