Deadwood, 2x2

[vaznetti]

I'm glad to see that I'm not the only person who could not understand large chunks of the dialogue. Too much muttering! Especially by Trixie, in her scenes with Sol! OK, but how much did I love out-of-his-mind Sol haranguing Seth and swearing at him? That was beautiful. Sol should go ahead and lose control more often, because it's truly priceless, and it's not like Seth is going to listen to anyone else.

I also very much liked watching Alma talk herself out of running away with Seth. Just as well, since he'd already decided not to, but still, it was interesting watching her being forced to think like a responsible person. I may have to take back the things I said about her last week.

Otherwise, this episode felt a bit flat, compared with last week's. Which I suppose was kind of the point, because it was building up to a confrontation that never actually came. Was it just that Al decided he didn't care enough? Al needs to get rid of that stone soon, so that he can go back to being an utter bastard. Even though he's not--he has a strange definition of his own responsibilities, is all.

And I suppose there's some mileage in drawing a connection between Alma's dialogue on leaving Deadwood and Al's on confronting Seth--the problem this season even more than last may simply be "what kind of man is Seth Bullock, anyway?" because I don't think we quite know the full answer to that question: on the outside he's very much about his duty, but that's not the whole of him. He's more like Al than he lets on, once you get over the "basic respect for women" issue--and we'll see how that works out as he navigates between his wife and his lover.

I find myself less interested in Joanie's subplot, although that will probably change once Cy comes to kill her.


I watched Carnivale afterward. Sadly, I just don't feel the love for that show.

Comments

[ageofaquarius.livejournal.com]

What I'm thinking in reference to Al just giving Seth back his badge, gun, and hat is because Adams (I think) alluded to the fact that Seth may have pull in political circles in Montana.

[vaznetti]

Oh, you're right-- I think I forgot about it because I wasn't entirely sure whether or not I ought to believe what Adams was saying. I don't trust Adams, and I wasn't sure whether Al believed him.

[jood.livejournal.com]

Hell yes. The entire presentation was a Press Release. It was one of the most wonderfully disingenuous things we've seen Al do yet, and I loved it.

[forodwaith.livejournal.com]

Ian McShane is obviously not a shy man. By my count we've now seen him perform on camera every function involving bodily fluids.

I've watched about ninety minutes of Carnivale, scattered over various episodes. While it's beautifully shot with some striking imagery, I never had one hot clue as to what the hell is going on. And I had my fill of gorgeous-yet-incomprehensible drama with Twin Peaks.

[vaznetti]

Carnivale is basically a gnostic text. Which is cool, but if I wanted to spend time with gnostic texts, I'd have learned Coptic and gone into that line of work. It's not what I want in entertainment.