I agree that it's a slow build. My gf and I weren't terribly enamored with the first couple of episodes, but stuck it out because HBO almost always does amazing stuff. We were well-rewarded. By episode 5 or 6 we were completely and utterly hooked.
I've got to episode 4 now. I'm not really seeing the Ian McShane thing. Seems to be doing a fairly average job of acting, and is surrounded by a load of pretty poor actors - both Wild Bill and Seth are as wooden as can be. Still, the surprise ending of episode 4 intrigued me enough that I'll carry on watching for now.
Interesting. I grew up with westerns of many varieties, and was born and raised in a part of the U.S. steeped in western lore (West Texas near the border with Mexico), both fiction and non-fiction. I think the "wooden" characterization may be intentional, a way to portray a (real or imagined) personality type frequently associated with what popular history has classified the "Wild West." In the case of Hicock, for example, I think it's meant to convey a sense of his fading. He was already creeping on in years (relative to the time), and already a legend, and much of his experience probably weighed on him, or at least it seems that's the interpretation that Deadwood has established.
By the time he got to the Black Hills, Hicock had already been a law man in Abilene, Kansas, at the railhead for the largest cattle drive destination in western history. Abilene was a very tough town. As with many figures at that time, being a law man didn't necessarily have the connotations that it does today. Many figures vested with the power of law enforcement were hardened criminals, cattle rustlers (a notorious crime of the time), horse thieves (ditto), murderers, highwaymen, etc. Not all of them were, of course. Hicock's history was a colorful one: he had been a scout for the U.S. army, he had operated on both sides of the law, he was an inveterate gambler, and I'm wondering if the Deadwood portrayal isn't an intentional style designed to indicate Hicock's declining time. Spoilers:
Hicock really was killed in the manner depicted in Episode 4. As the story goes, whenever he entered an establishment, he always tried to sit with his back to a wall or corner: the "gunfighter's seat" which allowed him to observe the entire room and prevented someone sneaking up on him. On the fateful day he was killed, when he entered the No. 10 Saloon, his usual seat was occupied, and he had to settle for a seat with his back to the door. Jack McCall approached, and shot Hicock once through the back of his head. The bullet exited below Hicock's eye, and he was dead when his head hit the table. At the time, Hicock was sitting on a pair of eights (clubs and spades) and a pair of aces (clubs and spades) with one Jack (can't remember if it was a heart or diamond), which has since come to be known in poker as the "Dead Man's Hand" because it was what Hicock was holding at the time of his demise.
I wonder if the show's writing, direction, and acting aren't intentionally designed to reflect a certain sensibility of the time. I don't see the acting as wooden; to me, it seems distinctly American, and reflective of the America of the time, and especially of that particular place, which was a diverse and dynamic, if frequently inhospitable, location, cutting its way through history with a dull knife as the nation struggled with wounds still fresh from 1861-1865, and lashed out with increasing aggression against the extant native groups, while development throughout the rest of what would become the modern U.S. unfolded at breakneck pace, soon to leave the "Wild West" behind for good by about 1888, or by the turn of the 20th century, certainly.
The supporting cast doesn't seem poor to me, either. I find the acting very strong, and I like that at times it doesn't feel "polished." I don't think that prospecting camp was a very polished place, and I didn't find the show particularly slow to unfold, either. The first episode opens with a very unconventional hanging, and I was intrigued from that moment. I like that they've managed to move a lot of action along with very little gunplay, which is certainly a departure for most westerns (although I'm happy to see gunplay should they so depict it, as that is a very iconic element of the western, as well, and wouldn't do the show disservice, should it appear). Though the intricacies and complexities of history are always going to be difficult to convey (or fully account for) in any media, I think the show does a superior job of creating that place and time in a way that I find engaging, challenging, funny, frightening, intelligent, exciting, deep, and rich. I think you can find much of the feel of the show in the writings of Cormac McCarthy, for instance (especially Blood Meridian, which is his best work), and as someone who admires McCarthy's writing immensely, perhaps that's why I find the show resonates so well.
I hope the series improves for you, but if it doesn't, it may be that it's not crafted to touch your sensibilities. Mine, on the other hand, are illuminated by it. It's the western I've waited a long time to find.
Yeah, there's deliberately a slow build on Deadwood. It's a long fuse, and it's all Bullock's temper.
The reason bullock is stiff? He's an ANGRY PALADIN who's tired of living his LAWFUL GOOD life and wants to just be a Level 5 Expert for a bit. Let the world worry about itself, not his job for a change. Move to a town WITHOUT LAWS!
But that little bit of ANGRY PALADIN in the back of his head won't let go...
Swearengen is LAWFUL EVIL. He's the exact opposite of Bullock, but recognizes his need for Bullock, the way the Joker knows he needs Batman.
For me, it's all about the dialogue. Listening to it is poetry. Wait for the meeting with the peaches. If the peaches don't get you, you can pass on the rest of the series and I'll buy you a beer the next time you're at GenCon to make up for time missed!
- James
(Edit: Making my post slight longer, so that my latest product shows up here. Not to indulge in some self-promotion, but because this thread was started by Russ, and I want to support him and his choices, and help him make some cash so that this forum can continue and we can keep talking about Deadwood, and...
Not quite a "surprise" but still a surprise in how quick they got to that part. However, in the real world, it happened about two weeks before Seth actually did get there, so vagaries of history and all, they were only allowed to play with it a little bit.
It may help to put it in perspective, but most of the characters on that show are based on real people in Deadwood, Swearengen included! It was helpful to me to check out some web sites that made comparisons of the Deadwood characters to their real-life counterparts.
