Deadwood: Season Three (1 Viewer)

[TravisR]

The music is listed for each episode in HBO's episode guide. Although it looks like the last 5 episodes don't have their music listed yet.

http://www.hbo.com/deadwood/episode/index.shtml

 

[Jason Hughes]

HBO executives = cocksuckers. Had to say it.

For those who beg to differ about HBO being worthless now, try The Wire.

When the dumbshits cancel that, then it will be worthless.

 

[ScottH]

I just caught up on the last two episodes. Here's a question about the second to last episode. At the very end, after all the Ellsworth stuff goes down, Hearst says something like, "I ought not to come to places like this...I'm not meant to destroy my own kind." What exactly did he mean by that? Was he merely referring to killing Ellsworth, or was there more to it?

 

[todd stone]

RIP

 

[Jeremiah]

Scott, I think he is talking about killing Ellsworth, since they are both gold miners.

 

[Henry Gale]

When this was posted two days ago I went to the site and found several song titles for one episode.
Now, the MUSIC link on every episode seems to be dead.
Any idea what I'm doing wrong?

 

[TravisR]

Yeah, the music seems to only be listed for the first seven episodes of S3 and no others. Maybe the HBO message boards can help you out?

On another topic, the first Sunday without Deadwood was a bummer.

 

[Chris Woodard]

Now that the series is over...

I'm still disappointed that they never used Nick Cave's "Rye whiskey" song.

It always seemed to me like the perfect Deadwood closing credit song.

 

[JediFonger]

i'm all caught through season2. onto season3. sorry, late to the game. first impressions, i like the speech, i don't mind the swearing, but the language itself is very rythmic, Shakespearean-like. it's definitely got its own "high-speech". in fact, that reminds me of how dialogue from Stephen King's Dark Tower would sound out loud =). did people really speak that style of speech back then (nevermind swear or not)?

anyway, i came to the show due to a lot of hype from HBO/forums like this. a lot of people i know haven't seen it. overall, i thought it was OK. it's not six feet under, it's not Rome (of which the creator was trying to do, during Nero's reign), it's not Sopranos, but it is better than Entourage. HBO is still maintaining a nice batting avg. it's 2bad they didn't continue the stories.

as much as David Milch said in interviews in season1 that this show is against type (that's why i hate those bonus/extras, it makes the show less enjoyable by stating the artistics purposes) of Western, i think it does have many of the archetypes of a Western =). the whore with heart of gold, the gunslingers, "Calamity" Jane, the bank, the saloon owner, bartender, barber, etc. it's just full of it =).

having said that, i continue to be surprised at Brad Dourif from X-Files through Two Towers and now this. he's certainly a very passionate actor =).

PS is it me or is the sheriff bullock trying to be eastwood by muttering his dialogues? just a note =).

 

[Garrett Lundy]

I'm going to say its unlikely. As you can see most of the characters don't "Shakespeare it up". Bullock, Star, Ellsworth, Richardson, the bartender from the #10 (forgt his name). E.B. does speak like that, but I take it as the character is trying desperately to be anything more than the seemingly useless pawn he is (If he sounds intelligent, maybe people will think he is?). Langrishe is trained in the theater, and his history with Swearingen might suggest that Al is too. But he doesn't tend to break-into the "high speak" until he's A: Drinking, or B: Talking to 'The Chief'.

Then theres Woo, who some will argue should be speaking Cantonese instead of Mandarin (as most of the immigrants from the time used on railroads were from that area), but its a mistake I'm glad for since the American screenwriters, actors, and viewers who speak any Chinese are far more likely to speak Mandarin.

 

[Justin Bauer]

I also cancelled my subscription this past week.

I will re-up just for the finale of The Sopranos even though it is a shell of its former self. I will also do so for the final season of ROME and the end of the current season of Entourage. Luckily I will just have to do this once since all these shows burr into eachother.

I am sad to see Deadwood gone. It is by far the best show on TV and quickly took over HBO's top stop when it hit the air waves. It makes me sick to see how HBO grabs ankle for Chase and the Sopranos, yet basically jerks around with Milch and Deadwood.

Rome is my 2nd fav show on the network, but is just behind Deadwood.

The sad thing about Rome's ending soon is that alot of new fans are finding their way to the show. Alot of people waited for the DVDs and now tons of positive reviews and new fans are popping up all over the place because of the DVDs.

 

[Charlie Campisi]

I thought the aspirations to Shakespearean dialogue were on purpose? Most if not all of the soliloquies are in iambic pentameter. I haven't done a line by line comparison, but you can hear the rhythm. I haven't read anything about it that I can point to specifically, but I thought this was not speculation.

 

[Justin Bauer]

I thought this would fit well here regarding some of the posts since the finale.

This is Earl Brown's (Dan Dority) latest post on the HBO forum:



I swore I had made my final post regarding this season, but after reading some of the postings, I have a few thoughts I cannot suppress:

***The "liberal bias" of the ending against Big Business (represented by Hearst). The town was peopled with ruthless folks who put self-interest ahead of all else, Al Swearingen being Chief among the lot. It was only when he was faced with an outside force, bigger and more powerful than him, did he acquiesce.

***Al's "softening" as the seasons progressed. Like real life, the character indeed changed as the seasons progressed. He came to a point where he sometimes placed the well being of others over the well being of himself. As I've stated before, Al being Al, he thought his caring for others to be a weakness within himself. It was a constant struggle within him to come to terms with those feelings. But the Al who put his bootheel to Trixie's throat was not the Al who put the knife to Jen's neck.

***History bears out the fact that George Hearst owned the entire Homestake Mine. While Alma Garrett is a fictional character, she is representative of numerous folks who were there before Hearst. Somehow, sometime G. Hearst got the claims from those people. While as an audience member, I'd love to have seen Hearst "get his" it just didn't happen that way. We can play loose with many facts, but that sort of concrete fact cannot (well... shouldn't be) changed.

***The portrayal of Hearst. Someone stated that Hearst was a kind, benevolent sort, not at all like who was protrayed on our show. Where did you read that? In a Hearst owned newspaper? Who knows what he was like in real life. To the victor not only goes the spoils, but the writing of subsequent history. It is revisionist for us to go back and portray him the way we did, but hey, it was much more dramatically interesting. He may have been a nice guy to some, but then a man doesn't amass the astounding fortune George Hearst did by smelling the flowers and petting the bunnies -- you gotta step on some toes to get that powerful.

***As to that power -- Al knew, as did the camp, that they may indeed be able to kill George Hearst himself. However, the vacuum created by killing a man that powerful would sweep into camp and crush everyone and everything.

***Ellsworth's death our "Adrianna Moment" -- there was no special protection because I believe Whitney had given over to the inevitable. After his shunning by Alma, he pretty much gave up the fight. Notice the look on his face when looking at the wrong end of that pistol, "Well, it is finally here..."

***Seth and Charlies "standing by" while the innocent Jen is sacrificed. Cowardly? Maybe. But they put the overall interest of the entire camp over the singular principle of one innocent being killed -- better one than hundreds. Is that right and just? Do the ends justify the means? That is up for each individual viewer to decide.

***The ending. Well, to be honest, I wasn't satisfied either. While I knew the "Hearst Winning" was inevitable, I would have liked to have seen an escalation of tensions, building, building, building, then being averted. It would have had much more dramactic impact. However, David saw fit to change things in editing. I don't know why. The next time I see him, I plan on asking him his reasoning. After the ever increasing build starting in 10 & 11 (two excellent epsiodes with a tremendous sense of tension), why did David choose to edit it that way? Knowing him, it was his insistance on refusing look at his audience and "tell them something pretty." Like life, we don't always get what we hope for. I'd hoped for another four or five years of creating Deadwood. See what I got?

***Backstage machinations -- David planned on the show going on for several more seasons. He and I had a sit-down chat at the beginning of season 3. He told me of the other shows he had in development, he told me of his plans to keep DW going and how he wanted to implement them. I DO think David knew as far back as Dec. that there was unrest in corporate over our expense. He was trying to find alternative financing as soon as our premeire date was shuffled. However, I do not believe that by getting a greenlight for John From Cincinati, David knew it would be the death-knell for our show.

I am going to try to shut up now. Deadwood is over. For the time being at least.



Earl

 

[JonZ]

"I DO think David knew as far back as Dec. that there was unrest in corporate over our expense."

HBO has 2 shows that Im aware of that are in the making(as well as a miniseries - a western). Being planned right now.

 

[JediFonger]

anyway, i like the way dialogue is spoken isn't "normal". it's great =).

re: wu, he is speaking cantonese most of the times. only china/middle kingdom is uttered in semi-mandarin (with a cantonese accent). it would be correct because many cantonese speakers can also speak broken mandarin (the "English" of the far east).

i'm only upto ep5 or 6 for s3. started school yesterday, it's very unlikely i will finish the season anytime soon =(. i'm *almost there*!!!

 

[Phil Florian]

Milch was on the very fun talk show "Dinner for Five" with Jon Favreau a while back. He said in that conversation that he calls the dialogue iambic pentameter and I did try to count it out and it doesn't completely fit that but it is very stylized. He also talked in that show about why they chose the stylized dialogue. He had folks talk how we THINK they talked and he said something to the effect of "it sounded like Yosemite Sam." The decision was then to use this very flowery and almost purple prose to set it apart from the average television show and give it its own flavor. Something to that effect. I love the dialogue and the more convoluted the better. Al's monologue's were a wonder to behold but not far behind were EB's prattlings and now Lagrishe's mini monologues. The actor really does make the dialogue. Like good Shakespeare, regardless of how much of a mouthful it is, you have to read it like someone is really saying it and not like poetry and THAT is the real poetry. Some of the best and most unique dialogue on television...well, used to be on television.

 

[Mary M S]

Possibly why I was so simpatico.

EB made me shout out loud on occasion.

[Hearst] Have you smelt human flesh on the spit?
[EB] How would I!
[Hearst] I know the smell.
[EB] You have been to and fro in the world
[Hearst] It pleased me to find out.
[EB] Well....Fine.
[Hearst] {spits}

It was the delivery of the lines, which made them.

 

[Quentin]

Some of the dialogue is, indeed, iambic pentameter. Not all of it, but many of the soliloquies. I have a few scripts. Pretty amazing stuff.

 

[Phil Florian]

Can you get these scripts in book form or are they transcripts found online? I found some .doc files with transcripts of the show but they aren't always accurate. It would be fun to read some of the real written stuff.

 

[Dheiner]

Try here: http://members.aol.com/chatarama/