In the absence of classes and in the absence of Eileene, I’ve been watching Deadwood. It’s pretty good; I can see where all the interest came from. Lots of scandalous behavior, lots of fireworks between the characters, lots of character. The acting’s fair to good, but not great. (That the cast includes Brad Dourif says a lot.) Not sure whether I’ll stick with it; scandal and firework and character, interesting though they are, aren’t what draws me to a show.
The historicity is an oddly mixed bag. The social dynamics seem plausible, so far as I can offer an opinion at all, compressed (for obvious and forgivable reasons) beyond plausibility. The set and outfits look really good: plenty of filth, but not so much as to look ridiculous. The dialogue, however, is unconvincing. I’m sure swearing was profuse in frontier mining towns. I’m less sure that “cocksucker†was the favored form it took. You can’t watch five minutes without hearing someone called a cocksucker, sometimes five or six times in rapid succession. It’s like HBO does it just to remind us it can use swear words and broadcast stations can’t. I suppose “god damn,†popular in the era, isn’t scandalous enough today to make the point.
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