Brotherhood, episode deux

Episode II of Showtime's series "Brotherhood" was on last night, and despite my misgivings about the plot, characters and acting. Why? The scenery, naturally.

In the second episode, some mention is finally made of actual ethnic groups that really do live in Rhode Island when the lead character Tommy Caffee visits a Portuguese festival, and in a nod to actual Rhode Island politics, bribes a Portuguese state senator. Bonus points are awarded for calling Portugal a "poor man's Spain", although this probably won't go over well with actual Portuguese in Rhode Island. I also found myself recognizing locations in Valley and Manton in a driving scene, and as before, plenty of side streets in my own neighborhood, Federal Hill, most of which looks every bit as terrible as it does in real life, something I'm completely in favor of.

As noted before, there are barely enough Irish in Providence to fill the Green Bar (as seen in the show), much less provide the muscle for an Irish crime syndicate. Out in Los Angeles, "New England" is more or less synonymous with "Boston", which also accounts for the bad Boston accents on the show. I don't know whether to blame the "dialogue coach" or the actors. Take your pick.

At this rate, I'm not sure I'll stick around for episode III, but if I have nothing else to do at 10:00 PM next Sunday ....