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Brotherhood
Format	Drama
Created by	Blake Masters
Starring	Jason Isaacs Jason Clarke Fionnula Flanagan Annabeth Gish Kevin Chapman Ethan Embry Fiona Erikson Stivi Paskoski
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	21 (List of episodes)
Production
Running time	60 Minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	Showtime
Picture format	480i (NTSC) 1080i (HDTV)
Original run	July 9, 2006 – present
External links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Brotherhood is an American television drama series created by Blake Masters. It is broadcast in the United States on the premium cable network Showtime. The show premiered on July 9, 2006 and ended its second season on December 2, 2007.

Set and produced in Providence, Rhode Island, Brotherhood tells the story of the Irish-American Caffee brothers. Tommy Caffee (Jason Clarke) is a local politician, while his brother Michael (Jason Isaacs) is involved in the neighborhood's Irish Mob — having just returned from time on the lam. The characters are loosely based on Whitey Bulger and his ex-politician brother William Bulger

Brotherhood has received considerable critical acclaim, with critics particularly praising Master's dark, complex writing, and the central performances of Clarke and Isaacs, but has failed to draw a large audience.

Contents 1 Cast and characters 2 Plot synopsis and episode list 2.1 Season 1: 2006 2.2 Season 2: 2007 3 International broadcasters 4 Themes 5 Reception 5.1 Viewing figures 5.2 Critical response 5.3 Awards 6 Production notes 6.1 Origins 6.2 Crew 6.3 Promotion 6.4 Locations 7 DVD release 8 See also 9 References 10 External links

Main article: Characters of Brotherhood

Jason Isaacs plays Michael Caffee, a lifelong criminal who has just returned home, after a self-imposed seven-year exile when a hit was put on him, hoping to pick up where he left off.^[1] Jason Clarke plays Tommy Caffee, Michael's brother and ambitious member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives who is not above bending the rules.^[1]

Annabeth Gish plays Eileen Caffee, Tommy's lonely wife who tries to fill the void in her life with drugs and an affair with the mailman.^[1] Fiona Erickson plays Mary Rose Caffee, Tommy and Eileen's eldest daughter. Fionnula Flanagan plays Rose Caffee, the highly manipulative mother of the Caffee brothers.^[1]

Ethan Embry plays Declan Giggs,a Rhode Island State Police detective who is investigating the Caffee brothers despite having known them since childhood. He often blurs the line between investigating them and protecting them.^[1] Kevin Chapman plays Freddie Cork, an Irish-American gang leader and Michael's very stern, no nonsense boss; he is frequently in conflict with Michael and he often blackmails Tommy. Stivi Paskoski plays Pete McGonagle, a recovering alcoholic who quickly makes himself Michael's partner when Michael returns to town.

Main article: List of Brotherhood episodes

The death of a local mob figure, Patrick "Patty" Mullin, allows for the return of Michael Caffee to "The Hill" neighborhood in Providence, RI. Caffee had been in hiding for seven years after the man vowed to kill him. Upon returning he begins to reassume his old criminal business alongside his friend Pete McConagle. Michael's boss Freddie Cork tries to blackmail Michael's politican brother Tommy Caffee into assigning him lucrative contracts with a threat to kill Michael. Tommy refuses to be swayed and tells Freddie that he does not care about Michael. Michael manages to arrange a temporary truce with Freddie. Eileen Caffee is cheating on her husband Tommy with Carl Hobbs and is also concealing drug use from her family.^[2][3]

Michael takes over a local store with threats. Tommy diffuses the owners intentions to press charges by passing her on to Declan Giggs, an officer who was once friends with the Caffees. Giggs tells her it is too dangerous to testify against the Irish gangs.^[4][5] Michael also takes over a local bar named Mulligans.^[6][7] He rekindles his relationship with Kath Parry and realises how much she cares for him when she stands by him through a shoot out with Russian mobsters.^[8][9]

Tommy turns to Judd for help in preventing a highway being built through "The Hill" and is forced to give up more of his independence.^[10][11] Carl ends his relationship with Eileen.^[10][11] Treasury agents raid Rose Caffee's residence looking for counterfeit money belonging to Michael. They are unsuccesful but the scandal costs Tommy further political capital and he pledges his loyalty to the speaker of the house.^[12][13] Tommy uses his political influence to turn a profit^[14][15] but is outraged when he finds the speaker of the house stealing.^[8][9] Tommy maneuvers his way to the house majority leader position.^[8][9]

Michael helps Declan dispose of a body after Declan's partner unwitingly shoots an undercover FBI agent. Eileen's drug use intensifies and she is arrested for erratic behaviour; Pete also gives in to his addiction and Michael takes him to alcoholics anonymous. Tommy's eldest daughter Mary Rose is caught trying some of her mothers drugs by Michael and he gives her a job in his store to keep an eye on her.^[14][15] Pete and Eileen realise their common ground.^[8][9]

A bus crash on the way back from a football game leaves several residents of "The Hill" dead. The accident was caused by the suicide of Freddie Cork's son who was homosexual. Michael uses this information to manipulate Freddie. Freddie pressures Tommy into ensuring that his son receives a Catholic burial. Carl is also killed and Eileen resolves to atone for her sins. Marty Trio's wife is also killed and he finally decides to work with the police.^[16][17]

Neil Caffee arrives in town and Michael and Tommy form an uneasy alliance to get rid of their father. Rose confronts Michael about how he makes his living. Tommy discovers that his daughter has been working for Michael ending their period of co-operation.^[18][19] Everyone in "The Hill" attends a big Irish wedding, as Tommy Caffee tries to avoid a legal trap set up by an ambitious U.S. Attorney, who has promised him immunity if he will testify about Michael's dealing with Freddie. He must also protect his brother from being whacked by Moe Riley, who has been released from prison and is out for revenge. Declan finds his partner may be a dirty cop and must decide where his loyalty lies. He blames Michael for making him "go bad" and attacks him.^[20][21]

Showtime renewed the show for a second season, consisting of 10 episodes (bringing the total number of episodes to 21). The 10 episodes began production sometime in the fall/winter '06 and began airing on September 30th, 2007. On July 18, 2007, the first two episodes of season 2 were leaked to the internet in torrent form^[22].

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Country	TV Network(s)	Series Premiere	Weekly Schedule
Australia	Showtime	April 2, 2007
Brazil	FX Latin America
Canada	The Movie Network and Movie Central		Mon-Fri 11pm
Finland	JIM	February 26, 2007
Hong Kong	Fox Crime	July 16, 2007	Mondays 10pm
Ireland	Channel 6	April 15, 2007
Italy	FX Italia	September 2006
Japan	Fox Crime	June 7, 2007
South Africa	M-Net	November 2006
United Kingdom	FX Network	October 2006
United States	Showtime	July 9, 2006

The series focuses on the concept of brotherhood through the antagonistic relationship between the Caffee brothers.^[23][24][25] Through its examination of family the show makes loyalty a recurring theme.^[26][27] Though the two brothers follow different paths and try to assert their differences from one another they often prove similar.^[25][26] The show portrays Michael and Tommy striving for the good of their neighborhood through politics and crime, which are often portrayed as similar.^[25] Corruption and the way it infiltrates families, neighborhoods and governments is another theme.^[27] The examination of big city corruption has been compared to the work of Sidney Lumet.^[25]

Masters has admitted an intention to make the city of Providence a character in the show.^[28] The Hollywood Reporter noted the parallels betweent he morally grey areas inhabited by the characters and the muted tones of their surroundings.^[23] "The Hill" is dominated by Irish Americans and the show has been characterised as examining ethnicity.^[25][29]

Despite having a subpar total viewership of 540,000, Showtime has renewed the series for a second season to air in Fall 2007.^[30]

Many critics compared the series to The Sopranos.^{[24][25][26][27]} Some felt that it was actually closer in tone to another HBO drama, The Wire,^[25][27] in terms of portraying "a fine-textured portrait of a blue-collar city"^[24] and predicted comparable under performance in terms of finding an audience.^[24] LA Weekly stated that the show may be more satisfying for viewers than the sixth season of The Sopranos in terms of emotional payoff.^[25] Critics have characterized the show as being part of a wave of programming that puts Showtime on a level pegging with their pay cable rival HBO in terms of quality.^[27]

Critics have praised the central performances of Clarke and Isaacs.^{[24][25][27][29]} They have also commented on the authenticity in casting down to the minor roles and the strong characterization of the supporting cast.^[23][24][25] The Hollywood Reporter named the show as the one to watch over the summer it debuted and stated that the ensemble of well drawn characters created a "reality that speaks to the collision of interests, the dispersal of power and the impossibility of effective compromise."^[23] The Phoenix picked out Annabeth Gish's against type role as an adulterous addict as potentially re-defining her career.^[24] Variety said that Isaacs performance as Michael provided the lifeblood of the series by grabbing the attention.^[29]

The Seattle Post Intelligencer described the show as a "masterpiece."^[26] Variety called it "the jewel Showtime has sought for years."^[29]

The show has been criticized as lacking the humorous approach of Italian-American gangster stories like A Bronx Tale, Goodfellas, and The Sopranos.^[31] The show has also been described as initially off putting due to its flawed characters but more involving as it progresses.^[27]

The show was a 2007 Peabody Award winner.^[32]

The series was created by Blake Masters. He compares the central, antagonistic relationship of the two brothers to to the Bible story of Jacob and Esau.^[28] He also based the brothers on the real life story of reputed gangster (and one of the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives) Whitey Bulger and his ex-politician brother William Bulger.^[24][27] Despite comparisons to The Sopranos, Masters claims he was more inspired by another familial crime saga, the Corleones of The Godfather.^[24] Masters grew up in New England and is portraying a small city where everyone knows one another.^[28]

Masters serves as an executive producer and writer as well as the shows creator.^[23] Henry Bromell and Elizabeth Guber Stephen also served as executive producers, Brommel also writes for the show.^[23] Writers Nicole Yorkin and Dawn Prestwich and Director Phillip Noyce are the shows co-executive producers.^[23] Noyce's background in film drew some praise for his strong visual sense direction of the pilot but was also criticized for distracting from the writing and not fitting with the direction of later episodes.^[25]

Showtime made the entire first season available to critics on DVD before the show aired.^[26] Showtime parent company CBS aired a single showing of the pilot episode of Brotherhood to try to increase viewer interest.^[33] It drew in over 3 million viewers, but the numbers were still very low.

The series is filmed on location in Providence, RI. The Providence Journal editorialized on the production as follows:

The production of Showtime's The Brotherhood has enlivened Providence streets on and off for months.... An occasional loss of parking spaces to film crews and tax dollars for incentives to bring them here sets some teeth to grinding, but few don't feel the tingle of curiosity when approaching one of those star trailers.... Movies mean money, and film festivals lubricate our celloid (sic) culture in preparation for more.

—Editorial, Our own little Hollywood, Providence Journal August 22, 2007, p. B 4, see^[34].

Some scenes were filmed at the Olneyville New York System Restaurant in Providence, Rhode Island.^[35] In May 2007 the show's camera crews went to Woonsocket, Rhode Island, to film various street scenes and buildings in that city for inclusion in future episodes of the show.

Season 1 is currently available on DVD.

• Teodoro Maniaci - director of photography for 2007 season

• Official Showtime page
• Official TMN Canada page
• Brotherhood on TV Squad
• Brotherhood at metacritic.com
• An Interview with Series Creator Blake Masters
• Brotherhood on Tv.com