This is perhaps the best spot-on description of Bullock I’ve read. The staredown is fantastic, and the tension is high - the only thing keeping you back is the fact that you know they can’t be getting into it this early. There’s a scene from the series preview that tracks Bullock as he walks through the street then turns to the right and moves across to the left of the frame, a great rage building within. Holy crap this show is awesome.
I kinda disappointed myself by reading the historical stuff on what happens to some of the characters, but oh well. I wanna see how it turns out anyway.
I missed the first 15-20 minutes of the first episode, so it’s slow in dawning on me why the ex-sherriff hates Al so much (can we call him Al instead of swear…?)
It’s simply because Al is the worst kind of bad guy, and the ex-sherriff is well, an ex-sherriff, right?
How long until rich snoby guy ends up dead for trying to get his money back, and then his druggie wife ends up one of Al’s whores?
Heh. When he started yakking about enlisting the help of Wild Bill, I muttered “dead”. He’s like one of those expendables on Oz. You know, the new guy they bring in for that episode for the sole purpose of being shanked.
I didn’t care for Jane after the first episode, but she grew on me in the second episode. I have a theory regarding her overemotional, somewhat confused mannerisms.
I believe either the writers or the actor is trying to portray Jane as developmentally delayed (mild mental retardation), or the victim of a closed head injury. Seriously.
I missed the first 20 minutes of the first episode, so this may have been stated in the introduction of the character. If you view Jane’s actions with this mindset, and have experience with folks with these conditions, it fits pretty well. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a hypermasculine emotionally impaired female gunfighter depicted on screen before now…
If her exaggerated mannerisms are not being used for a future plot device or aspect of character development, I agree with the Gone Gold guys.
It looked that way to me as well. From reading a bit about the historical Calamity Jane, though, I don’t get the sense that she had that kind of problem. I’ll be kind of PO’d if the inevitable dramatizations of my exploits portray me as developmentally delayed…
I didn’t interpret her as being developmentally delayed, but rather as ‘damaged goods’, due to childhood abuses she suffered. In episode 2, she mentioned having been raped as a child.
Well, I disagree with the Gone Gold Guys TM
I think Calamity Jane is a soft scared woman living in a world of extremely rough and violent men. She’s been a victim all her life and she isn’t going to be one any more. The bluster is like trash talk, it keeps them from messing with her. She’s like a small dog. But she isn’t all bark though, she’s based on reality and that means she’s killed plenty of times before. But a man like Al can rip all that aside and lay it bare, in much the same way as a man like Wild Bill brings out her polite and softer side. It makes perfect sense that she’d get smashed and want to kill Al for reminding her that she isn’t a foul mouthed ruffian man… she’s really a woman. Or more like that little girl than she wants to believe. The doc also noticed that she’s a good nurse deep down beneath the bluster. “You’ve got a gift.”
They really thought she was abhorrant? I think she’s awesome. Maybe the best/most interesting female role I’ve seen on TV since Janice on The Sopranos or CJ on The West Wing.
What? Would they prefer someone like Dale Evans in the role?
While I think Andrew’s interpretation explains part of Jane’s character, I still feel there’s something more. To me, Jane wouldn’t be as interesting if she was a variation of the “woman with hard early life who compensates by developing a tough exterior, while underneath still being sensitive” archetype. See Naomi Watts in 21 Grams, Elizabeth Shue in Leaving Las Vegas, and Halle Barry in Monsters Ball for examples of how this character type can be explored quite effectively.
The extra layer of Jane’s performance comes from her overdramatic acting style, especially compared to the more subtle performances around her. People in this thread have commented on Bullock’s slow burn, Al’s menacing gaze, and Wild Bill’s mere “aging badass” presence, all of which rely on nuance and body language more than spoken lines. The director and writers could easily have scripted Jane’s vulnerability in an indirect fashion, like gazing at her gunbelt when Al enters the Doc’s quarters, and then dropping her gaze as a forlorn look comes over her face. Instead, she drunkenly collapses in Wild Bill’s manager’s arms and bawls “He [Al] scared me more than I’ve been since I was a little girl.” Instead of seeing a lot of tough talk and hints of a gentle underside, I believe viewers are supposed to see both bluster and vulnerability in large doses. This is a break from the archetype, and would explain why some would find Jane’s character so strange or repellant.
This is why I’m stubbornly hanging onto my belief that her over-the-top portrayal expresses more about her character than her prior victimization. Other folks have commented that my head injured/developmental delay theory doesn’t seem to be accurate to the historical Jane…maybe jeffjones’ “damaged goods” hypothesis is correct.
Regardless, I’m really excited to be this worked up over a show so early into its run. Happy to see all the interest here, and am glad it was picked up for another season.
Well you can’t put Calamity Jane in line with characters like Al, Hickock, or Bulloch. Their confidence is real and unshakable. Hers is (well some of it is) a bluff. She’s pretty much all bluster because she’s a woman in a time (and place) where being a woman was a dodgy prospect at best. Note the whores. Plus she’s among men who don’t respect women (aside from her close friends), so she gets respect (or at least a wide berth) with bluster. She drinks like a ruffian, she fights like ruffian, she acts like a ruffian, but we learned from Al that when she’s directly challenged by a truly intimidating and dangerous man, she breaks like a little girl. I find her very realistic because I’ve known people like this. In a way she’s a victim who compensates by being a foul-mouthed bully.
Not that she’s a coward. If a “regular” guy came to kill the girl, I’m sure Jane would have messed him up bad. Al isn’t a regular guy.
She’s more like some of the other “low” characters in Deadwood. Or maybe like that prospector who says “limp-dicked cocksucker” all the time.
Great episode last night. I’m a little disappointed by how heavily they’re
foreshadowing Bill’s death, as it seems to mean it’ll be sooner rather
than later. Jane didn’t seem as slow, Ed made a mistake or two, and
EB had something to contribute to the plot.
Very well done.
Yeah, but that scene where Bill was helping with the construction on the Hardware store was great. Carradine did a wonderful job going from tolerance to irritation to almost mortal fear. The drunk continuing with his tirade as he exited putting another and another little dagger in was pretty powerful, I thought. As his discomfort visibly grew on his face, it slowly dawned on me how the dread of his past catching up to him must linger in the back of his mind and how that fear can be shoved to the forefront at a moment’s notice. I think I would stay in a saloon, playing cards with my back to the wall all the time, too. Maybe the scene was pretty cliched for some, but I was certainly caught up in the moment with the other three who could just sit there and watch it unfold.
I liked the subplot with the dandy gent. He found some courage and fumbled it away due to greed. Very ironic end.
The negotiation scene was very cool. For a brief moment, Al comes across as a sympathetic character. “Well you can sell to them during the course of business…” (paraphrased).
I initially did a double-take because underneath the facial hair and his stern demeanor I thought he was Michael Biehn or trying to do an impression of his character in The Terminator. It quickly became apparent that he was much better than that.
Does anyone else really enjoy the music? It’s just some percussion and subtle string plucking, but it really wratchets up the tension somethin’ fierce. God, I love this show more with each episode.
