7.7/10. This one gets a bump in rating just for the sheer comedy of it. The continual debates and smart remarks about cinnamon were great, and the entire scene where the tailor is making his pitch Al about swatches for his stump (and Al's reaction to it) had me in absolute stitches. I don't always love where Deadwood goes in terms of its plotting or the characters it focuses on, but if there's one area in which it's consistent, it's that it knows how to bring the laughs.
But the best part of this episode is how it gives us a little more insight into Hearst. The tears in his eyes in the closing moments of the episode, where he seems to acknowledge that he doesn't have much of a way with people, that to put it in Mad Men terms, he was always going to struggle to be something that could be truly loved, he at least thought he could take solace in power, that he could be afforded a certain amount of deference and cordialness if he could muster that. And yet here he is, talking quite past Odell, and realizing that he's a pariah, that he is unloved, that Deadwood has rejected him and his position, and he seems genuinely hurt by that. When Hearst talks about tearing Deadwood to shreds, he has the tone not of a conniving villain, but that of a jilted lover, and it's an interesting bit of humanity to add to character who's been a little monolithic.
It's also interesting that our usual man of viciousness with a yielding heart, Al Swearengen, is true to form here as well. He comes this close to sending Dan to get hired guns and prepare for war (something Hearst actually does if the telegram is to be beleived) but forbears at the last minute and calls a meeting instead. Everyone at the table seems to see harsh conflict as an inevitability, and yet wants to find some way to avoid it nonetheless. It's that hope, one that frankly feels a little naive, or at least wilfully blind for this crew, leads them to choose to publish Bullock's elegantly-written letter to the deceased Cornishman in the Deadwood Pioneer as some kind of warning to Hearst for reasons no one is really sure of.
It's the contmeplation of the reason behind that letter that leads to one of the episode's best scenes. I'm loving the interactions between Al and Langrisher, and the fact that despite Al's worldliness and keen understanding of human behavior, it's the grand, lyrical Langrisher who hears about this plan, and understands it as a salvo against Hearst presenting a law beyond law to a man who views himself as beyond law, when Al seems to be grasping at his own motivations. The two of them make a very interesting pair, as this carnival barking man of the theater seems to be one of the few people that Al truly seems to see as a peer and confidante.
One of the few others, though perhaps peer is a bridge too far, is Doc Cochran. I have to admit that I'm quite afraid this lung disease will be the end of him and one of the show's most interesting characters. The way that Al angrily demands Doc get better, and his railing against all these changes, is interesting, particularly with his sarcastic response to Cy about Tollliver's lack of sentimentality in finding a new one. There are harsh things to be done, grim eventualities to be planned for, and for once Al, the semi-pure pragmatist who may not always relish it but seems always willing to do what needs to be done, appears to be turning away for harsher solutions in favor of delay and a hope that things might turn around without them.
We also see a bit of the reverse with Blasanov. The telegram operator is a man who takes great pride in maintaining the confidentiality and propriety of his work. But he connects the body that he and Merrick encountered on the street in the midst of their parambulating (Merrick throwing his coat over the corpse was a sweet, dignified moment for him), to Hearst and to the bodies of his dead family members treated with similar cruelty and disregard. Again, much of what's elevated Hearst into a worthwhile villain this season is other people's reactions to him, and the way the normally staid, dignified Blasanov is angered and mortified at this sort of evil helps both to add depth to his character and to underline what sort of a malevalent force Hearst is that he would shake even the calm, dignified telegram operator to break his own rules.
And then there's the scene with Aunt Lou and Odell, which seemed like one half a really interesting little scene about parental abandonment with an aim for the greater good (something else Mad Men touched one), and half a kind of overdone melodrama. I'm not really sure where it landed in that regard, but it was at least affecting in moments. There were other smaller moments that worked to varying degrees. Steve trying, in his own roundabout way, to convince Fields to stay on at the Livery and going all sour grapes as usual when his offer is rejected was interesting enough, but it feels like the show's hitting the same beats with Steve over and over and it's not clear to what end just yet. Similarly, I've been enjoying the scenes between Jane and Joanie, but I'm not sure how I feel about the decision to make them something romantic. I like them as something more like kindred spirits, folks who feel cast out of walks of polite society, and making that connection one of romance is certainly sweet, but also cheapens it a little bit. I'm interested to see where the show goes with it.
Overall, it was an episode that capitalized on what the prior episode set up in several good ways, giving us interesting glimpses at new wrinkles to some of the characters, and the laughs didn't hurt either!
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2016-08-01T23:09:20Z
7.7/10. This one gets a bump in rating just for the sheer comedy of it. The continual debates and smart remarks about cinnamon were great, and the entire scene where the tailor is making his pitch Al about swatches for his stump (and Al's reaction to it) had me in absolute stitches. I don't always love where Deadwood goes in terms of its plotting or the characters it focuses on, but if there's one area in which it's consistent, it's that it knows how to bring the laughs.
But the best part of this episode is how it gives us a little more insight into Hearst. The tears in his eyes in the closing moments of the episode, where he seems to acknowledge that he doesn't have much of a way with people, that to put it in Mad Men terms, he was always going to struggle to be something that could be truly loved, he at least thought he could take solace in power, that he could be afforded a certain amount of deference and cordialness if he could muster that. And yet here he is, talking quite past Odell, and realizing that he's a pariah, that he is unloved, that Deadwood has rejected him and his position, and he seems genuinely hurt by that. When Hearst talks about tearing Deadwood to shreds, he has the tone not of a conniving villain, but that of a jilted lover, and it's an interesting bit of humanity to add to character who's been a little monolithic.
It's also interesting that our usual man of viciousness with a yielding heart, Al Swearengen, is true to form here as well. He comes this close to sending Dan to get hired guns and prepare for war (something Hearst actually does if the telegram is to be beleived) but forbears at the last minute and calls a meeting instead. Everyone at the table seems to see harsh conflict as an inevitability, and yet wants to find some way to avoid it nonetheless. It's that hope, one that frankly feels a little naive, or at least wilfully blind for this crew, leads them to choose to publish Bullock's elegantly-written letter to the deceased Cornishman in the Deadwood Pioneer as some kind of warning to Hearst for reasons no one is really sure of.
It's the contmeplation of the reason behind that letter that leads to one of the episode's best scenes. I'm loving the interactions between Al and Langrisher, and the fact that despite Al's worldliness and keen understanding of human behavior, it's the grand, lyrical Langrisher who hears about this plan, and understands it as a salvo against Hearst presenting a law beyond law to a man who views himself as beyond law, when Al seems to be grasping at his own motivations. The two of them make a very interesting pair, as this carnival barking man of the theater seems to be one of the few people that Al truly seems to see as a peer and confidante.
One of the few others, though perhaps peer is a bridge too far, is Doc Cochran. I have to admit that I'm quite afraid this lung disease will be the end of him and one of the show's most interesting characters. The way that Al angrily demands Doc get better, and his railing against all these changes, is interesting, particularly with his sarcastic response to Cy about Tollliver's lack of sentimentality in finding a new one. There are harsh things to be done, grim eventualities to be planned for, and for once Al, the semi-pure pragmatist who may not always relish it but seems always willing to do what needs to be done, appears to be turning away for harsher solutions in favor of delay and a hope that things might turn around without them.
We also see a bit of the reverse with Blasanov. The telegram operator is a man who takes great pride in maintaining the confidentiality and propriety of his work. But he connects the body that he and Merrick encountered on the street in the midst of their parambulating (Merrick throwing his coat over the corpse was a sweet, dignified moment for him), to Hearst and to the bodies of his dead family members treated with similar cruelty and disregard. Again, much of what's elevated Hearst into a worthwhile villain this season is other people's reactions to him, and the way the normally staid, dignified Blasanov is angered and mortified at this sort of evil helps both to add depth to his character and to underline what sort of a malevalent force Hearst is that he would shake even the calm, dignified telegram operator to break his own rules.
And then there's the scene with Aunt Lou and Odell, which seemed like one half a really interesting little scene about parental abandonment with an aim for the greater good (something else Mad Men touched one), and half a kind of overdone melodrama. I'm not really sure where it landed in that regard, but it was at least affecting in moments. There were other smaller moments that worked to varying degrees. Steve trying, in his own roundabout way, to convince Fields to stay on at the Livery and going all sour grapes as usual when his offer is rejected was interesting enough, but it feels like the show's hitting the same beats with Steve over and over and it's not clear to what end just yet. Similarly, I've been enjoying the scenes between Jane and Joanie, but I'm not sure how I feel about the decision to make them something romantic. I like them as something more like kindred spirits, folks who feel cast out of walks of polite society, and making that connection one of romance is certainly sweet, but also cheapens it a little bit. I'm interested to see where the show goes with it.
Overall, it was an episode that capitalized on what the prior episode set up in several good ways, giving us interesting glimpses at new wrinkles to some of the characters, and the laughs didn't hurt either!