3 to go
"Leviathan Smiles " and "Amateur Night" (which Zack Whedon co-wrote) are possibly my favourite episodes of season 3 so far. I loved them to bits.
"Leviathan" has a new storyline, subplot, that seems a bit forced on us, involving two brothers, the famous Earps (Wyatt of course, and the young Morgan) but those characters aren't very compelling. It's nothing like season 1 when we were introduced to Wild Bill and Calamity Jane. The Earps characters were flat, as if there was some trouble to bring those historical characters to life. I don't know if this was intentional or not (and if so, was that a case of poor acting or poor writing?).
Maybe the point was precisely to show the contrast between our usual Deadwood characters who are all connected to each others in one way or another, and those strangers. After all, the show's title is Deadwood and I believe more and more, that the camp, that is the ensemble cast is the hero, even though the first episode of season 1 seemed to let us think that Bullock was, and if Al slowly seemed to become the lead with the passing of time. Deadwood exists as a whole now which means it is no longer a place where newcomers arrive but a place where a community lives. So the Earps didn't work; they didn't belong there so they gave an intruder vibe. And the fact that they made up a story to sneak in the camp (well they rather bursted into ut but in a sneaky way) and be welcome as heroes didn't help. Of course Al sees through their lie immediately, and Seth is suspicious too. It's funny because my first reaction was that I didn't want them there, I felt them as intruders as well!
I will give Milch the benefit of the doubt and consider that the Earps were meant to appear...off.
That said, the episode has several gems, scenes that I adored and worked brilliantly and were so beautiful that they made up for the disappointing Earps.
There's the final scene with Hearst's 25 men arriving and riding through the camp with lit torch as if they were about to destroy everthing. It was like the riders of the Apocalypse has come finally. It was an impressive picture but not my favourite scene. yet now that I think about it, maybe there's a connection between this final scene and the Earps. At beginning there's a false danger (those road agents the Earps claimed they had encountered) and a minor threat for our characters that the brothers themselves pose (Wyatt could become Seth's rival, Morgan seems to be a trouble maker), but at the end of the episode, the real threat, the one that Hearst summoned, shows up.
One of my favourite scenes is the opening one, as Merrick and Blazanov are delivering newspapers in the wee hours of the morning. It is a quiet scene with no dialogue until Johnny starts reading the headline, as if the characters themselves remained silent for didn't want to break some spell. It is the silence before the storm, a moment of respite and softeness, and it's quite refreshing for a show like Deadwood that relies so much on language. I think it's a lovely scene.
Another one is the sweet scene between Joanie and Moses at the new schoolhouse that hasn't been brought to life yet for the children are still at Chez Ami.
"Joanie:Second look, she may have decided it didn’t suit. This hasn’tsaid…anything yet to spare my feelings.
Mose: I don’t believe Mrs. Bullock’s that sort. I believe them theater people not movingin yet, she feels no call to disrupt her education activities by moving the childrenout yet from the Chez Amie into this place here. In other words, exactly what shesaid.
Joanie: Does it trouble you, keeping watch on a dark place?
Mose: No, ma’am, it does not. Especially when I know there’s light coming to it."
Aww Mose, who would have thought you could become such a nice man?
And there's the pwerful scene with the dying Chesterton that has been transported to Chez Ami for his last moments; Jack describing what will be, inviting the imagination to play (a great follow up to Joanie and Jane wondering where the stage would be!) and reciting lines from King Lear, giving the old trooper stage direction for one last time, and the rest of the troupe finally emerging from the shadows where they have been watching this final act, after the old actor has passed away. It was quite wonderful.
I couldn't help thinking of the poignant scene in which Al helped the reverend to die in season 1. Jack really is Al's alter ego here, in a sweetest and theatry way. Not a god, but a producer, which is almost the same in theatre!
I feel so lucky to have watched a tv show that can do such terrific scenes, really.
Can I say how much I've come to like John Langrishe? The character is touching and the actor delivers great performances.
And I loved the Steve/horse scene too! It was one of those many false dialogues/monologues in disguise we have seen on Deadwood, when a living character talks to a creature or soemthing that can't answer, and I've always loved them. It was pure comedy, given Steve's past history (and the unfamous confession on black board!), and it suited Steve the Drunk.
"Implying what by that fucking lordly look? That he'll outflank my tactics by buying a new fucking saddle?" he tells the horse, sharing his project of preventing Nigger generall from leaving to San Francisco! I giggled then.
It's a comedy moment but it ends in tragedy...off screen -- echoing what Chesterton will about the Greeks' theatre masks misleading the audience into thinking that it's either comedy or tragedy while it's usually both ("Big lie…the masks. Same damn thing, Jack-comedy and tragedy".)-- and later Niger General finds an inanimate Steve, still alive with eyes open, but who has obviously been kicked in the face by the horse. He looks like he is not there anymore, somewhere between life and death, unable to move or talk or take care of himself, vegetable-like. Doc can't do anything, Steve is now reduced to he most vulnerable state. Jane, who's trying to avoid Joanie, is asked to help caring for him but she gives up feeding him in front of the impossible task and Nigger General takes revenge on Steve, throwing porridge on his still face and laughing at the mush-covered bastard, but eventually he stares at Steve and shakes his head. With great sadness, he picks up a rag and goes to clean up the poor sod. "One sorry-ass, shit eating cocksucker," he sighs. Comedy and tragedy, indeed.
Nigger General finally caring for Steve was perfect, implying a brotherhood that had been hinted through their common last name, Fields, but denied by Steve 's racist rants. It fits in the episode motif, and the larger theme of community. I don't know if Hostetler was taller but Nigger general grew up a big deal in this episode! :- )
Also, about the comedy moments, one had to love Al's repartee when Merrick asked wether Bullock was in his office!
"Merrick:Is Sheriff Bullock inside?
Al:Only briefly. He’s out of sorts and going downstairs for a blowjob."(Seth looks at Al with a bemused grin)
The Bullocks scene continue to please me, too.
"Martha:It seems you waked intent we quarrel. Nor, may I say, claiming you were pleased with the outcome of your meeting with the other men of the camp, did you retire last night with your customary sweetness."
Also, can I say that I like Martha's euphemisms?
And then, of course Seth meets Sol outside and starts taking his anger on him (by the way, Seth swears a lot these days) until Sol neutralizes Seth's anger, defusing the argument:
"Sol: Mornin’.
Seth: How did Hearst take the letter?
Sol: I don’t know. Is the paper even out yet?
Seth: Guess you don’t fuckin’ know much. Do you, Sol?
Sol: I guess I don’t....You want to fight?"
And then Seth smiles of course. Sol always makes him smile. I love that. They are true brothers even though they are not blood related. Which brings me back to the Earps I think they serve a purpose in that they show another road, an alternate path, or a distorted reflection. Wyatt used to be a sheriff, he is Bullock-like (without the intensity!), a wannabe-Bullock or a could-be Bullock. Morgan is dressed like Sol Star and seems to be attracted to whores. Wyatt/Morgan echo Seth/Sol.
In "Amateur Night", Morgan is obviously smitten with one whore, and we see him leaving in regret while another whore is performing a voluptuous dance for the audience. In the same scene Sol and a very modestly- dressed Trixie are sitting like a nice couple in front of the stage, enjoying the show. That's a big contrast!
Also the Earps tried to make a hero's entrance into the camp, and Jack gave Chersterton a hero's exist. Another connection I can see is that the Earps intended on capitalizing on the people's credulity, a bit like Jack did with Hearst when he "treated" his back. Another lie some characters agree upon...
So they didn't work as "real characters" but their storyline actually achoed a lot of things.
So they were still there for the following episode "Amateur Night" before skipping away.
It is revealed that the 25 men are the dreaded Pinkertons we've heard about before, and that the head of the group is named...Brick! So the telegraphed message in which Hearst asked for more bricks wasn't that coded actually!
"Hearst: The camp is to know they’re my employees. If this knowledge came first from some disruption of traffic in the thoroughfare, I would have no objection."
So they didn't destroy Deadwood during the night but Hearst intend on using them to intimidate the camp and show he could do whatever he wants. At the beginning of the episode, Seth is ready to die while Al is still thinking to find the right angle.
Mr Wu is one of the Pinkertons' first victims, and soon it's Merrick's turn, a punishment for publishing Seth's letter. Hearst is quite petty, especially when he asks for details on how Merrick took it. By the way I loved that Johnny is becoming the official Wu interpreter and that Merrick is treated by Doc in Al's bed. Oh and I was highly amused to se that Blazanov has caught the Deadwood's language habit and said: "this came for the cocksucker"!
Now that Chesteron is dead, Martha can move the kids from the old schoolhouse, soon to become the theatre for the Langrishe troupe, to the new one, which happens to have been built by a Norwegian man around a tree. II liked the Tree House and it called to my mind Yggdrasil, the world tree from scandinavian mythology. The previous owner being Norwegian, I guess it was a reference.
The scene in which Joanie and Jane lead the children to the tree house, with Martha and Seth walking in the rear, while all the people in Deadwod watch (including Hearst) was lovely and filled with hope. This parade or procession reminded me of Tom's riding his bike in season 2. Scenes like these are joyful and make a point of showing the characters putting a show on for the rest of the community, in the series where there are always been observers and observees, and it made a lot of sense in a episode like "Amateur Night".
Eventually the Morgan Earp and the Pinkertons clash which ends with one of the 25 dead, the Earps brother lying again about what happened and staging a fair fight, with Seth agreeing upon the lie before grabbing Brick by the ear (what a schoolmarm he makes!) and taking him to jail. And scaring the Earps away, with a lot of "fucking" here and there in his speech. I tell you, our sheriff 's language has changed since season 1!
Seth knows he's repeating things, following a pattern, and that Al is pissed off so when Johnny shows up, he doesn't wait for the message, he already knows his antogonist's lines by heart for they have played the scene before:
"Seth: Tell him I ain’t coming for his lecture. Tell him I don’t need it. Tell him if my temper was gonna get the best of me, this cocksucker’s brains would be on the floor. Tell him I got it. All right? Tell him I’m on top of it."
I cannot not mention the sweet scene between Aunt Lou, Richardson and hams...followed by Hearst announcing Odell's death and Aunt Lou refusing to pretend anymore. Later in the smokehouse, Richardson is holding a sobbing Lou, and crying along and calling her "Mama". It's a short but heartbreaking scene. It kinda foreshadowed the man from the Amateur Night who could cry at will.
Speaking of the Amateur Night in question, I liked the reversal thing of course because it was very meta. When I watched it, I felt a bit foolish for having quoted "As You Like It" in a previous review, given that Langrishe made the quote in this episode so it came out as an obvious reference and something that the show stated rather than a subtext (believe me or not I had no idea it would, as I were completely unspoiled when I wrote the review in question and parsed the "A Two-Headed Beast").
But here, the cool thing was that, except from Richardson who juggled, the performers weren't our usual regular or semi-regular characters. The singing lady, the lasso man, the giant, the exotic dancers were people we didn't know but who were supposed to be Deadwood people.
The characters we knew were the audience too, along with soap guy or cry guy and the man who paid him one dollar to cry for his father (an echo to the Alma/Sophia scene in my opinion): Sol and Trixie, Ellsworth, Dan, the whores, Johnny, Nigger General and Steve, Charlie, E.B...
There was no numbers from regulars at all, and some of the "major players" weren't even there. Al was in an empty Gem cleaning the bar and singing a ballad to the stag's head; Cy was chasing Joanie again (those too have such an intriguing although unhealthy relationship); Jane was at the tree house as well, with Mose;Hearst was at The Grand Hotel (getting ready to use the army to fix the upcoming elections) with a creepy Jarry (the bird sound thing was very Twin Peaks-like!); Alma was in her room performing a magic trick for Sophia only (nice call-back to season 1 and Alma's father), and Seth was in his office, brooding writing stuff.
I think that the fact it was unknown people who performed was both refreshing (more conventional shows would have jumped on the idea of revealing the skills of our usual "heroes" , making them sing and dance...) and significant. As I said above the show isn't about certain characters, about individuals, but about the camp itself, the social system it has become, the civilization that has been built, out of the mud, in the black hills.
And everybody knows that in this western world, since the Greeks, theatre is an expression of civilization.
"Leviathan" has a new storyline, subplot, that seems a bit forced on us, involving two brothers, the famous Earps (Wyatt of course, and the young Morgan) but those characters aren't very compelling. It's nothing like season 1 when we were introduced to Wild Bill and Calamity Jane. The Earps characters were flat, as if there was some trouble to bring those historical characters to life. I don't know if this was intentional or not (and if so, was that a case of poor acting or poor writing?).
Maybe the point was precisely to show the contrast between our usual Deadwood characters who are all connected to each others in one way or another, and those strangers. After all, the show's title is Deadwood and I believe more and more, that the camp, that is the ensemble cast is the hero, even though the first episode of season 1 seemed to let us think that Bullock was, and if Al slowly seemed to become the lead with the passing of time. Deadwood exists as a whole now which means it is no longer a place where newcomers arrive but a place where a community lives. So the Earps didn't work; they didn't belong there so they gave an intruder vibe. And the fact that they made up a story to sneak in the camp (well they rather bursted into ut but in a sneaky way) and be welcome as heroes didn't help. Of course Al sees through their lie immediately, and Seth is suspicious too. It's funny because my first reaction was that I didn't want them there, I felt them as intruders as well!
I will give Milch the benefit of the doubt and consider that the Earps were meant to appear...off.
That said, the episode has several gems, scenes that I adored and worked brilliantly and were so beautiful that they made up for the disappointing Earps.
There's the final scene with Hearst's 25 men arriving and riding through the camp with lit torch as if they were about to destroy everthing. It was like the riders of the Apocalypse has come finally. It was an impressive picture but not my favourite scene. yet now that I think about it, maybe there's a connection between this final scene and the Earps. At beginning there's a false danger (those road agents the Earps claimed they had encountered) and a minor threat for our characters that the brothers themselves pose (Wyatt could become Seth's rival, Morgan seems to be a trouble maker), but at the end of the episode, the real threat, the one that Hearst summoned, shows up.
One of my favourite scenes is the opening one, as Merrick and Blazanov are delivering newspapers in the wee hours of the morning. It is a quiet scene with no dialogue until Johnny starts reading the headline, as if the characters themselves remained silent for didn't want to break some spell. It is the silence before the storm, a moment of respite and softeness, and it's quite refreshing for a show like Deadwood that relies so much on language. I think it's a lovely scene.
Another one is the sweet scene between Joanie and Moses at the new schoolhouse that hasn't been brought to life yet for the children are still at Chez Ami.
"Joanie:Second look, she may have decided it didn’t suit. This hasn’tsaid…anything yet to spare my feelings.
Mose: I don’t believe Mrs. Bullock’s that sort. I believe them theater people not movingin yet, she feels no call to disrupt her education activities by moving the childrenout yet from the Chez Amie into this place here. In other words, exactly what shesaid.
Joanie: Does it trouble you, keeping watch on a dark place?
Mose: No, ma’am, it does not. Especially when I know there’s light coming to it."
Aww Mose, who would have thought you could become such a nice man?
And there's the pwerful scene with the dying Chesterton that has been transported to Chez Ami for his last moments; Jack describing what will be, inviting the imagination to play (a great follow up to Joanie and Jane wondering where the stage would be!) and reciting lines from King Lear, giving the old trooper stage direction for one last time, and the rest of the troupe finally emerging from the shadows where they have been watching this final act, after the old actor has passed away. It was quite wonderful.
I couldn't help thinking of the poignant scene in which Al helped the reverend to die in season 1. Jack really is Al's alter ego here, in a sweetest and theatry way. Not a god, but a producer, which is almost the same in theatre!
I feel so lucky to have watched a tv show that can do such terrific scenes, really.
Can I say how much I've come to like John Langrishe? The character is touching and the actor delivers great performances.
And I loved the Steve/horse scene too! It was one of those many false dialogues/monologues in disguise we have seen on Deadwood, when a living character talks to a creature or soemthing that can't answer, and I've always loved them. It was pure comedy, given Steve's past history (and the unfamous confession on black board!), and it suited Steve the Drunk.
"Implying what by that fucking lordly look? That he'll outflank my tactics by buying a new fucking saddle?" he tells the horse, sharing his project of preventing Nigger generall from leaving to San Francisco! I giggled then.
It's a comedy moment but it ends in tragedy...off screen -- echoing what Chesterton will about the Greeks' theatre masks misleading the audience into thinking that it's either comedy or tragedy while it's usually both ("Big lie…the masks. Same damn thing, Jack-comedy and tragedy".)-- and later Niger General finds an inanimate Steve, still alive with eyes open, but who has obviously been kicked in the face by the horse. He looks like he is not there anymore, somewhere between life and death, unable to move or talk or take care of himself, vegetable-like. Doc can't do anything, Steve is now reduced to he most vulnerable state. Jane, who's trying to avoid Joanie, is asked to help caring for him but she gives up feeding him in front of the impossible task and Nigger General takes revenge on Steve, throwing porridge on his still face and laughing at the mush-covered bastard, but eventually he stares at Steve and shakes his head. With great sadness, he picks up a rag and goes to clean up the poor sod. "One sorry-ass, shit eating cocksucker," he sighs. Comedy and tragedy, indeed.
Nigger General finally caring for Steve was perfect, implying a brotherhood that had been hinted through their common last name, Fields, but denied by Steve 's racist rants. It fits in the episode motif, and the larger theme of community. I don't know if Hostetler was taller but Nigger general grew up a big deal in this episode! :- )
Also, about the comedy moments, one had to love Al's repartee when Merrick asked wether Bullock was in his office!
"Merrick:Is Sheriff Bullock inside?
Al:Only briefly. He’s out of sorts and going downstairs for a blowjob."(Seth looks at Al with a bemused grin)
The Bullocks scene continue to please me, too.
"Martha:It seems you waked intent we quarrel. Nor, may I say, claiming you were pleased with the outcome of your meeting with the other men of the camp, did you retire last night with your customary sweetness."
Also, can I say that I like Martha's euphemisms?
And then, of course Seth meets Sol outside and starts taking his anger on him (by the way, Seth swears a lot these days) until Sol neutralizes Seth's anger, defusing the argument:
"Sol: Mornin’.
Seth: How did Hearst take the letter?
Sol: I don’t know. Is the paper even out yet?
Seth: Guess you don’t fuckin’ know much. Do you, Sol?
Sol: I guess I don’t....You want to fight?"
And then Seth smiles of course. Sol always makes him smile. I love that. They are true brothers even though they are not blood related. Which brings me back to the Earps I think they serve a purpose in that they show another road, an alternate path, or a distorted reflection. Wyatt used to be a sheriff, he is Bullock-like (without the intensity!), a wannabe-Bullock or a could-be Bullock. Morgan is dressed like Sol Star and seems to be attracted to whores. Wyatt/Morgan echo Seth/Sol.
In "Amateur Night", Morgan is obviously smitten with one whore, and we see him leaving in regret while another whore is performing a voluptuous dance for the audience. In the same scene Sol and a very modestly- dressed Trixie are sitting like a nice couple in front of the stage, enjoying the show. That's a big contrast!
Also the Earps tried to make a hero's entrance into the camp, and Jack gave Chersterton a hero's exist. Another connection I can see is that the Earps intended on capitalizing on the people's credulity, a bit like Jack did with Hearst when he "treated" his back. Another lie some characters agree upon...
So they didn't work as "real characters" but their storyline actually achoed a lot of things.
So they were still there for the following episode "Amateur Night" before skipping away.
It is revealed that the 25 men are the dreaded Pinkertons we've heard about before, and that the head of the group is named...Brick! So the telegraphed message in which Hearst asked for more bricks wasn't that coded actually!
"Hearst: The camp is to know they’re my employees. If this knowledge came first from some disruption of traffic in the thoroughfare, I would have no objection."
So they didn't destroy Deadwood during the night but Hearst intend on using them to intimidate the camp and show he could do whatever he wants. At the beginning of the episode, Seth is ready to die while Al is still thinking to find the right angle.
Mr Wu is one of the Pinkertons' first victims, and soon it's Merrick's turn, a punishment for publishing Seth's letter. Hearst is quite petty, especially when he asks for details on how Merrick took it. By the way I loved that Johnny is becoming the official Wu interpreter and that Merrick is treated by Doc in Al's bed. Oh and I was highly amused to se that Blazanov has caught the Deadwood's language habit and said: "this came for the cocksucker"!
Now that Chesteron is dead, Martha can move the kids from the old schoolhouse, soon to become the theatre for the Langrishe troupe, to the new one, which happens to have been built by a Norwegian man around a tree. II liked the Tree House and it called to my mind Yggdrasil, the world tree from scandinavian mythology. The previous owner being Norwegian, I guess it was a reference.
The scene in which Joanie and Jane lead the children to the tree house, with Martha and Seth walking in the rear, while all the people in Deadwod watch (including Hearst) was lovely and filled with hope. This parade or procession reminded me of Tom's riding his bike in season 2. Scenes like these are joyful and make a point of showing the characters putting a show on for the rest of the community, in the series where there are always been observers and observees, and it made a lot of sense in a episode like "Amateur Night".
Eventually the Morgan Earp and the Pinkertons clash which ends with one of the 25 dead, the Earps brother lying again about what happened and staging a fair fight, with Seth agreeing upon the lie before grabbing Brick by the ear (what a schoolmarm he makes!) and taking him to jail. And scaring the Earps away, with a lot of "fucking" here and there in his speech. I tell you, our sheriff 's language has changed since season 1!
Seth knows he's repeating things, following a pattern, and that Al is pissed off so when Johnny shows up, he doesn't wait for the message, he already knows his antogonist's lines by heart for they have played the scene before:
"Seth: Tell him I ain’t coming for his lecture. Tell him I don’t need it. Tell him if my temper was gonna get the best of me, this cocksucker’s brains would be on the floor. Tell him I got it. All right? Tell him I’m on top of it."
I cannot not mention the sweet scene between Aunt Lou, Richardson and hams...followed by Hearst announcing Odell's death and Aunt Lou refusing to pretend anymore. Later in the smokehouse, Richardson is holding a sobbing Lou, and crying along and calling her "Mama". It's a short but heartbreaking scene. It kinda foreshadowed the man from the Amateur Night who could cry at will.
Speaking of the Amateur Night in question, I liked the reversal thing of course because it was very meta. When I watched it, I felt a bit foolish for having quoted "As You Like It" in a previous review, given that Langrishe made the quote in this episode so it came out as an obvious reference and something that the show stated rather than a subtext (believe me or not I had no idea it would, as I were completely unspoiled when I wrote the review in question and parsed the "A Two-Headed Beast").
But here, the cool thing was that, except from Richardson who juggled, the performers weren't our usual regular or semi-regular characters. The singing lady, the lasso man, the giant, the exotic dancers were people we didn't know but who were supposed to be Deadwood people.
The characters we knew were the audience too, along with soap guy or cry guy and the man who paid him one dollar to cry for his father (an echo to the Alma/Sophia scene in my opinion): Sol and Trixie, Ellsworth, Dan, the whores, Johnny, Nigger General and Steve, Charlie, E.B...
There was no numbers from regulars at all, and some of the "major players" weren't even there. Al was in an empty Gem cleaning the bar and singing a ballad to the stag's head; Cy was chasing Joanie again (those too have such an intriguing although unhealthy relationship); Jane was at the tree house as well, with Mose;Hearst was at The Grand Hotel (getting ready to use the army to fix the upcoming elections) with a creepy Jarry (the bird sound thing was very Twin Peaks-like!); Alma was in her room performing a magic trick for Sophia only (nice call-back to season 1 and Alma's father), and Seth was in his office, brooding writing stuff.
I think that the fact it was unknown people who performed was both refreshing (more conventional shows would have jumped on the idea of revealing the skills of our usual "heroes" , making them sing and dance...) and significant. As I said above the show isn't about certain characters, about individuals, but about the camp itself, the social system it has become, the civilization that has been built, out of the mud, in the black hills.
And everybody knows that in this western world, since the Greeks, theatre is an expression of civilization.