I figured it would be a calm episode. The opening warnings did not tell us to beware of violence. And the actors are back, as if somebody gave a fuck about them.
“And I will not try to murder you in your sleep.” Ah! The softer side of Steve the Drunk.
The actor who plays Hearst is great. I actually started feeling a little sorry for him when he cried in the street about what Seth had done to him.
Poor Harry. That’s what happens when you partake in unauthorized cinnamon.
Maybe Doc is going to pull through this.
I thought the seen between Sol and Trixie was very touching.
How does Steve find time to run the livery. It seems like he is always drunk in Nutall’s.
I don’t think Doc is long for this world. TB was usually fatal in those days, as it often is now when untreated. Even if Doc went off someplace with clean fresh air and got lots of rest and good nutrition (unlikely) he would likely not recover.
Is Doc Cochran the only doctor in the camp? You’d think, without being insensitive, yet wishing to be practical, one order of business would be to look for a replacement, especially with the anticipated violence likely making the services of a doctor necessary. And who does the doctor go to when he’s sick? Granted, TB was invariably fatal in those days, and considered untreatable, and Doc Cochran undoubtedly knows his condition’s terminal, but his death will leave the camp without a physician. You’d think (despite Al’s tirade about not wanting to know the quirks of a new doctor) that they’d want to encourage a couple of more doctors to settle in camp just to ensure the general health of the populace.
Which is probably why he offered the job to NG, who was wise not to accept.
There’s no such thing as a bad episode of Deadwood, but the scene with the tailor threw this one off a bit. Gordon Clapp’s accent was terrible, wrapping a yard of fabric around Al’s hand was stupid, and it’s unbelievable that he came all the way from New York City to show Al some swatches. WTF?
I guess it’s too bad that Clapp had only 5 seconds of screen time in season two, but Milch could have found another way to make it up to him.
I love that they think appealing to Hearst’s humanity will avert a war, but hell, maybe it will. It was a nice letter. I wonder if Martha helped him with it, and speaking of Martha, what was that all about, when Seth asked for a quick dinner, and she puts that huge roast on the table, and Seth looked at her and smiled? I think they had a quick something else.
I dunno. This was definitely the weakest episode of the season. Which in Deadwood terms is still good, but…
The cinnamon allergy thing was a total non-sequitur, as was the guy with the swatches. I’m not sure I bought the romantic entanglement between Joannie and Calamity Jane, and meeting was just strange. The plot didn’t really move forward. So, a big ‘meh’ for me.
Yup. My thoughts exactly. The only meat on the bone was the revelation of the telegraph operator (sorry, brain failure in place, can’t remember his name) that Hearst has ordered “25 bricks”. :eek:
No one is expecting bricks! 
I think Seth appreciated the fact that Martha is keeping tabs on the goings on in the camp. She anticipated that there was going to be a meeting and had a good dinner prepared ahead of time.
This episode was a big WTF to me as well.
Very much a set up episode. The tailor scene was one long wtf. The actors ( the acting troupe plot not the actual actors)are boring me but I like every scene with Langrisshe and Al. No one has really mentioned Odell’s plot. I’m not sure what his angle is anymore. Is it that he’s afraid someone else will try to bilk him out of the claim so he might as well enlist Hearst.
I did like the scene with Alma and Ellsworth. I kept expecting her to say “I love you” to him but the bit about 'these friendly hands’was twice as good.
Sol and Trixie contemplating taking Sofia in was very sweet.
Now due to a noisy dishwasher I missed some stuff with Blasaznov and the telegram. Did he send Hearst’s telegram and then tip Al to its contents and then forge a reply? Or was the reply legit?
The show is starting to get too big which worries me. When core characters are relegated to one scene an episode that really bothers me.
Next week is the episodeis the one I’ve been waitin for… Wyatt Earp!
Ian McShane is in the new Woody Allen movie… it might be worth checking out.
I thought the scene with the tailor was solely about showing that news from the camp was making its way back to the papers in New York. Al might hope that Hearst will fear news of his destroying the town reaching the big cities and hurting him in future business deals. That’s why they published the letter to show what a nice, caring town Deadwood is.
My WTF is with the dying actor. I get that the actors themselves are about civilized people beginning to move into the town but why are they wasting time with the bedridden one. Is he supposed to be the personification of the show itself (now that we know the show is ending soon) or is he just one more example of ‘The old ways are passing’?
The actors are boring and really don’t add anything to the plot.
I also thought they were publishing the letter to put the world on ‘notice’ of Hearts’ actions and the situation in Deadwood.
Next week should be interesting.
But the tailor said he heard about Al’s finger in a letter from a friend. It wasn’t in a newspaper.
Could this be foreshadowing of Hearst buying the San Francisco Examiner, trying to control public opinion, fashion his public image?
The speculation about Milch moving up the Deadwood fire is on target, I think–Hearst keeps talking of destroying the town, and Harry wants a fire brigade but hasn’t brought it up yet. I thought for a moment that the lantern in the livery was going to get knocked down and start the fire that way…
I was also concerned for a moment that Al and Langrish were going to kiss. :eek:
Tolliver addressed this question already. He said there was a “falling off” of doctors in the camp, so maybe they should put an ad in the papers back East for a new doc to replace Cohcran. Al responded with, “After we cease our weeping.”
The best scene in the show was when all freaked out on Cochran. Both he and Trixie have strange ways of showing affection-- they get all pissed off and yell at the person they care about.
What’s going to happen to Alma? Will Ellsworth come back to her? I hope so. He’s a good egg and she could (and has) done a lot worse.
The scene with the fabric swatches was surreal. It was ridiculous to see someone talk like that to Al, and the look on Al’s face was priceless.
There were several WTF scenes in this ep: the actors who talked mostly about dust, Joanie and Jane flirting, the swatches, the non-events of meeting (had Dan and Johnny puzzled too I see), Harry collapsing from the cinnamon. Just a weird-ass episode.
I meant to say, when AL freaked out on Cochran. He shows his love in weird ways, that guy.
Anyone else think maybe Al was a bit upset about the fact that the fabric guy was talking about a little boy missing his mommy? Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but Al was telling about how he lost his mother in an earlier ep. Or he was upset that people knew about his finger removal. Or about losing another friend. Maybe all of the above.
Geez Louise, all that fine craziness, Hearst’s grandly insane speech on the power of the colour, Joanie and Jane making out, and people are calling it a “meh” episode?
How spoiled are we?
I really thought he had been poisoned. The way he was talking about the tingling and then gasping and clawing at his throat-- I said, “Cyanide!” and started wondering if Hearst had tried to poison all of the town leaders. Was Jewel in on it, pushing as she was for it to be put on the table? Then Dan made a remark about the cinnamon and ate a bite of peaches and I groaned aloud, thinking he was poisoned, too. Oh no! Not Dan-- he should die in combat, not felled by condiments!
And it all turned out to be an allergy. I don’t know if I was relieved or dissapointed. (Glad Dan didn’t die, though.)
Does anyone know how many days have passed since Wu returned from San Francisco? He told Al that the men he had hired for Hearst would be arriving in Deadwood in 10 days…could lead to an interesting development.
I had a vague impression that Al knew the man with the materials, and there was more going on there than met the eye.
Does it feel like some story lines are nearing some sort of closure?
*Saul and Trixie finally showing some affection. Trixie has had numerous abortions (as she told Alma before hers), and I think has shown a maternal instinct.
*Ellsworth returning (somewhat) to Alma, Alma swearing off the dope.
*Seth and Martha having domestic harmony, calling each other dear.
*Jane and Joanie finding happiness (maybe) with each other. Something about this makes me happy; I love both characters and would like to see them both lose/challenge their personal demons.
*Steve (finally showing some sympathetic qualities) and the NG coming to some sort of truce.
I’m going to miss this show.