Another look at a divide within the soul of this community -- specifically in how it treats the sick. On the one hand you have guys like Al and Cy and the other businessmen of the town, who are mostly concerned with quelling any panic so as not to hurt any business. There's no really empathy or sympathy from them, or if there is, it's buried down deep. They have interests, and those interests would be hurt by a smallpox outbreak running through Deadwood. So they pool their money, send folks out to get a vaccine, and work with the local media to downplay the severity of the threat.
And on the other hand you have the Doctor Cochran, Calamity Jane, and the reverend who actually want to see these people treated. The doctor is content to play the game as much as he needs to in order to keep himself solvent and allowed to do his job in the midst of all this muck, but at the end of the day, he's committed to treating the sick, and all his dealings with Al, Cy, and other, are a means to that end. Jane is in mourning, back on the bottle, and yet you see in the way she looks at that little girl, and in the way she dives on board to helping in the pest tent, that she too cares about these people, and isn't going to let her grief rob her of her spirit. And the reverend, odd duck though he may seem, is equally committed to caring for the sick, regardless of the risks or even of his own afflictions, which may have been spurred by spending time in the graveyard with coughing newspapermen and god knows what else. These folks get little or nothing out of treating the ill--their interests aren't aligned toward it the way the businessmen of the town are--but they're still there to take care of it.
The episode trots out a few more of this little dichotomies. Al and E.B. want to incapacitate Alma so that they can pursue their business interest, namely getting her to sell her gold claim back to them. They don't care what subtrefuge they have to use to do it; it's all in the game. But Trixie has been where Alma is, clouded by a laudanum stupor and (presumably) having some major lapse that made her want to climb out of it, and even though it goes directly against her interest, particularly with the cruel hand of Swearingen waiting for, she wants to help this ill woman get better, nursing her through the withdrawal and coaching her through Al's deceptions.
And last but not least, we have Bullock wanting to give his native american attacker a proper burial, whereas Charlie scoffs at it as more kindness than the fallen warrior would have shown them, but eventually cooperates and helps Seth to send him out the way he'd want to go. "Plague" draws a sharp line between what people are inclined or required to do and what they choose to do even when they don't have to. The smallpox outbreak itself is the biggest example, and the one that reaches the furthest through the community, but in actions big and small, the episode teases out how different people in this town have moral compasses and principles that may lead them to similar places, but for very different reasons.
(Oh, and I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that this was the funniest episode of Deadwood so far. There were so many great one-liners, from Jane especially.)
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2016-07-12T22:54:53Z
Another look at a divide within the soul of this community -- specifically in how it treats the sick. On the one hand you have guys like Al and Cy and the other businessmen of the town, who are mostly concerned with quelling any panic so as not to hurt any business. There's no really empathy or sympathy from them, or if there is, it's buried down deep. They have interests, and those interests would be hurt by a smallpox outbreak running through Deadwood. So they pool their money, send folks out to get a vaccine, and work with the local media to downplay the severity of the threat.
And on the other hand you have the Doctor Cochran, Calamity Jane, and the reverend who actually want to see these people treated. The doctor is content to play the game as much as he needs to in order to keep himself solvent and allowed to do his job in the midst of all this muck, but at the end of the day, he's committed to treating the sick, and all his dealings with Al, Cy, and other, are a means to that end. Jane is in mourning, back on the bottle, and yet you see in the way she looks at that little girl, and in the way she dives on board to helping in the pest tent, that she too cares about these people, and isn't going to let her grief rob her of her spirit. And the reverend, odd duck though he may seem, is equally committed to caring for the sick, regardless of the risks or even of his own afflictions, which may have been spurred by spending time in the graveyard with coughing newspapermen and god knows what else. These folks get little or nothing out of treating the ill--their interests aren't aligned toward it the way the businessmen of the town are--but they're still there to take care of it.
The episode trots out a few more of this little dichotomies. Al and E.B. want to incapacitate Alma so that they can pursue their business interest, namely getting her to sell her gold claim back to them. They don't care what subtrefuge they have to use to do it; it's all in the game. But Trixie has been where Alma is, clouded by a laudanum stupor and (presumably) having some major lapse that made her want to climb out of it, and even though it goes directly against her interest, particularly with the cruel hand of Swearingen waiting for, she wants to help this ill woman get better, nursing her through the withdrawal and coaching her through Al's deceptions.
And last but not least, we have Bullock wanting to give his native american attacker a proper burial, whereas Charlie scoffs at it as more kindness than the fallen warrior would have shown them, but eventually cooperates and helps Seth to send him out the way he'd want to go. "Plague" draws a sharp line between what people are inclined or required to do and what they choose to do even when they don't have to. The smallpox outbreak itself is the biggest example, and the one that reaches the furthest through the community, but in actions big and small, the episode teases out how different people in this town have moral compasses and principles that may lead them to similar places, but for very different reasons.
(Oh, and I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that this was the funniest episode of Deadwood so far. There were so many great one-liners, from Jane especially.)