Deadwood 7/9 (spoilers)

[Beer_Baron]

Hot damn, what an episode.

What a season.

The fight between Dan and the captain has to be seen to be believed.

 

[Chi City 81]

I TiVo'd it. I'll watch it when I get home.

 

[Chi City 81]

Holy ****! That was a ****ing fight-and-a-half. Long live Dan!

EDIT: ****in' A, and that was only half-way through the episode. Best one of the season, by far.

 

[zimbabwe]

Best, most violent episode of the season. This show continues to be the hearty, 12-course dinner before the chocolate mousse-lite dessert that is Entourage.

Jesus that fight was brutal. Very grim episode, but that is what Deadwood does. It does grim and grimy.

http://www.nj.com/columns/ledger/zollerseitz/index.ssf?/base/columns-0/115252351496300.xml&coll=1

 

[Beer_Baron]

Not only was the fight brutal, but it struck me as a metaphorical "this is how the sausage gets made" regarding government/progress and all that jazz.

 

[zimbabwe]

The more I think about it, the more brilliant that episodewas. That fight was ****ing insane. 'Deadwood' somehow manages to increase tension AND momentum every week.

And no offense intended, but I'm shocked ---- saddened, even ---- that only four people on this board have commented. I truly enjoy 'Entourage,' but watching 'Deadwood' first and then 'Entourage' makes 'Entourage' seem faggy.

 

[Frank_Ridgeway]

The scene with the eyeball hanging out was the most disgusting thing I've ever seen on TV, topping the chainsaw part in "Scarface" and Joe Theismann's leg being broken.

 

[Beer_Baron]

Disgusting but effective. To Hearst, this whole Deadwood thing is just another acquisition. To Al, Dan and the others there, it literally is life and death.

I love Sopranos but this season of Deadwood is so much better than the latest from David Chase, it isn't even funny. Milch is getting into all the deep themes and what not, just like Chase, but that doesn't prevent the storyline from... you know... progressing at a reasonable pace!

Also, like that column linked earlier, contrast Alma's relapse with that of Christopher and Nurse Hathaway or whatever her actual name is.

If The Wire comes out with its fastball in Season 4--even though, sadly, few will watch it--does that bump Sopranos to third on the HBO depth chart? I think it might.

 

[lantaur]

It was also beautiful that there was the two seconds getting dirty fighting it out in the mud, while the bosses were up top on their balconies, clean and looking down on the fray, acting like their own Julius Caesar as their men look to them for the thumbs up or down on whether or not to kill.

Early nod for next year for an Emmy for Gerald McRaney for his work thus far. Stellar. But of course, so are Powers Booth, Ian McShane, etc.

 

[Bristol Insider]

One word: tremendous ...

 

[terrier]

Hey, Dan Allan Rayed the Captain!
This is the stuff we waited all spring for The Sopranos to deliver, on so many levels.
Can't wait to see how Hearst's arrest and Alma renewing acquaintance with laudanum play out next week.
For all the valuable services she's rendered to the camp (not to mention Swearengen and Star), Trixie deserves a kill of her own.

 

[djc3317]

Disgusting but effective. To Hearst, this whole Deadwood thing is just another acquisition. To Al, Dan and the others there, it literally is life and death.

I love Sopranos but this season of Deadwood is so much better than the latest from David Chase, it isn't even funny. Milch is getting into all the deep themes and what not, just like Chase, but that doesn't prevent the storyline from... you know... progressing at a reasonable pace!

Also, like that column linked earlier, contrast Alma's relapse with that of Christopher and Nurse Hathaway or whatever her actual name is.

If The Wire comes out with its fastball in Season 4--even though, sadly, few will watch it--does that bump Sopranos to third on the HBO depth chart? I think it might.

I thought deadwood season one was better than the previous sopranos season when they ran at 9 and 10 pm a couple years ago. and this season of deadwood is far superior to the most recent sopranos half-season. I dig the sopranos, but this season of deadwood has been outstanding.

I'm fascinated by al's wrestling with his inner psyche over what to do with hearst...hell, I'm fascinated by most everything about the al character. one of the most interesting on tv.

 

[Dedo]

I was out of town and just got to see this on my DVR tonight. Knowing that several storylines were coming to a head and that Milch had written this episode by himself, I was expecting great things. And still I was blown away.

A few late thoughts:

1. That was the rawest, grittiest, most realistic fight scene I've ever seen. Dan and the Captain didn't come out with fists firing and throwing haymakers like you typically see on the big (or little) screen. They bearhugged. They rolled around a bit. They chewed on each other and made all kind of awkward, panicked movements. They had to stop to catch their breath, and in Dan's case, vomit. The eye thing might have been a little over the top, but it worked. And then there was the moment when Swearengen -- surveying the scene from above -- dropped his head in defeat, then perks back up when Dan makes his comeback. Priceless.

2. Sad to see Hostetler go. Usually I can see TV/movie suicides coming a mile away, but that one caught me by surprise. I guess the thought of having to appease Drunk Steve for one more second was more than he could bear.

3. Dan's despondent scene with Johnny -- and Al's later explanation about how killing a man in a fair fight is different -- was nothing short of brilliant.

4. Comic relief -- Con Stapleton playing the role of a ship captain on one of Tolliver's employees, and Richardson asking, "Are they performing?" when the actors were having their meeting in the lobby.

5. The best line of the night was Al's question to the chief's head. I'm paraphrasing, but it was something like, "When you were in that tepee and we were coming for you, and you knew you had to make the first move, didn't you first just want to ****in' understand?"