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In case you wonder where I am
Dec. 19th, 2011 04:24 pmI am stuck at home waiting for a fucking parcel to arrive (it contains Christmas gifts!) so I'm busying myself... watching the third season of Deadwood!
Just because
Dec. 11th, 2011 02:23 pmI'm this close to start watching the season 3 of Deadwood right now, just to spend some time with Sol Starr! But i have work to do, so I'll be a good girl and wait for next week when I'm actually on holidays.
The Autumn break, tv wise
Oct. 29th, 2011 07:10 pmSince I work on my thesis during the week days, I have decided to have real week ends. When this break is over, I will resume the busy weekends filled with preparations and marking.
So I'm treating myself with movies-- I saw Clooney's last movie, starring Ryan Gosling (who is in every films these days)--, books and tv shows.
Except that, when the week end comes I'm running out of tv shows!
Of course someday I'll have to watch the third and final season of Deadwood that I own on DVD, but I'm still postponing it, to keep it a bit longer, to save it for when I will have nothing really good left to watch. It's like having a great bottle of wine aging in your cave and wanting to keep it for the perfect day.
The fact that it's the second week sans FRINGE doesn't help, though. Not that FRINGE is in the same league, but it's one of those tv shows I'm hooked to and follow, like a good tv slut, so they make the Breaking Bad withdrawal easier.
BTW, do we know when the third season of Justified is supposed to start? I'm longing for my Raylan and Boyd. :-(
But I've received my DVD box of Caprica, so I spent yesterday evening (after watching the Bolshoi thing on ARTE), and today's grey and rainy afternoon, re-watching the series and listening to the episode commentaries (basically the podcasts they recorded when the series was on). I'm surprised to like some scenes I didn't like much when I saw the series in 2010 (like the dancing robot scene) and I don't think it's only because watching it on my big flat screen is better than on my laptop.
( Read more... )
So I'm treating myself with movies-- I saw Clooney's last movie, starring Ryan Gosling (who is in every films these days)--, books and tv shows.
Except that, when the week end comes I'm running out of tv shows!
Of course someday I'll have to watch the third and final season of Deadwood that I own on DVD, but I'm still postponing it, to keep it a bit longer, to save it for when I will have nothing really good left to watch. It's like having a great bottle of wine aging in your cave and wanting to keep it for the perfect day.
The fact that it's the second week sans FRINGE doesn't help, though. Not that FRINGE is in the same league, but it's one of those tv shows I'm hooked to and follow, like a good tv slut, so they make the Breaking Bad withdrawal easier.
BTW, do we know when the third season of Justified is supposed to start? I'm longing for my Raylan and Boyd. :-(
But I've received my DVD box of Caprica, so I spent yesterday evening (after watching the Bolshoi thing on ARTE), and today's grey and rainy afternoon, re-watching the series and listening to the episode commentaries (basically the podcasts they recorded when the series was on). I'm surprised to like some scenes I didn't like much when I saw the series in 2010 (like the dancing robot scene) and I don't think it's only because watching it on my big flat screen is better than on my laptop.
( Read more... )
The men's world that tv may be
Sep. 27th, 2011 12:44 pmI've been reading reactions to the last episode of Breaking Bad, and it's obvious that the audience is pretty much divided in two teams: the viewers who root for the good guy aka Hank, and those who love cool villains and root for the bad guys.
I have never been that intrigued by "cool villains" because I see them as tv tropes most of the time (my favourite villain this year was a mature woman in Justified! She was not "cool" but she was one of the greatest villains ever), and as much as I adore Hank, I find myself rooting for Walt these days.( cut for length not for spoilers )
Now I'm back to reading stuff on inquisition...
I have never been that intrigued by "cool villains" because I see them as tv tropes most of the time (my favourite villain this year was a mature woman in Justified! She was not "cool" but she was one of the greatest villains ever), and as much as I adore Hank, I find myself rooting for Walt these days.( cut for length not for spoilers )
Now I'm back to reading stuff on inquisition...
Season 2 finale
Jul. 12th, 2011 08:12 pmI have yet to see the third and final season of Deadwood but I'm already feeling nostalgic. Sometimes when a show is that good you wish you could be a newbie all over again to discover a tv treasure. With the return of Breaking Bad next week I've decided that I would save the third season of Deadwood for the time when I will be deprived of brilliant shows.
Once again there was so much to parse and mull over in that episode. "Boy the Earth Talks To" is an episode about odd and unlikely alliances, unions made out of necessity.
( Today is the day )
Once again there was so much to parse and mull over in that episode. "Boy the Earth Talks To" is an episode about odd and unlikely alliances, unions made out of necessity.
( Today is the day )
Death and life
Jul. 9th, 2011 05:21 pmI watched "The Whores Can Come" twice and I liked it better the second time. I wasn't sure first, because of the funeral, but it's actually an excellent episode.
( Read more... )
( Read more... )
I can't wait !
Jul. 5th, 2011 11:25 amBreaking Bad is coming back. very soon, on July 17, for its fourth season, and if you have never watched it, you're sooooo wrong because there's nothing better on tv! No, really. It isn't a show for everyone but it's truly the finest TV hour these days. Such a refreshing, brillantly acted and beautifully shot tv show.
There's an excellent (yet quite spoilerish) article from Newsweek where Andrew Romano talks with lead actor Bryan Cranston about "the larger themes of the show, which traces the moral decline of Cranston’s character, Walter White, a timid high-school chemistry teacher who discovers he has terminal lung cancer and decides to pay his family’s bills by cooking the finest crystal meth in New Mexico.. "
Here are enlightening but non spoilerish bits:
"It’s a show—an unpredictable, cinematic, potboiling, page-turner of a show—about how people become dangerous. The key word is “become.” Since The Sopranos debuted a dozen years ago, the best characters on TV, from Deadwood’s Al Swearengen to Dexter’s eponymous serial killer, have been antagonistic protagonists—men and women who are neither wholly good nor wholly bad, but morally mixed up, like real people, and captivating for their complexity. At first glance, Walter White would seem to fit the voguish antihero mold. But unlike his cable counterparts, Walt started out a deeply sympathetic figure and then gradually morphed, over three seasons of escalating immorality, into an almost unrecognizable creep. [...]
So far, the “experiment”—Gilligan’s term—has paid off: the darker Walt has gotten, the brighter the show’s prospects have become. “Our show is like our drug,” Cranston says as we walk through Walt’s dormant meth lab. “It’s addictive.” He’s right: Breaking Bad’s black wit and lavish cinematography—director of photography Michael Slovis loves to linger on New Mexico’s ochre deserts and streaking cirrus clouds—make it seem less like a cable drama than some lost Coen Brothers thriller. Which may help explain why the ratings for the season-two premiere exceeded the previous season’s average by more than 40 percent, and the season-three opener added another 40 percent to that number, putting it roughly on par with AMC’s flagship, Mad Men. Meanwhile, Cranston has won three consecutive outstanding lead-actor Emmys, and Aaron Paul, who plays Walt’s maladroit sidekick, Jesse Pinkman, added his own supporting-actor statuette in 2010. No less a narrative ace than Stephen King has called Breaking Bad “the best scripted show on television.” I’d go a step further and say that, right now, it’s the best program on TV, period. [...]
When Breaking Bad returns, it should have the sort of momentum that helped convert cult favorite The Wire into a canonical drama at the same stage in its run; years of “you have to watch this” buzz, both in the press and around the water cooler, seem poised to pay off. But the show’s structure poses a huge risk as well. Every time Gilligan and his team nudge Walt closer to the dark side, they make it harder for viewers to care about his fate. Which means each season is trickier to create than the last. “Breaking Bad hopefully gains new viewers with every episode,” Gilligan says. “But if I’m being honest, I have to think that we’re losing viewers as well. There are some people who shake loose and say, ‘This guy is too damn dark. I can’t root for him anymore.’ The secret is to make sure Walt’s always fascinating, even if people find it tougher and tougher to sympathize with him. [...]
Unlike most other television dramas, which tend to peak early, Breaking Bad has gained steam with each season. [...]
Throughout, the two male leads have been masterly, maintaining the credibility and comic spirit of their scientist-meets-street-punk relationship through some of the most wrenching plot twists ever attempted on television. Paul in particular has blossomed in recent years, transforming his character from a rather one-dimensional brat (who was originally scheduled to die early on) into what Gilligan calls the “moral center” of the show. [...]
But at heart, it’s Walter White’s ongoing transformation that hooks us. That’s the addiction: getting to know a person so well, through television, that when he goes bad, we can begin to comprehend something that real life simply doesn’t allow us to comprehend—how people become dangerous. ”
The article makes very good points but I would have added that the secret is that, although Walt has been becoming darker and darker, and quite unredeemable as a person, the relationship between Walt and Jesse has become so gripping, twisted and yet endearing, that you can't stop watching. No matter how unlikable and manipulative Walter White becomes and how toxic he is for people around him, there's love still, and humanity is there, through that bond he shares with others, especially with his "meth son", Jesse Pinkman. I can't think of another "tv couple" that touching and powerful!
Now should I watch the final season of Deadwood before BB returns or should I save it for later when I will suffer from BB withdrawal?
There's an excellent (yet quite spoilerish) article from Newsweek where Andrew Romano talks with lead actor Bryan Cranston about "the larger themes of the show, which traces the moral decline of Cranston’s character, Walter White, a timid high-school chemistry teacher who discovers he has terminal lung cancer and decides to pay his family’s bills by cooking the finest crystal meth in New Mexico.. "
Here are enlightening but non spoilerish bits:
"It’s a show—an unpredictable, cinematic, potboiling, page-turner of a show—about how people become dangerous. The key word is “become.” Since The Sopranos debuted a dozen years ago, the best characters on TV, from Deadwood’s Al Swearengen to Dexter’s eponymous serial killer, have been antagonistic protagonists—men and women who are neither wholly good nor wholly bad, but morally mixed up, like real people, and captivating for their complexity. At first glance, Walter White would seem to fit the voguish antihero mold. But unlike his cable counterparts, Walt started out a deeply sympathetic figure and then gradually morphed, over three seasons of escalating immorality, into an almost unrecognizable creep. [...]
So far, the “experiment”—Gilligan’s term—has paid off: the darker Walt has gotten, the brighter the show’s prospects have become. “Our show is like our drug,” Cranston says as we walk through Walt’s dormant meth lab. “It’s addictive.” He’s right: Breaking Bad’s black wit and lavish cinematography—director of photography Michael Slovis loves to linger on New Mexico’s ochre deserts and streaking cirrus clouds—make it seem less like a cable drama than some lost Coen Brothers thriller. Which may help explain why the ratings for the season-two premiere exceeded the previous season’s average by more than 40 percent, and the season-three opener added another 40 percent to that number, putting it roughly on par with AMC’s flagship, Mad Men. Meanwhile, Cranston has won three consecutive outstanding lead-actor Emmys, and Aaron Paul, who plays Walt’s maladroit sidekick, Jesse Pinkman, added his own supporting-actor statuette in 2010. No less a narrative ace than Stephen King has called Breaking Bad “the best scripted show on television.” I’d go a step further and say that, right now, it’s the best program on TV, period. [...]
When Breaking Bad returns, it should have the sort of momentum that helped convert cult favorite The Wire into a canonical drama at the same stage in its run; years of “you have to watch this” buzz, both in the press and around the water cooler, seem poised to pay off. But the show’s structure poses a huge risk as well. Every time Gilligan and his team nudge Walt closer to the dark side, they make it harder for viewers to care about his fate. Which means each season is trickier to create than the last. “Breaking Bad hopefully gains new viewers with every episode,” Gilligan says. “But if I’m being honest, I have to think that we’re losing viewers as well. There are some people who shake loose and say, ‘This guy is too damn dark. I can’t root for him anymore.’ The secret is to make sure Walt’s always fascinating, even if people find it tougher and tougher to sympathize with him. [...]
Unlike most other television dramas, which tend to peak early, Breaking Bad has gained steam with each season. [...]
Throughout, the two male leads have been masterly, maintaining the credibility and comic spirit of their scientist-meets-street-punk relationship through some of the most wrenching plot twists ever attempted on television. Paul in particular has blossomed in recent years, transforming his character from a rather one-dimensional brat (who was originally scheduled to die early on) into what Gilligan calls the “moral center” of the show. [...]
But at heart, it’s Walter White’s ongoing transformation that hooks us. That’s the addiction: getting to know a person so well, through television, that when he goes bad, we can begin to comprehend something that real life simply doesn’t allow us to comprehend—how people become dangerous. ”
The article makes very good points but I would have added that the secret is that, although Walt has been becoming darker and darker, and quite unredeemable as a person, the relationship between Walt and Jesse has become so gripping, twisted and yet endearing, that you can't stop watching. No matter how unlikable and manipulative Walter White becomes and how toxic he is for people around him, there's love still, and humanity is there, through that bond he shares with others, especially with his "meth son", Jesse Pinkman. I can't think of another "tv couple" that touching and powerful!
Now should I watch the final season of Deadwood before BB returns or should I save it for later when I will suffer from BB withdrawal?
True quality tv
Jun. 27th, 2011 07:27 pmI've finished Umbert Eco's novel during the weekend so I'm back to Deadwood!
I'd like to review together “Amalgamation and Capital”, “Advances, None Miraculous” and "The whores Can Come" because they seem to work as a triptych with "Amalgamation" being the prelude and "The Whores" the aftermath of the tragedy that happens at the end of the first episode but lingers on during the second, but the post would be too long so I'll save "The Whores Can Come" for another entry an another day.
( Read more... )
I'd like to review together “Amalgamation and Capital”, “Advances, None Miraculous” and "The whores Can Come" because they seem to work as a triptych with "Amalgamation" being the prelude and "The Whores" the aftermath of the tragedy that happens at the end of the first episode but lingers on during the second, but the post would be too long so I'll save "The Whores Can Come" for another entry an another day.
( Read more... )
Even in a "light" episode like "Childish Things" there's loads to ponder and analyze.
( Read more... )
( Read more... )
To be or not to be left out
Jun. 19th, 2011 10:10 pmThe thing is that Deadwood is so rich, there's so much to ponder and parse that I could spend hours reviewing just one episode. It reminds me of the good old times with BtVS when I could write long essays, draw many connections that perhaps existed on my mind only (but the connector is always the raison d'être of the connected things) and interpret things ad nauseam.
How could HBO cancell such a wonderful show? I suppose it was considered too complicated, too elitist.
Deadwood surely doesn't take the easy way so many tv shows indulge in. Buffy had depth and layers too but it could also be watched and enjoyed by viewers who simply wanted entertainment, humour, monsters and pretty girls; viewers who didn't care about the references, the deeper meaning, the writing structure, the foreshadowing stuff, the metaphorical language of the show, and who didn't see them while watching; viewers who didn't feel left out...
Joss Whedon was smart enough to cover the cleverness, the literary side and the complexity of his creation with a shallow and fun façade, hiding a gem behind a silly name and a geeky genre. It allowed the show to find an audience large enough to live on networks...but until now, and despite the cult that ensued, there are still many viewers or even critics who don't see the greatness of Buffy The Vampire Slayer (and it doesn't help that several silly vampire shows have followed!) or who simply couldn't imagine to put it in the same league as those quality tv shows that the cable has provided over the years.
David Milch, maybe because it was HBO, didn't disguise his fabulous show, although one could argue that the show is dressed-up like a western more than it is actually a western. I don't know the history of the ratings but I bet that they dropped during season 2, a magnificent season per se, but a season that many must have found too slow and un-westerny. And there's the Deadwoodlang that might be a put-off to many ears (either because of the profanities or because of the sophisticated and old-fashioned Shakespearian lines). Deadwood is a demanding show; it requires efforts but the reward is worth it.
One of my favourite episodes so far was "E.B Was Left Out", ( Read more... )
How could HBO cancell such a wonderful show? I suppose it was considered too complicated, too elitist.
Deadwood surely doesn't take the easy way so many tv shows indulge in. Buffy had depth and layers too but it could also be watched and enjoyed by viewers who simply wanted entertainment, humour, monsters and pretty girls; viewers who didn't care about the references, the deeper meaning, the writing structure, the foreshadowing stuff, the metaphorical language of the show, and who didn't see them while watching; viewers who didn't feel left out...
Joss Whedon was smart enough to cover the cleverness, the literary side and the complexity of his creation with a shallow and fun façade, hiding a gem behind a silly name and a geeky genre. It allowed the show to find an audience large enough to live on networks...but until now, and despite the cult that ensued, there are still many viewers or even critics who don't see the greatness of Buffy The Vampire Slayer (and it doesn't help that several silly vampire shows have followed!) or who simply couldn't imagine to put it in the same league as those quality tv shows that the cable has provided over the years.
David Milch, maybe because it was HBO, didn't disguise his fabulous show, although one could argue that the show is dressed-up like a western more than it is actually a western. I don't know the history of the ratings but I bet that they dropped during season 2, a magnificent season per se, but a season that many must have found too slow and un-westerny. And there's the Deadwoodlang that might be a put-off to many ears (either because of the profanities or because of the sophisticated and old-fashioned Shakespearian lines). Deadwood is a demanding show; it requires efforts but the reward is worth it.
One of my favourite episodes so far was "E.B Was Left Out", ( Read more... )
I'm already halfway in Deadwood's season 2. I know I should slow down but it's addictive.
I have many things to say about "Requiem for a Gleet", "Complications (Formerly Difficulties") and "Something Very Expensive", and I need to write a proper post on the show, but I'm too tired right now so this ain't it.
OZ and BtVS are still very dear to me, always will be, but Deadwood truly is a gem (pun intended) and could become my favourite show ever.
Of course, when Breaking Bad will return in July I might sing another song!
Today, I spent hours translating a few pages bits from Brehal's Recollectio, the chapter about Jeanne's wearing male clothes and got stuck with bits on morality, borrowed from Thomas Aquinas' lectures, that were just so obscure, beyond understanding (both because of the concepts and the way they were written in Latin)...it was so frustrating, so hair-pulling, that I almost cried.
And then I go to the internet and it's all about Anthony Weiner's naughty bits!
The strange world I live in...
I have many things to say about "Requiem for a Gleet", "Complications (Formerly Difficulties") and "Something Very Expensive", and I need to write a proper post on the show, but I'm too tired right now so this ain't it.
OZ and BtVS are still very dear to me, always will be, but Deadwood truly is a gem (pun intended) and could become my favourite show ever.
Of course, when Breaking Bad will return in July I might sing another song!
Today, I spent hours translating a few pages bits from Brehal's Recollectio, the chapter about Jeanne's wearing male clothes and got stuck with bits on morality, borrowed from Thomas Aquinas' lectures, that were just so obscure, beyond understanding (both because of the concepts and the way they were written in Latin)...it was so frustrating, so hair-pulling, that I almost cried.
And then I go to the internet and it's all about Anthony Weiner's naughty bits!
The strange world I live in...
That show, O that show!
Jun. 2nd, 2011 07:26 pmToday was a holiday in France, but since I'm on a training leave, and therefore not dependent on school holidays, I usually don't pay attention to those things...yet I decided to "take the day off" and not work at all on my thesis!
Instead, I read stuff that has nothing to do with Middle Ages,played the piano, watched Rolland Garros tennis games, and treated myself with the two-parter opening of Deadwood's season 2 !!!!
And Skylar from Breaking Bad was in it! I do love it when my favourite shows are connected to each others. It was before she got tits though (I now understand why viewers said the actress had gotten boob job!!!)
Anyway the episodes were great. I so love those characters and the way the show is written.
( A lie agreed upon )
Instead, I read stuff that has nothing to do with Middle Ages,played the piano, watched Rolland Garros tennis games, and treated myself with the two-parter opening of Deadwood's season 2 !!!!
And Skylar from Breaking Bad was in it! I do love it when my favourite shows are connected to each others. It was before she got tits though (I now understand why viewers said the actress had gotten boob job!!!)
Anyway the episodes were great. I so love those characters and the way the show is written.
( A lie agreed upon )
Ad fucking hoc !
May. 8th, 2011 10:03 pmSo now I've seen the twelve episodes of Deadwood's first season.
Not much happens during that first season -- apart from a certain "historical event" that was to be expected -- at least not in a way serialized dramas are usually plotted. It's mostly about world-building and character development (and there are many of them, about 6 lead characters, and a dozen of major recurring characters), and I can't think of any other show doing that, and doing it so well.
Also, the series takes historical figures (Wild Bill, Charlie Utter, Calamity Jane, Jack McCall) and a historical place to make them its own better than any so-called historical show. Deadwood seems to belong to the Western genre, and it does in a way, but it's much more than that.
No supernatural stuff, no fantasy, but the series is merely mythological in a way that very few fictional works have achieved. We witness the beginnings, how a human civilized world is being born in the mud, literaly!, while titans are watching those feeble human creatures, observing the insects below from their highs (the balcony!), playing with them, crushing them even when necessary. Gods are rarely benevolent, they are actually as cruel as children can be, some are even quite the sociopaths (Cy Tolliver especially!).
But sometimes they join in, they are willing to share the fire, to be part of a community, to build something on earth. The first season shows how a mining camp could be turned into a city. At first it looks like an illusion, a complete farce, but lies tend to turn into truths if everyone involved is willing to play along, and pretending is another way to start becoming. And eventually you become who you are and must acknowledge it.
The gallery of characters is simply extraordinary, from E.B Farnum (a character that seems taken out of a Shakespearian play and does soliloquy better than Hamlet!), to Jewel, to Reverend Smith, to Mr Wu and his pigs, to Trixie, to Flora (played by Kristen Bell just before Veronica Mars!)and her brother, to "the tits licker"...
And there's the nicest ones like Sol Starr (wonderful John Hawkes who was the fantastic Teardrop in Winter's Bone), Doc Cochran, Reverend Smith, Ellsworth or Jane (and the last scene between drunk Jane and Cochran was heartbreaking)or Eddie...and the darker ones, Seth Bullock (Timothy Olyphant, ladies and gentlemen!) being among them, a fascinating character, because he's supposed to be a hero from the Old West (and Hicock recognized him as a kindred spirit) and he's a decent guy with principles but at the same time he's intense, like a time bomb with very bad temper and possibly psychopathic tendancies.
As for Al Swearengen, his nemesis (being an opportunistic gangster while Bullock is rather a law/code man), who is ruthless, capable of doing horrible things but also capable of moments of awe, concern and kindness; charismatic and pragmatic, he knows to work angles and has less narrowed views than most. Ian McShane is simply mesmerizing in the role and got some of the best lines ever, sometimes hilarious and sometimes filled with wisdom. His scenes with Farnum, Jewel or Mr Wu were just so funny.
The Deadwood speak is another feature that must be pointed out. It's a blend of profanities that sound quite modern (pussy, fuck , fucking and cocksucker being the basics of the Deadwoodlanguage) and old-fashioned wordy talk that recalls classical drama plays. There's nothing comparable on tv, as far as I know.
And the titles of the episodes? Often weird yet significant and poetical (in a Biblical kind of way) like "Here Was the Man", "Suffer the little children" or "Sold Under Sin" (this one being borrowed from the Bible: Romans 7:14 "For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin."!) and of course the apparently silly "Jewel's boot is Made for Walking".
Deadwood is a fucking gem on comédie humaine in which all the characters are simultaneously observers and observees, especially when Seth is to unleash the beast inside or when Al is embracing his god-role, answering Cochran's unheard prayer. That season finale was bloody fabulous! Rarely a finale moved me that much. It would deserve a review of its own.
I'm falling for that show as I fell for Breaking Bad, hard!
Not much happens during that first season -- apart from a certain "historical event" that was to be expected -- at least not in a way serialized dramas are usually plotted. It's mostly about world-building and character development (and there are many of them, about 6 lead characters, and a dozen of major recurring characters), and I can't think of any other show doing that, and doing it so well.
Also, the series takes historical figures (Wild Bill, Charlie Utter, Calamity Jane, Jack McCall) and a historical place to make them its own better than any so-called historical show. Deadwood seems to belong to the Western genre, and it does in a way, but it's much more than that.
No supernatural stuff, no fantasy, but the series is merely mythological in a way that very few fictional works have achieved. We witness the beginnings, how a human civilized world is being born in the mud, literaly!, while titans are watching those feeble human creatures, observing the insects below from their highs (the balcony!), playing with them, crushing them even when necessary. Gods are rarely benevolent, they are actually as cruel as children can be, some are even quite the sociopaths (Cy Tolliver especially!).
But sometimes they join in, they are willing to share the fire, to be part of a community, to build something on earth. The first season shows how a mining camp could be turned into a city. At first it looks like an illusion, a complete farce, but lies tend to turn into truths if everyone involved is willing to play along, and pretending is another way to start becoming. And eventually you become who you are and must acknowledge it.
The gallery of characters is simply extraordinary, from E.B Farnum (a character that seems taken out of a Shakespearian play and does soliloquy better than Hamlet!), to Jewel, to Reverend Smith, to Mr Wu and his pigs, to Trixie, to Flora (played by Kristen Bell just before Veronica Mars!)and her brother, to "the tits licker"...
And there's the nicest ones like Sol Starr (wonderful John Hawkes who was the fantastic Teardrop in Winter's Bone), Doc Cochran, Reverend Smith, Ellsworth or Jane (and the last scene between drunk Jane and Cochran was heartbreaking)or Eddie...and the darker ones, Seth Bullock (Timothy Olyphant, ladies and gentlemen!) being among them, a fascinating character, because he's supposed to be a hero from the Old West (and Hicock recognized him as a kindred spirit) and he's a decent guy with principles but at the same time he's intense, like a time bomb with very bad temper and possibly psychopathic tendancies.
As for Al Swearengen, his nemesis (being an opportunistic gangster while Bullock is rather a law/code man), who is ruthless, capable of doing horrible things but also capable of moments of awe, concern and kindness; charismatic and pragmatic, he knows to work angles and has less narrowed views than most. Ian McShane is simply mesmerizing in the role and got some of the best lines ever, sometimes hilarious and sometimes filled with wisdom. His scenes with Farnum, Jewel or Mr Wu were just so funny.
The Deadwood speak is another feature that must be pointed out. It's a blend of profanities that sound quite modern (pussy, fuck , fucking and cocksucker being the basics of the Deadwoodlanguage) and old-fashioned wordy talk that recalls classical drama plays. There's nothing comparable on tv, as far as I know.
And the titles of the episodes? Often weird yet significant and poetical (in a Biblical kind of way) like "Here Was the Man", "Suffer the little children" or "Sold Under Sin" (this one being borrowed from the Bible: Romans 7:14 "For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin."!) and of course the apparently silly "Jewel's boot is Made for Walking".
Deadwood is a fucking gem on comédie humaine in which all the characters are simultaneously observers and observees, especially when Seth is to unleash the beast inside or when Al is embracing his god-role, answering Cochran's unheard prayer. That season finale was bloody fabulous! Rarely a finale moved me that much. It would deserve a review of its own.
I'm falling for that show as I fell for Breaking Bad, hard!
I'm again somewhat underwhelmed by the three shows I watch on Mondays, same as last week, id est The Killing, The Borgias, and Game of Thrones, although the latter was better this week (and Tyrion was again well fleshed out by Peter Dinklage!).
I have the feeling that The Killing could be terrific but there's something missing still, and the show is playing with fire with all the winks at Twin Peaks while its tone and "identity" are obviously different. There are several things that I like in each episode of the show, and it had a strong pilot, but since then it seems to be looking to find a way to bloom into greatness and that way keeps eluding it.
The Borgias and Game of Thrones are both entertaining, nice to watch...but that's it. They aren't bad at all, but it's all about the eyes and a little bit about the heart (this week at least GoT was more emotionally-filled) – and probably about the hormones too – but I can't find any food for thoughts, while I can't help noticing tv tropes and the obvious goals of certain scenes.
So I don't want to write down a review that would mostly consist in either pointing out the tropes and predicatble stuff (or historical inacurracies in the case of The Borgias!) or simply re-telling the events on screen and describing certain scenes, or maybe swooning over the good looks of certain actors – although I could point out that certains shots from The Borgias seem to be "composed" as Renaissance paintings– and, in the case of GoT since I haven't read the books it's based on, I can't even discuss the adptation and the choices that were made; I have nothing to say about the writing, no connection to draw, no desire to speculate; I just don't get excited about those shows' episodes neither before watching, during watching or after seeing them while I got all excited yesterday by Steven Moffat's "The Impossible Astronaut" !!!
*shrugs*
On the other hand, I've started to watch Deadwood and boy, now that's a fantastic show! I know I'm very late to the party, and I know I'm bound to be frustrated as the show had a premature death, but it's REALLY good television.
The fourth episode of the first season, "Here was a man", just blew me away. I knew it was going to happen, and it happened just on time so the show could go on and have its own little fictional universe filled with incredible characters.
Deadwood I would love to write about, but I guess that it would be for myself only since it's an old story (the show was cancelled in 2006!).
Oh well, maybe I will nonetheless.
I have the feeling that The Killing could be terrific but there's something missing still, and the show is playing with fire with all the winks at Twin Peaks while its tone and "identity" are obviously different. There are several things that I like in each episode of the show, and it had a strong pilot, but since then it seems to be looking to find a way to bloom into greatness and that way keeps eluding it.
The Borgias and Game of Thrones are both entertaining, nice to watch...but that's it. They aren't bad at all, but it's all about the eyes and a little bit about the heart (this week at least GoT was more emotionally-filled) – and probably about the hormones too – but I can't find any food for thoughts, while I can't help noticing tv tropes and the obvious goals of certain scenes.
So I don't want to write down a review that would mostly consist in either pointing out the tropes and predicatble stuff (or historical inacurracies in the case of The Borgias!) or simply re-telling the events on screen and describing certain scenes, or maybe swooning over the good looks of certain actors – although I could point out that certains shots from The Borgias seem to be "composed" as Renaissance paintings– and, in the case of GoT since I haven't read the books it's based on, I can't even discuss the adptation and the choices that were made; I have nothing to say about the writing, no connection to draw, no desire to speculate; I just don't get excited about those shows' episodes neither before watching, during watching or after seeing them while I got all excited yesterday by Steven Moffat's "The Impossible Astronaut" !!!
*shrugs*
On the other hand, I've started to watch Deadwood and boy, now that's a fantastic show! I know I'm very late to the party, and I know I'm bound to be frustrated as the show had a premature death, but it's REALLY good television.
The fourth episode of the first season, "Here was a man", just blew me away. I knew it was going to happen, and it happened just on time so the show could go on and have its own little fictional universe filled with incredible characters.
Deadwood I would love to write about, but I guess that it would be for myself only since it's an old story (the show was cancelled in 2006!).
Oh well, maybe I will nonetheless.
