Next weekend is Memorial Day weekend.
Well, I know that… but it ain’t no reason to not show my favorite 2 shows! I can eat ribs and watch TV… :lol:
Too much of the country is on the road for the three day weekend.
I’m purposely not going anywhere til Tuesday…
I think the show is getting better and better. We’re seeing a town come together, we had that great bit with Merick trying to form a “walking club” (The Ambulators!), exposition on the Chinese sub-politics, a real racial quandry that should resonate later on (this was a time when race trumped justice), and it centered almost exclusively on Al Swearengen, the most magnetic character on TV, imo.
I think the series is suffering somewhat from 1st season uncertainty. They made Deadwood and I bet most people predicted it would fail. It’s a Western. So they set short fuses on plots that would be better if drawn out. This explains why the Wild Bill stuff was so strong. It also explains why the Reverend was barely introduced… when he had his first seizure. I wish he’d had more time to be “normal” before that plotline grabbed him and tossed him about. I love the actor and character, he’s the only innocent and could be very useful in offsetting some of Deadwood’s rougher edges. I hope he survives and I’m glad they have a crazy grave-robbing doctor hanging around… maybe some (pun-intended) pioneering surgery is in order. Anyway, now that it’s been renewed, it should fall into a more even rut but despite this, the series is in really strong hands in terms of acting, writing, and directing. Great characters throughout.
Oh, and the titlicker is hilarious.
Yeah okay it was a little slowish but I think things are really coming to a head - I suppose they would, next week being the last episode of the season. It’ll probably end with Bullock becoming Sheriff I suppose, possibly with the backing of Swearengen, probably something over Tolliver being overly responsible for killing the Chinese.
— Alan
I thought last night’s episode was fantastic personally. Alma’s got a con man father, Star got some - and had to pay for it, Swearengen got shit-faced and told his life story in the most -original- way I’ve ever seen on television (that was one menacing scene), we learned a lot about Jewel (AKA the Gimp), Tolliver is declaring underhanded war against Al, and the Reverend’s plight is breaking my fucking heart.
Seriously. That was a great bit when Al was watching him on the street. After Bullock’s visit, I mean. My wife forgot that Al said that his brother had a head leison too. This episode he said something about killing his brother (or seeing him killed) out of mercy. It was after the Doctor left the Gem (and explained Al’s mood swings too him).
The show has terrific writing, this episode was no exception.
I felt less enthusiastic about this episode than the others, but still loved parts of it - Bullock’s outrage at the choice of Sheriff and his conversation with Swearengen is just great. And of course there’s the great conversation:
“So… how did you mete out this justice?”
“We shot him.”
Swearengen’s whole self-story was pretty interesting, telling it drunk in the middle of a blowjob is kinda funky.
— Alan
I still find that the show meanders way too much, but some of the scenes are absolutely incredible. That closing rant by Swearengen telling his life story was amazingly intense. I just wish these great scenes had some kind of plot tying them all together, to give them more impact and make them more memorable. The show plays out like a series of dramatic sketches every week.
I think you’re right, but I also think this is intentional. The difference between Deadwood and The Sopranos is that the latter is about Tony and to an extent, both of his families. Deadwood has no main character. It’s about a town being made.
I happen to like that aspect of the show, but mainly because I find the machinations, the main characters, and the supporting characters so damned interesting.
But like all episodic fiction, you’re going to find some episodes more interesting than others. So instead of being drawn into a coherent story for a full 60 minutes, you’re sitting around waiting for the good stuff to kick in for at least 10 minutes (and that’s being generous) each week. That sort of kills any momentum the show could be developing, IMO.
I respect your opinion man, but I think you should change every and “you’re” into “Brett Todd.” Because I disagree completely based on what we’ve seen so far. I find all the subplots interesting so I’m never really waiting around for anything.
Seriously Brett, I’m not kidding, this is my favorite show since… well, since The Sopranos debuted.
I’ll give it credit for getting me to stick with it longer than any other HBO show I’ve tried since the Sopranos, but I doubt I’m around for much longer. I’ve given up on network TV but love the Sopranos, so I keep trying different HBO shows: Six Feet Under, Carnivale, all the comedies, but Deadwood is the only one that I’ve stuck with for more than a handful of episodes, largely because I like the idea of a gritty western.
But plot developments seem to take so long, and I find all of the characters boring, other than the two evil whorehouse operators. It’s picked up over the past couple of episodes (like the Chinese subplot), but if it didn’t play back-to-back with the Sopranos, I probably wouldn’t have bothered. I doubt I’ll be back next year.
I respect your opinion man, but I think you should change every and “you’re” into “Brett Todd.” Because I disagree completely based on what we’ve seen so far. I find all the subplots interesting so I’m never really waiting around for anything.
Seriously Brett, I’m not kidding, this is my favorite show since… well, since The Sopranos debuted.[/quote]
Good for you. But I think you’re in the minority. Yes, this is just me speaking, but I can’t imagine how anyone could get even remotely the same enjoyment out of the scenes with, say, Jewel as they did with the scenes with Swearengen and Tolliver. I mean, Jewel as some comic relief (I don’t mean due to her handicap, I mean with her great lines like that “I’m knocked up” last week) is fine. Jewel as a lead character, out of the blue, for no obvious reason, is not.
Where the hell is the plot going? There’s one episode left to wrap this up, yet nothing has progressed with the overall plot since Wild Bill was killed. Swearengen and Tolliver still have an uneasy relationship. Bullock and Alma still have unacknowledged attraction issues. Utter is still dancing around the idea of “dating” Joan. In the last six or so episodes, we’ve had enough action for maybe two episodes. And now they’re introducing further plot lines and characters? What the hell is the point of bringing Alma’s dad in at this point? What is the point of suddenly making Jewel a stronger character?
You’re bitching about the Sopranos episode with Meadow and Finn, yet you’ve got no problems with Deadwood dedicating big chunks of its penultimate episode to the tavern gimp (the episode was even titled after Jewel) looking into getting a brace for her leg? You’re praising Deadwood for doing the same thing for which you’re slamming The Sopranos. How does that make sense?
I’m with Stefan. If not for Deadwood running right after The Sopranos, I’d have bailed a long time ago. Seeing as that will likely never happen again, with Tony and the boys going on hiatus till 2006, I think I’m done with Deadwood after Sunday night.
It makes sense because, as we tried to drill into you before, these are two completely different shows. Soprano’s is all character-driven family drama; Deadwood is not - it’s about the “camp”/town at a certain period of time and the important characters that shaped it in that time.
Yes it meanders, but it’s a fun, gritty western meandering. Something new happens every episode that carries on to the next. People come, they go, invite a stabbing, say “cocksucker,” get rich, die poor, and fade into history. Yes, there is a general plot, and yes, it does continue each episode. You might have fallen asleep and missed it.
The same cannot be said of The Sopranos, which had maybe three episodes that did anything in each of the last two seasons.
You can do that in Deadwood to some extent, but not with The Sorpranos, because the shows are totally different, are constructed differently, and buildt around different ideas of what the show should be about.
That being said, I understand why some won’t be interested and probably won’t watch.
— Alan
Excuse me? Go back and look at my comments man. I bitched about Meadow and Finn because it was horribly written and horribly acted. (Which was jarring to me because I liked the rest of the episode a lot.) I find almost all of ancillary characters and subplots on Deadwood interesting and I’ve seen nothing I’d call horribly written or horribly acted on that show, so far. To better illustrate my point, my favorite plot on Deadwood at the moment is the plight of the Preacher. I think Jewel ties into that because, as she showed in this episode, the Doctor seems like he doesn’t care until you jar him a little. If noticed Swearengen “jarred” the Doctor on Sunday. He said something like “You’re going to help her? Like you helped the goddam Preacher?” and that made the Doctor jump. I bet you anything this is going to prompt the Doctor to attempt surgery on the Preacher in the final episode.
If you don’t care, I understand that Brett. Just stop trying to convince me I shouldn’t like my favorite fucking show!
Or start a new thread where the silent majority can join you in railing against it each week.
Cocksucker! ;-)
But do you understand why they’d bitch about it every week on a message board?
Not really. I’m not sure how said person can bitch, since he apparently sleeps all the time and misses out on most of the episode. What was that disorder where you fall asleep at the most comedic and inopportune of times again?
— Alan
narco-motherfucking-lepsy
Cocksuckers.
I’m not comparing Deadwood to The Sopranos. I’m comparing it to the usual standards for good drama, which typically include such esoteric things as “plot.”
Could you be any more of a pompous asshole? I mention that I fell asleep two weeks in a row during Deadwood and that I nodded off during the first two incredibly long and dull Harry Potter movies and you act like I’m the only person on the planet who’s ever fallen asleep at a movie or in front of a TV before. Fuck. Off.
What, now we’re arguing my show versus your show? Cool. Can we do video cards next?
Brett if you dislike it this much, why are you still watching it? I’m just curious. I agree with you on a lot of points, and think the episodes since Bill’s death have been mostly boring.
I figured the show would center more around Bullock/Bill/Utter/Calamity Jane then it has been because they’re the only characters we saw before they actually get to town.