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S01.E05: The Trial of Jack McCall

formerlyfreedom

By formerlyfreedom
in Deadwood [V]

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formerlyfreedom

formerlyfreedom

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Swearengen transforms the Gem into a courtroom as Deadwood is forced to make its own laws to try a murderer; with Jane off on a bender, Swearengen employs Trixie to help Alma with the Metz Child; Doc Cochran fears Cramed's illness might threaten the camp; Tolliver sends Cramed to take air in the woods, where he meets Jane; and Bullock decides to take the law into his own hands.

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Guest

Guest

1 hour ago, Drogo said:

She's only hooking to put herself through veterinary school?

Keep watching.  You may get a surprise.

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purist

purist

(edited)

All those mourners waving the flies away from Wild Bill's corpse was a nice touch. Dear lord, that camp must have smelled to high heaven.

Alma and Clench matched each other for rudeness towards people in this episode, with Alma in the throes of withdrawal being awful to Doc and to EB, and Clench, in his sorrow and anger at Hickok's death, being horrible to everyone: Nuttall, Doc, the guy selling the tufts of Native American hair, the poor reverend, Jack McCall, and even Sol.

Some more 'Hey, it's that guy!' moments in this episode. Bart, who took Andy into the forest to die on Cy's orders, was played by Glenn Morshower, who I know better as Special Agent Aaron Pierce from 24. And one of the jurors, Jay Johnson, was played by Dirk Blocker, better known these days as Hitchcock from Brooklyn Nine-Nine. (His Brooklyn Nine-Nine partner, Scully, is played by Joel McKinnon Miller, who appeared in episode 4 of Deadwood as the passer-by who stopped to tell Wild Bill he had seen him in a show and that he thought Wild Bill was a terrible actor.)

Question: Why did Al ask Johnny to hide the Native American head until after the trial? Why not just destroy it?

Al and Dan looking down at the trial and commenting reminded me of Statler and Waldorf from The Muppet Show.

Jane broke my heart with her small kindnesses to the dying Andy Cramed in the forest, amid her own sorrow at Wild Bill's death. I was also moved by Trixie's kindness to Alma in getting a remedy from Doc for the widow's withdrawal cramps. Not to mention the poor crazy reverend, having a grand mal seizure in his tent and nobody noticing.

There were some wonderful Shakespearean-level words in this script - notably E.B. Farnum's soliloquy as he was scrubbing bloodstains off the floor at his hotel (including 'What's he [EB] ever done for me [Al], except let me terrify him every goddamn day of his life until the idea of bowel regularity is a forlorn fucken hope?'), and Al's speech to the magistrate about his 'dream'. I also enjoyed this exchange between Cy and Al at the doorway of the Gem:

Al: How's business?

Cy: Hot and cold. Struggling to get our craps concept off the ground.

Al: That's the way with any new idea. Takes the hoopleheads time to adjust. Sometimes I wish we could just hit 'em over the head, rob 'em, and throw their bodies in the creek.

Cy (fixing Al with a meaningful stare): But that would be wrong.

Al: [raises his eyebrows]

Edited by purist
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nyxy

nyxy

7 hours ago, purist said:

All those mourners waving the flies away from Wild Bill's corpse was a nice touch. Dear lord, that camp must have smelled to high heaven.

Alma and Clench matched each other for rudeness towards people in this episode, with Alma in the throes of withdrawal being awful to Doc and to EB, and Clench, in his sorrow and anger at Hickok's death, being horrible to everyone: Nuttall, Doc, the guy selling the tufts of Native American hair, the poor reverend, Jack McCall, and even Sol.

....

Question: Why did Al ask Charlie to hide the Native American head until after the trial? Why not just destroy it?

Al and Dan looking down at the trial and commenting reminded me of Statler and Waldorf from The Muppet Show.

Jane broke my heart with her small kindnesses to the dying Andy Cramed in the forest, amid her own sorrow at Wild Bill's death. I was also moved by Trixie's kindness to Alma in getting a remedy from Doc for the widow's withdrawal cramps. Not to mention the poor crazy reverend, having a grand mal seizure in his tent and nobody noticing.

 

-I totally agree with what you say. Random thoughts inspired by your post.

-I find myself thinking about the smell all the time. Al's pisspot in his room, for instance. Poor Gim, having to clean it out.Then the stink of bodies, even the richer people. Al for instance is shown at one point getting up wearing those longjohns and pulling his suit right over them.They say houses really stank in Victorian England esp with the smell of shit and piss and unwashed bodies never too far away. But people get used to it as the old normal. When I think of indoor plumbing is when I'm happiest at being born in my century.

- the Reverend's fit was so sad. The fact that only canvas walls separate him from others and yet no one notices or hears him at all. It was a great sequence.

-And Alma's selfishness and Seth's anger. YES! I'm watching this episode the second time and liking her a lot less. I read up all I could about the show. Milch said that in thinking about Seth he tried to do something with the historical Seth's past- his father, formerly in the British army, used to tan his hide every evening, and actually even dressed up in uniform to do this. So Milch said he wanted to show all that repressed rage and helplessness brought on about the abuse. And he wanted to show Seth being scared at his own capacity for rage. IIRC this is the first time we see the extent of his rage. It was so startling to me, especially in contrast to the very reasonable and kind person he was IMO to the guy being hanged in the first episode.

-But then they also undercut it with humor. I loved that shot in which Seth is striding (with that sexy loping walk- very sexy IMO)- and we suddenly switch to slow motion. It was such a hilarious cliche from Westerns. Not that I've seen a lot of those, but it seemed really familiar and cracked me up.

-Btw I also love to see how people respond to Seth's anger. I really love Sol and I especially love the way he says "All right." He is a good and patient man! Seth is very very lucky to have him as a friend.

-The hanging on to the scalp- it's explained later, if I remember.

- I completely agree that was a great shot of Wild Bill Hickok. In general I think he added so much to the show.

-I read about the historical trial and was so pissed off I rushed through those scenes. Might watch them again.

-And I've totally fallen for Jane and am so glad she is in the show!!! I wasn't sure at first. Apparently she was very foul-mouthed and yet full of kindness IRL too. Did a lot of ad hoc nursing as needed. The actress is brilliant. I like listening to her monologues even more than I like Al's.

That exchange you quoted between Al and Cy was brilliant. I don't fully see the point of Cy or Joannie though. They seem redundant. They are probably foils for Al and Trixie respectively. I didn't really get invested in Cy as a character. Joannie is ok.

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purist

purist

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Alma's selfishness and Seth's anger. YES! I'm watching this episode the second time and liking her a lot less.

I give Alma a pass for her rudeness in this episode because she is going through withdrawal from laudanum, which would make anyone grumpy.

Thanks for all that info about Seth's characterisation. So interesting!

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