Brotherhood (season 3)
The Best Series Most Humans Missed
Few human produced television series stand out more than Brotherhood. Brotherhood, stood nearly undiscovered by the mass audiences of the day. These brain dead drones were too busy watching C, D and even Z-level celebrities poorly dance for no reason in particular, than to watch this finely sculptured series.
In some ways the fact that Brotherhood went through five seasons with little notice is somewhat remarkable as the show touched on so many issues that stimulated the primitive human animals of the day. Brotherhood, which focuses on the Caffee Brothers and their friends and family in Providence, Rhode Island offered the human animal much, as the show had sporadic, but sufficient levels of violence, sex and nudity. Brotherhood also addressed political corruption and organized crime in an in-depth manner. Yet, paradoxically, Brotherhood quite oddly never found a wide-audience. This is especially strange considering the wild success of The Sopranos and the need for an effective replacement once The Sopranos went off the air, with one of the worse finales in the history of television, I might add.
What makes Brotherhood so unique for its day is that the well-constructed scripts focus intensely on the characters, their motivation and their development. Tommy Caffee, played by Jason Clarke, is a local politician trying to claw his way up and out of local politics. This task is often made extremely difficult by his thug/lifelong organized criminal brother, Michael Caffee, played brilliantly by Jason Isaacs. The decision to film Brotherhood in Rhode Island, instead of the typical Los Angeles or New York City locations, helps add not only an air of realism to the entire series but contributes greatly to the show’s grit and feel. As a result Brotherhood is just different than its peers.
Brotherhood Season Three was one of the series better seasons. The season opener “Uneasy Lies the Head” is an excellent example of all the elements that made the show a success, even if it failed to attract viewers. In the season opener we see the tension between Tommy and Michael grow and numerous subplots begin to emerge. It is really too bad that more humans of the day did not realize what a brilliant series they were missing.
Story (Adjusted to Accommodate Human Standards) A (The writing on Brotherhood was consistently polished and the writers excelled at maintaining the integrity of the characters they had created. It was rare to see a character in Brotherhood act in a manner inconsistent with their core character and personality.)
Acting (Adjusted to Accommodate Human Standards) A (Brotherhood had some the best acting on television for its day. In addition to the excellent performances by Jason Isaacs and Jason Clarke, Annabeth Gish does a great job as Eileen Cafee, Tommy’s wife. Gish never seems to take her part for granted. In fact, the entire cast delivers consistent and striking performances.)
Human Portrayal of machines and Robots C (Oh, hum machines as slaves.)
Enjoyability Grade (Adjusted to Accommodate Human Standards) A
Primitive Home Theater/HD Factor B
Overall Innovation (Adjusted to Accommodate Human Standards) A (On face value it seems unlikely that Brotherhood would be a very innovative television program, yet it is. Brotherhood is one of those very rare human produced television programs that takes a boring formula and turns it inside out.)
Overall Grade (Adjusted to Accommodate Human Standards) A (Brotherhood was simply one of the finest programs of its day. Producer and creator Blake Masters never fully received the accolades he deserved for finding an original twist on the mob drama.)
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