The new season starts tomorrow night, and I know I'm not the only one looking forward to it. Meanwhile, to slake some of the thirst, check out this fantastic and illuminating Salon interview (requires subscription or day pass) with show creator David Milch.
The intro paragraph explains rather deftly why Deadwood is so genre-bustingly great:
Now, I couldn't help but keen a little when Milch said this:
What?! Where is this show about Rome in the time of Caesar? They better not have turned Milch's swooningly delicious idea down and then shitcanned their other one because I have needs, people, needs.
Another interesting aspect of the interview is how much Milch uses metaphors of religion and God to describe the dynamics of the show which is itself in no way top-heavy with religion. It's subtle and profound and thoughtful and makes me love the show even more.
Anyway, let's talk Deadwood, y'all. Favorite characters, plot twists, scenes, relationships? What are you looking forward to this season? Are there any Deadwood haters/neutrals out there?
I haven't ever watched it, liv...and I'll be on the road tomorrow for a twelve hour drive to North Carolina for a regional meeting of Urban Cohorts so that we can all figure out how to better fight evil and plot out what we should be doing with ourselves.
After that whole Agrippina ordeal we try to get together every now and again.
I bet you'd love it, Ronin. The good thing is that since it's on HBO, you can count on at least 20 reruns during the week so you shouldn't have to miss an episode.
On a kinkier note, whatever you end up doing with yourselves, I'd be much obliged if it you would film it.
In the last episode when Jewel, the girl with cerebral palsy, newly equipped with a leg brace danced with Doc, Al Swearengen seeing the scene from his balcony perch, also looked down at Trixie, his former main squeeze, at the bar. She looked back up at him and smiled. He lowered and shook his head, almost as though to say, with out words, "What have I done?" His character is much much deeper than just the simple bully and crime boss, much deeper.
Anyway, I am eagerly awaiting tomorrow night's episode.
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Sleep - the most beautiful experience in life - except drink.--W.C. Fields
I really like the fact that all of the characters are complex, even the minor characters. I happen to like ellsworth because he says some of the coolest shit. It is interesting that he helps mrs. garret work her claim, but he never tells her that he saw her husband murdered.
As far as Bullock is concerned, the episode where he beats Mrs. Garret's father, asks dan to have him killed and then gets the colonel to have him protected really shows the depth and complexity of Bullocks character.
Hmm, I never watched the show but now I want to. I am very grateful to have HBO on Demand...I can start from the beginning Thanks for the interest piquing thread.
In the last episode when Jewel, the girl with cerebral palsy, newly equipped with a leg brace danced with Doc, Al Swearengen seeing the scene from his balcony perch, also looked down at Trixie, his former main squeeze, at the bar. She looked back up at him and smiled. He lowered and shook his head, almost as though to say, with out words, "What have I done?" His character is much much deeper than just the simple bully and crime boss, much deeper.
Agreed. Even though it's entirely unspoken, I felt like Trixie was in a sense forgiving him with that smile, including him in that small but genuinely happy moment of Jewel dancing. His reaction struck me as a devastatingly sad inability to accept that offer.
Another scene which shows just how much depth there is to Swearengen was the blow job at the end of the second to last episode. It's probably one of the most disturbing scenes I've ever seen on TV. He tells us about his whore mother, the orphanage she put him in, his hatred for the woman who ran it, and all of this set to the rhythm of that hideous blow job.
I really like the fact that all of the characters are complex, even the minor characters. I happen to like ellsworth because he says some of the coolest shit. It is interesting that he helps mrs. garret work her claim, but he never tells her that he saw her husband murdered.
That's a good point. I'd never actually considered that. Part of it is that I'm still a little sketchy at keeping all the minor characters straight.
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As far as Bullock is concerned, the episode where he beats Mrs. Garret's father, asks dan to have him killed and then gets the colonel to have him protected really shows the depth and complexity of Bullocks character.
Yessir, and I think that ties in really well with what Milch was saying in the interview about Bullock needing the law to essentially protect himself from himself, to convert his impulse to violence into an impulse to order.
In the last episode when Jewel, the girl with cerebral palsy, newly equipped with a leg brace danced with Doc, Al Swearengen seeing the scene from his balcony perch, also looked down at Trixie, his former main squeeze, at the bar. She looked back up at him and smiled. He lowered and shook his head, almost as though to say, with out words, "What have I done?" His character is much much deeper than just the simple bully and crime boss, much deeper.
Agreed. Even though it's entirely unspoken, I felt like Trixie was in a sense forgiving him with that smile, including him in that small but genuinely happy moment of Jewel dancing. His reaction struck me as a devastatingly sad inability to accept that offer.
I had a similar take on that scene. Trixie smiled at Al, and, although, he loves her, he rejects her and the moment. He also has the compassion to end the Reverend's sufferring though.
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Another scene which shows just how much depth there is to Swearengen was the blow job at the end of the second to last episode. It's probably one of the most disturbing scenes I've ever seen on TV. He tells us about his whore mother, the orphanage she put him in, his hatred for the woman who ran it, and all of this set to the rhythm of that hideous blow job.
Amazing work all around.
yeah, throughout the first season, al talks and works things out in his head during sex. It is as if he does it to release the tension and stress but doesnt enjoy it.
I really like the fact that all of the characters are complex, even the minor characters. I happen to like ellsworth because he says some of the coolest shit. It is interesting that he helps mrs. garret work her claim, but he never tells her that he saw her husband murdered.
That's a good point. I'd never actually considered that. Part of it is that I'm still a little sketchy at keeping all the minor characters straight.
well it probably helps that I have seen every episode 3 times or more on my comp.
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As far as Bullock is concerned, the episode where he beats Mrs. Garret's father, asks dan to have him killed and then gets the colonel to have him protected really shows the depth and complexity of Bullocks character.
Yessir, and I think that ties in really well with what Milch was saying in the interview about Bullock needing the law to essentially protect himself from himself, to convert his impulse to violence into an impulse to order.
Indeed, if you think about it, Seth runs from responsibility by coming to deadwood, and continues to run from it once he is there. Yet, he chooses to become involved anytime there is an innocent threatened. If he hadnt met the indian and killed him, he would have killed the coward Jack McCall and not under the color of law. Does he become sheriff to protect the town from the evil that men do, or rather from the evil that he will do without the law guiding him?
sorry about the incoherence of the above paragraph but I think I could right a couple of thousand words about the subject in formal style and didnt want to go on too much.
Well that was pretty much the shit. Did y'all see the preview for Rome the Series? I actually teared up. Go ahead and laugh. I'm not ashamed.
It was sexy, violent, twisted, and everything else.
If I had to pick a favorite part was it would probably be Swearengen's welcome to fucking Deadwood. The fact that a kid froze him in his tracks speaks again to that part of him which in a (fucked up) way wants rescues children from the fate he endured.
bey, you made perfect sense, particularly on the second reading.
Boy am I glad no one has begun discussing the episode yet.
It turns out I'm keeping HBO (and the rest of my soft-core porn cable networks...er, I mean movie channels). So, now I get to watch Deadwood. I DVR'd it last night and will probably watch it tonight.
But, I did catch the preview of Rome. Would it be wrong to admit that when I saw I immediately thought of liv (and, no, I'm gonna cite which specific scene triggered the thought).
Sweet! Be sure to post here after you watch it. As for Rome, I'd say git yer mind out of the gutter, but it looks like that's exactly where the show is set. Much to my delight.
In typical HBO fashion, the colorful language of the characters in Deadwood has called to question the etymology of some of the cursewords used. To answer some who might question the authenticity of the use of fucker and cocksucker, I looked them up in the Online Etymology Dictionary:
cock/cocksucker - O.E. cocc, O.Fr. coq, O.N. kokkr, all of echoic origin. O.E. cocc was a nickname for "one who strutted like a cock," thus a common term in the Middle Ages for a pert boy, used of scullions, apprentices, servants, etc. A common personal name till c.1500, it was affixed to Christian names as a pet diminutive, cf. Wilcox, Hitchcock, etc. Slang sense of "penis" is attested since 1618 (but cf. pillicock "penis," from c.1300). Cock-teaser is from 1891. Cock-sucker is used curiously for aggressively obnoxious men; the ancients would have understood the difference between passive and active roles; Catullus, writing of his boss, employs the useful L. insult irrumator, which means "someone who forces others to give him oral sex," hence "one who treats people with contempt."
fuck/fucker/fucking - [Regardless of origin] Fuck was outlawed in print in England (by the Obscene Publications Act, 1857) and the U.S. (by the Comstock Act, 1873). The word may have been shunned in print, but it continued in conversation, especially among soldiers during WWI.
Just remember this quote from a man that lived through that era and oft wrote of the profane and blasphemous and the men who disseminated such, profusely and profoundly:
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Originally Posted by Mark Twain, a Biography
Under certain circumstances, urgent circumstances, desperate circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer.
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Sleep - the most beautiful experience in life - except drink.--W.C. Fields
oh ok, I thought it was a "time it aired" problem. But apparenty it is just a time crunch problem. For me it is a monetary problem. I only get cable here becuase it comes with the apartment. No extra channels for me and no DVR. But thankfully more time.
My only wish about this episode is that I had watched it sooner. A great second season opener, re-introduces just about all of the characters. Even the more minor characters get enough to let you know what they are about.
And once again, it's clear to me that Al is the smartest man in Deadwood. He is Deadwood. Sure, he's a criminal and he's looking out for himself. But, he's savvy enough to know that if Deadwood prospers, so does he.
His opposite number, Sy Tolliver, isn't so smart. There's an intelligence there, but it's the intelligence of a predator. Cunning and sly, but probably cannot see beyond his next meal.
My satellite is down for the count, I'm afraid, so no programming of any kind for me until the nice folks at Comcast come through. IOW, I'm kinda glad the second episode wasn't as good. It soothes my savage, in TV withdrawal beast.