[spolier]But Martha and Seth were married for a very long time in real life.[/spoiler]
As for Swearingen’s plan, he makes the Yankton Commissioner (Jarry played by Stephen Tobolowsky) think that Deadwood will be annexed by the Montana Territory. He does this by having Adams make it sound like he had a meeting with Helena and Butte officials, namely a guy named Clark. But it’s all a bluff. The only thing that Jarry knows for sure is that Bullock used to work in Montana and is well-respected there.
Jarry, Wolcott and Tolliver don’t want to be part of the Montana Territory because Hearst doesn’t control it to the extent that he does Dakota.
The main thing that the camp wants is representation. For now, all of the elected officials are Yankton cocksuckers who will ass fuck everyone in the camp. If a couple residents of the camp get “elected”, the main players in Deadwood still get big pieces of the pie. Al’s bribe is a minor part in all of this.
Wow, I didn’t think they’d actually kill William off…that surprised the hell out of me.
For such a grim episode, there sure was a lot of black humor, and from Wolcott of all sources. Good episode.
I think the whole Willaim thing is overplayed. I understand that it has a lot to do with plot development. But I personally don’t care if he dies or not and I think it’s the cheap way out.
Sometimes I’m as confused about the storyline as Adams was in last night’s episode when he asked Al ‘What just happened?’
I wasn’t sure that William was really going to die until I head the Jane Siberry song *Calling All Angels * played at closing credits of the episode. No question then.
To me the question was answered when Seth walked out of the doctor’s office. He would have stayed in if William was still alive. Sol understood and walked away, and his look told Alma and Ellsworth and Al, who were all overlooking the scene.
It was proper to use Mr. or Mrs when refering to one’s spouse in public, but in a situation like this, it would have been quite forgivable if he’d shouted “Martha!” Probably, he’d be so used to calling her that, it’d be almost automatic.
Spouses could call one another by Christian names at home or with close friends, but some couples did, apparently, call one another by Mr. and Mrs. at all times in the earlier Victorian era. (It was a sign of respect, not necessarily distance.) The practice had mostly died out by this time, but in Seth and Martha’s position, it would be quite normal.
They’re not close friends and calling one another by Christian names when their relationship is still somewhat formal would seem inappropriate. Generally, a man did not call a woman by her Christian name until they had known one another several years and had recieved permission to do so.
As a positive note (to me), I like how Swearingen’s henchmen are really developing into different roles in a realistic fashion. Johnny (I think, the curly haired “bottom henchman”), while not being a complete imbecile, is clearly the low rung gopher type, who will never amount to much more than backup and some muscle.
Dan has this wonderful middle-ground, where he is treated as being something close to a confidant of Swearingen, but clearly is not all the way there. He doesn’t fully have the sophistication and brainpower to truly be the guy that pulls off the negotiation and intellectual side of Swearingen’s activities, but has a greater ability on that side than Johnny. He’s also better “muscle” than Johnny.
Now there is Silas, who has Dan’s role but in flipped proportion. He has some “muscle” role, but is clearly someone in whom Swearingen has placed a greater trust on the diplomatic side of the equation (as evidenced by his role in the political wranglings last night).
I like that fact that the roles are nuanced. There is not merely the “muscle guy,” really smart schemer guy, etc. They all have some blends of each, in different variations.
He died on camera. They showed us his “death rattle.” While Seth and Martha were watching him, he took a deep breath and exhaled, then a few seconds later did it again, and stopped moving completely. Up till then, in every shot they had shown of William, he had made a little twitch or movement of some kind. After that he was dead still. (Grim pun intended.)
A look passed between Seth and Martha, and she kept caressing his hair, but they knew he was gone.
(Actually, although I thankfully have no experience with watching over critically injured people, I thought he was twitching a little too much. At first I put it down to the actor playing William, but when we got to the death rattle shot, I realized it had been intentional, so we could tell that now he was dead.)
Yes. These are definitely not the one-note characters we’re used to seeing on TV.
When we first saw William, and his eyelids were twitching, I thought “Poor kid, it’s gotta be hard to lay there, perfectly still, too bad the director couldn’t have gotten a better shot.” Then Doc told Seth and Martha what those eye movements meant. I was even more impressed with the boy’s acting. Cuz it’s hard to do, make your eyelids twitch just a teensy bit like that.
I can’t decide if I’m disappointed that Alma decided to go out and join the deathwatch. If that’s where she was going. Any thoughts on that? Could she have been looking for Ellsworth?
Another tipoff that William was a goner was that Doc Cochran didn’t even bother to go back and look in on William when he saw that his parents were comforting him. He decided that no matter how difficult it would be, he would try operating on Mose Manuel, whom I’m suprised hadn’t bled to death.
I also now am glad that if I ever get a hernia that there are much improved surgical techniques over what was available in 1877.
I think it was just one of those cinematic moments: everyone seemed to get drawn outside at the same time as Andy was walking toward Doc’s. (BTW, it took me a while to figure out who Andy was; I knew I recognized him, and for a moment I thought it was Alma’s father.)
I think Jane’s been trying to get sober for the past two, maybe three episodes – she’s been going through withdrawal. She even mentioned being an “unlubricated drunk” last night.
Yes, and it was one of those REALLY GOOD cinematic moments in Deadwood. You saw all kinds of major and minor characters in the camp stop what they were doing to express concern for the boy. Adams, Jewel, Wu - even Richardson with his antlers. A hush spread over the camp.
It reminded me of a similar scene when Al was screaming in pain with kidney stones. The whole camp stopped to listen. Deadwood is so well done. It reminds me of some great moments in opera.
