The Deuce 3.7: Who Is Lori Madison?

A beautiful, tragic penultimate episode of The Deuce on HBO tonight, as I suppose intelligent stories about the porn business are wont to be.

The beautiful part was a beauty of the soul, when Candy asked Lori who she was.  Candy explained that she was two people - the former prostitute and now porn director, Candy, and the woman, daughter, and mother, Eileen.   Candy could've read some of Erving Goffman, the sociologist who said all of us lead at least two lives, our public lives that we show to the world, and private lives that we show only to our family and close friends.  Sometime they're not very different.  Sometimes they are.

But Lori was unwilling to talk, even to her benefactor and friend of sorts, Candy, about Lori's private life.  She wouldn't even tell Candy her real name.  And so we were left to conclude that Lori was missing a life.  And the most important life at that.  Her private life.  Who she was, when only those she loved were looking.  So maybe that was an admission that she loved no one, and no one loved her.  The negation of what Candy had assured Lori of, that everyone loved Lori Madison.  Because Lori Madison was not a real person.  She was just an act.

And I suppose that explains what happened at the end of the episode.  It was horrible and so unnecessary.   You get the feeling that if only Lori had given herself more of a chance, she would have been professionally more successful, on her terms, and also found somebody to love.  (Unforgettable performance as Lori by Emily Meade.)

Did Candy realize, the next day, what happened, when Lori didn't show for work?  I think she certainly sensed it.   If you haven't seen The Deuce, it's worth seeing if only for this episode.

Next week is the series finale.

See also The Deuce 3.1: 1985 ... The Deuce 3.2: The First Amendment! ... The Deuce 3.3: Love and Money, Pimps and Agents ... The Deuce 3.4: Major Changes ... The Deuce 3.5: Lori and Candy ... The Deuce 3.6: Memorable Scenes

And see also The Deuce Is Back - Still Without Cellphones, and that's a Good Thing ... The Deuce 2.2: Fairytales Can Come True ... The Deuce 2.3: The Price ... The Deuce 2.4: The Ad-Lib ... The Deuce 2.6: "Bad Bad Larry Brown" ... The Deuce 2.9: Armand, Southern Accents, and an Ending ... The Deuce Season 2 Finale: The Video Revolution

And see also The Deuce: NYC 1971 By Way of The Wire and "Working with Marshall McLuhan" ... Marilyn Monroe on the Deuce 1.7 ... The Deuce Season 1 Finale: Hitchcock and Truffaut 

  
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