That’s not remarkable for the time. It was still common for people to carry their own cutlery. And like Farnum is going to have sharp steak knives.
About Hiram- All I can think of is that Grant’s first name was Hiram (Ulysses being his middle name) and Grant’s presidency was considered by most to be a failure. It may be a reference to that. Kind of like calling someone a “W” now. We all know who you’d be referring to and the implication.
Mysterious lady in red appears again.
And who are these new non whore women in the camp? I wish instead of focusing on some old dying actor they spent a bit more time showing more of the camp growing. We signs for new businesses and saloons in the street scenes but we don’t see those factor into the town’s dynamic.
I’m pretty sure the song Al was singing was “Streets of Laredo.” It was the part about “playing the fife lowly” that caught my ear:
As I walked out on the streets of Laredo.
As I walked out on Laredo one day,
I spied a poor cowboy wrapped in white linen,
Wrapped in white linen as cold as the clay.
“I can see by your outfit that you are a cowboy.”
These words he did say as I boldly walked by.
" Come an’ sit down beside me an’ hear my sad story.
" I’m shot in the breast an’ I know I must die."
“It was once in the saddle, I used to go dashing.
" Once in the saddle, I used to go gay.
" First to the card-house and then down to Rose’s.
" But I’m shot in the breast and I’m dying today.”
“Get six jolly cowboys to carry my coffin.
" Six dance-hall maidens to bear up my pall.
" Throw bunches of roses all over my coffin.
" Roses to deaden the clods as they fall.”
“Then beat the drum slowly, play the Fife lowly.
" Play the dead march as you carry me along.
" Take me to the green valley, lay the sod o’er me,
" I’m a young cowboy and I know I’ve done wrong.”
“Then go write a letter to my grey-haired mother,
" An’ tell her the cowboy that she loved has gone.
" But please not one word of the man who had killed me.
" Don’t mention his name and his name will pass on.”
When thus he had spoken, the hot sun was setting.
The streets of Laredo grew cold as the clay.
We took the young cowboy down to the green valley,
And there stands his marker, we made, to this day.
We beat the drum slowly and played the Fife lowly,
Played the dead march as we carried him along.
Down in the green valley, laid the sod o’er him.
He was a young cowboy and he said he’d done wrong.
I concur. Same things (plus McShane’s approximation of the tune) caught my ear, too.
Ever see Streets of Laredo (1949)? I did as a kid and remembered not liking Alfonso Bedoya, who was perhaps most famous for his “stinking badges” line in Treasure of the Sierra Madre. His last role was in The Big Country which I just saw again recently. It looks like he died before that was released.
How does this relate to Deadwood? Quien sabe? But did you ever hear the Smothers Brothers version of the song? That’s got to be closer to the topic – well the post anyway…
Most likely true. Have you ever noticed the similarity of the song’s lyrics to those of St. James Infirmary? They were big on funerals. Six crap shooters, six pretty women, big brass band.
I liked the part about the “pine boughs” (or whatever boughs it was) to take the edge off the stink. Poetry.
New fucking Deadwood fan here. Watched Season 1 & 2 in about 10days. Missed the first couple season 3’s… but am caught up now.
I still dont understand Jane’s cowardice around the saloon owners. She trash talks men all the time. In season 1 she looked quick on the draw, so I dont understand. Did I miss something? A backstory there?
I’ve never missed an episode and I don’t get it either. In the first season, she burst into tears when faced with Al-- his eyes scared her, IIRC. That may have been understandable (though I disliked it) 'cause Al’s a bad motherfucker, but Cy? Cy strikes me as nothing more than a big turd in a little bowl. I can understand Joanie’s reaction to him because there’s emotional history there, but I’m really surprised Jane didn’t find it in herself to roll her eyes and push him off the porch into the mud.
Jane talks tough, but she backs down quickly when someone calls her bluff. She’s not a badass, she’s a ornery drunk. Tolliver and Swearengen are both types that just talking tough with them is not going to make them back off. I bet if Jane ever crossed Bullock, it would be the same. Sol, however, she could cow. Utter knows her well and she knows him well; neither would be afraid of the other.
When Al came in to look at Sofia at Doc’s back in Season 1, Jane was supposed to guard her. She folded like a house of cards. When the Doc came back, this is what was said:
Apparently Jane was abused as a child, and certain men just unnerve her. Al and Cy must remind her of those men, no surprise.
Someone at TWOP said Al’s version is The Unfortunate Rake. That melody must have been around for awhile.
Something I didn’t pay much attention to until the second viewing was Joanie and Charlie’s conversation about the house with the tree inside. Joanie’s upset because she doesn’t have the whole story to tell the children – what happened to the guy who built the house.
Charlie says something like “children want to know everything, but isn’t the fact of the house enough, that it exists?”
I think this could be Milch’s message to us – that we’re not going to get the whole story of Deadwood and we’re not going to know “what happened” to everyone.
I’m still going to cancel HBO in three weeks, but I’ll feel better about all the unresolved story lines (with or without the two-hour movies). It’s enough for me that Deadwood was there.
Did ya’ll notice the tit-licker was back? He’s in the background when Silas and Jarry are talking in the Gem.
I hadn’t thought of that, I think you are right… Almost a cop out though because with that he’s also saying “I introduced a bunch of shit that will never pay off.” Which for me is really unsatisfying.
I fully expect the lady in red will never ever be followed up on.
I did. I always enjoy the large naked breasts at the Gem whenever we get them.
I loved that Johnny figured out Wu’s chicken scratches before Al did, and I loved even more Al’s response to that.
And I thought the ending was very poignant. All the regular folk out there having a great time while the leaders were all cooped up in their own places, trapped and isolated by their responsibilities, the avoidance of which was what led many of them there in the first place. Then Al’s song driving home that they’d all really rather be out there having fun.
Come to think of it, when was the last time we saw Al leave his saloon? Has he gone anywhere further than his front step since Hearst whacked his finger? I guess there was that interview with Al, Hearst, and Tolliver where Al kept his back to the wall… But other than that?
He’s gone to the Bullock’s house a couple of times. I think at least once since the finger incident. And didn’t Langrishe show up after that incident? Al gave him a tour of the camp.
I saw that coming, too. It was foreshadowed down in the bar when Johnny bragged about how he figured out the drawing Hearst had sent over, then Dan addressing Wu: “You’d better let Johnny go upstairs with you in case Al, not being half as clever as Johnny or even fucking Jewel, might get confused with your chicken scratches and deal you a royal fuckin’ ass-beating.”