If I don't do this now I never will
Jun. 9th, 2011 10:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chaniI guess I need to write down a few thoughts now or I will forget
"Requiem for a Gleet" is a wonderful episode, despite its silly title, which ends with that great shot of Al Swearengen's sigh of relief, but before that there's my favourite shot so far, the one of Trixie, Cochran, Johnny and Dan collapsing on the bed with Al after they finally managed, working all together as a team(a metaphor of the community that Deadwood is becoming) to eject the bloody stone! Cochran, then, thanks Al/God for saving him echoing his prayer from season 1 when Al mercifully took the Reverend's life. Doc Cochran is defintely one of my favourite characters!
He has flaws and weaknesses, but he's good hearted and a decent man through and through, like Jane, Charlie and Ellsworth. And of course Sol who is teaching Trixie to do accounts and carries on an affair with her. Is she just using him? It's quite ambiguous. I think she genuinely likes him but she seems to have an agenda and to think of the future she didn't think she could hope for in season 1, a future sans whoring. There's a feeling of empowerment in Trixie's journey, more than in Joanie's, but quite similar to Alma's (Mrs Garret used to live in the high level, watching humans below, but it's only now that she sounds like a goddess as she's becoming a powerful woman and yet merciless with E.B!), in a way.
It's difficult to trust Trixie as she always seems to have some trick up in her sleeve, hence her name, I guess.
So Trixie wants to burn up that fucking place?Mmmm
By the way, Trixie annoys me when she's mean to Sol. How could she? He is one of those good people that are so refreshing on tv these days considering the trend of anti-heros and screwed-up characters (the same reason I loved Helo so much on BSG). I really hope she won't break his heart.
I should make a post on all the characters' significant names some day, but Sol Star is just so perfectly named as he shines and repels darkness, twice sunny by his first name (Sol) and his last name (Star). In French we'd say he is "solaire" but I am not sure that sunny applies to people in English. Even the dark moody Bullock can't help apologizing to him after verbally abusing him. Sol is the only one who makes Bullock smile, he just knows how to handle Seth better than anyone. I bet there's some Sol/Seth fanfiction online isn't there?
Al being ill, and therefore out of the game, Deadwood was in danger of falling into worst hands, Cy's, Wolcott's (and behind Wolcott's schemes there's Hearst). Is it a way to point out that no matter the bad things we saw Al do in season 1, the camp is better with him in charge and there are nastier and crazier characters in town both of the male and of the female variety (Maddie or Sofia's former tutor Miss Isringhausen)? BTW we learn thanks to Trixie that Al actually saved Jewel (but it was kinda obvious from day one that he was protecting her) which adds to a benevolent side of the character.
As for Seth, he is getting to know his wife a little bit more..."having a conversation" being Mrs Bullock's euphemism for having sex! Now they can call each other by their first names but the intimacy is far from being the same as the one in the post-coital scene with Alma.
"Complications (Formerly Diffculties)" and "Something Very Expensive" focused more on Wolcott's storyline and the mayhem that is caused by the Jarry's notice about the claims stuff, even though there's also the matter of Alma's pregnancy. We're reaching the edge of the cliff and Al is better but he's still "out" so he has to make up with Bullock so the two of them team up to avoid a disaster. Those two have a fascinating relationship.
In one little scene with Nigger General, Jane shows how inherently good she is and how she's open to bond with the others even though she often appears as a loner (she had a similar bonding moment with Trixie when Al was screaming in pain and she admitted that he might have a good side she had missed). The horse scene was fun, but that b-plot involving the only two black guys in Deadwood, Hostetler and Nigger General felt flat. I guess it's because those two characters aren't well known and have been, at best, background characters until now. Perhaps the point was to show the birth of another community within the community or how people connect and make an alliance in adversity instead of playing it solo-style, which now that I think of it kinda echoed on a minor level the alliance between the bigger players that are Al and Seth Bullock.
Bullock saves Jarry who finds himself in jail...for his protection. Jane has a great line then about her being a deputy deputized by the sheriff's deputy and telling him to shut up.
As for the main plot, I don't know what to think of Wolcott. It's a bit distracting to see Garret Dillahunt play him on the same show he played Hicock's killer...and pictures of his Terminator character keep flashing before my eyes!
Besides I still have in mind the wonderful scene from Winter's Bone in which John Hawkes backed him off just staring at him in the car mirror (btw it tells a lot of Hawkes' talent that he is so convincing as both badass Teardrop and sweet Sol Star, two characters that are light years away from each other).
The character has his moments (the way he played with Farnum or even with Cy, like a cat with a mouse; the scene with Ellsworth or even his reading Hicock's letter), and seems prone to be a sort of philosopher; he even has a sort of poetry about him. Yet, as a villain, he disappoints me. I get the Jack-The-Ripper thing but I don't find him that scary, at least he doesn't convey that inner rage that always seems on the verge of blowing and raising hell that we can see in Cy Tolliver or in someone as unhinged as Seth Bullock. In a way those are more threatening. Without his principles, without the law channeling the beast inside and without his connections to nice people that civilize him, Bullock would be very scary.
When he is not killing whores Wolcott looks quite "cool" and doesn't seem very dangerous. But maybe his lack of intensity is what makes him a true monster, an anomaly in the human world that is Deadwood. Even Cy who is so black and immoral looks human and healthier compared to Wolcott. yet at the same time, Wolcott lacks the god-like side the other big players have, so maybe he's just a living testament that humanity also contains that kind of serial-killers, smart and observant but flawed, weakened by sexual issue(a tiny cock or some kind of deformity maybe, unless it's about having been abused as a child? ) that urges him to kill the women who are sex workers.
Anyway he seems to be the opposite extreme of Sol Star who likes having Trixie take care of his COLUMN (!) while respecting her, enjoying the shag and yet not wanting to be "paid in cunt" (and Seth even has to apologize again to him for calling Trixie a whore to which Sol answers with wit "That wasn't new information to me.") or the opposite extreme of Charlie who always is a gentleman towards Joanie. And the scene with Wolcott seems to point out that one was truly amoral in a sociopath-like kind of way while the other was a decent man, perhaps even a hero (and Ellsworth is probably going to "save the day" concerning Alma's pregnancy too, now that Trixie like a true goddess interfering in the mortals' lives has decided that it was the way to go and will work on fixing a marriage).
Anyway, eventually Wolcott makes a mess, killing both Carrie who has been his target for a while and Maddie who foolishly tried to blackmail him (I didn't expect her to go so quickly but her partnership with Joanie couldn't go on anyway), but Cy is there to clean after him since there's a lot of money to make.
Wolcott's little flaw costs him much hence the title of the episode. Cy might think he will succeed where Maddie failed, if he plays his cards right (not overplaying his hand this time!). Wolcott probably would have murdered Joanie too and whores are still in danger with him being around. One hopes that Cy is still attached enough to Joanie to prevent that from happening in spite of his venality or at least he won't let anyone but him kill her. On the other hand I don't think he is very brave when it comes to figthing men so I don't see him taking any risk for her, and the small pox thing showed that for the sake of his business and to protect his own arse he would desert someone he says he likes without any hesitation.
Interesting final shot of Al watching Joanie in the street. He's on the mend and, above all, back on his balcony which is soooo symbolical, and he immediately spots the woman in pain, and you can't say if it is the predator's instinct kicking in or the gaze of an omniscient god upon a distressed mortal. Anyway, now that his eye is better, Al sees All.
Things are almost back to normal. By the way we get another funny scene with Mr. Wu whom Dan tried to understand, and who finally gets to see Al. The "juice"/"jews" thing was a good and much needed moment of levity.
That and Al on his way to the balcony, telling Dan and Johnny who supported him: "Let's not appear as fuckin' triplets!" :- )
That show does have some great lines.
"Requiem for a Gleet" is a wonderful episode, despite its silly title, which ends with that great shot of Al Swearengen's sigh of relief, but before that there's my favourite shot so far, the one of Trixie, Cochran, Johnny and Dan collapsing on the bed with Al after they finally managed, working all together as a team(a metaphor of the community that Deadwood is becoming) to eject the bloody stone! Cochran, then, thanks Al/God for saving him echoing his prayer from season 1 when Al mercifully took the Reverend's life. Doc Cochran is defintely one of my favourite characters!
He has flaws and weaknesses, but he's good hearted and a decent man through and through, like Jane, Charlie and Ellsworth. And of course Sol who is teaching Trixie to do accounts and carries on an affair with her. Is she just using him? It's quite ambiguous. I think she genuinely likes him but she seems to have an agenda and to think of the future she didn't think she could hope for in season 1, a future sans whoring. There's a feeling of empowerment in Trixie's journey, more than in Joanie's, but quite similar to Alma's (Mrs Garret used to live in the high level, watching humans below, but it's only now that she sounds like a goddess as she's becoming a powerful woman and yet merciless with E.B!), in a way.
It's difficult to trust Trixie as she always seems to have some trick up in her sleeve, hence her name, I guess.
So Trixie wants to burn up that fucking place?Mmmm
By the way, Trixie annoys me when she's mean to Sol. How could she? He is one of those good people that are so refreshing on tv these days considering the trend of anti-heros and screwed-up characters (the same reason I loved Helo so much on BSG). I really hope she won't break his heart.
I should make a post on all the characters' significant names some day, but Sol Star is just so perfectly named as he shines and repels darkness, twice sunny by his first name (Sol) and his last name (Star). In French we'd say he is "solaire" but I am not sure that sunny applies to people in English. Even the dark moody Bullock can't help apologizing to him after verbally abusing him. Sol is the only one who makes Bullock smile, he just knows how to handle Seth better than anyone. I bet there's some Sol/Seth fanfiction online isn't there?
Al being ill, and therefore out of the game, Deadwood was in danger of falling into worst hands, Cy's, Wolcott's (and behind Wolcott's schemes there's Hearst). Is it a way to point out that no matter the bad things we saw Al do in season 1, the camp is better with him in charge and there are nastier and crazier characters in town both of the male and of the female variety (Maddie or Sofia's former tutor Miss Isringhausen)? BTW we learn thanks to Trixie that Al actually saved Jewel (but it was kinda obvious from day one that he was protecting her) which adds to a benevolent side of the character.
As for Seth, he is getting to know his wife a little bit more..."having a conversation" being Mrs Bullock's euphemism for having sex! Now they can call each other by their first names but the intimacy is far from being the same as the one in the post-coital scene with Alma.
"Complications (Formerly Diffculties)" and "Something Very Expensive" focused more on Wolcott's storyline and the mayhem that is caused by the Jarry's notice about the claims stuff, even though there's also the matter of Alma's pregnancy. We're reaching the edge of the cliff and Al is better but he's still "out" so he has to make up with Bullock so the two of them team up to avoid a disaster. Those two have a fascinating relationship.
In one little scene with Nigger General, Jane shows how inherently good she is and how she's open to bond with the others even though she often appears as a loner (she had a similar bonding moment with Trixie when Al was screaming in pain and she admitted that he might have a good side she had missed). The horse scene was fun, but that b-plot involving the only two black guys in Deadwood, Hostetler and Nigger General felt flat. I guess it's because those two characters aren't well known and have been, at best, background characters until now. Perhaps the point was to show the birth of another community within the community or how people connect and make an alliance in adversity instead of playing it solo-style, which now that I think of it kinda echoed on a minor level the alliance between the bigger players that are Al and Seth Bullock.
Bullock saves Jarry who finds himself in jail...for his protection. Jane has a great line then about her being a deputy deputized by the sheriff's deputy and telling him to shut up.
As for the main plot, I don't know what to think of Wolcott. It's a bit distracting to see Garret Dillahunt play him on the same show he played Hicock's killer...and pictures of his Terminator character keep flashing before my eyes!
Besides I still have in mind the wonderful scene from Winter's Bone in which John Hawkes backed him off just staring at him in the car mirror (btw it tells a lot of Hawkes' talent that he is so convincing as both badass Teardrop and sweet Sol Star, two characters that are light years away from each other).
The character has his moments (the way he played with Farnum or even with Cy, like a cat with a mouse; the scene with Ellsworth or even his reading Hicock's letter), and seems prone to be a sort of philosopher; he even has a sort of poetry about him. Yet, as a villain, he disappoints me. I get the Jack-The-Ripper thing but I don't find him that scary, at least he doesn't convey that inner rage that always seems on the verge of blowing and raising hell that we can see in Cy Tolliver or in someone as unhinged as Seth Bullock. In a way those are more threatening. Without his principles, without the law channeling the beast inside and without his connections to nice people that civilize him, Bullock would be very scary.
When he is not killing whores Wolcott looks quite "cool" and doesn't seem very dangerous. But maybe his lack of intensity is what makes him a true monster, an anomaly in the human world that is Deadwood. Even Cy who is so black and immoral looks human and healthier compared to Wolcott. yet at the same time, Wolcott lacks the god-like side the other big players have, so maybe he's just a living testament that humanity also contains that kind of serial-killers, smart and observant but flawed, weakened by sexual issue(a tiny cock or some kind of deformity maybe, unless it's about having been abused as a child? ) that urges him to kill the women who are sex workers.
Anyway he seems to be the opposite extreme of Sol Star who likes having Trixie take care of his COLUMN (!) while respecting her, enjoying the shag and yet not wanting to be "paid in cunt" (and Seth even has to apologize again to him for calling Trixie a whore to which Sol answers with wit "That wasn't new information to me.") or the opposite extreme of Charlie who always is a gentleman towards Joanie. And the scene with Wolcott seems to point out that one was truly amoral in a sociopath-like kind of way while the other was a decent man, perhaps even a hero (and Ellsworth is probably going to "save the day" concerning Alma's pregnancy too, now that Trixie like a true goddess interfering in the mortals' lives has decided that it was the way to go and will work on fixing a marriage).
Anyway, eventually Wolcott makes a mess, killing both Carrie who has been his target for a while and Maddie who foolishly tried to blackmail him (I didn't expect her to go so quickly but her partnership with Joanie couldn't go on anyway), but Cy is there to clean after him since there's a lot of money to make.
Wolcott's little flaw costs him much hence the title of the episode. Cy might think he will succeed where Maddie failed, if he plays his cards right (not overplaying his hand this time!). Wolcott probably would have murdered Joanie too and whores are still in danger with him being around. One hopes that Cy is still attached enough to Joanie to prevent that from happening in spite of his venality or at least he won't let anyone but him kill her. On the other hand I don't think he is very brave when it comes to figthing men so I don't see him taking any risk for her, and the small pox thing showed that for the sake of his business and to protect his own arse he would desert someone he says he likes without any hesitation.
Interesting final shot of Al watching Joanie in the street. He's on the mend and, above all, back on his balcony which is soooo symbolical, and he immediately spots the woman in pain, and you can't say if it is the predator's instinct kicking in or the gaze of an omniscient god upon a distressed mortal. Anyway, now that his eye is better, Al sees All.
Things are almost back to normal. By the way we get another funny scene with Mr. Wu whom Dan tried to understand, and who finally gets to see Al. The "juice"/"jews" thing was a good and much needed moment of levity.
That and Al on his way to the balcony, telling Dan and Johnny who supported him: "Let's not appear as fuckin' triplets!" :- )
That show does have some great lines.