Sunday night I sat down and put on my usual shows. Like millions of other Americans, that means an evening of my 2 favorite "S's." That would be the Simpsons and The Sopranos. As usual, both shows lived up to their entertaining legends, each in their own right. But at 10pm, HBO premiered what might be their best attempt at a series since the italians muscled in on our Sunday nights 5 erratic seasons ago.
Deadwood, which is the name of the mining town / camp situated in the old west in 1876, is the setting for this bold adventure back into the days of cowboys and indians. This setting takes us right on the cusp of the American frontier. And unlike past old westerns, this one truly does show the good, the bad and the ugly.
The main charachter, at least for now, is a marshall turned hardware store owner in Seth Bullock. Bullock is a marshall who has had it with trying to maintain law and order in a Montana town and joins forces with an old buddy to try their hand at getting rich by supplying the prospectors with tools and whatever they need to seek their fortune. When we first join the story however, Bullock must carry out his last duty as marshall a little hastily to avoid the gunfire of a drunken mob. One can see why he might have lost faith in his chosen profession.
In the dark of night, the good marshall, is forced to hang a man for stealing a horse before the man whom it was stolen from and his buddies pull off their own version of justice. In the stand-off, old Seth is forced to help the man die by helping him with his apparantly too short drop. from this scene, we get Bullock's charachter assessment. Tough, fair and true to his concience despite the need to exist in the muck of sin and deceit.
Next we are taken to the trail outside of Deadwood, where we meet Wild Bill Hickock, who apparantly is suffering from either a hangover or the DT's. Traveling with him is probably the most interesting charachter in the story, Calamity Jane. She is foulmouthed, she is tough and she takes nothing from no one, except Hickock.
Jane shows signs of a more complex woman underneath the rough exterior. A scene later in the show contrasts our 1st impressions of her with softer maternal like instincts as she holds a dying child. I expect we are going to learn more about who this legendary wonman really was, at least forom the writer's perspiective.
Then we travel into the bustling prospector's "camp" as it is called by the locals, We see the prospectors heading for the saloons, poker games and whores. Fighting in the streets and lawnessness abound in this town which simply had no law at the time. This image is in sharp contrast to the old westerns that showed clear, uncluttered streets, good ol boy, friendly cowboys offering a hand with a smile and general politeness and hospitality in their old west soundstages. And it's about time someone showed it.
Deadwood's biggest appeal, for me anyway, is it's realism and ability to make the viewer really feel like they are experiencing an accurate portrayal of one of the most talked about, but mostly innacuurately reported on periods of our history. The show was so gripping that when I woke up a little early the next day, I tuned my digital cable box's "on demand" service to take me back to the old mining town in the unsettled Dakota territories.
And this week finds me looking up the history around some of these fascinating charachters, which I haven't even begun to describe, nor could I in a short piece. You owe it to yourself to take a trip next Sunday to Deadwood.