The Brotherhood – The Final Season (2008/Season Three/Showtime DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: B- Extras: D Episodes: C
Of the
many series that wanted to capitalize on The
Sopranos, none managed to get any commercial traction, but the attempts are
always interesting. Not that they work,
but Showtime stuck by The Brotherhood
for three seasons simply because they did not want to go without their answer
to the HBO hit. Joining the series in
its Third and Final Season, if the
show was good before, it was time to wrap it up.
We get The
Caffee Family, including two brothers split between two worlds, give to take
their similarities. Michael (Jason
Issacs) is a rough gangster, while brother Tommy (Jason Clarke) is a politician
on Capitol Hill. The Irish family from a
small town in Providence, Rhode Island (a state known for some interesting
organized crime activity that just happens to be not far away from New Jersey)
and not enough is made of the difference.
Though I
like the cast (also including Annabeth Gish, Kerry O’Malley, Fiona C. Erikson,
Ethan Embry and Brian F. O’Byrne), the show is uneven and like the many such
shows that happened before The Sopranos. The makers do not understand the genre and
just want to do a straight-out melodrama.
We get the last eight hour-long shows over 2 DVDs and it ends while it
is ahead and without leaving fans too stuck.
Others might want to start form the beginning to get the most out of the
show.
The anamorphically
enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is a little soft throughout, partly from styling,
partly from the format. A little motion
blur can be see too. The Dolby Digital
5.1 mix is better than the 2.0 Stereo options with a decent soundfield and good
recording overall. There are no extras.
- Nicholas Sheffo
