Post by Arthur Dent on Sept 17, 2014 23:15:38 GMT -5
"I see as much misery outta them movin' to justify themselves as them that set out to do harm."
(Note: The first draft of this was written in Mid-July. This is a recently revised edition.)
We open on Tim Driscoll's body being carted out for disposal via Mister Wu's pigs, as trees are cleared nearby and we hear people talk of the shooting carried out by Bill and Bullock. While everyone remains in their own spheres at this early stage, the march of progress persists, halted by no individual's passing. And yet Driscoll, as unpleasant a drunken ass as he was, was one of our brothers nevertheless, and he deserves the honor of burial just as we all do, as the Reverend reminds us and the surly, morally rigid Bullock, when he responds to Bullock's snark about him being generous to Driscoll's character with, "Don't we need all the generosity we can get." This fits well with the attitude suggested in the pilot beneath the ugliness and the business dealings, of humanism manifest by Ellsworth, or the sketching of Clell Watson while we briefly knew him, and the common decency seeded throughout that episode. That trend continues, and rises to the thematic and narrative forefront, in "Deep Water." Decency rising above the tide that is all the cruelties and banalities of life, and thriving.
This thread shows up again and again throughout the episode from increasingly surprising sources, with it asserting another persistent notion so far, of people as a whole tending to be more complex than given credit for in thoughts of cynics. The episode essentially focuses on further expounding upon our cast from their established types within the context of tense conflict, an excellent frame for the underlying table-setting for the overarching narrative that both episodes serve to do, with the latter lacking such richness to make the base plotting less apparent and more engaging. Doc Cochran and Jane are at the heart of all of that, dedicating themselves to caring for the Metz girl and protecting her from the risk of anyone, intentionally or not, ultimately informing Al of her consciousness, due to Doc knowing Al all too well and correctly suspecting the conflict her presence makes for him regarding his road agents. What is done with this on an individual character level is as powerful as it is taken in terms of the broad themes, with Doc not just being willing to die to protect innocence and not be responsible for the loss of another life, but also understanding why Jane fell apart before Al and not holding it against her.
That is to me the most beautiful element of this episode and what further reeled me in after the promise shown in the pilot. Jane's compassion and innate protectiveness being established here going outward from the end of the pilot, then gradually unraveled as to its source with Al's visit. Jane has adopted the rough frontier manners and attitude of outlaw figures like her idol and friend Wild Bill, and is possessing of deep, sincere compassion and a gift for caring*; these attributes are introduced to define her in stark contrasts in the pilot, but are shown here to be rooted in the same source. Upon Al's appearance, she feels helpless and consumed by terror because he is far too reminiscent of figures of her past, and yet she still has the will to insist, even while consumed with shame for lack of capability to physically prevent him, that he hurt and exploit her instead.
"You think he's the first? I've been fucked plenty, and by tougher fucks than he was, and littler than her by plenty. They fucked me plenty." "Haven't been scared like that since I was a little girl."
Such a past inspires all at once concern for others to not experience suffering as oneself has, and the need to protect oneself from the predators of life.
Beyond those two but still narratively and thematically intertwined, there is Wild Bill's confidante Charlie Utter, and Al's mercenary lieutenant Dan Dority, who each present common humanity and sense of conscience respectively despite their rough exteriors and natures opposite to what would be considered typically civil. Charlie does not only express concern for his friend, in his warning to Bill about the harm his gambling could do to himself, but a willingness to stick his neck out for a random child and Jane, with whom he has a bickering tension due to their competing for Bill's affections. While Dan is unwilling to harm a child, only even considering otherwise due to the threat he knows Al imposes to him for disobeying. This shared humanity indirectly coheres upon Dan's deal** with Jane and Doc to deceive Al and push him into deciding that Persimmon Phil is the greater inconvenience than the girl.
Though Al's mercy towards her is not borne of decency, it along with developments in "Reconnoitering the Rim," his compromising himself with Bullock, and knowing that he can and should not remove all obstacles and problems (EB) with murder, contribute towards the gradual peeling back of his layers that the season is sure to pursue further. This is almost metatextually commented upon in the final scene of episode three, the aforementioned events being followed by Al showing vulnerability and softening to Trixie, asking her to help him care for his feet with an earnest "Please."
A-/B+
Side Observations:
** Along with Doc and Jane's agreement at the beginning of the episode to tell others it doesn't look good for the Metz girl, this deal with Dan provides the first example of what is popularly said to be a motif of the series, lies collectively agreed upon and forming our "official" history.
*In yet another painful and sad moment involving Jane in that entire sequence, the Doc sincerely praises her for this gift and she assumes he is mocking her.
Al's gradually pieced together humanity and its particular nature is best manifest in EB's line when he's trying to save his skin: "Short of burning it all down, you got to trust someone."
Ellsworth meets Brom early on in "Deep Water" and again late in "Reconnoitering the Rim." These parallel scenes emphasize the transition that has occurred in between as well as the contrast between the two characters. Even beyond him being out of his element, Brom is pigheaded, too impatient to take Ellsworth's advice that there's likely more gold and that he isn't looking thoroughly enough. He assumes that Al fucked him over, I suspect falling exactly into Al's trap of giving back over what turns out to be a rich gold reserve, but then gets himself killed in his childish petulance (immediately threatening to bring in the Pinkertons) that expose him as someone who clearly always got what he wanted with his wealthy upbringing. Reconnoitering the Rim intentionally strips his death of any sense of tragedy by displaying his extreme fault and making it apparent that it is his exhausting, unpleasant nature that has driven Alma to laudanum addiction.
"Reconnoitering the Rim" also uses the heightening tensions between Jack McCall and Wild Bill to explore the nature of celebrity/being a public figure. The incident with the man scaring off Nathan Gordon makes apparent the idea behind Jack McCall's behavior towards Bill. The man is 'a fan,' but believes that this motivation excuses visiting brutality upon others, and then turns on a dime to resentment. His idol worship and Jack's inferiority complex come hand and hand.
It's a shame that I couldn't figure out a thematically cohesive way to fit those last two bits on the third episode into the main piece.
Quotes:
"I'd rather be lucky than smart." - Doc
"I know what I am. What I'm not." - Doc
"Oh, what is this. . ." - Charlie, upon Jane tearfully hugging him
"No loose ends now." - Al
"Every fuckin’ beatin’ I’m grateful for. Every fuckin’ one of them. Get all the trust beat outta you. And you know what the fuckin’ world is." - Al
"Oh, I speak French." - Joanie Stubbs (I like her already)
"I wanna know who cut the cheese. [nobody answers] I'll tell you this for openers: we are gonna set off an area on the balcony. [opens the door to the balcony] And God help whoever doesn't use it, because the next stink I have to smell in this office, and whoever doesn't admit to it is going out the window, into the muck, onto their fucking heads, and we'll see how they like farting from that position, okay?" - Al
"Well, that's one in a row for you, Wild Bill. Who's hungry? What in the hell damn time is it anyway?
Wild Bill: Sure you wanna quit playin', Jack? The game's all that's between you and gettin' called a c***.
Tom Nuttall: Ah, meeting adjourned, fellas. Take it outside.
Wild Bill: That drooped eye of yours looks like the hood of a c*** to me, Jack. When you talk, your mouth looks like a c*** moving.
Jack McCall: I ain't gonna get in no gunfight with you, Hickock.
Wild Bill: But you will run your c*** mouth at me. And I will take it to play poker."
"If I'm out prospectin' in the hills, then he ain't getting his just desserts, at the poker table or otherwise." - Jack McCall
"Trust. Hell of a way to operate." - Al
(Note: The first draft of this was written in Mid-July. This is a recently revised edition.)
We open on Tim Driscoll's body being carted out for disposal via Mister Wu's pigs, as trees are cleared nearby and we hear people talk of the shooting carried out by Bill and Bullock. While everyone remains in their own spheres at this early stage, the march of progress persists, halted by no individual's passing. And yet Driscoll, as unpleasant a drunken ass as he was, was one of our brothers nevertheless, and he deserves the honor of burial just as we all do, as the Reverend reminds us and the surly, morally rigid Bullock, when he responds to Bullock's snark about him being generous to Driscoll's character with, "Don't we need all the generosity we can get." This fits well with the attitude suggested in the pilot beneath the ugliness and the business dealings, of humanism manifest by Ellsworth, or the sketching of Clell Watson while we briefly knew him, and the common decency seeded throughout that episode. That trend continues, and rises to the thematic and narrative forefront, in "Deep Water." Decency rising above the tide that is all the cruelties and banalities of life, and thriving.
This thread shows up again and again throughout the episode from increasingly surprising sources, with it asserting another persistent notion so far, of people as a whole tending to be more complex than given credit for in thoughts of cynics. The episode essentially focuses on further expounding upon our cast from their established types within the context of tense conflict, an excellent frame for the underlying table-setting for the overarching narrative that both episodes serve to do, with the latter lacking such richness to make the base plotting less apparent and more engaging. Doc Cochran and Jane are at the heart of all of that, dedicating themselves to caring for the Metz girl and protecting her from the risk of anyone, intentionally or not, ultimately informing Al of her consciousness, due to Doc knowing Al all too well and correctly suspecting the conflict her presence makes for him regarding his road agents. What is done with this on an individual character level is as powerful as it is taken in terms of the broad themes, with Doc not just being willing to die to protect innocence and not be responsible for the loss of another life, but also understanding why Jane fell apart before Al and not holding it against her.
That is to me the most beautiful element of this episode and what further reeled me in after the promise shown in the pilot. Jane's compassion and innate protectiveness being established here going outward from the end of the pilot, then gradually unraveled as to its source with Al's visit. Jane has adopted the rough frontier manners and attitude of outlaw figures like her idol and friend Wild Bill, and is possessing of deep, sincere compassion and a gift for caring*; these attributes are introduced to define her in stark contrasts in the pilot, but are shown here to be rooted in the same source. Upon Al's appearance, she feels helpless and consumed by terror because he is far too reminiscent of figures of her past, and yet she still has the will to insist, even while consumed with shame for lack of capability to physically prevent him, that he hurt and exploit her instead.
"You think he's the first? I've been fucked plenty, and by tougher fucks than he was, and littler than her by plenty. They fucked me plenty." "Haven't been scared like that since I was a little girl."
Such a past inspires all at once concern for others to not experience suffering as oneself has, and the need to protect oneself from the predators of life.
Beyond those two but still narratively and thematically intertwined, there is Wild Bill's confidante Charlie Utter, and Al's mercenary lieutenant Dan Dority, who each present common humanity and sense of conscience respectively despite their rough exteriors and natures opposite to what would be considered typically civil. Charlie does not only express concern for his friend, in his warning to Bill about the harm his gambling could do to himself, but a willingness to stick his neck out for a random child and Jane, with whom he has a bickering tension due to their competing for Bill's affections. While Dan is unwilling to harm a child, only even considering otherwise due to the threat he knows Al imposes to him for disobeying. This shared humanity indirectly coheres upon Dan's deal** with Jane and Doc to deceive Al and push him into deciding that Persimmon Phil is the greater inconvenience than the girl.
Though Al's mercy towards her is not borne of decency, it along with developments in "Reconnoitering the Rim," his compromising himself with Bullock, and knowing that he can and should not remove all obstacles and problems (EB) with murder, contribute towards the gradual peeling back of his layers that the season is sure to pursue further. This is almost metatextually commented upon in the final scene of episode three, the aforementioned events being followed by Al showing vulnerability and softening to Trixie, asking her to help him care for his feet with an earnest "Please."
A-/B+
Side Observations:
** Along with Doc and Jane's agreement at the beginning of the episode to tell others it doesn't look good for the Metz girl, this deal with Dan provides the first example of what is popularly said to be a motif of the series, lies collectively agreed upon and forming our "official" history.
*In yet another painful and sad moment involving Jane in that entire sequence, the Doc sincerely praises her for this gift and she assumes he is mocking her.
Al's gradually pieced together humanity and its particular nature is best manifest in EB's line when he's trying to save his skin: "Short of burning it all down, you got to trust someone."
Ellsworth meets Brom early on in "Deep Water" and again late in "Reconnoitering the Rim." These parallel scenes emphasize the transition that has occurred in between as well as the contrast between the two characters. Even beyond him being out of his element, Brom is pigheaded, too impatient to take Ellsworth's advice that there's likely more gold and that he isn't looking thoroughly enough. He assumes that Al fucked him over, I suspect falling exactly into Al's trap of giving back over what turns out to be a rich gold reserve, but then gets himself killed in his childish petulance (immediately threatening to bring in the Pinkertons) that expose him as someone who clearly always got what he wanted with his wealthy upbringing. Reconnoitering the Rim intentionally strips his death of any sense of tragedy by displaying his extreme fault and making it apparent that it is his exhausting, unpleasant nature that has driven Alma to laudanum addiction.
"Reconnoitering the Rim" also uses the heightening tensions between Jack McCall and Wild Bill to explore the nature of celebrity/being a public figure. The incident with the man scaring off Nathan Gordon makes apparent the idea behind Jack McCall's behavior towards Bill. The man is 'a fan,' but believes that this motivation excuses visiting brutality upon others, and then turns on a dime to resentment. His idol worship and Jack's inferiority complex come hand and hand.
It's a shame that I couldn't figure out a thematically cohesive way to fit those last two bits on the third episode into the main piece.
Quotes:
"I'd rather be lucky than smart." - Doc
"I know what I am. What I'm not." - Doc
"Oh, what is this. . ." - Charlie, upon Jane tearfully hugging him
"No loose ends now." - Al
"Every fuckin’ beatin’ I’m grateful for. Every fuckin’ one of them. Get all the trust beat outta you. And you know what the fuckin’ world is." - Al
"Oh, I speak French." - Joanie Stubbs (I like her already)
"I wanna know who cut the cheese. [nobody answers] I'll tell you this for openers: we are gonna set off an area on the balcony. [opens the door to the balcony] And God help whoever doesn't use it, because the next stink I have to smell in this office, and whoever doesn't admit to it is going out the window, into the muck, onto their fucking heads, and we'll see how they like farting from that position, okay?" - Al
"Well, that's one in a row for you, Wild Bill. Who's hungry? What in the hell damn time is it anyway?
Wild Bill: Sure you wanna quit playin', Jack? The game's all that's between you and gettin' called a c***.
Tom Nuttall: Ah, meeting adjourned, fellas. Take it outside.
Wild Bill: That drooped eye of yours looks like the hood of a c*** to me, Jack. When you talk, your mouth looks like a c*** moving.
Jack McCall: I ain't gonna get in no gunfight with you, Hickock.
Wild Bill: But you will run your c*** mouth at me. And I will take it to play poker."
"If I'm out prospectin' in the hills, then he ain't getting his just desserts, at the poker table or otherwise." - Jack McCall
"Trust. Hell of a way to operate." - Al