Post by Pear on Jun 9, 2015 19:55:20 GMT -5
Season two seems to be about how the inhabitants of Deadwood can avoid this “ass-fucking”–and sometimes, not just avoid, but also take the ass-fucking instrument and aggressively insert it into the initiator’s own asshole–about how people can join together to combat the outside forces bearing down on the camp and its way of life. Still, though, the show doesn’t really hold back when displaying the uglier side of American civilization, and it doesn’t necessarily separate its “good” characters from the actions that run a capitalist society: self-interest, power grabs by the already powerful, money-making, etc. After all, the series is concerned with the concept of humanity, and that would include the good and the bad and everything in between.
And of course, one of the uniting forces of humanity in this series is the idea of the body, something that functions due to its various parts working together. “Childish Things” uses an interesting image at the beginning of its runtime in order to convey that idea in a different light: a bunch of naked men working at the mines and being physically abused. Them working is exactly what helps the mining business “body” run smoothly–it’s no coincidence that this is intercut with Wolcott reading his letter he wrote to Hearst–but it’s a vastly different image than what we’ve seen before. Things are undoubtedly changing; just look at Wolcott, who by the way should be dead if we’re going by the Wild West justice rules (instead, the town meeting in the last episode led to a consensus to look the other way).
So, it’s not a pretty image to open the episode, but it’s later combated with some really beautifully drawn scenes between characters like Ellsworth and Alma or Ellsworth and his dog or Joanie and Jane or Charlie and Bill’s grave. In particular, the Ellsworth-Alma proposal scene is Jim Beaver’s finest moment thus far in the series, and it’s such a sweet and lovely moment for one of the more purely decent characters in Deadwood.
That Joanie-Jane pairing is also nicely done, and it’s pretty much a given I’ll be saying that whenever any two of these characters are paired together. Plus, there’s a pretty important exchange during their interactions in this episode: when Jane asks about the people who were murdered, Joanie responds with “It’s probably best not to talk about it”. Jane counters that, however, saying that “if we held to that rule, we’d be mute like monks for months at a fucking time”. And perhaps it’s Jane’s influence at the end that pushes Joanie to make a move against Wolcott. At first, it seems as if she’s resigned to her fate, but something clicks and causes her to smash the bottle over that fucker’s head. The people in this town are going to keep fighting.
GRADE: B+
OTHER THOUGHTS:
-C.s. count: 5 (Okay, Mr. Wu better be in the next episode)
Total c.s. count: 202
-I haven’t seen this many penises in one place since I watched Spartacus! Good job, show.
– “Those that doubt me suck cock by choice!” In fact, this is kind of a Spartacus-y line.
-Tom Nuttall’s bicycle ride through the town is a really enjoyable moment that brings everyone together (remember, the events that brought all these characters together beforehand included Wild Bill’s death and maybe the Al-Bullock fight). Damn it, Mose Manuel. Stop with the brother murdering.
– “Don’t the decapitated deserve recreation, Chief? As much, if not more so, than those of us not yet dismembered…whew! You, fuckin’ Chief, are uglier than before, when you were also not a treat to the eyes. Oh! Suffer the low vantage. It’s better for my standing in the camp.” <–This here is Al also understanding the importance of high vs. low visual!
-Miss Isringhausen vs. Alma showdown. Point: Miss Isringhausen.
– “Visit and you will experience a tradition only used in this camp or my place by newly-arrived telegraph operators fucking free, be their preference of tale tall or fuckin’ otherwise. And by all means: welcome to America.”