Deadwood Episode 4: "Here was a man" (1 Viewer)

[Justin Bauer]

Slow episode, but a good one. I had a few friends watch this one as their first episode and they were hooked.

I have never been so upset with a characters death as I was for Wild Bill. For some reason, I just did not want to see him go. I was hoping he would last longer than 4 episodes.

 

[Colin-H]

Anyone expecting Bullock to get involved with Alma now? That might be too typical, though, and with two relatively prominent characters already dead, this show doesn't tend to be typical.

 

[Justin Bauer]

^^It looks like it, but I doubt it would last long or follow through because he is trying to get his wife and son to Deadwood.

 

[Greg Krewet]

What was the significance of the man holding the severed head of someone right after the Shooting? I was also surprised that no mention was made of Wild Bill not taking
his usual chair or the Eights and Aces combination.
Best
Greg

 

[LewB]

After watching this episode I got the impression that:

Wild Bill wanted to die. He tells Charlie to let him go to hell on his terms, he writes a letter to his wife, then takes a seat at the poker table with his back to the door.

 

[Mike Broadman]

Supposedly, the real Wild Bill told Charlie that Deadwood was to be his last camp. Similar comments shortly before his murder were reported. Though they didn't put that in the show, he did seem to resign himself to that fate.

I love how they didn't make a big deal about where he sat at the table. He just paused a little, adding an extra element for those who know the historical accounts.

His warning to the widow was great. Excellent delivery.

My dad is predicting that Swearingen will turn her out.

What is the deal with the sick guy that arrived at the other saloon? Who is he?

 

[Larry Fletcher]

Sorry for being a little slow, (lol) but can someone explain to me who are the Pinkertons?

thanks!

 

[Joe Szott]

Most of this stuff is based on historical fact, you can google Deadwood online and get all the background you need.

The sick guy...

has smallpox. Deadwood had a horrible outbreak of smallpox that brought the town to its knees around this time. Many in the town swear that if it wasn't for the time and attention of one woman, Calamity Jane, that the town would not have survived. I'm pretty sure Andy is the one who has just introduced Deadwood to smallpox (that would be why the doctor asked about pustules on the man's neck and face.)


The Pinkertons were a detective agency (or security systems) for hire back around the civil war times. That might not sound like much, but they provided security for Abraham Lincoln while president, all the railroads, and for very wealthy individuals in the late 19th century. They were known for hunting down famous criminals and collecting information privately for personal or public gain. Imagine if you could hire the FBI or Secret Service to investigate crimes for you, that's sort of like who the Pinkerton Agency was (FYI - there were no SS or FBI back then, didn't exist yet.) So imagine someone threatening to bring the FBI down on your head over a business deal, you'd probably freak out too.

 

[Robert_J]

Hopefully they had a money back guarantee.

-Robert

 

[Larry Fletcher]

thanks!!!

 

[Todd Terwilliger]

Great episode. I guess it was slow but I didn't mind a bit. I knew Wild Bill was going to - I could feel it - and they did a very good job with it. I would have liked to have seen the hand he held but I can't fault them for not showing it.

 

[David Judah]

I assumed it meant that trouble with the Indians was coming.

DJ

 

[Gordon St Pierre]

Heres a short synopsis of episode 5, "The Trial of Jack McCall" for anyone who wants to read it...

Swearengen transforms the Gem into a courtroom as Deadwood is forced to make its own laws to try a cowardly murderer. With Jane off on a bender, Trixie is enlisted by Swearengen to help Alma with the Metz child and to keep her pliable to his purposes; Doc Cochran fears Cramed's illness might threaten the camp; Tolliver sends Cramed to take the air in the woods, where he meets Jane. Not feeling justice served, Bullock decides to take the law into his own hands.

 

[Wayne Bundrick]

The Pinkertons were and still are a detective/security agency. http://www.pinkertons.com


Pinkertons wasn't in charge of protecting Lincoln at the time he was assassinated. While Allan Pinkerton did foil an earlier assassination plot before Lincoln's inauguration in 1861, and he was named the head of a Civil War espionage operation that eventually became the Secret Service, by 1862 he no longer had that position, having been pushed out by bureaucrats and replaced by Lafayette Baker. Lincoln was assassinated in 1865.

 

[Gordon St Pierre]

I wonder if the person Seth brings in from Montana to look over the Gold claim will be Charlie Utter's Brother ?..according to History ,his brother was in Deadwood

 

[Jim Meeks]

IIRC, Al, to escape suspicion, offered a bounty on all Indian scalps following the murder/slaughter of the "little one's" family. (Do we know her name?)

 

[Ted Lee]

i agree with whoever said bill knew it was coming.

he even raised his eyes right before he got shot. he *knew* who was behind him and what was about to happen.

 

[Justin Bauer]

^^I did not notice that, I will check out the recording.