Deadwood "Tell Your God to Ready For Blood" Review (3x01)
Jul 3, 2016 0:16:21 GMT -5
Albert Fish Taco, jerkassimo, and 3 more like this
Post by Pear on Jul 3, 2016 0:16:21 GMT -5
My last review was written about a year ago, and this hiatus has been about 11 months longer than intended. However, with the recent demise of TV Club Classic and a bit more free time and seeing Ian McShane in GOT, I was motivated to start the show again. I'll try to finish these up this summer and start something else before I start Twin Peaks.
DEADWOOD "TELL YOUR GOD TO READY FOR BLOOD" REVIEW (3x01)
“Every day takes figuring out all over again how to fucking live.”
Yeah, pretty much. One of the things I love about this show is that amid all the grandiose language and colorful characters lies a beating heart, a true understanding of the human condition and what it means to be alive. We see a portrait of a community and its march toward civilization–as represented here by the school, elections, Hearst, etc.–but we also see individuals just trying to live their lives the best they can. If that means adaptation to an evolving community or just staying the same person through change, then so be it. Oftentimes, it just comes down to “allaying the pain to get you through.”
As a whole, the community is definitely changing. Throughout the premiere, we see concepts of civilization and ownership crossing paths, highlighting the intersection between public and private and what that means for various characters. For instance, houses. The Bullocks have a house, the Ellsworths do, and a major plot point of the episode revolves around Al wanting Sol to take over the Adams house. “Star needs to move into that,” Al tells Trixie. “He’s a candidate for office. He can’t whore-fuck no longer with impunity.” Even though Sol later says that he “never thought of [himself] as a homeowner”, it’s something that’s being pushed now because of the state of the camp. It’s interesting to see more domestication overall in Deadwood, more “menial domestic errands”, as E.B. puts it.
Here’s where ownership and private vs. public really come into play: the newfound conflict between Al Swearengen and George Hearst. It’s clearly going to be a major thread throughout the rest of the season, and who gets to decide what goes on in what space is key here. “Bloodletting on my premises that I ain’t approved I take as a fucking affront,” Al warns Hearst at the end of the episode. Even Seth kindly informs Hearst to “stay out of [his] fucking affairs”. There’s always something you have to keep your grip on, something that you hold onto that makes you you, and guys like Hearst stand in opposition to that. Sure, Al has to maintain a certain image for his town, but there’s also his pride to take into account. The episode has a nice little visual representation of this conflict when Al walks in while Seth is beating the shit out of E.B., his demeanor immediately changing when he sees Hearst standing above them. Al standing on a balcony above a crowd is an iconic Deadwood image, after all, and it’s flipped on its head in this moment. At the end of the hour, though, he stands up to face Hearst head on, unwilling to let him get the upper hand in his town. He might “yearn for the days when a draw across the throat made for fuckin’ resolution”, but maybe those days haven’t completely left town just yet.
GRADE: B+
OTHER THOUGHTS:
-Cocksucker count: 7
Total cocksucker count: 237
– “Florence Nightingale is a nurse.” “I know that, you ignorant cocksucker.” “Joanie Stubbs is a cocksucker.” “I know that, you ignorant fuck.”
-Wonderful job by Kim Dickens in this episode, as always. It’s definitely difficult to watch Joanie in this situation.
–“The wrist business on Adams’s house loan, Adams being nothing but his fucking stalking horse from the gambit’s fucking beginning. You sign to take those over, we’ll move in your 12 possessions. You will be free to come and go by your own front fucking door, and as you lay in your beddy-bye, I’ll pop from the wall like Grandma Groundhog in a storybook and attend to your Johnson, as he’d not see you jeopardize your Mayor’s campaign whore fucking in your place of business. And I’ll have installed in room 3-fucking-C or the like of Shaunessey’s adjacent shitbox, that he’s paid Shaunessey to cut a hole through to ease my fuckin’ fucking you.” Beautiful. Just beautiful. Sol going “You said you’d just gone to piss” is hilarious as well.
-A technique the show has used before and makes a lot of sense with this particular setting: Seth and Martha walking to the schoolhouse past all the other characters. It’s a great scene that throws you right back into this community.
-Al continues to scrub away at blood.
–“It’s my family luck over centuries to get repeatedly fucked up the ass.”
–“Wash and stack, shit monkey. Or ready yourself for worse.”
–“Custer was a cunt. The end.”