Magic City: "The Year of the Fin" Review

Advance Review: Audiences got a sneak peek of this episode last week after the Spartacus: Vengeance finale, but since it doesn't officially premiere until April 6th I'm going to still treat this rundown as an "advance" review, leaving full-spoilers out of the mix. Of all the shows that have tried to reap the whirlwind that is Mad Men and the allure/panache of the 1960s (Pan Am, Playboy Club), Starz' Magic City, in its ability to provide us with a full adult content time capsule, comes the closest. And while this show still has a lot to prove, the pilot episode "The Year of the Fin," deftly takes us through a day in the hectic life of Magic City's Don Draper-surrogate, Isaac "Ike" Evans (Jeffrey Dean Morgan).

As the proprietor of the 1958 hotspot resort, the Miramar Playa, Evans is a man with many plates in the air. On New Year's Eve day, Evans is in the midst of the war with the local labor union, refusing to have his employees join their ranks citing the fact that his workers themselves don't even want to join up since he pays and treats them better than any other hotel. And while there are certain things, familiar tropes, that accompany a show set in this era (slick clothing, appealing cocktails, rampant smoking, historic events and personalities popping up), creator/writer Mitch Glazer was wise to give Ike a dilemma to deal with right out of the gate. With his hotel being picketed, Ike might have no way of getting booze into his hotel in time for Frank Sinatra to play an all-important New Year's Eve concert.

And so this problem, which leads Ike all over town, was a clever way of having him "make the rounds" and introduce us to all the characters in play. And while it's abundantly clear when you're being forced to swallow a bit of necessary pilot episode exposition, nothing ever becomes egregiously "walk and talk," allowing the look and feel of the era to effectively permeate into the story. It's clear, from the opening scene, that Ike is a man with a guilty conscience, but he's not, shall we say, a bad man. He's territorial. And he'll do awful things when pushed, or trapped. But overall he's a loving father and husband – who probably doesn't allow himself to slow down long enough to dwell on his shortcomings or wallow inside his inner darkness. Jeffrey Dean Morgan, of course, looks like a natural in a suit, lighting a cigar. But despite having "the look," he's able to get across the most necessary aspect of Ike that you need to take away from this episode; the fact that this hotel means absolutely everything to him.

Ike's trophy wife, and stepmother to his kids, Vera (Olga Kurylenko) is an interesting case because she's a bit of a do-nothing. She deals with a certain amount of family tension, but overall she's basically around to look pretty and hang on Ike's arm. And while we don't know what lies ahead for her character, it was interesting to see such a major role on the show be "the wife who doesn't know." And while Ike isn't having extra-marital affairs like Don Draper, he does keep his wife in the dark about the things he needs to do in order to keep his extravagant "selling the dream" palace afloat. So with Vera comes the hope that she'll eventually be given a bit more layering, and that perhaps she'll even get to share in some of Ike's turmoil.

Ike's sons, in a typical manner, represent both sides of the coin; with Danny (Christian Cooke) being the earnest, honest one and Stevie (Steven Strait) being the cocky playboy. But while not much is developed with Danny, Stevie is given the star treatment, as not only does he wind up instantly falling for the "wrong girl" in form of Jessica Marais' Lily, but he gets to be Ike's go-to son. Even though it might seem that Ike would have several misgivings over Stevie's irresponsible nature.

And just when it seems like everything's unfolding according to genre, in steps Danny Huston's Ben Diamond - a rather grand, movie villain-esque gangster character who represents Ike's "deal with the devil." I'm still a bit torn as to whether Diamond's Shakespearian tone successfully gels with the rest of the show, but I do know that it's fun to watch him chew up the scenery.

So yes, there's an abundance of smoking, drinking and swaggering, and it's never not clear that Starz isn't trying to seduce you with this show, but Magic City still resonates. This pilot episode might have taken us through more than a few familiar beats, but it also definitely established the concept of man's paradise as a combination of both heaven and hell. Matt Fowler is an Editor of IGN TV. You can follow him on Twitter at @MattIGN.

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