The board has Steve’s signed confession that he was caught fucking Bullock’s horse. Steve wasn’t upset that it was erased. Steve thought that the real board was somewhere else and that the erased board was a fake.
It was Steve admitting that he had sex with a horse – Hostetler caught him and made Steve write it out. Steve obviously considered it as possible blackmail. Because it was erased, Steve couldn’t be sure it was the “real” board.
The fight was awsome, if hard to watch at the end.
And I cheered when Al consulted the chief again.
You maybe saw it in Kill Bill and didn’t think it was possible, but now that you saw it on Deadwood, you’re convinced?
I had forgotten about the horse-fucking. I can imagine that Steve would worry about that coming back to haunt him. Be bad for business.
I was hoping he’d take Alas-Poor-Yorrick out of the box. Hearst might have gotten the willies if he looked out of his hole in the wall and saw Al yukking it up with a skull.
Oh man! I would’ve given anything for Bullock to have seen that. He would have clenched so hard his head would have exploded.
Also, you haven’t lived until your breast has been used as a megaphone. 
This season is worthwhile if for only one reason: whenever my boss says “mornin’”, my thought response is “perfect time of day to go fuck yourself”.
Does anyone know for sure that the opium Alma drinks can be smelled on the breath? I would think, if Hearst knew that Alma was a drug addict, he would have put that informatiom to use earlier, though maybe Honey is right.
Would that be enough to make Ellsworth leave her, though? I think he left because her advances to him were made in such a way as to indicate that she really does not dig him and has to work herself up to touching him. Whether he thinks it’s the dope or fantasizing about Bullock, that she uses to get it up for him. he doesn’t want to be her consolation prize anymore.
It just seemed to me that Ellsworth leaned into her waiting kiss, and then grimaced slightly, as if he DID see or smell something…just before pulling away. I got the impression it was a combination of her “suddenly” wanting him after so long, and the possibility that she’d really be thinking of Bullock, PLUS the possibility occurring to him that she was on dope again (smell? the randy way she looked?). He did make his concern for Sofia clear, so that might indicate he did believe dope to be involved. Very sad, esp. for Alma. What options will she have left after Ellsworth moves on?
–Beck
When the horse got loose and trampled William, Hostetler grabbed a shotgun like he was going to use it on himself and NG restrained him.
I figured out my question about where Sophia was. She was probably in the house asleep. When Ellsworth asked Alma about “collecting” her, he was probably referring to taking her back and forth to school.
The “Don’t forget” part was a nice jab.
Laudenum is a tincture of opium in an alcohol solution. Supposedly it had a characteristic odor (modern laudenum is now deodorized) but the alcohol alone should be detectable on the breath and would be enough of a clue to those aware of Alma’s history with the drug. Hearst would probably be able to infer an “indulgence” in laudenum by the odor on her breath combined with a lack of any obvious drunkeness. Laudenum addiction wasn’t exactly uncommon during the Victorian era.
I thought that his comment meant something along the lines of, “You indulge yourself, madame, in thinking you could play business with the boys.”
I thought the sniffing was, uhm, sexual.
That is exactly how I took it.
The line is: “You are reckless, madam.” (sniffs) “You indulge yourself.”
If he knew that she has fallen off of the wagon, he would have done something about it by now. Cy finds out from Leon in this latest episode that she is back on the junk. Cy can’t wait to give this info to Hearst.
Isn’t it still somewhat common for people to kiss with their eyes closed, especially for first kisses? I would think that would be the norm for a lady with Alma’s upbringing.
Put me in the group that thinks that Elsworth smelled or tasted the dope and didn’t want that to be the reason that Alma took him into her bed.
Seth has actually been pretty restrained (for him) since thrashing EB. I expect the shit to hit the fan before long.
Leon is about to have a very bad day when Trixie catches up with him. Cy really needs some better quality henchmen. Too bad for him that he ran off Eddie Sawyer.
If ever there was a thread I thought I might expect to see a comment like “Hey, where Push You Down, he’s usually all over these Deadwood threads”… alas… I will cry into my pillow tonight.
Since the cast is now bloated as a summer tick, its a crying shame that Sol has had nothing to do all season except get fucked by Trixie…its not a bad life, but I’d want more. Sol brightens every scene he is in. Perhaps Sol will take more control of the bank once Alma’s weakness comes to light.
I honestly thought when Hostetler left he was going to come out with a gun and essentially commit suicide by sheriff. He’d threaten to shoot Steve and Bullock would have to kill him.
The craziest thing is… this is HALF-WAY through the season. It feels like the next episode could be the season finale and I’d feel like it was one of the best seasons of any show ever.
So… Dan was greasing himself up… but… wore a shirt to the fight… Why? Was it just like a secondary line of defense if Turner ripped his shirt off?
For idle speculation based on two minor and out of context bits of inside info I have
Toward the end of the season atleast Bullock will be in Sturgis giving a speech of some kind. One of my housemates is in the scene. Trixie may in fact go back to working at the Gem based on a scene that same housemate was also an extra in.
Never mind Sol, where are they hiding Wu? cocksucker, I miss him and the pigs. They would have made short work of the Captain, cocksucker. Hearst wouldn’t have had to “make the arrangements”.
Cocksucker…
i heard that!! … i LOVED the way that dude’s eyes was bobbing up and down like a jawbreaker on the end of a slinky… im gonna watch the re-runs all fuckin week just to see that over and over again…
That’s er…sort of messed up Ms. Deanna but then each to their own right?
I remember watching the fight and thinking go for th eyes, why aren’t they going for the eyes!
Sadly, they did and I lost some cheerios in the process.
Why did Hearst risk such an overt confrontation? Why risk his top man like that?
Mind you, the Captain had the fight won but for the Roman-esque look up to Hearst.
Surely Hearst has other agents in and around the camp? If not, he better get some.
I don’t know why Bullock didn’t just beat Steve to death but Hosteler killing himself was a shock.
Great episode.
Hearst probably assumed Captain Turner would win. Hearst has seen Turner fight several times and was probably pretty confident in his abilities. He saw Dority as more of a thug.
We know Hearst still has the two triggermen who killed the last of the Cornish organizers and dumped his body in the thoroughfare.
I think Hearst isn’t going to be in the camp long. The Gem will muscle up and it will ultimately come down to the Bella Union (we know Tolliver has several gun men at the ready in his joint) vs. the Gem.
Especially as, as he said, the last one was “planted in the middle of the thoroughfare like a fucking flag”.
I don’t have anything to add other than DAMN! One thing I noticed about the fight scene was the complete lack of sound effects. There was no music, no crowd sounds - just the two guys pounding each other. It really helped with the feeling of realism.
One thing I really liked about the fight was how they started out grappling and pounding with all their might, but it wasn’t long before they were obviously exhausted.
Dan didn’t win because he was stronger, faster, or had more endurance. They seemed fairly evenly matched in those categories, and I think Turner had a slight advantage if anything. Dan was just plain meaner.
As of this episode, Deadwood has officialy surpassed The Sopranos as my favorite television show of all time. 'Tis a bittersweet moment, but makes me glad that Deadwood will likely go out in its prime.