The hugely atmospheric, almost-there series from Starz, “Magic City,” returns on Friday night. It’s still not as well-written or plotted as it should be — but it still sure looks great.
In case you missed it last season, “Magic City” takes place in Miami Beach during its first heyday — the late 1950s to the early 1960s. The series revolves around Ike Evans (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and his family — hot young second wife Vera (Olga Kurylenko), and his grown sons, Stevie (Steven Strait)and Danny (Christian Cooke).
The family business is the Miramar Playa Hotel, the big luxury hotel that plays host to movie stars and gangsters and headline entertainers like Frank Sinatra and other Rat Packers.
Ike is based loosely on hotelier Ben Novack, who owned the Fontainebleau back then.
(A new book, “Prince of Paradise,” details Novack’s life, including the sleazy murder of his son.)
When we left Ike last season, he was in jail for murder, with $1 million bail on his head.
In this season’s opener, it’s clear that Ike doesn’t want to tap mobster Ben “The Butcher” Diamond (Danny Huston) with whom he — and his pleasure palace — are already in way too deep. Ike’s hot wife has other ideas, however. She thinks it’s better to tap Ben than her rival sister-in-law, Meg (Kelly Lynch). It’s all OK, but the problem is that there still isn’t anyone to really care much about.
Maybe the real-life Miami power brokers and Jewish mobsters back then were all violence and no charm, all schmaltz and no matzah. But that’s doubtful. After all, if David Chase could make us care about the despicable characters in “The Sopranos,” writer/creator Mitch Glazer should be able to make us care about these guys, too.
That said, the acting is terrific — particularly from James Caan (he plays a Chicago mob boss), Morgan and Huston — and you can’t beat the costumes.
Well, that’s when the women are wearing any costumes — which isn’t all that often.