Deadwood "The Trial of Jack McCall" Review (1x05)
Mar 12, 2015 20:52:32 GMT -5
jerkassimo, nowimnothing, and 1 more like this
Post by Pear on Mar 12, 2015 20:52:32 GMT -5
“Saint Paul tells us: By one’s spirit are we all baptized in the one body…For the body is not one member but many…He says that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care, one to another, and where the one member suffer, all the members suffer with it.”
What an apt passage for the major theme of the show: the forming of a community. Every single person in Deadwood is part of the body, and when one part of the body suffers, all the members of the body suffer with it. Each person has a role to play here, and that’s exactly what we see beginning to happen in the aftermath of Wild Bill Hickok’s death. We see it happening through the organization of a trial, one of the foundations of a civilization because it’s one of the foundations of law itself, and we see that Corinthians, Chapter 12 applies perfectly: no one here can eschew a certain amount of responsibility because if that happens, the body won’t function properly.
It’s especially pertinent in an episode permeated with religious imagery, whether it be the constant shots of people looking down on the town from a balcony or Al’s monologue about small vipers and big vipers–bringing it back around to Saint Paul–or Reverend Smith himself. Religious ideals are also coming into play here, as it seems like many events in the episode are tied together with an undercurrent of compassion. We see that mainly with the female characters–the men seem to be more about the justice side of things–as Trixie, Joanie, Alma, and Jane are all given some great scenes throughout. Trixie, for example, decides to help Alma kick her laudanum habit rather than get her on it again. Joanie begins to distance herself a bit from Cy over Andy, and we can see the tension between the two of them as she leaves for Bill’s funeral. Alma’s quickly revealing herself to be a much more assertive and determined woman than the first few episodes suggested. Jane stumbles across Andy in the woods and cares for him. And, at the heart of many of these storylines is the girl, the girl who fosters compassion in many shapes and forms. These female characters may oftentimes be relegated to bystanders in this world, but they’ll find ways to help tie this community together.
Jack McCall’s trial also brings the community together, even if the trial itself isn’t so much about law and justice as it is about entertainment and expediency. What matters, however, is that a trial exists at all, and we see how the outside world begins to tie in with the politics of the town. Al has to take into account the possible ramifications of hanging Jack in Deadwood or of simply throwing him over to the pigs, and while he and Cy both agree that a trial would suck for them–it might bring the U.S. government into the fray–he decides to go along with it because that’s what he does as de facto leader of Deadwood. “If we’re going to have the fucking thing, might as well have it in my joint,” he says, and he is able to control the outcome of the trial so that it doesn’t end up hurting the town.
So, the trial moves forward, people fill their roles–anyone form Tom Nuttall to Merrick to Al to Reverend Smith–and the jury returns a verdict of “Innocent” (interesting, considering our standard right now is “Not guilty”). Of course, that doesn’t sit well with Seth Bullock, and as we’ve established before, he just can’t help but carry out his own forms of justice, even as the entire point of him coming to Deadwood was to move away from those responsibilities. He continues to look over Alma, he runs into Mr. Con Man again, and he seethes at the injustice of McCall roaming free (while he and Bill had a good dynamic, I feel like Bill’s death was more symbolic for Bullock than it was personal). “May I ask, Mr. Bullock, what you feel now may be your part?” Smith asks him.
At the end of the episode, Seth decides to ride out to enact justice himself, and he recognizes the possible consequences of his actions. “I’m not supposed to do anything! Let’s agree to that. Not one fucking thing that I don’t decide I’m gonna. Alright, Sol?…Goddamnit! If I kill the droop-eyed son-of-a-bitch, and my part is getting hanged for it, good luck with the fucking store…Can I impose on you to pack a bag for me to cut down on the cocksucker’s head start?”
And Sol, knowing that Seth is doing what he feels needs to be done, responds with a simple:
“It’ll be ready for you when you ride out.”
“Thanks, Sol.”
GRADE: B+
OTHER THOUGHTS:
-Cocksucker count: 10
Total cocksucker count: 49
– “The jury will now retire to the whores’ rooms and begin their deliberations.”
– “You want a blowjob while I’m talking to you?” “No.” “I wasn’t offering it personally.”
-E.B. Farnum’s monologue is wonderful, and we once again see some Shakespearean elements in the show. Here’s the clip, if you would like to watch it again:
-Hmm, what do we make of Reverend Smith at the end? Is it a religious symbol in some way? What about Sol in relation to Smith there?
-Oh hi, Glenn Morshower.
-Al monologue of the week: “I’m saying I had a vision it would happen. My second of the day. First come when I was watching you and those lawyers on line this morning. They began to slither in my sight like vipers. So as not to puke I had to close my eyes. The vision went on. Got worse. I saw the vipers in the big nest in Washington; they were taking us in the camp for acting like we could set our own laws up or organizations. And then I saw the big vipers decide to strangle us and swallow us up and every fucking thing we gain here. It was horrible. How could we fucking avoid it? How could we let the vipers in the big nest know that we didn’t want to cause any fucking trouble?”
– “There’s a horse for you outside you want to get on, before someone murders you who gives a fuck about right and wrong, or I do…Run for your fucking life.”
Yes, there’s the business side of things, but Al has a sense of right and wrong that does shine through sometimes.
-Oh hi, Glenn Morshower.
-Al monologue of the week: “I’m saying I had a vision it would happen. My second of the day. First come when I was watching you and those lawyers on line this morning. They began to slither in my sight like vipers. So as not to puke I had to close my eyes. The vision went on. Got worse. I saw the vipers in the big nest in Washington; they were taking us in the camp for acting like we could set our own laws up or organizations. And then I saw the big vipers decide to strangle us and swallow us up and every fucking thing we gain here. It was horrible. How could we fucking avoid it? How could we let the vipers in the big nest know that we didn’t want to cause any fucking trouble?”
– “There’s a horse for you outside you want to get on, before someone murders you who gives a fuck about right and wrong, or I do…Run for your fucking life.”
Yes, there’s the business side of things, but Al has a sense of right and wrong that does shine through sometimes.