Season 1 has documented the massive cultural change leading to the sex industry becoming easier to access. It's shown who benefits from the new opportunities brought by the sexual revolution and who falls behind. "My Name is Ruby" further examines this, as well as concluding many of its characters' stories in depressing ways.
The pimps clearly have suffered as a result of being unable to adapt. An attempt to make it into the drug trade falls miserably into a sting. Ruby, unfortunately, didn't make it. She had a chance to make it out of the dangerous, potentially violent, working on the street and her mistake is obvious when a john pushes her to her death for the terrible crime of declaring her real name. She wouldn't have been in a position of a john taking back her money if she had followed the other girls into the "massage parlour".
Meanwhile, some of the characters who are benefiting the most wash their hands of what happens to those at the bottom. In Abby and Vincent's confrontation, he tellingly says "The Deuce is the Deuce". That's how it works. It's the system, you've just got to accept it. He's talking like a true businessman. And Vince clearly doesn't care to ever see his wife again, as he has judged money to be more important. The revelation of how much Vincent has changed in such a short time is the real gut punch, concluding the season in a bitter way.
The real gripe I have with this episode is that a couple of events are so convenient that they feel contrived and predictable. Take what happens with Candy, the director is late to work so she takes over and it turns out she does a really good job. It's too convenient for the plot. You could argue Ruby's death is, too, but it's fine because David Simon uses her death to make a point.
This episode, and the season as a whole, particularly the second half, has made for some of the best TV all year. Rather than succumbing to conventional modern storytelling, David Simon instead explores the way multiple characters' lives are affected by the new opportunities arising from the dramatic changes to the sex trade. This makes it TV you can properly get absorbed in, you can mull over the issues for long after an episode is finished. That is the hallmark of great TV.
The pimps clearly have suffered as a result of being unable to adapt. An attempt to make it into the drug trade falls miserably into a sting. Ruby, unfortunately, didn't make it. She had a chance to make it out of the dangerous, potentially violent, working on the street and her mistake is obvious when a john pushes her to her death for the terrible crime of declaring her real name. She wouldn't have been in a position of a john taking back her money if she had followed the other girls into the "massage parlour".
Meanwhile, some of the characters who are benefiting the most wash their hands of what happens to those at the bottom. In Abby and Vincent's confrontation, he tellingly says "The Deuce is the Deuce". That's how it works. It's the system, you've just got to accept it. He's talking like a true businessman. And Vince clearly doesn't care to ever see his wife again, as he has judged money to be more important. The revelation of how much Vincent has changed in such a short time is the real gut punch, concluding the season in a bitter way.
The real gripe I have with this episode is that a couple of events are so convenient that they feel contrived and predictable. Take what happens with Candy, the director is late to work so she takes over and it turns out she does a really good job. It's too convenient for the plot. You could argue Ruby's death is, too, but it's fine because David Simon uses her death to make a point.
This episode, and the season as a whole, particularly the second half, has made for some of the best TV all year. Rather than succumbing to conventional modern storytelling, David Simon instead explores the way multiple characters' lives are affected by the new opportunities arising from the dramatic changes to the sex trade. This makes it TV you can properly get absorbed in, you can mull over the issues for long after an episode is finished. That is the hallmark of great TV.