Deadwood "Deadwood" Review (1x01)
Mar 9, 2015 1:50:06 GMT -5
jerkassimo, nowimnothing, and 1 more like this
Post by Pear on Mar 9, 2015 1:50:06 GMT -5
Note: I have all reviews written, so they'll all go up here relatively quickly. Nowimnothing requested I post them here a few months ago, and I'm just getting around to it now; I am bad at doing what I say I will do, after all. Also, please check out Lovely Bones's review of the pilot. I'm bummed he wasn't able to cover the series, but what he did write was fantastic.
“If he has to hang tonight, Sol, it’s going to be under color of law.”
Deadwood is a lawless town. This is something that’s established right off the bat because once we understand that fact, many characters are already given a backbone of motivation. If this is a show about community, about how different people come together to form a civilization, then there must be a common setting in which the show can explore these ideas. Whether we have people in conflict, working together, or simply passing by each other, the show already has a basic framework for all of them, and it is through that framework that we can tackle, well, the absence of a framework.
That framework we have, of course, is essentially this: Why Deadwood? What about this town–one that technically belongs to the Indians–draws people to it? Does lawlessness mean something different to a common criminal than it does to a marshal or a prostitute or a bar owner or an ultimate outlaw? What happens when America seems so far away, when you have no one to really set the rules in stone?
In the brilliant opening sequence of the pilot, some of those questions are immediately brought up through the story of Clell Watson, someone set to be hanged the next morning. We don’t know him for a long time, but with his character, the show establishes someone who sees Deadwood as a paradise of sorts. Sure, it makes sense that a convicted thief would want to go somewhere where he wouldn’t really be a convicted thief, but it isn’t just fear and desperation shining through here; it’s the idea of freedom, freedom for family and freedom to hope for a better life. This is a show that won’t shy away from the ugly side of human nature, but it understands that not everything is shrouded in ugliness, in dark motivations and violence and death.
After all, Deadwood is not a town in which people run around killing people, doing whatever the hell they want to whomever they want. Law can be written down, but what is a piece of paper if no one abides by the law? In the end, law and justice may not necessarily be lost in Deadwood just because it’s not written down; rather, law and justice are constantly evolving, constantly being interpreted by different people. It’s an idea that has its own problems, but it’s an idea that does not cause the town to descend into a world of madness. Take, for example, Seth Bullock, someone who seems a bit weary of having to constantly uphold the responsibilities of a marshal–his motivations for traveling to Deadwood are to start a hardware business with his partner, Sol Star–yet also someone who still constantly upholds the responsibilities of a marshal. This is the idea behind what he does in the opening scene, and later on in Deadwood, he just can’t stay away from carrying out justice in one way or another. He chases away a con man, and he jumps at the opportunity to get to the bottom of a massacre.
The true contrast to the apparent honor and morality of Bullock seems to be Al Swearengen–I feel like in the pilot, Bullock is strung up between Al and Wild Bill in terms of characterization–but the episode doesn’t put them together yet (man, I can’t wait for when they actually do meet). Instead, we get the adventures of Wild Bill Hickok and Seth Bullock, the former of whom is even more weary than the latter. Their scenes together are excellent, evoking a passing-of-the-torch feel as we see how similar their drives are, how they both want to find the person responsible for the massacre. However, we also see a Wild Bill who is certainly past his prime, someone who can still outdraw his younger companion, but someone who has his headaches and gambling and drinking.
“Should I tell you when I plan to take a shit tomorrow, or would that be none of your fucking business?”
Finally, we get to Al Swearengen, who makes perhaps the best first impression for a character that I have ever seen. Keeping in line with what I wrote about earlier, we see several sides to this intriguing character. At one point, we see bodies being eaten by pigs. At another, he has his foot on Trixie’s throat. At another–the final scene of the episode–he picks up a gun as he’s opening the door for Trixie, and we focus on his face as Trixie takes off her clothes and gets into bed with him. This does not seem like the man who, just earlier, was giving this wonderful speech:
“I will offer a personal fifty-dollar bounty for every decapitated head of as many of these godless heathen cocksuckers as anyone can bring in tomorrow, with no upper limit. And that’s all I can say on the subject, except that the next round is on the House…and God rest the souls of that family…and pussy’s half price for the next fifteen minutes.”
Ian McShane absolutely commands the room in that scene, and here, we see exactly why he seems to be the unofficial ruler of Deadwood. He has a hand in a plethora of business deals, he’s able to work the crowd like any leader must, and he controls the booze and the women in the town. He’s also smart, knowing that if people ride out, he’ll not only lose business and money, but also that it won’t be a good scenario for him in the long run. After all, he is in control because of the environment he’s in, and he recognizes the fact that the townsfolk killing the Sioux would threaten to tip him over; he is the interpreted and unofficial authority, but he won’t have any power if the official authorities were to descend on the town.
There’s definitely a sense that the power structure in the town won’t stay exactly the same for long. Swearengen and Bullock are undoubtedly going to collide, and ideas of morality and justice and law and community will be delved into further as we progress. Deadwood may be a lawless town, but who exactly decides what the law is? Deadwood may not be the most developed community yet, but how will it develop? In that small town, the story possibilities are endless, and the series is just getting started. Welcome to fuckin’ Deadwood.
GRADE: B
OTHER THOUGHTS:
-Guys, Raylan Givens was outdrawn!
-Cocksucker count: 6
-On the grade: I know many love this pilot, but aside from several fantastic sequences here and there, it never quite gels for me. I think I’ll appreciate it more once I have a better grasp of all the characters and their storylines.
-Oh hi, Timothy Olyphant with a mustache. This is a wonderful cast, I must say. Sons of Anarchy never got Ian McShane, thankfully–also, there’s Dayton Callie (Wayne Unser) in a role that doesn’t look to be stupid–so it’s now up to Justified. One more season, guys. You have to get this done.
-Milch brought in Walter Hill to direct the pilot, which was an excellent choice.
-I’m looking forward to more development of the minor characters in the show. Calamity Jane is fun, the final scene with Trixie and Al is intriguing, Brom Garret serves as a contrast to the rest of Deadwood, and Garrett Dillahunt’s Jack McCall and Molly Parker’s Alma show up for a bit, but as of right now–it’s only been one episode, so it’s understandable–they’re not as well developed as our main characters. There are other characters, too, but I’m not going to try and figure them all out right away. I hear Kristen Bell and Kim Dickens will show up at some point!
– I end with the magnificent monologue by Ellsworth:
“I tell you what. I may have fucked up my life flatter’n hammered shit, but I stand here before you today beholden to no human cocksucker, and workin’ a payin’ fuckin’ gold claim, and not the U.S. government sayin’ I’m trespassin’, or the savage fuckin’ red man himself, or any of these other limber-dick cocksuckers passin’ themselves off as prospectors had better try and stop me.”
-Guys, Raylan Givens was outdrawn!
-Cocksucker count: 6
-On the grade: I know many love this pilot, but aside from several fantastic sequences here and there, it never quite gels for me. I think I’ll appreciate it more once I have a better grasp of all the characters and their storylines.
-Oh hi, Timothy Olyphant with a mustache. This is a wonderful cast, I must say. Sons of Anarchy never got Ian McShane, thankfully–also, there’s Dayton Callie (Wayne Unser) in a role that doesn’t look to be stupid–so it’s now up to Justified. One more season, guys. You have to get this done.
-Milch brought in Walter Hill to direct the pilot, which was an excellent choice.
-I’m looking forward to more development of the minor characters in the show. Calamity Jane is fun, the final scene with Trixie and Al is intriguing, Brom Garret serves as a contrast to the rest of Deadwood, and Garrett Dillahunt’s Jack McCall and Molly Parker’s Alma show up for a bit, but as of right now–it’s only been one episode, so it’s understandable–they’re not as well developed as our main characters. There are other characters, too, but I’m not going to try and figure them all out right away. I hear Kristen Bell and Kim Dickens will show up at some point!
– I end with the magnificent monologue by Ellsworth:
“I tell you what. I may have fucked up my life flatter’n hammered shit, but I stand here before you today beholden to no human cocksucker, and workin’ a payin’ fuckin’ gold claim, and not the U.S. government sayin’ I’m trespassin’, or the savage fuckin’ red man himself, or any of these other limber-dick cocksuckers passin’ themselves off as prospectors had better try and stop me.”