5 reasons to binge The Deuce S2

Season two of The Deuce, which chronicles the rise of pornography and the multibillion-dollar industry’s transformation of American culture, is now available to binge first and only on Showmax in Africa.

Here are five reasons to add the HBO hit series to your watchlist right now.

1. It’s about the Golden Age of Pornography

Season 2 of The Deuce picks up in 1977: the start of the Golden Age of Pornography and five years after the culmination of the first season.

“This is the moment when porn had its most exaggerated ambitions for itself,” says co-creator David Simon (The Wire). “It was almost granted a full artistic license. There was this moment when people thought – and not entirely naively – that pornography could become its own narrative form that would be taken seriously. It almost seems silly and quaint now but at the moment it felt like the world was opening up for anything.”

2. It stars Maggie Gyllenhaal in a Golden Globe-nominated role

Oscar nominee Maggie Gyllenhaal (Crazy Heart) was nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance in The Deuce as Eileen “Candy” Merrell, a prostitute turned pornographer.

In Season 2, she’s getting more ambitious: she wants to make “art porn”, which will appeal to both women as well as men.

“Porn was just beginning when she started. She’s like, ‘I want to be a part of figuring out what it can be, what its limits are,’” says Maggie. “She wants to express herself in her work, and why shouldn’t she?”

3. It’s from the creators of The Wire

The Deuce was created by George Pelecanos and David Simon, who previously collaborated on the HBO series The Wire, widely hailed as “the best TV show ever.”

They put together a star-studded writing team that includes the likes of Edgar-winning crime novelists Richard Price and Megan Abbott, and Edgar nominee Lisa Lutz – with season one earning a Writers Guild of America nomination.

4. Season 2 is even better than Season 1

The second season has even better reviews than the first, with a whopping 99% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics consensus is that “The Deuce’s excellent character-driven drama returns with even more immersive world-building and a welcome focus on its leading ladies, carried by a tour de force performance from Maggie Gyllenhaal.”

Unsurprisingly, HBO has renewed The Deuce for a third and final season.

5. It’s the best conversation starter of the year

According to Pornhub’s 2017 Year in Review insights, the site had over 28 billion visits last year. Pornhub’s visitors voted over 120m times – a million more votes than were cast in the last US election.

So it’s about time we talked about porn – and The Deuce is the perfect way to slip it into polite conversation. The series will also get you talking about #metoo, blaxploitation, grindhouse, the mafia, peak disco, attempts to regulate sexuality, how pagers displaced pimps, and among other things, the need for “intimacy coordinators” on TV series, something The Deuce was a pioneer on.

As Vogue put it, The Deuce is “one of the most risk-taking and interesting shows on TV… It’s entertaining, sure, a time capsule, a thinking person’s drama—but also a conversation starter and a provocation in the best possible way.”

Start watching now »