And it just got renewed for a second season:
I agree the show is getting better and better, but I didn’t like Jane breaking down when Al came in either; seemed out of character for her. I had expected she’d pull a gun on him and tell him to get the fuck out. But the scene that really bugged me: the doctor stands guard over the little girl with shotgun at the ready, then when the bad guy comes to call, doc just leaves the girl to go with the bad guy, leaving the child alone and unprotected.
As for the “bold male nudity,” I’m all for it - nice to see some male nakedness – women have been doing nude for a long time.
After “Deep Water,” I am definitely a fan of Deadwood. Though Swearengen is about the most evil bastard on TV, I think Ian McShane is the cat’s meow. What a great voice and menacing face. Love that eye twitch. My new favorite psycho.
It’s hard for me to think of Brad Dourif as a good guy–I always think of him as the serial killer in The X-Files episode “Under the Sea.” However, the Doc is one of the few stand-up guys on the show.
Does anyone know anything about the song that played over the ending credits? I checked HBO.com and didn’t see anything. It wasn’t in English, was it? Very stark and gave me chills.
How are Native Americans portrayed in this series?
There haven’t been any NA characters yet, but the white characters talk about them in a disparaging and racist manner. They say “Injuns,” and Swearengen is currently attempting to blame Sioux Indians for the murder of a family by his own men and has offered a bounty for “dead Injuns.” It’s also made clear, though, that the “good” characters don’t believe it.
I think it’s a realistic depiction of how a the people in a camp like Deadwood would have thought about Natives and it would be dishonestly PC to not make the characters of their time.
So far none have shown up. They are talked about and called “savages” or “heathens” or other unflattering terms.
However, NOBODY is referred to in a flattering manner.
In the show’s current time frame, Deadwood is still Lakota land, so the matter of whose law applies is problematic.
Ok, I’m about to agree with 87% of the posters to this thread.
With the first episode, I found myself wondering…‘Where the hell did they find this language in the late 1800’s’?
I then realized that in order to make it viewable for the public that watches it in 2004, it has to be just a bit edgy. I mean, for all I know, saying ‘hell’ or ‘damn’ at that period in time might have been an incredible lapse in judgement and waaaaay over the line(Just like I’d expect these characters to be). The main characters weren’t really saints afterall.
I watched the rest of the show with that attitude and never looked back. In fact, I watched it over again just to do it in the same manner.
IMHO the second show of the series was incredible. I pushed away my 2004 attitude and watched it as my eyes and ears were virgins to ‘wicked’ language and scenery.
That was the ticket!
This is my absolute favorite show on TV right now. In fact, I’ve been a loyal Sopranos fan for years…but, I tape that! 
Some questions about this show: whats a squarehead? Why is there no law enforcement in Deadwood? What in the world was that girl doing to Al’s foot on tonight’s episode?
It’s a pejorative term for a Scandinavian, in this case apparent Norwegian if I heard correctly.
It’s just not that kind of town. The series takes place right before the first sheriff is named. Just watch, you’ll see it happen, I’d guess.
She was scraping his callouses off with a razor. Haven’t you ever done that?
It seemed strange how they quickly hid what they were doing when someone came in the room.
Oh well. Thanks for the answers.
Deadwood was an outlaw settlement, inside what was officially Indian territory and outside the jurisdiction of the U.S. Government, and thus off-limits to white settlement/prospecting. The timeline for the series is sometime following the massacre at Little Bighorn, which probably temporarily ended the presence of the calvalry in the area, but also effectively ended any desire within the army to keep whites out of Indian territory. As Al mentioned in this episode, the previous year, before the massacre, the calvalry had pushed the Deadwoodians out of town and back into organized U.S. territory. That’s not about to happen again, and until the territory around Deadwood is organized officially, there is no law to be enforced.
The show gets better and better - I love it (although I cringed when Hickok used the c-word,which most women hate). At the end, when HBO announced they’d repeat the first three episodes, I found myself thinking, “there’ve only been three?” It seems like much more, and I think that’s because so much is going on in each one – complex characters; words, expessions, and cultures we don’t know; plots and subplots, spys and counter-spys, whores, murders - I’m just glued to the t.v. for this show and look forward to the next when the wife of the murdered guy who wanted his $20,000 back has to deal with Al and his ilk. I’ve been wondering if she was going to do anything more than swill laudanum, and it looks like she will become a main character. Oh yes - I cracked up when Al was meeting with his flunkies, and suddenly exclaims “and I want to know who cut the cheese!”
I bet the dandy’s wife is going to end up turning tricks. A laudanum whore.
what an show to get excited about. Its like Milch is finally able to cut loose and you can tell he loves it.
I liked it when Al says to someone (the dandy?) last night, “what’ll it be? Whiskey, rum, or snatch?”
(maybe he said “pussy”)
You’ve got that backwards.
That’s what I think too! My dad said he thought she’d be on the first train back to NY, but apparently not. Does anyone know if Alma Garret is a historical figure?
I really like this show, too. Wild Bill is done really well, steals the show each time we see him. But from my understanding, Bill is going to be killed in the next episode (or maybe the one after that). We already know who is going to kill him, of course. I hear that Bill will come back as a “ghost” of sorts to visit Seth Bullock (and maybe Jane? not sure) sorta like how the dead dad in Six Feet Under comes back every now and then. I’m not too sure how well that will work out, but I’m invested enough in the show to give it a chance.
Al S. really is a great character. Cut-throat bastard hehe.
Swearengen is the best new character I have seen in either TV or film in a while. From last night:
“Every fucking beating I’m greatful for…Get all the trust beat out of you, then you know what the fucking world is.”
So uh…I guess you would not be interested in sending a friend one of our “Special Appreciation” bouquets? No? OK, thanks anyway sir.
Kalt mentioned Bill coming back as a ghost. It wouldn’t surprise me for this show to take a turn towards the supernatural.
The way the Montana marshall just has a feeling about Al (and the way Bill just knew that one guy was going to shoot him), and the way Jane completely breaks down when he gives her a stare … the guy just radiates evil. It’s like Bill and Montana (whose name I should try to remember) can sniff out evil. And it’s like Al can sniff out do-gooders.
No, I don’t know but she ain’t going back to New York.
She’s a dope fiend in a place where she can get it.
Besides, what fun would that be?
I can’t remember if she has money from her family or if it was all the dandy’s money. She’ll be hooked up with Al before long.
Ummm… how about some spoiler brackets maybe? We all maybe know what is going to happen to Bill, but I had no reason to suspect that they weren’t going to stretch that out a season or two.