Thursday, March 10, 2005

Deadwood Season 1 Review

Since Byron did a recent post on the original HBO series “Deadwood”, I thought I would review the first season.


The series is based on real people and uses creative liberties as little as possible. Deadwood was a real city, and a lot of the storylines really did occur. The first season is great, if for no other reason, because you can notice the change in Deadwood from the first episode to the last. Through an outbreak of smallpox, countless killings and assassinations, and plenty of whiskey drinking and poker playing comes a self government, complete with fire marshal, health inspector, and yes, even sheriff and mayor. However, the town is just as corrupt as it’s faux government.

Here’s a rundown of the main characters:


Wild Bill (an ex-law man and expert gunman)
His traveling companion Calamity Jane (a drunken nurse)
Seth Bullock (another ex-law man, hardware store owner, and new friend of WB)
Al Swearengen (owner of the Gem Saloon and whore house, and unofficial leader of Deadwood)
E.B. Farnum (the right-hand-man of Al and hotel owner)
Trixie (Al’s main whore)
Cy Tolliver (rival bar, casino, and brothel owner)
Joannie Stubbs, (Cy’s main whore)
Doc Cochran (who is about as qualified to be a doctor as I am. He mainly supplies Al and his whore house with lube and weekly check-ups).
Alma Garrett (widow that owns a boss gold claim)



Al Swearengen is easily the most likable character of the series, played by Ian (right), who won a Golden Globe for his outstanding portrayal of the dope, pussy, and whiskey-selling kingpin. Providing miners with alcohol, cunt, and drugs is what Al does best, and anyone that gets in his way ends up in a cheap wood box. He is so likable because though he orders the killing of what may seem to be innocent people, he convinces the audience that they all deserve what they get.



Another notable character is Wild Bill Hickok. WB is able to see trouble with 20/20 vision and gun down any fools stupid enough to mess with him, even before they have a chance to pull their gun from their holster. The best way to describe his personality is exactly like Al, only he isn’t concerned about money or pussy, just poker and getting drunk. One of the earlier episodes had a great scene where some random guy was mouthing off to WB, so WB called him a cunt more times than I could count. I can’t properly articulate how awesome the scene is; you just have to watch it.

Though season 1 DVD has no rating, it deserves M for mature, due to the countless “cock-sucker”, “mother-fucker” and “cunt” references.

I’ll give this season of Deadwood 4 / 5 Stars. The only reason it doesn’t get 5 is because at times it’s tough to translate the dialogue through all the cunts and mother fuckers and cock-suckers, and sometimes it moves a little fast. Or maybe I’m just a little slow. Either way, excellent show!

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