S01.E10: Mister Wu

[Drogo]

An opium theft leaves Swearengen trying to find common language with his supplier, as well as navigating tricky waters to deal with the mess. Meanwhile, Silas Adams, bagman for the magistrate from Yankton, arrives with bad news for Swearengen; Bullock regrets having raised his hand at the government meeting; Merrick proposes Deadwood's first "club"; and an unwelcome Rev. Smith gravitates to the Gem and its new piano.

[Drogo]

Guys, I've got it - we'll call ourselves The Ambulators.  

Merrick and the Reverend both just wanted to walk around the neighborhood with some friends.  Nothing wrong with that. 

Mr. Wu is the Mr. Swearengen of the celestial neighborhood, though Al seemed to have a lot more concern for supporting Wu's reputation than Wu did for supporting Al's.  (Even though is a different time/place, I still get annoyed at that no-front-door-for-you shit.)  No English or English subtitles for Mr. Wu, just a stick figure drawing, some hand gestures and a lot of cocksuckas, yet there seemed more mutual understanding/respect than most of Al's other interactions.  How's that?

Words to live by:  "You can't cut the throat of every cocksucker whose character it would improve."

[honeywest]

Ray McKinnon breaks my heart in that scene in the hardware store.

[purist]

On 11/07/2016 at 2:45 PM, honeywest said:

Ray McKinnon breaks my heart in that scene in the hardware store.

He is so incredible in this role. His decline in health and functions with each passing episode is almost too much to bear. It's clear that Al feels deeply concerned for the reverend even though he covers it up with his usual swearing and bluster. Seth gently asking, 'May we walk you back to your tent, sir?' and the reverend replying, 'An evening stroll with friends - I would so enjoy that' is truly heartbreaking - and the fact that this scene comes immediately after the 'execution' scene in the bathhouse only gives it more poignancy. God, this show is SO GOOD.

I'm really enjoying getting reacquainted with all the wonderful characters in Deadwood, episode by episode. In this one I was happy to be reintroduced to Silas Adams (played by the wonderfully named Titus Welliver), Hostetler, and the old guy who works at EB's hotel, Richardson. I love that Silas quickly proves himself Al's intellectual equal, and isn't afraid to watch him do the dirty work of killing Jimmy the dope fiend. As loyal and entertaining as Dan is, he certainly doesn't have Al's smarts - so I'm glad that Al now has someone he can talk intelligently with.

Those dope fiends were truly pathetic. Both of them defiled Al's office (Jimmy by shitting his pants and Leon by vomiting) and sink about as low as a person could go (Jimmy by willingly throwing himself off Al's balcony into the stinking mud of the thoroughfare, and Leon by talking so vilely about the 'celestials' as if he was better than them). I was glad when Al bumped off Jimmy and only wish he could have done the same to Leon. Ugh, what pathetic individuals.

The episode gave us another fascinating look at the hierarchy of camp society, especially in the scene in Al's office when Leon vomited on the floor. Al gestured to Dan to clean it up, then Dan told Johnny to do it, and then Johnny made Jimmy do it. EB considers himself to superior to the titty-licker (I howled at his pained 'August commencement to my administration - standing stymied outside a saloon beside a degenerate tit-licker'). And of course all the white people - even the whores at the Gem - consider themselves to be superior to the Chinese people. The racism on display was truly disgusting.

Wu's SWEDGIN and his many ways of saying COCKSUCKAH make me happy; EB finally has new clothes (and gloves!) and they are as tasteless and pretentious as you'd expect; and Sol and Seth are great together again on their porch in this exchange, which shows how well they know and trust each other:

Seth: ... a wife and child I barely know.

Sol: I don't guess you need me to say it. If there's a heaven, your brother sees what you did and he's grateful.

Seth: Maybe he sees me borrowing his life so I didn't have to live my own.

Sol: People have made good lives out of borrowed ones before. [pause] But she is a beautiful woman ... [meaning Alma]

[Mindthinkr]

It was heartfelt watching the decline of the Reverend this episode. I think that you other posters have put it more eloquently than I could have. I almost feel redundant posting. 

[walnutqueen]

1 hour ago, Mindthinkr said:

It was heartfelt watching the decline of the Reverend this episode. I think that you other posters have put it more eloquently than I could have. I almost feel redundant posting. 

I don't think your fresh eyes and musings are at all redundant.  I quite envy you being able to see it for the first time; I remember how much I loved this fucking show.