TV: Deadwood Movie Announced (HBO)

[bigdirty]

They do a great job of at least showing you Al's reasoning for what he does, and why he acts the way he does. Even if he's still somewhat evil, at least you can sorta see why, even if you don't agree with his reasoning.

Even that very first plotline with Sofia. I mean, holy ****, you can't get much more evil than that. But from Al's morally deficient perspective it made perfect sense.

 

[Osprey]

They do a great job of at least showing you Al's reasoning for what he does, and why he acts the way he does. Even if he's still somewhat evil, at least you can sorta see why, even if you don't agree with his reasoning.

Even that very first plotline with Sofia. I mean, holy ****, you can't get much more evil than that. But from Al's morally deficient perspective it made perfect sense.

I agree. What he does in the last episode of Season 3 is another good example.

Spoiler

Killing an innocent woman is horrific, but it makes sense because no one would miss her, whereas many others, including himself, would miss Trixie. Trixie's death might even make matters worse by turning the whole town (especially Sol and Bullock) against him.

 

[Osprey]

Now that I'm done with the series and the movie, I've been reading up on the characters in the show. I'm impressed with how relatively historical it is. For example, I had guessed that Al Swearengen was fictional, but nope; he was a real guy who owned the most prominent brothel in Deadwood and had "run-ins" with Bullock.

Here are some random other things that I'm learning and that I'll spoiler to be safe, especially since I know that Han Solo is still working through the series:

Spoiler

There was a massive fire in Deadwood in 1879 that destroyed over 300 buildings and devastated the town. It burned the Gem down to the ground, but Swearegen rebuilt it afterward. Since Seasons 2 and 3 were set in 1877, it's possible that we would've gotten to see the event if the show had been renewed. What a shame. Even though we got the movie, it wouldn't have made sense to set it only a year or two later with the actors looking 15 years older.

Charlie Utter apparently left Deadwood following the fire, never returned and died in 1912, so he wouldn't have been in town during the movie and certainly didn't die at that time.

Swearegen died in 1904, 15 years after the events of the movie. The movie seemed to imply that he died in the final scene, or at least made it ambiguous. I guess that he didn't... though the writers did change the timing of Utter's death, so who knows. Maybe they wanted us to infer that he died so that they could end the movie on a bittersweet note while not explicitly contradicting history.

Swearengen arrived in Deadwood the same year as Season 1 and was only 31, but Season 1 made him much older and seemingly a fixture in town. Also, he was married. Unsurprisingly, she eventually divorced him for spousal abuse (so, his temperament was accurate), after which he married (and divorced) two more times. Also, Swearegen had a twin brother, but it doesn't sound like he was ever in Deadwood.

The Gem Saloon was actually the Gem Theater, since it was a dance hall in addition to a saloon and brothel. Apparently, Swearengen would lure desperate young women to Deadwood to be dancers and then coerce them into becoming prostitutes for him, as well.

Calamity Jane was one of Swearengen's first dancers at the Gem Theater. That's a bit hard to imagine, at least from the show's depiction of her.

Bullock's wife was not his brother's widow and their child that arrived with her in Deadwood was a girl, not a boy, and only a few years old, not nearly 10. I guess that the writers changed the child's gender and age so that Sofia would have a male counterpart and, maybe, because they had the death planned and a much younger girl dying would be too horrific. Seth and Martha did end up with two daughters and a son, like the movie showed, but one of the daughters was the original and was 10 years older than her siblings.

 

[ManwithNoIdentity]

You could literally give any of these characters a spinoff and it’d be worth the watch

 

[ManwithNoIdentity]

I agree. What he does in the last episode of Season 3 is another good example.

Spoiler

Killing an innocent woman is horrific, but it makes sense because no one would miss her, whereas many others, including himself, would miss Trixie. Trixie's death might even make matters worse by turning the whole town (especially Sol and Bullock) against him.

I was mad like everyone else when it was cancelled but was actually satisfied with that ending until it came out how much more Milch had planned

Such a dark and horrific ending and like sometimes happens the bad guy wins

They do a great job of at least showing you Al's reasoning for what he does, and why he acts the way he does. Even if he's still somewhat evil, at least you can sorta see why, even if you don't agree with his reasoning.

Even that very first plotline with Sofia. I mean, holy ****, you can't get much more evil than that. But from Al's morally deficient perspective it made perfect sense.

Where as Tolliver...there’s just nothing redeemable about him

 

[Osprey]

Where as Tolliver...there’s just nothing redeemable about him

Spoiler

Near the end of Season 3, it seemed like the writers were laying some foundation for sympathy and redemption by breaking him down and having him turn to the Bible (though it wasn't clear how much of that was genuine). If there had been a Season 4, they might've taken it further. In fact, I'm reading that the person that Cy was based on (named Tom Miller, which I guess was too plain and un-snake-like) went bankrupt in 1878 and his Bella Union was turned into a grocery store. Since that's the year that Season 4 likely would've taken place in, the writers might've planned to have Cy go bankrupt and get broken down to nothing, followed by a redemption turn, similar to what happened to Swearegen with his kidney stones in Season 2. That would've been nice to see. It's too bad that the series ended only as the writers were seemingly scratching only the surface of it.

 

[izzy]

im finally watching the show for the first time and why in the world in jim beaver (ellsworth) one of the top listed in the credits or even at all when merrick, joanie, the reverend arent?

he has like, 5-6 scenes the entire season and they are all less than a minute long...

also, the last 4 episodes have no calamity jane at all after jamming the character on screen nonstop to start the show.

 

[Osprey]

im finally watching the show for the first time and why in the world in jim beaver (ellsworth) one of the top listed in the credits or even at all when merrick, joanie, the reverend arent?

I believe that, after Olyphant and McShane, the names are listed in alphabetical order. That's why Jim Beaver comes before most of the other names and Robin Weigert (Jane) comes at the very end. In other words, it's not meant to represent their relative participation.

also, the last 4 episodes have no calamity jane at all after jamming the character on screen nonstop to start the show.

Spoiler

I think that it makes sense for her to want to be alone after losing her best friend and for the show to not take time from the other characters' stories just to show her getting drunk and leaning against more buildings. She comes back in Season 2.

 

[izzy]

I believe that, after Olyphant and McShane, the names are listed in alphabetical order. That's why Jim Beaver comes before most of the other names and Robin Weigert (Jane) comes at the very end. In other words, it's not meant to represent their relative participation.

Spoiler

I think that it makes sense for her to want to be alone after losing her best friend. She comes back in Season 2.

for the middle section after olyphant, mcshane and parker but brown and callie are thrown in at the end while jones, mckinnon, bridgers and dickens werent on it at all despite having atleast 5X more screen time each.

i just have a weird obsession w opening credits so i just found it weird that he was on there considering he had at most 6-7 minutes of screen time

 

[Osprey]

for the middle section after olyphant, mcshane and parker but brown and callie are thrown in at the end while jones, mckinnon, bridgers and dickens werent on it at all despite having atleast 5X more screen time each.

i just have a weird obsession w opening credits so i just found it weird that he was on there considering he had at most 6-7 minutes of screen time

I don't know. I'm not very familiar with him but perhaps his was a more recognizable name or face at the time than the others and that won him a spot in the opening credits. I can tell you that the opening credits for Season 2 add a lot more names, including Dickens and Bridgers. That and Jim Beaver's increased role as the series goes on means that it doesn't seem quite so unfair in the end. You have a point about Season 1, though.

 

[ArchAngel55]

Where as Tolliver...there’s just nothing redeemable about him

Powers Boothe died about 2 years ago so I guess there was no way to bring that character back.

 

[ManwithNoIdentity]

Powers Boothe died about 2 years ago so I guess there was no way to bring that character back.

Yup but I meant in regards to Al as being a protagonist but still having morals

Cy just had none