Pretty sure Tolliver was real. As was Calamity Jane and the owner of the No. 10 Saloon (whose name eludes me at the moment)*. Jane should not be in Deadwood, however, as she left after Wild Bill’s death and her bio doesn’t have her ever returning.
I was laughing at how “Yankton” was willing to blow Hearst, if that was what Hearst wanted. “I forgot that scene”. Heh. Pinkerton knew he was walking to his death. Were I him, I would have avoided Swearengen’s office - not that Al wouldn’t kill him in the bar, if need be.
*I remember now…Nuttall or Nutter or something like that
I agree with you regarding the theater troupe. I wonder if I’d feel that way if I didn’t know Deadwood was going off. All of the little side stories make me want to scream because there’s so little time left.
I’m surprised at how angry I am that the show is going off, but I am. This show needed another season at least.
I read that the two, two hour shows aren’t a done deal. I have my doubts about it.
I found Trixie’s scene with Jewel to be very touching, and when she smiled she totally lost the hard, bedraggled, weary whore look and looked soft and lovely.
“She et from both of 'em!”
I really like Sol, but I’m wondering; is he kind of clueless, in a naive sort of way, about the happenings in the camp? Or was he jabbering on about ordering haims for the livery in order to lighten the mood and take Seth’s mind off his desire to strangle Hearst with his bare hands?
Sol used to be a lot more savy. They started pussyfying him in Season 2.
Season 1 Sol carries a sidearm as big as Bullocks. Holds a shotgun on the mob in the first episode. Stands up to Tolliver when his men are beating Veronica Mars and her ‘brother’ in the street. Then in season 2 brings a deringer to a gun fight? WTF. From there he slid into a sidekick and whipping post for Trixie’s rants.
Now this season we’ve barely seen him at all.
His talking about stocking the store in the last episode was meant to distract things from Bullock’s obvious hot-burning-hatred at Hearst for shooting at Alma.
I’ve felt a bit sorry for him all season. E.B.'s been sidelined, left out again. In the first season, Al actually listened to E.B. a couple of times, took his advice.
Remember his soliloquy when he was scrubbing Tim Driscoll’s blood off the floor? So defiant. It’s like he lost his spirit when he sold the hotel. Maybe he could stand being a toady for Al, but not for Hearst and Cy too.
Or maybe it was being beaten up by Seth. I want my sneaky, conniving E.B. back!
…thru Netflix, that is, day and night, and spending lots of time looking up older threads on TWOP and here. So much catching up to do! Helluva show, and unlike some others (I’m looking your way, SFU) it doesn’t make each and every character actively annoying. Hateful, sure, duplicitous, granted, smug, yeah. But don’t annoy me.
Alma and Sophia and Ellsworth are all created characters, so you have to think–who would get Alma upset if they die? Most of the other characters are real, like Hearst and Martha, or ones who wouldn’t upset Alma, like Dan Dority, Johnny, or Joanie. My money is on Sophia or Ellsworth going tomorrow–however, Hearst does not seem to be the sort of guy who would target Alma via her child, bad PR and all that, so I guess it’ll be the Widow Garrett again. Much more poignant, too.
Had the pleasure of seeing Milch live at the 92nd St. Y for a panel on Jews in the Old West last year; the show seemed fascinating, but I never got around to catching it until now. All I can say is that David speaks in complete, articulate sentences like the English prof he was, and he fit in nicely with the historians.
Also saw “Scoop” tonight with Ian McShane. Nice to hear his real voice. Heh, not even Death could keep him in Hades…
“You didn’t kill him.” So it couldn’t have been Sophia.
I still don’t understand the bit with the actors. What’s the deal with Mary and her sketches or paintings or whatever? And why the hostility to the new actress? From both Mary and the other two older ladies in the troup? Do they want to play every single part themselves? That would kind of limit their presentations to plays with 4 or fewer characters.
Because this is still active I’ll post my prediction here for tonight.
The “You didn’t kill him.” line will not refer to anyone we care about. Alma will find out that Al killed the Pinkerton (or another of Hearst’s men tonight) essentially on her behalf. This will prompt her to say something akin to “I am therefore responsible for the man’s death.”, prompting Al’s line.
I disagree (but we’ll find out for sure in 7 1/2 hours). Many will suspect, but only 3 others besides Al know for sure that he killed the Pinkerton last episode. Alma would not. She looked far too distraught for it to be a minor character.
Al didn’t say “kill” – he said “shoot”. Not that it makes any difference. HBO does a number on us with previews – the way they’re cut, we’re deceived about who’s talking to who, and we get pieces of dialogue and bits of action, and it’s almost always misleading.
I’ve always wondered why they try to jazz up the previews. Don’t they know we’re going to watch every single episode, no matter what? No need to entice us.
There are only 3 people in Deadwood that Alma would be that upset about getting shot.
Only 2 of them could be referred to as “him”.
Alma is upset because Ellsworth gets shot, just as they seem to be reconciling.
Al’s beating of the Pinkerton had as much to do with Merrick as it did Alma (the reference to the broken ribs).
My take on the theatre people was that Langrishe and Mary had a long-time relationship, but he refused to leave the theatre, or marry her and settle down, or even to acknowledge her as his girlfriend and move her into his lodgings or the theatre.
However, after knowing the dancer for only a short while, he was willing to move her into the theatre, and the other actress, knowing about how he treated Mary, wasn’t best pleased at his preferential treatment of the dancer, Josianna.