Brotherhood: Season 1 review (DVD) ★★★★

In Brotherhood, two brothers at opposite sides of the law make it their own personal quest to reign over The Hill, a small and predominantly Irish neighbourhood in the picturesque Providence, Rhode Island. Michael Caffee, a gangster with a bloodstained history of murder who returns to The Hill after seven years of being presumed dead, and Tommy Caffee, a politician hoping to rise through the ranks in his bid to eventually become Mayor, are bound unconditionally by brotherly love, but their relationship is sent on a rollercoaster ride as, between death and crooked politics, they clash like black and white, which is essentially what they both are: polar opposites.

But dirty politics and the countless illegalities of being a gangster barely scratch the surface of what Brotherhood entails. Tommy's wife lives in the personal turmoil of a midlife crisis, depressed, paranoid and reliant on alcohol, pot and cocaine, and to make matters worse, her teenage daughter has become aware of a couple of her secrets and, at the tender age that she is, has been influenced by her 'extracurricular activities'. And friends and family everywhere seem to each be falling apart at the seams, as a fellow gangster battles to stay sober after beating the booze, and the Caffee matriarch struggles to adapt to life in an ever-changing society that is losing its tradition and values.