And if he didn’t recognize the bullet, he’d know from what Hearst said, all that crap about a “bawd” connected with Ellsworth.
Nice continuity, that the show starts and ends with Doc and a bullet from Trixie’s gun.
“Someone fell” gave me a flashback too, from Andy Cramed and the smallpox.
Question- Why are Harry and Seth going to Sturgis to campaign for Sheriff of Deadwood?
Or is the position to be expanded to County Sheriff as of the elections?
You’re right. The sheriff position will cover Lawrence County, which I’m told had five camps.
Someone at the HBO board (who works on the show) said there will be four deaths in the final two episodes. I wonder who the three others will be.
From the previews, it looks like Leon gets shot, and from the HBO episode description, “Cy folds his hand” implies his suicide so that still leaves one.
A sherriff is almost always defined as a county-level position. A town would have a marshall.
Great episode. I liked the humorous apology from Harry for letting loose a fart that nearly made Martha faint, and not owning up to it. And Bullock’s responses: “It’s all right.” “I have to study this paper.” “Will you shut up about it?”
First I just have to say, Yay, Trixie! But next time bring a bigger gun. My interpretation of her walking around bare-breasted was that no one noticed she had a gun, and they thought she had, ah, legitimate business there.
Today’s Deadwood Health Tip: don’t marry Alma.
Sometimes I think I’m cynical, but when Hearst was just bald-faced lying to the Doc (and for no particular purpose even), I was just shocked! I kept waiting for the Doc to make reference to Hamlet or something.
My take on the Al/Hearst difference, for the geek-initiated: Al is Lawful Neutral - he’ll do awful things, but in a predictable way, and not for the pure joy of it. Hearst is more Chaotic Evil - at times self-serving and shrewd, yet also just plum crazy and violent. Can you picture Al, say, raping Ms. Isringhausen during one of their adversarial interviews? Yet Hearst says he barely restrained himself from doing so to Alma - not for any calculated purpose, just out of rage. Yikes.
Also, come to think of it, look at the difference in their cooks. Al gives Jewel crap, but really loves her, and she’s not afraid to tell him off, but clearly has true affection for him. Hearst likes to make like Aunt Lou is all but family, and aren’t they oh so close, and he loves her so much, but she’s scared to death of him, and plays the role he expects of Mammy to his face, but badmouths him or expresses her outright terror of him behind his back.
I know we’re looking at a continuation of the story in a movie later, but I’d dearly love to see “Stupid” knife Cy properly in the last episode, and finish Andy’s job.
(BTW, how many new characters have been introduced in the second and third to last episodes? At least three!)
I think the key is, Al has progressed from Chaotic Evil to Lawful Neutral. At the beginning of the show, he obviously didn’t give a shit about anyone, not ANYONE. Then, close to the end of S1, we see the first of what I like to call The Blowjob Monologues, where we find out how fucked up his childhood was, and how badly he wants to trust someone. The rest of the show has been Al accumulating trusted friends and fellow travelers on the road to making Deadwood a legitimate town. He’s only Lawful now because he has become The Law, and he cares about his town and his circle of friends. Reminds me of Spike from BtVS, in a way.
Will Al ever be Good? No, because he is too caught up in protecting his interests by any means necessary. Too damaged to ever trust more than he already does, I’d say. He has come a long way, as he is no longer actively evil. That is a huge transformation; anything more than that would just be corny and lame.
Hearst only cares about the law when he can be the mover behind it. He obviously respects no one else’s authority over his own. While generally he lets others do his dirty work, seems like Hearst would kill for the sake of slaking his own momentary rage. I think Langrishe was scared he was going to get knifed when he was fumbling for his key while Hearst stood in the hallway and glared at him.
I’m glad you brought this up-- this is another example of Hearst’s sadism.
This is true-- Al’s employees seem to like him, even Johnny, who’s gotten punched in the face a few times. He does inspire loyalty because he gives it. People tell Al what they really think because, if they’re in his circle, he doesn’t hurt them. Not so of Hearst… does he even have a circle?
I was wondering what her purpose was in the show… maybe Stupid Ja-Ja-Janine is going to end Cy. Serves him right.
Janine has a weird eye. Am I the only one who notices? I’ve watched the last two episodes with friends and neither of them noticed. Its like she ALMOST has a lazy eye.
And just as I was thinking “You know, Dolly’s pretty hot. She’s pretty curvy.” Al made his comment about her losing a few pounds.
Could it be that Stupid Ja-Ja-Janine is connected to the grifter that Cy tortured and then made Joannie kill? She looks vaguely similar. Maybe it’s her big sister, come to extract revenge.
But probably not. However, it does seem weird that they would introduce this new character so close to the show’s end.
Nitpick: It’s Jani-ni-nine.
Yeah. Even if they didn’t know the show was cancelled, it was the end of the season. Hearst showed up toward the end of season two, but we knew he was going to be a major (har!) character.
But like you said, probably not. Milch hasn’t played any tricks like that. There really haven’t been any plot “twists”, just good old character development.
This didn’t happen in the last episode, but I’m confused about Aunt Lou.
Did Hearst have her son killed? She obviously thinks so, but why would he do that?
I honestly don’t think Hearst had Odell killed. I imagine riding the wild areas of the US for a young black man of the time had to be exceptionally dangerous.
Aunt Lou seems to think he did. If he didn’t, the whole plot line was kinda pointless, IMO.
Oh right, because so much time has passed between the seasons so as to obviate prior bad acts?
Er…actually it does matter. This is my interpretation of it as its a valid as yours. I don’t see Al as being any better than Hearst, just more developed as a character. You are entitled to your opinion but I am also entitled to mine. Please try and respect that.
We don’t know if Hearst killed Odell and I’m not sure I’d be willing to bet my son’s life on Al’s good will.
I think you are right on this point. That said, Al did pull a knife out on Bullock (after agreeing not to) and would have killed him but for the coach coming (after Dan saved Al from being beaten to death).
I agree but so what? Still doesn’t make him any better than Hearst. We just haven’t seen enough of Hearst to see if he can aslo be redeemed.
Al’s hit whores before and beaten people up just because he was annoyed. Not seeing how that is any better. With regard to the Captain, Hearst seemed upset at his death even going so far as to lose his cool and get drunk/insult Bullock.
The Captain wanted to fight just as much as Hearst wanted him to. Also, all we have is Al’s impression of that. By having the Captain humble Dan (note how he turned to Hearst for the thumbs up or down), Hearst would further dominate the camp. There was some thought to this.
That’s fine though I don’t think we have seen enough of Hearst to judge. Al still deserves our contempt despite what a great character he is.
Not bad, but I nominate him putting that poor preacher out of his misery (late season 1, early season 2?) with the pillow over his face as Al’s most tender moment, saying something like ‘good night, brother’ or some such thing. Hey, its Swidgin we’re talking about, after all.
Granted, he also used that moment to give Johnny a lesson in properly suffocating someone, but that’s Al for you.
I liked Ellsworth, hated to see the character go, and was actually jumpy when they showed him in the tent, but the dog-lover/owner in me was thinking ‘man i hope they don’t kill that cool dog too.’
Damn my lack of board knowledge - got good spoiler stuff/guesses and no proper way to share it.
Nothing is obviated, but the character has changed in meaningful and noticeable ways. I just finished rewatching S1 while watching S3, so the transformation has been quite evident to me. It seems that Al has become invested in a group of people and they have become friends, even ad hoc family, in spite of his basically untrusting, damaged, and violent nature. That’s progress. That I, who loathed him when I first started watching the show, can care so much about him now is a testament to the excellent writing on Deadwood.
But there is ample evidence, which has been offered in this thread by several posters, that Al has evolved over the course of the show. David Milch et al have shown a definite arc in his development, which for some reason you refuse to acknoweldge for reasons that I don’t quite understand. Fine, you’re entitled to your opinion, but you haven’t been very persuasive.
And with the show ending, we will probably never know for sure, but it seems likely, and Aunt Lou sure thought so.
I don’t think Al was going to kill Bullock. I think he was reflexively protecting himself. He knew he was getting his ass kicked and in that situation, he would always pull a knife. I do not believe he would have knifed Bullock unless he had to. You have no more proof of what Al was going to do at that point than I do, it’s just my impression. I think Al admires Bullock and values him. That whole fist fight was about Al’s disappointment in Bullock’s fall from grace, and getting him back on track. He’d no more kill Bullock than Dan because they are important to Deadwood and to him.
I think he is better than Hearst, and apparently almost every person in Deadwood who knows both parties would agree with me. The Gem has become a haven for those who are terrified of Hearst: Alma, EB, Trixie. They all resisted the tyrannous domination of Hearst and ran to Al. Hell, remember how much Sol hated Al in S1? And now, he brings Trixie there to save her. Ditto Alma. But Al is no better than Hearst? Really?
Not just because he was annoyed. He usually has more reason than that. But that’s irrelevant, because no one is saying, as Trixie said, “he’s a fucking prince.” He’s a very scary man, but he’s better than Hearst because he has some sort of moral structure outside of the profit motive now.
He gets murderously upset whenever he loses. I think emotionally he felt the way a person playing grand master level chess would feel if his bishop or queen was taken. He hates not to get his way. His verbal attack on Bullock was the tantrum of an angry, thwarted child, not unlike his spitting on EB, except Bullock is no one to be trifled with. Bullock’s rage is as explosive as Hearst’s, but he has some sort of moral code to rein him in. Hearst does not. He only cares about The Color.
Tom Nuttall actually said it first, and Al agreed, that Hearst wanted to have his fun in the thoroughfare and increase his power and intimidation factor. When he unexpectedly lost so big, he was enraged, but only because he lost a valuable, useful tool. He does seem sentimental about his favorite tools.
I don’t feel contempt for Al. I feel admiration, pity, some disgust, but overall, I think he’s a fantastically complex character about whom I can have nothing but the most ambivalent of loves for. Hearst is the villain to Al’s anti-hero. To say there’s no difference between them is to miss the point of the whole show.
You can see how to do spoilers here.
Steve the drunk just showed up on that new show “Vanished”.
Yes there has been development but we’ve seen so little of Hearst so we don’t know what he has been through. Ask yourself this though, would Al kill anyone of those people if his interests were threatned? The answer is that he would. Al has gathered those people around him as much to fight Hearst as because he cares for them. To be sure there are some tender moments here and there but as his treatment of Johnny shows, Al is only in it for Al. Not that much different from Hearst at all.
Nope. There are other people’s opinions. Al is no better than Hearst, just a more developed character. If push came to shove Al would do whatever it took to protect himself and his interests. Hearst can afford to be a little more cavalier (sadistic?) because this is just another venture for him. I wonder, if Al had the wealth and power Hearst has would he be any different?
Yea, that is a shame. Hearst did seem surprised but he may just have well been pretending in front of Lou.
Well Bullock was beating him to death and was going to kill him but for Dan hitting Bullock on the head. Al was done and dusted and only pulled the knife after Dan hit Bullock (I think, I don’t have the DVD’s but that’s how I remember it).
I agree with the first part but not so much with the last line. Al was going to kill him but the stage reminded him of what he was fighting Bullock for.
Yes, really. Hearst offers them no salvation. That is, Hearst will not sustain the status quo. Al will. Hearst only offers them total subjugation. Al at least offers a way out because Al either can’t or won’t dominate them (he can’t dominate Sol and Bullock). It’s a dead cert what a Hearst-run Deadwood will look like. Better the devil you know.
Two things: One you said that Hearst was sadistic because he spat at EB because he was annoyed. I merely pointed out that Al has done the same. Second thing is that Hearst has a motive as well. He believes commerce and development bring law, order and civilization. That’s as a legitimate of a moral code as Al’s. Hearst is right in that regard though his methods are grotesque. Remember also that Hearst isn’t from Deadwood. He has no relationship with these people. Al would act no differently to strangers who were in his way. Deadwood is all Al has so he has to do whatever it takes to survive.
That’s a good point though I do think he was genuinely upset that the Captain died. The Captain seemed to want to fight as well.
You had me until the last line. To see Hearst as just a one-dimensional character is also to miss the point of the show. He’s deeper and more complex than that. In many ways, Hearst is what Al reaps for making Deadwood what it is, through whatever means Al thought necessary.