# Magic City (2012)

> In 1959 Miami, a hotel owner strikes a dangerous bargain with a mob boss to save his glittering resort.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/35815

## Facts

- Seasons: 2
- Episodes: 16
- Episode runtime: 50 min
- Status: Canceled
- Genres: drama, crime
- Created by: Mitch Glazer
- Network: STARZ
- Cast: Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Olga Kurylenko, Steven Strait, Jessica Marais, Christian Cooke, Elena Satine, Dominik Garcia, Taylor Blackwell
- TMDB rating: 7.6/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1832045/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: moderate
- Tone: glamorous, sensual, tense, morally murky, sardonic

## What critics say

Magic City is admired for its glossy 1959 Miami production design and lush period atmosphere, though critics found its plotting uneven and its melodrama overheated.

## Synopsis

Magic City (2012-2013) is a American premium cable period crime drama created by Mitch Glazer for STARZ, running two seasons of eight episodes each before its cancellation. Jeffrey Dean Morgan plays Ike Evans, the ambitious owner of Miami's most glamorous hotel, the Miramar Playa, who must make a dangerous pact with mob boss Ben Diamond (Danny Huston) to keep his glittering establishment afloat. Olga Kurylenko plays his wife Vera, while Steven Strait and Christian Cooke play his sons, and Jessica Marais plays Lily Diamond, whose loyalties complicate the family's bargains. The engine of the series is the constant pressure of debt, rival gangsters, and the need to keep a luxury venue looking flawless while its foundations rot. Each episode is built from nightclub deals, backroom negotiations, hotel-floor intrigue, and the uneasy truce between wealthy exiles and organized crime. Set in 1959 Miami shortly after the Cuban Revolution, the show is a sun-bleached, sensual, morally murky drama with a sharp sense of period glamour. Fans of Boardwalk Empire and Mad Men will find resonance in its mix of mid-century style, ambition, and criminal entanglement, though its tone stays closer to a seductive, dangerous soap than a sober history lesson.

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