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Friday, February 8, 2008
Never say nigh
I had hoped to get the next-to-next-to-last Deadwood episode recapped for y'all today but I ended up having to work today *SIGH* and then this weekend is turning out busier than anticipated. So I hope to have it done for you Monday night at the latest. I do wonder, however, if I'm not subconsciously dragging my feet because for me the end of this amazing show is nigh, and I don't want nigh. Nigh gives me sad.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Lost recap – “Confirmed Dead” airdate 02/07/08 (S4E2)
We start with an underwater scene, filmed by some sort of submarine. Deep under water, the camera comes across an airplane: a whole airplane. “It’s Oceanic 815!” exclaims the off-camera voice. Dude, it’s so not. Flight 815 was splintered into at least three pieces and strewn across an evil Island. I know this because I’ve been watching since S1E1. Cut to some squirrelly looking guy, “Dan,” watching a news report of the airplane discovery and sniffling, not knowing why he’s so upset. Cut again to the chopper from last episode, in the storm and in trouble. There seem to be four people on board: squirrelly Dan, two others and the pilot. The pilot screams for everyone to bail out and someone throws Dan out the hatch. He parachutes onto the Island in the rainstorm and announces to Jack and Kate when they find him that he’s here to rescue them. I’m skeptical, not least that so squirrelly a guy can rescue anyone.
Dan, Jack and Kate walk through the wet jungle and Dan confirms that there were four folks on the chopper. They all have the GPS transponders that can be tracked on the sat-phone. Dan calls his ship and George, on board, tells him to take him off speaker-phone. Jack and Kate get suspicious as Dan, still squirrelly, turns away. Also making them suspicious is the gun he’s got tucked in his belt. When he hangs up, they keep trekking, waiting for a GPS transponder signal.
Locke leads his group east – which Sawyer questions, since the Others’ barracks are south. Locke wants to go to Jacob’s cabin because a “taller” Walt told him too. Sawyer totally scoffs and Locke says that after Ben shot him and left him for dead, Walt came to him and told him what his mission was. He shows Sawyer the bullet wound, saying he’d probably be dead if he still had a kidney there. So it was actually a GOOD thing in the long run that his father scammed him out of a kidney then. Hmm – that’s very convenient, writers. Actually, Sawyer doesn’t quite know what to say to all this so they keep walking.
On the beach, Juliet and Sayid are slightly concerned that Jack has not returned. Juliet, having lived with Ben so long, is paranoid and suggests that she and Sayid rustle up the remaining guns and go find Jack. Dan, Jack and Kate find another GPS signal: it’s Miles, crashed on the rocks on the shore. When Jack goes to see if he’s still alive, Miles has been playing possum and pulls his gun, telling them all to back off. Miles wants to see Naomi’s body. But how does he know she’s dead? wonders a baffled Kate.
Please: Sean “Puffy” Combs as the lead in A Raisin In the Sun? Give me a friggin’ break. Lost’s Vincent has more range than Puff-Daddy.
Flashback: Inglewood, California. Miles drives up, listening to a news report that all 344 passengers on Oceanic 815 are confirmed dead. He knocks on the door of a small house and an older woman lets him in. He requests $200 as his fee and goes upstairs to divest her home of the ghost of her murdered grandson, bringing a jury-rigged dust buster with him. In the dead boy’s bedroom, Miles turns on his dust buster, twitches a little, speaks to the empty room and goes straight to a hidden wad of money and drugs. He leaves the drugs, takes the large wad of cash and leaves, refunding the grandmother $100. That’s big of you, asshole. I already dislike this guy.
Flash to the Island: Miles says that “tell my sister I love her” is code for being captured and in mortal danger. He wants to be taken to Naomi’s body: he’ll know what happened, he insists. In Locke’s group, at a water break Ben tries to talk to his daughter but Sawyer intercedes. So Ben taunts him a bit instead, telling Sawyer that if they get off-Island, he doesn’t stand a chance competing against a “first-class surgeon” for Kate’s affections. This earns him a beating and almost a bullet in the brainpan. Locke steps in, saying that Ben has been on the Island longer than anyone else and has information they can use. Sawyer snarls that he bets Ben has already figured out how to get all of them … Locke has to hold Ben’s leash from now on.
While Miles communes with Naomi’s body, Kate tries to get Dan to tell them what is going on. Jack tells her to back off, giving her a little wink. The sat-phone picks up the signal of the third member of their party, Charlotte, but Jack insists that Miles and Jack put their guns down before they go any further. Feeling cocky, Miles protests until shots ring out: it’s Sayid and Juliet. Sneaky Jack – he knew they were there!
Flashback: Tunisia. A redheaded British woman, Charlotte, seemingly an archeologist or paleontologist, whatever, busts into a dig. There’s an animal skeleton there: not a dinosaur but a bear, a polar bear. And when she digs conveniently into the dirt next to its neck, Charlotte pulls out a collar with a Dharma Initiative logo on it – looks like a hydra. Flash to the Island: Charlotte is stuck in her parachute lines, suspended above a pool of water. She cuts herself free (to very dramatic and annoying music) and drops into the pool. When she comes up, she finds Locke et al waiting for her.
Charlotte and Locke’s group take turns asking each other questions. Everyone is very suspicious of everyone else. Charlotte is quite surprised when Locke tells her that they don’t want to be found by her team. Jack, Kate, Juliet, Sayid, Dan and Miles tromp through the jungle. Sayid tries some non-invasive interrogation and Miles gives him a bunch of lip. They get another reading from Charlotte’s GPS, this time moving really fast as though she’s running. They all start running too; the music gets excitable; and the signal gets closer and closer … and it’s Vincent, with the GSP transponder tied to his collar. He sits down and gives himself a little scratch. “Locke’s got her,” mutters Jack.
Flashback: the Bahamas. Some beach-bummy looking guy drops a toy airplane into an aquarium. The plane flips as it falls through the water and lands on its back on the bottom, looking not at all like the supposedly found Oceanic 815, which was filmed lying on its belly at the bottom of the ocean. Another news report about the found 815 is also on the television and Beach Bum watches it closely. He then calls the Oceanic hotline. He says that he knows the man who was piloting Flight 815, that he always wore his wedding ring (and all the obsessed Lost fans immediately go back to Season 1 and pause their DVDs whenever Greg Grunberg’s left hand comes into view) - the pilot’s body shown on the television footage did not have a wedding ring. The hotline operator wants to know how he knows anything about anything; Beach Bum says that he was supposed to be the one flying 815 that day.
Flash to the Island: Beach Bum is the helicopter pilot. He drags himself up an embankment and finds a steer which moos at him before moving off, neck-bell clanging. That was random. Beach Bum tries his sat-phone but it’s busted so he sends up a flare instead. Locke’s group sees the flare. Charlotte wants to go after it, saying she came here to rescue the Losties. Locke says no way, they’re sticking with his agenda (and Sawyer snarks that who are they to argue with “taller ghost Walt.” Ha.) Charlotte and Locke argue until BANG! someone shoots her in the chest. It was Ben, having snagged a pistol from oblivious Carl. Sawyer tackles Ben and pounds on his face some more. Locke checks Charlotte: she’s alive, wearing a bulletproof vest. Lucky. And paranoid. Meanwhile, Jack’s group has found Beach Bum. His name is Frank. He actually managed to land the helicopter on the Island without crashing it. Jack, Kate and Sayid think this is most excellent.
Flashback: Naomi is getting her mission parameters from the purported Oceanic lawyer who visited Hurley in the nuthouse in last week’s flash forward. Naomi seems to be military or at least ex-military, and she scornfully describes the team on her “high risk undercover op in unstable territory” as “… a head-case, a ghost-buster, an anthropologist and a drunk.” The lawyer tells her to suck it up: everything relies on her to get them in, get them out, and keep them from getting killed. Oops.
Flash to the Island: Sayid has checked out the chopper and says it can fly. Miles calls the ship on his sat-phone and the woman who answers the phone is distinctly uninterested in talking to him right at this moment. Nonplussed, he hangs up. Juliet cleans up a wound on Frank the pilot’s head. When he asks her name, she tells him and he shouts to Miles that Juliet was not on the plane: “She’s a native!” Miles gets VERY excited by this. He waves a photograph around and shouts, “Where is he? You want to know why we’re here? I’ll tell you: we’re here for Benjamin Linus. Now where is he?”
Well, Miles, currently Mr. Linus is getting his ass kicked by Sawyer somewhere in the jungle. Sawyer is itching to shoot Ben but Locke says it’s his mess, he’ll clean it up. He tells everyone who doesn’t want to see this to clear out. When Claire protests, Locke asks her to think if one of the bullets Ben shot at Charlotte had hit her or the baby. Claire stops protesting. Ben opens his beady eyes wide and says he can give them information. So Locke immediately asks him what the black smoke monster is. HAHAHA! Ben looks at Locke like he’s lost his mind and sighs that he doesn’t know. What he does know is ALL about Charlotte and her team members and that they are a big threat. The ship is not here to rescue the Losties – it is here to find him. A quick look at Charlotte confirms that Ben is correct. How does Ben know all this? Well, he’s got a man working for him out there on that ship, of course.
Next time on Lost. Previously on Lost.
Dan, Jack and Kate walk through the wet jungle and Dan confirms that there were four folks on the chopper. They all have the GPS transponders that can be tracked on the sat-phone. Dan calls his ship and George, on board, tells him to take him off speaker-phone. Jack and Kate get suspicious as Dan, still squirrelly, turns away. Also making them suspicious is the gun he’s got tucked in his belt. When he hangs up, they keep trekking, waiting for a GPS transponder signal.
Locke leads his group east – which Sawyer questions, since the Others’ barracks are south. Locke wants to go to Jacob’s cabin because a “taller” Walt told him too. Sawyer totally scoffs and Locke says that after Ben shot him and left him for dead, Walt came to him and told him what his mission was. He shows Sawyer the bullet wound, saying he’d probably be dead if he still had a kidney there. So it was actually a GOOD thing in the long run that his father scammed him out of a kidney then. Hmm – that’s very convenient, writers. Actually, Sawyer doesn’t quite know what to say to all this so they keep walking.
On the beach, Juliet and Sayid are slightly concerned that Jack has not returned. Juliet, having lived with Ben so long, is paranoid and suggests that she and Sayid rustle up the remaining guns and go find Jack. Dan, Jack and Kate find another GPS signal: it’s Miles, crashed on the rocks on the shore. When Jack goes to see if he’s still alive, Miles has been playing possum and pulls his gun, telling them all to back off. Miles wants to see Naomi’s body. But how does he know she’s dead? wonders a baffled Kate.
Please: Sean “Puffy” Combs as the lead in A Raisin In the Sun? Give me a friggin’ break. Lost’s Vincent has more range than Puff-Daddy.
Flashback: Inglewood, California. Miles drives up, listening to a news report that all 344 passengers on Oceanic 815 are confirmed dead. He knocks on the door of a small house and an older woman lets him in. He requests $200 as his fee and goes upstairs to divest her home of the ghost of her murdered grandson, bringing a jury-rigged dust buster with him. In the dead boy’s bedroom, Miles turns on his dust buster, twitches a little, speaks to the empty room and goes straight to a hidden wad of money and drugs. He leaves the drugs, takes the large wad of cash and leaves, refunding the grandmother $100. That’s big of you, asshole. I already dislike this guy.
Flash to the Island: Miles says that “tell my sister I love her” is code for being captured and in mortal danger. He wants to be taken to Naomi’s body: he’ll know what happened, he insists. In Locke’s group, at a water break Ben tries to talk to his daughter but Sawyer intercedes. So Ben taunts him a bit instead, telling Sawyer that if they get off-Island, he doesn’t stand a chance competing against a “first-class surgeon” for Kate’s affections. This earns him a beating and almost a bullet in the brainpan. Locke steps in, saying that Ben has been on the Island longer than anyone else and has information they can use. Sawyer snarls that he bets Ben has already figured out how to get all of them … Locke has to hold Ben’s leash from now on.
While Miles communes with Naomi’s body, Kate tries to get Dan to tell them what is going on. Jack tells her to back off, giving her a little wink. The sat-phone picks up the signal of the third member of their party, Charlotte, but Jack insists that Miles and Jack put their guns down before they go any further. Feeling cocky, Miles protests until shots ring out: it’s Sayid and Juliet. Sneaky Jack – he knew they were there!
Flashback: Tunisia. A redheaded British woman, Charlotte, seemingly an archeologist or paleontologist, whatever, busts into a dig. There’s an animal skeleton there: not a dinosaur but a bear, a polar bear. And when she digs conveniently into the dirt next to its neck, Charlotte pulls out a collar with a Dharma Initiative logo on it – looks like a hydra. Flash to the Island: Charlotte is stuck in her parachute lines, suspended above a pool of water. She cuts herself free (to very dramatic and annoying music) and drops into the pool. When she comes up, she finds Locke et al waiting for her.
Charlotte and Locke’s group take turns asking each other questions. Everyone is very suspicious of everyone else. Charlotte is quite surprised when Locke tells her that they don’t want to be found by her team. Jack, Kate, Juliet, Sayid, Dan and Miles tromp through the jungle. Sayid tries some non-invasive interrogation and Miles gives him a bunch of lip. They get another reading from Charlotte’s GPS, this time moving really fast as though she’s running. They all start running too; the music gets excitable; and the signal gets closer and closer … and it’s Vincent, with the GSP transponder tied to his collar. He sits down and gives himself a little scratch. “Locke’s got her,” mutters Jack.
Flashback: the Bahamas. Some beach-bummy looking guy drops a toy airplane into an aquarium. The plane flips as it falls through the water and lands on its back on the bottom, looking not at all like the supposedly found Oceanic 815, which was filmed lying on its belly at the bottom of the ocean. Another news report about the found 815 is also on the television and Beach Bum watches it closely. He then calls the Oceanic hotline. He says that he knows the man who was piloting Flight 815, that he always wore his wedding ring (and all the obsessed Lost fans immediately go back to Season 1 and pause their DVDs whenever Greg Grunberg’s left hand comes into view) - the pilot’s body shown on the television footage did not have a wedding ring. The hotline operator wants to know how he knows anything about anything; Beach Bum says that he was supposed to be the one flying 815 that day.
Flash to the Island: Beach Bum is the helicopter pilot. He drags himself up an embankment and finds a steer which moos at him before moving off, neck-bell clanging. That was random. Beach Bum tries his sat-phone but it’s busted so he sends up a flare instead. Locke’s group sees the flare. Charlotte wants to go after it, saying she came here to rescue the Losties. Locke says no way, they’re sticking with his agenda (and Sawyer snarks that who are they to argue with “taller ghost Walt.” Ha.) Charlotte and Locke argue until BANG! someone shoots her in the chest. It was Ben, having snagged a pistol from oblivious Carl. Sawyer tackles Ben and pounds on his face some more. Locke checks Charlotte: she’s alive, wearing a bulletproof vest. Lucky. And paranoid. Meanwhile, Jack’s group has found Beach Bum. His name is Frank. He actually managed to land the helicopter on the Island without crashing it. Jack, Kate and Sayid think this is most excellent.
Flashback: Naomi is getting her mission parameters from the purported Oceanic lawyer who visited Hurley in the nuthouse in last week’s flash forward. Naomi seems to be military or at least ex-military, and she scornfully describes the team on her “high risk undercover op in unstable territory” as “… a head-case, a ghost-buster, an anthropologist and a drunk.” The lawyer tells her to suck it up: everything relies on her to get them in, get them out, and keep them from getting killed. Oops.
Flash to the Island: Sayid has checked out the chopper and says it can fly. Miles calls the ship on his sat-phone and the woman who answers the phone is distinctly uninterested in talking to him right at this moment. Nonplussed, he hangs up. Juliet cleans up a wound on Frank the pilot’s head. When he asks her name, she tells him and he shouts to Miles that Juliet was not on the plane: “She’s a native!” Miles gets VERY excited by this. He waves a photograph around and shouts, “Where is he? You want to know why we’re here? I’ll tell you: we’re here for Benjamin Linus. Now where is he?”
Well, Miles, currently Mr. Linus is getting his ass kicked by Sawyer somewhere in the jungle. Sawyer is itching to shoot Ben but Locke says it’s his mess, he’ll clean it up. He tells everyone who doesn’t want to see this to clear out. When Claire protests, Locke asks her to think if one of the bullets Ben shot at Charlotte had hit her or the baby. Claire stops protesting. Ben opens his beady eyes wide and says he can give them information. So Locke immediately asks him what the black smoke monster is. HAHAHA! Ben looks at Locke like he’s lost his mind and sighs that he doesn’t know. What he does know is ALL about Charlotte and her team members and that they are a big threat. The ship is not here to rescue the Losties – it is here to find him. A quick look at Charlotte confirms that Ben is correct. How does Ben know all this? Well, he’s got a man working for him out there on that ship, of course.
Next time on Lost. Previously on Lost.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Deadwood recap - “Amateur Night” (S3E9)
The dropping: With way more fanfare than probably necessary, the camp kids get to move into their new Joanie-sponsored schoolhouse. Hearst's small army of hired Pinkertons begin their campaign to beat down the camp, including a completely outrageous (but fairly minor, all things considered) beating of poor Merrick. Mr. Wu, however, is holding Hearst's new Chinese labor force outside camp until he learns what Al wishes him to do. The Earp brothers clear out of camp after Morgan shoots a Pinkerton that had been harassing him; Bullock gives them a free pass in no small part because they've inadvertantly helped him chip away at Hearst's armed forces. The biggest news of the day is Jack Langrishe's wildly successful Amateur Night which draws practically the entire camp as an audience, and many more participants than I would have expected.
It’s morning and the Bella Union whores kick the Earp boys out of bed. In a more lawful union, Bullock makes Martha memorize the combination to the hardware store’s safe where all their money and assets are kept, just in case something happens to him in the days ahead. She’s taking the children to the new schoolhouse later today and he promises to walk with her. At the new schoolhouse, Joanie is fretting. Also, whoever built the schoolhouse built it around a live tree and put a treehouse in to boot. I never in my life had a classroom that cool – lucky little Deadwood kids. In a less wholesome setting, Hearst is instructing the head of his newly arrived hooligans on what he expects out of them. (The DVD says this guy’s name is “Barrett” so I’ll go with that rather than calling him “that guy” for the rest of the recap.) For now, Hearst wants general intimidation of the campfolk and serious intimidation of Merrick for embarrassing him in the paper.
At the Gem, Al and his crew are grousing and trying to come up with options. For some reason unbeknownst to me, since Hearst’s hooligans appear to be of the Pinkerton variety, hiring guns out of Cheyenne is now off the table. Dan wishes he’d gone when he had the chance. Al wonders if, “Question extant: ‘til reinforced, can we learn the ways of church mice?” Out in the thoroughfare, while some of the Pinkertooligans harass Mr. Wu, Al sends Adams to see if he can suss out if Cy Tolliver knows anything about the new arrivals. As it turns out, if Cy knows anything – and Adams thinks he doesn’t – he ain’t talking.
Jack Langrishe breakfasts with Hearst at the hotel; they observe Barrett crushing a poor fellow’s foot as part of his general intimidation of the camp scheme. Langrishe also presents himself as neutral with regard to Al when he’s with Hearst, and vice versa. Hearst isn’t thrilled about it – he wants inside information on his nemesis - but his back, thrilled with the wonders Langrishe has worked thus far, begs him to patience. The N.G. brings Steve the Vegetable to Tom Nuttal’s bar and, over Harry’s protests, dumps him there, leaving money for drink and clean-up. He’s had enough of playing nursemaid to this horrible white man. Trixie drops by the bank to deposit twelve dollars into her account; she and Alma seem to have made peace with each other. Langrishe makes the bank his next stop after breakfast: to deposit $4,000; and to borrow $4,000. When Alma questions him on his tactics, he says that since theater people are seen as transient, this will give him some roots here in camp. On his way out, he mentions that tonight his theater troupe is sponsoring an Amateur Night.
More Pinkertons ride into town as the Earp boys load up their wagon with their newly-purchased logging equipment. One of the Pinkertons taunts Morgan Earp, calling him “Hiram” (what?) and being generally nasty. Morgan trades some disgusting taunts with him until Wyatt manages to get them out of camp without incident. At the Gem, Mr. Wu is drawing his pictures in anticipation of his meeting with Al. His artistic skill seems to have gotten better over the last two seasons. Johnny is very interested in the drawings and thinks he can figure out what Wu wants to say. Dan scoffs – everyone knows Johnny’s too dumb for that. Adams returns to report his conversation with Cy to Al and, in the midst of it, they notice Commissioner Jarry riding back into camp. Great – that’s all Deadwood needs is Yankton stirring up more hornets’ nests. Joanie loiters and flutters in front of the Chez Amie until Martha notices her. Martha also notices how nervous the former madam is and invites her to walk with her and the children to the new schoolhouse. Joanie is taken aback at first but acquiesces gratefully.
Uh-oh. Barrett comes into Merrick’s newspaper office and, pretending to be drunk, immediately starts insulting and then beating Merrick bloody. He leaves and Blazenoff rushes to his friend, apologizing for his uselessness. That Barrett is a bad man. Back at the Gem, Al does not have much patience for Wu just now. Wu wants clarification as to if Al and Hearst are united or at odds, and then starts babbling about Custer and 150 men. “[Custer’s] dead, Wu!” shouts Al, super-testily. But – glory of glories – Johnny figures it out. “Custer City?” he asks Wu, who excitedly motions in the affirmative. Johnny spells it out for Al for the first time in his life: “Wu is holding his 150 men outside of Custer City because you and Hearst are on the outs.” Annoyed that he didn’t figure it out himself, Al decks poor Johnny, knocking all his working brain cells out to the floor, and then congratulates Wu on his clever, cautionary thinking.
Commissioner Jarry and Adams share a bottle at the Gem. There’s a lot of talk but it boils down to Jarry wanting the skinny on the camp’s situation. Adams extorts him for $500, which Jarry hands over after getting distracted by a Gem whore’s naked boob. I’m not sure what the commissioner gleaned from this exchange, but he seems to be satisfied. Upstairs in Al’s office/room, Doc tends to Merrick (broken ribs, contusions on belly and face) and Al decides that this Barrett was mostly likely acting on orders from Hearst. The next scene confirms Al’s theory as Barrett reports back to his boss on his beating of Merrick. Gratified, Hearst chuckles evilly.
It’s now afternoon as the Earp boys are unloading some pathetic-looking timber from their wagon. “Our timber lease ain’t nothin’ but pecker-poles,” gripes Morgan as Wyatt stacks some wood for kindling behind the hardware store. (Um, it’s all pine there, fellas. Softwood’s not much good for kindling. I guess the Deadwood props department was staffed with cityfolk that didn’t know any better.) When the Pinkerton heckler from earlier shows up to give Morgan more grief, the younger Earp shoots him in the upper thigh. Wyatt dashes over and pulls the wounded man’s gun from its holster, setting it on the ground next to the man. The other Pinkertons run up, led by Barrett; Bullock, with a growled “stay inside” to Sol, runs out of the hardware store with his own gun drawn. He encourages Barrett et al to hold their fire until he figures out what went down. Wyatt states that it was a fair fight, whereupon Barrett cries bullshit, saying the wounded man was under orders not to draw. Barrett gets in Bullock’s face a bit until the sheriff uses his patented ear twist and drags him off to the jail, telling the Earp boys to follow him so he can hear their story.
Blazenoff delivers another telegram to Hearst (it’s been pre-screened by Al): Odell has been found dead on the road to Rapid City. Aunt Lou runs shrieking away from her employer after he gives her the news. Hearst has the decency to look slightly discomfited at least. Mose Manuel finds Calamity Jane drunk on a pile of empty bottles (not all hers, I hope). He’s been sent to drag her back to Joanie her to walk with the schoolchildren.
Bullock writes out the official statement – “we drew at the same time,” per Morgan and has the Earp boys sign it. When Barrett, in the cell, starts bitching, Charlie says, “Come here a second,” and sucker punches the prisoner right on the chin when he steps to the grate. Hee! Bullock asks if the Earps’ timber lease is truly “worth fuck-all.” The boys confirm the assessment and the sheriff goes on to suggest that since nothing truly holds them here in camp, they might want to ease on down the road. Wyatt gives him a many-layered look that seems to include gratitude, understanding, concern and possibly a willingness to stand with Bullock in the rough times ahead. Or maybe I’m reading too much into it.
Oh for crying out loud: it’s a frickin’ parade of Jane, Joanie, Martha Bullock, Mose Manuel and all the schoolchildren walking down the middle of the thoroughfare. People actually stop to watch, including Al, Cy and Hearst. (Mr. Mouse and I are truly confused as to WHY this school transition is taking up too many valuable scenes when there are only a handful of episodes left in this entire series.)
And now, it’s the Amateur Night performance. Pretty much everyone in camp is there, either watching or performing. There’s a lot of balancing of pickaxes, some nice singing, some crying on command, some gypsy-ish dancing. Both the Bella Union and the Gem saloons are empty, causing their owners to imbibe too much of their own product in boredom.
At the hotel, Hearst tells Aunt Lou she’s not to serve dinner to strangers when she’s grieving: kitchen’s closed. Commissioner Jarry accosts him in the hotel lobby …with this extremely odd baby-bird imitation – the hell was that? The two men go up to Hearst’s porch roof to talk, leaving Aunt Lou to slice yams and mutter, “Kill you if I could, George Hearst.” She obviously thinks that Hearst had her son killed. So do I, but I just don’t understand why. You introduce Odell for two episodes, then you kill him off-camera – why even bother? Aunt Lou won’t kill Hearst – he’s historical. Was this storyline part of a longer arc that got chopped when they knew the show was getting cancelled?
Bullock sends Charlie off to see the show after they release Barrett from his cell. Now the only ones seemingly not at the performance are Bullock (doing paperwork), Alma and Sophia (the former cutely pulling coins out of the latter’s ear), Al (scrubbing down the empty bar and drinking way too much), the Earp brothers (leaving camp – again, if that’s it for them, why even bother? although Wyatt is definitely cute, so there’s that). Oh, and Cy. He decides to pay a visit to Joanie who is sweeping up at the new schoolhouse with Jane. Tolliver is exuding his old menace, evil and threatening and looming, until Jane fetches Mose. Faced with the three of them, Cy decides it’d be too much work to gut them all and finally goes back to his saloon, bitching that he’s really tired of everyone telling him what to do all the time.
Up on the hotel’s porch roof, Jarry tells Hearst that Yankton has over 200 soldiers poised to descend upon the camp, ready to vote for whatever candidates Hearst wants them too. I’m guessing that wouldn’t be Bullock for Sheriff. We close with Al, not with a blowjob monologue, or even a soliloquy aimed at a rotting head in a box; this time, we get a drunk and maudlin Al singing to the stuffed stag’s head over the bar. He’s got a good voice – an amateur he is not.
Next episode/previous episode
It’s morning and the Bella Union whores kick the Earp boys out of bed. In a more lawful union, Bullock makes Martha memorize the combination to the hardware store’s safe where all their money and assets are kept, just in case something happens to him in the days ahead. She’s taking the children to the new schoolhouse later today and he promises to walk with her. At the new schoolhouse, Joanie is fretting. Also, whoever built the schoolhouse built it around a live tree and put a treehouse in to boot. I never in my life had a classroom that cool – lucky little Deadwood kids. In a less wholesome setting, Hearst is instructing the head of his newly arrived hooligans on what he expects out of them. (The DVD says this guy’s name is “Barrett” so I’ll go with that rather than calling him “that guy” for the rest of the recap.) For now, Hearst wants general intimidation of the campfolk and serious intimidation of Merrick for embarrassing him in the paper.
At the Gem, Al and his crew are grousing and trying to come up with options. For some reason unbeknownst to me, since Hearst’s hooligans appear to be of the Pinkerton variety, hiring guns out of Cheyenne is now off the table. Dan wishes he’d gone when he had the chance. Al wonders if, “Question extant: ‘til reinforced, can we learn the ways of church mice?” Out in the thoroughfare, while some of the Pinkertooligans harass Mr. Wu, Al sends Adams to see if he can suss out if Cy Tolliver knows anything about the new arrivals. As it turns out, if Cy knows anything – and Adams thinks he doesn’t – he ain’t talking.
Jack Langrishe breakfasts with Hearst at the hotel; they observe Barrett crushing a poor fellow’s foot as part of his general intimidation of the camp scheme. Langrishe also presents himself as neutral with regard to Al when he’s with Hearst, and vice versa. Hearst isn’t thrilled about it – he wants inside information on his nemesis - but his back, thrilled with the wonders Langrishe has worked thus far, begs him to patience. The N.G. brings Steve the Vegetable to Tom Nuttal’s bar and, over Harry’s protests, dumps him there, leaving money for drink and clean-up. He’s had enough of playing nursemaid to this horrible white man. Trixie drops by the bank to deposit twelve dollars into her account; she and Alma seem to have made peace with each other. Langrishe makes the bank his next stop after breakfast: to deposit $4,000; and to borrow $4,000. When Alma questions him on his tactics, he says that since theater people are seen as transient, this will give him some roots here in camp. On his way out, he mentions that tonight his theater troupe is sponsoring an Amateur Night.
More Pinkertons ride into town as the Earp boys load up their wagon with their newly-purchased logging equipment. One of the Pinkertons taunts Morgan Earp, calling him “Hiram” (what?) and being generally nasty. Morgan trades some disgusting taunts with him until Wyatt manages to get them out of camp without incident. At the Gem, Mr. Wu is drawing his pictures in anticipation of his meeting with Al. His artistic skill seems to have gotten better over the last two seasons. Johnny is very interested in the drawings and thinks he can figure out what Wu wants to say. Dan scoffs – everyone knows Johnny’s too dumb for that. Adams returns to report his conversation with Cy to Al and, in the midst of it, they notice Commissioner Jarry riding back into camp. Great – that’s all Deadwood needs is Yankton stirring up more hornets’ nests. Joanie loiters and flutters in front of the Chez Amie until Martha notices her. Martha also notices how nervous the former madam is and invites her to walk with her and the children to the new schoolhouse. Joanie is taken aback at first but acquiesces gratefully.
Uh-oh. Barrett comes into Merrick’s newspaper office and, pretending to be drunk, immediately starts insulting and then beating Merrick bloody. He leaves and Blazenoff rushes to his friend, apologizing for his uselessness. That Barrett is a bad man. Back at the Gem, Al does not have much patience for Wu just now. Wu wants clarification as to if Al and Hearst are united or at odds, and then starts babbling about Custer and 150 men. “[Custer’s] dead, Wu!” shouts Al, super-testily. But – glory of glories – Johnny figures it out. “Custer City?” he asks Wu, who excitedly motions in the affirmative. Johnny spells it out for Al for the first time in his life: “Wu is holding his 150 men outside of Custer City because you and Hearst are on the outs.” Annoyed that he didn’t figure it out himself, Al decks poor Johnny, knocking all his working brain cells out to the floor, and then congratulates Wu on his clever, cautionary thinking.
Commissioner Jarry and Adams share a bottle at the Gem. There’s a lot of talk but it boils down to Jarry wanting the skinny on the camp’s situation. Adams extorts him for $500, which Jarry hands over after getting distracted by a Gem whore’s naked boob. I’m not sure what the commissioner gleaned from this exchange, but he seems to be satisfied. Upstairs in Al’s office/room, Doc tends to Merrick (broken ribs, contusions on belly and face) and Al decides that this Barrett was mostly likely acting on orders from Hearst. The next scene confirms Al’s theory as Barrett reports back to his boss on his beating of Merrick. Gratified, Hearst chuckles evilly.
It’s now afternoon as the Earp boys are unloading some pathetic-looking timber from their wagon. “Our timber lease ain’t nothin’ but pecker-poles,” gripes Morgan as Wyatt stacks some wood for kindling behind the hardware store. (Um, it’s all pine there, fellas. Softwood’s not much good for kindling. I guess the Deadwood props department was staffed with cityfolk that didn’t know any better.) When the Pinkerton heckler from earlier shows up to give Morgan more grief, the younger Earp shoots him in the upper thigh. Wyatt dashes over and pulls the wounded man’s gun from its holster, setting it on the ground next to the man. The other Pinkertons run up, led by Barrett; Bullock, with a growled “stay inside” to Sol, runs out of the hardware store with his own gun drawn. He encourages Barrett et al to hold their fire until he figures out what went down. Wyatt states that it was a fair fight, whereupon Barrett cries bullshit, saying the wounded man was under orders not to draw. Barrett gets in Bullock’s face a bit until the sheriff uses his patented ear twist and drags him off to the jail, telling the Earp boys to follow him so he can hear their story.
Blazenoff delivers another telegram to Hearst (it’s been pre-screened by Al): Odell has been found dead on the road to Rapid City. Aunt Lou runs shrieking away from her employer after he gives her the news. Hearst has the decency to look slightly discomfited at least. Mose Manuel finds Calamity Jane drunk on a pile of empty bottles (not all hers, I hope). He’s been sent to drag her back to Joanie her to walk with the schoolchildren.
Bullock writes out the official statement – “we drew at the same time,” per Morgan and has the Earp boys sign it. When Barrett, in the cell, starts bitching, Charlie says, “Come here a second,” and sucker punches the prisoner right on the chin when he steps to the grate. Hee! Bullock asks if the Earps’ timber lease is truly “worth fuck-all.” The boys confirm the assessment and the sheriff goes on to suggest that since nothing truly holds them here in camp, they might want to ease on down the road. Wyatt gives him a many-layered look that seems to include gratitude, understanding, concern and possibly a willingness to stand with Bullock in the rough times ahead. Or maybe I’m reading too much into it.
Oh for crying out loud: it’s a frickin’ parade of Jane, Joanie, Martha Bullock, Mose Manuel and all the schoolchildren walking down the middle of the thoroughfare. People actually stop to watch, including Al, Cy and Hearst. (Mr. Mouse and I are truly confused as to WHY this school transition is taking up too many valuable scenes when there are only a handful of episodes left in this entire series.)
And now, it’s the Amateur Night performance. Pretty much everyone in camp is there, either watching or performing. There’s a lot of balancing of pickaxes, some nice singing, some crying on command, some gypsy-ish dancing. Both the Bella Union and the Gem saloons are empty, causing their owners to imbibe too much of their own product in boredom.
At the hotel, Hearst tells Aunt Lou she’s not to serve dinner to strangers when she’s grieving: kitchen’s closed. Commissioner Jarry accosts him in the hotel lobby …with this extremely odd baby-bird imitation – the hell was that? The two men go up to Hearst’s porch roof to talk, leaving Aunt Lou to slice yams and mutter, “Kill you if I could, George Hearst.” She obviously thinks that Hearst had her son killed. So do I, but I just don’t understand why. You introduce Odell for two episodes, then you kill him off-camera – why even bother? Aunt Lou won’t kill Hearst – he’s historical. Was this storyline part of a longer arc that got chopped when they knew the show was getting cancelled?
Bullock sends Charlie off to see the show after they release Barrett from his cell. Now the only ones seemingly not at the performance are Bullock (doing paperwork), Alma and Sophia (the former cutely pulling coins out of the latter’s ear), Al (scrubbing down the empty bar and drinking way too much), the Earp brothers (leaving camp – again, if that’s it for them, why even bother? although Wyatt is definitely cute, so there’s that). Oh, and Cy. He decides to pay a visit to Joanie who is sweeping up at the new schoolhouse with Jane. Tolliver is exuding his old menace, evil and threatening and looming, until Jane fetches Mose. Faced with the three of them, Cy decides it’d be too much work to gut them all and finally goes back to his saloon, bitching that he’s really tired of everyone telling him what to do all the time.
Up on the hotel’s porch roof, Jarry tells Hearst that Yankton has over 200 soldiers poised to descend upon the camp, ready to vote for whatever candidates Hearst wants them too. I’m guessing that wouldn’t be Bullock for Sheriff. We close with Al, not with a blowjob monologue, or even a soliloquy aimed at a rotting head in a box; this time, we get a drunk and maudlin Al singing to the stuffed stag’s head over the bar. He’s got a good voice – an amateur he is not.
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Monday, February 4, 2008
Deadwood recap - “Leviathan Smiles” (S3E8)
The dropping: Because there just aren't enough characters to keep track of already, Wyatt and Morgan Earp drop by Deadwood to cut timber and stir up trouble; the camp's power players tussle as to who will hire their guns first. Jack Langrishe seeks to smooth Hearst's ruffled feathers by bonding over their shared chronic back pain - I wish there were more seasons of this show because there is more to this theater fellow than meets the eye. Steve the Drunk finally shuts up, due to a swift kick in the head compliments of the N.G.'s cranky horse. Hearst tries to intimidate Merrick in retaliation for having printed Bullock's letter; he is frustrated when Merrick doesn't quail and quake before him. However, Hearst is somewhat appeased when at least twenty-five of his hooligan "bricks" come galloping into camp, torches a-blazing.
Merrick and Blazenoff deliver the latest edition of the Deadwood Pioneer – the issue containing Bullock’s letter the dead Cornish miner’s family. Richardson picks up a copy at the hotel – Richardson can read?! My world has been shaken on its foundations.
The Bullocks are arguing over the stupidest thing ever: since the theater people keep pushing back their move into the former Chez Amie, Martha keeps teaching the school there instead of moving to the new schoolhouse because she doesn’t want the children to feel their original place of education has been abandoned and left empty. Bullock, like me, thinks this is foolish and she should just move into the new school already. Is this scene just to give Martha a couple of lines? What a dumb issue. Oho – now we get to the root of it, however: she complains that he “did not retire with his usual sweetness” after the meeting last night. Lady didn’t get any and is cranky about it. Nice!
Bullock grouches off to work, meeting up with Sol and asking his bidness partner what the reaction has been to his published letter. When Sol says he doesn’t know, Bullock grumps that he doesn’t know fuckin’ much. Sol takes this in stride, saying dryly, “Guess not. Wanna fight?” This diffuses the sheriff’s tension (for now). Just then, the stage rolls in, accompanied by two young fellows, shooting off their guns. The story is that the heroic young guys, Wyatt and Morgan Earp, rescued the stage from an ambush. The sheriff is skeptical of their story – so are some other folks in camp, like Al.
Calamity Jane is a little nervous in the presumably post-coital morning with Joanie, getting dressed and bolting out of the room. Joanie looks fabulous, sporting some amazing cleavage. As they leave their room, the owner of the boarding house, Shaunnessy, starts haranguing them, saying he’ll not have “vile affections or uncleanness on these premises.” He even starts quoting the Bible until Jane hollers at him and pokes him hard in the stomach. The N.G. is saddling his horse at the livery, getting ready to go and ignoring Steve the Drunk’s morning bluster. After N.G. leaves, Steve turns the crazy on even more (prompting Mr. Mouse to wonder if he’s got syphilis and really is insane), talking to N.G.’s horse. The horse has no more patience with Steve than I do and gives him a warning kick when Steve tries to remove one of its shoes. Steve will not be dissuaded and tries again.
Al, while offering Wyatt Earp a drink, questions his story pretty closely, seeing how Al runs most of the existing road agents and hadn’t scheduled a stage-robbery for this morning. Wyatt is defensive and doesn’t take kindly to Al’s accusations that the Earp boys faked the rescue to make them look better. Al then offers to double whatever other offers the Earp boys get for hiring their guns. Wyatt takes this all under advisement. He collects Morgan from the bar and sends him off to buy tools for their timber lease. Wyatt, however, is moving on to the next step of his “plan.” Boy, I know you’re all historical and whatnot, but do not try to out-scheme Al Swearengen.
After giving Aunt Lou’s money back to her and picking up some food for the road (and musing that normally a “good-cookin’ big-hearted fat lady” would be enough to keep him in camp), N.G. returns to the livery to find Steve, bloody and stunned, having been kicked in the head by the offended horse. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. Speaking of nice guys, Hearst pops into the newspaper office to intimidate Merrick. Merrick stands up under the pressure better than I would have expected.
Wyatt Earp stops by the Bella Union. Cy introduces himself and smarmily inquires as to his gun’s availability. Wyatt gambles for a while, and once he starts to lose, Leon suggests that he leave before he loses it all. An odd tactic for a gambling hall but Leon has obviously been instructed by Cy to have Wyatt quit while he’s ahead. Wyatt notices the favor.
The actors make excruciating preparations to get that dying, fat, old actor (name = Chesteron, apparently) to see their new theater space. In the middle of it, Jack Langrishe comes across Hearst and notices the latter has back trouble. Langrishe claims to have the same sort of ailment and to be aware of a “certain [Turkish] technique” that has put his own back pain into remission for over fifteen years. Hearst, clearly in pain, grasps onto this small hope and asks Langrishe to help him; they make arrangements for later that afternoon. Now, what is Langrishe up to here?
Is Morgan Earp the same guy who was John in John from Cincinnati? (IMDB confirms that my guess is correct!)
Bullock accosts the Earp boys and grouches about their having piled all their goods in the center of the hardware store and then leaving them there without buying them. Testosterone flares a bit but no blood is shed. Meanwhile, Cy has gone to check in with Hearst: he thinks that they should maneuver a Bullock vs. Wyatt Earp showdown and thus rid themselves of their pesky sheriff problem.
At the livery, Doc examines Steve the Vegetable and proclaims he’s not long for this world. N.G. is pissed – at Steve for getting kicked, at Hostetler for getting him into this at all, and at the horse for kicking Steve. Doc says he’ll send Calamity Jane over to help see to Steve; N.G. tells him to have her bring a bottle too.
Bullock goes to see Al: “Those assholes workin’ for you?” Al raises an eyebrow: “You mean the heroes?” Al says that he’s got Wyatt on a string, not to worry. Bullock then thinks printing the letter was a mistake and he does not intend to wait to act on Hearst’s timetable. When Merrick and Blazenoff knock at Al’s office door, asking if the sheriff is in there with Al, Swearengen smirks, “Just briefly – he’s out of sorts and going downstairs for a blowjob.” Bullock rolls his eyes. Merrick and Blazenoff come in: Merrick reports that Hearst didn’t like the letter (to which Al says the letter was not a mistake and they will, in fact, be waiting to see what Hearst does); and Blazenoff has a telegram for the sheriff which indicates that the Earp boys are, in fact, on the up and up and not called here by Hearst. Bullock goes back to the hardware store and asks the boys to consider working on the side of the law while they’re in town. Wyatt seems to get it.
The Earp boys go back to the Bella Union to consider the many opportunities they’ve been offered thus far. Wyatt seems inclined to just go out to their timber lease and work on that. When Morgan asks if Wyatt’s path is less clear now than he had planned, his brother replies that no, he doesn’t know what to do. Morgan says that the sheriff doesn’t seem so bad and maybe they should be deputies and just work the timber on the side. Wyatt says, “Did you hear him offer us work?” Morgan chuckles, “Well, let’s just kill him and take his fuckin’ job!” and they both grin. Cy approaches and Wyatt whispers that the plan Tolliver has for them might vector in more closely with the original idea Wyatt had, so Morgan is not to screw things up for them. Seriously, what’s his original plan? We’re running out of episodes here.
Back at the livery, Jane is trying to feed Steve the Vegetable while N.G. gets drunk. After a while, she gives up and leaves; a frustrated N.G. starts pelting Steve in the face with the porridge. A little while later, he feels badly about it and cleans his old enemy up. Back at the hotel, Langrishe performs the camp’s first chiropractic adjustment on Hearst. Whatever he’s doing works and Hearst almost immediately gets some relief. It’s kind of weird and funny and I’m assuming Langrishe will explain to Al later on what he’s doing.
The actors are at the Chez Amie. Langrishe and Chesterton sit together, reminiscing or imagining old times. They begin to quote lines from some play (and, before we figure this out, Mr. Mouse and I give each other WTF looks) until Chesterton finally dies. WHAT WAS THE POINT OF THAT GUY? What a waste of screen time. Ugh.
Afterwards, Langrishe and Al drink together. Jack suggests that perhaps instead of fighting against Hearst, they should try to play nice. Al gives him a WTF look. Jack explains his chiropractic session and says that Hearst now thinks kindly towards Langrishe and perchance they can use that slight goodwill to their advantage. They go outside onto the balcony. Noticing Hearst on his own overlook, watching the road into camp, Jack calls out and asks after his back. Hearst says it feels pretty good and Jack gives him a big huzzah.
At the Bullocks’, Martha explains that the actors’ delay was due to Chesteron’s illness and now that he’s died, they’ll move into the Chez Amie and she’ll move into the new schoolhouse. She then asks if Bullock acknowledges his “lack of sweetness” towards her the night before. He does, claiming worry over Hearst’s reaction to his letter. Martha asks about Hearst’s response and Bullock, smiling, says that perhaps tonight “will be twice as sweet.” Woo-hoo!
Their cute flirtation is interrupted, however, as Hearst’s twenty-five bricks arrive at camp, galloping with torches held high. Hearst smiles grimly and Cy tells his lackeys to cut the amateurs (the Earp boys) off of the house’s good graces – Mr. Hearst’s brought the pros to town.
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JUST A LITTLE BAD LANGUAGE TODAY, MY DEARS
Merrick and Blazenoff deliver the latest edition of the Deadwood Pioneer – the issue containing Bullock’s letter the dead Cornish miner’s family. Richardson picks up a copy at the hotel – Richardson can read?! My world has been shaken on its foundations.
The Bullocks are arguing over the stupidest thing ever: since the theater people keep pushing back their move into the former Chez Amie, Martha keeps teaching the school there instead of moving to the new schoolhouse because she doesn’t want the children to feel their original place of education has been abandoned and left empty. Bullock, like me, thinks this is foolish and she should just move into the new school already. Is this scene just to give Martha a couple of lines? What a dumb issue. Oho – now we get to the root of it, however: she complains that he “did not retire with his usual sweetness” after the meeting last night. Lady didn’t get any and is cranky about it. Nice!
Bullock grouches off to work, meeting up with Sol and asking his bidness partner what the reaction has been to his published letter. When Sol says he doesn’t know, Bullock grumps that he doesn’t know fuckin’ much. Sol takes this in stride, saying dryly, “Guess not. Wanna fight?” This diffuses the sheriff’s tension (for now). Just then, the stage rolls in, accompanied by two young fellows, shooting off their guns. The story is that the heroic young guys, Wyatt and Morgan Earp, rescued the stage from an ambush. The sheriff is skeptical of their story – so are some other folks in camp, like Al.
Calamity Jane is a little nervous in the presumably post-coital morning with Joanie, getting dressed and bolting out of the room. Joanie looks fabulous, sporting some amazing cleavage. As they leave their room, the owner of the boarding house, Shaunnessy, starts haranguing them, saying he’ll not have “vile affections or uncleanness on these premises.” He even starts quoting the Bible until Jane hollers at him and pokes him hard in the stomach. The N.G. is saddling his horse at the livery, getting ready to go and ignoring Steve the Drunk’s morning bluster. After N.G. leaves, Steve turns the crazy on even more (prompting Mr. Mouse to wonder if he’s got syphilis and really is insane), talking to N.G.’s horse. The horse has no more patience with Steve than I do and gives him a warning kick when Steve tries to remove one of its shoes. Steve will not be dissuaded and tries again.
Al, while offering Wyatt Earp a drink, questions his story pretty closely, seeing how Al runs most of the existing road agents and hadn’t scheduled a stage-robbery for this morning. Wyatt is defensive and doesn’t take kindly to Al’s accusations that the Earp boys faked the rescue to make them look better. Al then offers to double whatever other offers the Earp boys get for hiring their guns. Wyatt takes this all under advisement. He collects Morgan from the bar and sends him off to buy tools for their timber lease. Wyatt, however, is moving on to the next step of his “plan.” Boy, I know you’re all historical and whatnot, but do not try to out-scheme Al Swearengen.
After giving Aunt Lou’s money back to her and picking up some food for the road (and musing that normally a “good-cookin’ big-hearted fat lady” would be enough to keep him in camp), N.G. returns to the livery to find Steve, bloody and stunned, having been kicked in the head by the offended horse. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. Speaking of nice guys, Hearst pops into the newspaper office to intimidate Merrick. Merrick stands up under the pressure better than I would have expected.
Wyatt Earp stops by the Bella Union. Cy introduces himself and smarmily inquires as to his gun’s availability. Wyatt gambles for a while, and once he starts to lose, Leon suggests that he leave before he loses it all. An odd tactic for a gambling hall but Leon has obviously been instructed by Cy to have Wyatt quit while he’s ahead. Wyatt notices the favor.
The actors make excruciating preparations to get that dying, fat, old actor (name = Chesteron, apparently) to see their new theater space. In the middle of it, Jack Langrishe comes across Hearst and notices the latter has back trouble. Langrishe claims to have the same sort of ailment and to be aware of a “certain [Turkish] technique” that has put his own back pain into remission for over fifteen years. Hearst, clearly in pain, grasps onto this small hope and asks Langrishe to help him; they make arrangements for later that afternoon. Now, what is Langrishe up to here?
Is Morgan Earp the same guy who was John in John from Cincinnati? (IMDB confirms that my guess is correct!)
Bullock accosts the Earp boys and grouches about their having piled all their goods in the center of the hardware store and then leaving them there without buying them. Testosterone flares a bit but no blood is shed. Meanwhile, Cy has gone to check in with Hearst: he thinks that they should maneuver a Bullock vs. Wyatt Earp showdown and thus rid themselves of their pesky sheriff problem.
At the livery, Doc examines Steve the Vegetable and proclaims he’s not long for this world. N.G. is pissed – at Steve for getting kicked, at Hostetler for getting him into this at all, and at the horse for kicking Steve. Doc says he’ll send Calamity Jane over to help see to Steve; N.G. tells him to have her bring a bottle too.
Bullock goes to see Al: “Those assholes workin’ for you?” Al raises an eyebrow: “You mean the heroes?” Al says that he’s got Wyatt on a string, not to worry. Bullock then thinks printing the letter was a mistake and he does not intend to wait to act on Hearst’s timetable. When Merrick and Blazenoff knock at Al’s office door, asking if the sheriff is in there with Al, Swearengen smirks, “Just briefly – he’s out of sorts and going downstairs for a blowjob.” Bullock rolls his eyes. Merrick and Blazenoff come in: Merrick reports that Hearst didn’t like the letter (to which Al says the letter was not a mistake and they will, in fact, be waiting to see what Hearst does); and Blazenoff has a telegram for the sheriff which indicates that the Earp boys are, in fact, on the up and up and not called here by Hearst. Bullock goes back to the hardware store and asks the boys to consider working on the side of the law while they’re in town. Wyatt seems to get it.
The Earp boys go back to the Bella Union to consider the many opportunities they’ve been offered thus far. Wyatt seems inclined to just go out to their timber lease and work on that. When Morgan asks if Wyatt’s path is less clear now than he had planned, his brother replies that no, he doesn’t know what to do. Morgan says that the sheriff doesn’t seem so bad and maybe they should be deputies and just work the timber on the side. Wyatt says, “Did you hear him offer us work?” Morgan chuckles, “Well, let’s just kill him and take his fuckin’ job!” and they both grin. Cy approaches and Wyatt whispers that the plan Tolliver has for them might vector in more closely with the original idea Wyatt had, so Morgan is not to screw things up for them. Seriously, what’s his original plan? We’re running out of episodes here.
Back at the livery, Jane is trying to feed Steve the Vegetable while N.G. gets drunk. After a while, she gives up and leaves; a frustrated N.G. starts pelting Steve in the face with the porridge. A little while later, he feels badly about it and cleans his old enemy up. Back at the hotel, Langrishe performs the camp’s first chiropractic adjustment on Hearst. Whatever he’s doing works and Hearst almost immediately gets some relief. It’s kind of weird and funny and I’m assuming Langrishe will explain to Al later on what he’s doing.
The actors are at the Chez Amie. Langrishe and Chesterton sit together, reminiscing or imagining old times. They begin to quote lines from some play (and, before we figure this out, Mr. Mouse and I give each other WTF looks) until Chesterton finally dies. WHAT WAS THE POINT OF THAT GUY? What a waste of screen time. Ugh.
Afterwards, Langrishe and Al drink together. Jack suggests that perhaps instead of fighting against Hearst, they should try to play nice. Al gives him a WTF look. Jack explains his chiropractic session and says that Hearst now thinks kindly towards Langrishe and perchance they can use that slight goodwill to their advantage. They go outside onto the balcony. Noticing Hearst on his own overlook, watching the road into camp, Jack calls out and asks after his back. Hearst says it feels pretty good and Jack gives him a big huzzah.
At the Bullocks’, Martha explains that the actors’ delay was due to Chesteron’s illness and now that he’s died, they’ll move into the Chez Amie and she’ll move into the new schoolhouse. She then asks if Bullock acknowledges his “lack of sweetness” towards her the night before. He does, claiming worry over Hearst’s reaction to his letter. Martha asks about Hearst’s response and Bullock, smiling, says that perhaps tonight “will be twice as sweet.” Woo-hoo!
Their cute flirtation is interrupted, however, as Hearst’s twenty-five bricks arrive at camp, galloping with torches held high. Hearst smiles grimly and Cy tells his lackeys to cut the amateurs (the Earp boys) off of the house’s good graces – Mr. Hearst’s brought the pros to town.
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Sunday, February 3, 2008
Deadwood recap - “Unauthorized Cinnamon” (S3E7)
The dropping: There's something (probably not all that important to the plot at large) between Aunt Lou's son Odell and Hearst regarding purported gold in Africa, but I wasn't really paying attention. The camp elders decide that publishing Bullock's tasteful letter to a dead Cornish miner's family in the camp newspaper is an alternative to fight-or-flight as regards dealing with Hearst, at least for the present. However, Hearst has ordered guns and they're on their way. Harry the Bartender is apparently allergic to alcohol as well as cinnamon (good thing he's not a baker too). Alma and Ellsworth seem to come to terms with their separate arrangements. Joanie puts the moves on Jane (after Jane has bathed, obviously).
We pick up right where we left off. Hearst meets with Odell to talk about the potential for the African gold; since Hearst is gold-mad, he is intrigued. Bullock comes home and asks for dinner quickly, seeing how he has a town elders meeting to get to and soon. Martha is a little snippy with him because she’s been slaving all day and now he wants to eat quickly and get on to the menfolk bidness. You know, I think Bullock checks out her ass when she bends over to get the roast out of the oven. Either that or he was ogling the roast.
While Johnny circulates throughout camp notifying the elders about the called meeting, Dan struggles to open the cans of peaches for the meeting. I find these recurring peaches hilarious. Jewel takes some initiative and sets the eponymous unauthorized cinnamon out on the table in case folks want some. When Dan rebukes her, saying that’s not her province, she retorts, “Well, if food ain’t my province, then you can make your own fuckin’ breakfast!” You tell him, Jewel. Dan is cranky about lingering in camp and not being on the road to Cheyenne. When Johnny makes it to Doc’s cabin to summon him for the meeting, Doc is unable to talk for all the hacking and wheezing and thus will not be attending. After Johnny leaves, Doc sinks down onto the floor, gasping and sighing. Poor Doc. How I’ve missed him of late.
Hearst and Odell are now eating dinner together in the hotel dining room. Hearst grills Odell about the purposed Liberian gold while Aunt Lou watches nervously from the kitchen. Seems like Odell is trying to draw Hearst away to Africa (for whatever purpose) but I can’t see Hearst going purely on spec – he’d send a lackey first. Things get tense for a bit between Hearst and Odell but when Aunt Lou asks Richardson how her boy is doing out there, Richardson replies, with energy, “Holdin’ his fuckin’ own!” I’m starting to come around on Richardson – he’s gross and squirrelly but has hidden depths.
Sol is trying to soothe Trixie who is beside herself with worry about what will happen to Sophia now that Alma is back on the dope. He suggests that perhaps the Bullocks could take Sophia … or maybe they could. Trixie holds her breath a moment, then asks, trying to keep the hope out of her voice, “You’d have us care for a child?” Sol nods solemnly and she reaches out and holds his hand. It’s just lovely, the HOPE in both of them.
Cy and Al convene in Al’s office just before the meeting starts, Cy telling Al that he pretty much handed the Garrett-Ellsworth claim to Hearst on a silver plate but that Hearst is so furious with Bullock that he can think of nothing else. Cy says “giving Hearst Bullock is the only move that don’t end with the camp in flames … and that one only gets us up to 50/50.” Al is noncommittal. They go down to the meeting, allied in their worry about Doc’s illness.
Oh lordy – it’s Detective Metavoy from NYPD Blue. He’s a strange flamboyant tailor who has brought silk swatches for Al wrap his mutilated finger with. Al humors him for some reason that is beyond my fathoming. Moving on, the Gem whores are enjoying the respite the meeting gives them, sagely noting that even if you own a bank, being a woman won’t get you a seat at the meeting. They use more colloquial terms, mind.
At Shaunessey’s, Joanie is helping Jane bathe. Jane is either drunk or sobering up and a little nervous to be disrobing with pretty Joanie, telling her she’s not used to this, never having had a sister. Joanie breaks my heart when she says, “I had two. And I slept with both of ‘em. I don’t know why God let me, or if he forgives me when I pray. But I’d never hurt you, Jane, or touch you if you didn’t want.” Jane stares at her, saying “I believe that […] but you can go ahead and kiss me if that’s what you fuckin’ do.” And sad, lonely Joanie leans in, and gives sad, lonely Jane a gentle kiss on the mouth.
Hearst and Odell stroll in the thoroughfare. Hearst is being a complete nut job, ranting and raving about “the color,” but then actually tears up a little (!!) at the memory of Bullock stuffing him in that cell. He tells Odell he wants to send one of his men back to Liberia with Odell (which appears to have been Odell’s thought all along, so I guess I was wrong about the revenge scenario). Then Hearst looks around at the camp and growls that he’ll “bring this place down like Gomorrah.”
Meetin’-time. Since he’s running for sheriff, poor pathetic Harry has come with Tom Nuttal – he’s in way over his head as far as the concepts and schemes flying around the table and sticks to eating the peaches. Al asks the assembled group for their suggestions against his instinct to send for more guns; he says he fears for the innocents in camp if it comes to all-out warfare with Hearst. Charlie thinks they should send the innocent folk out of camp and then attack Hearst. This is not all that well-received. Then Bullock hands Merrick a letter that he has written: It’s to the stabbed Cornish miner’s family, informing them of his death. Merrick reads it aloud. “That’s a very nice fuckin’ letter,” according to Al, and it makes no explicit mention of Hearst at all. The group decides to publish the letter in Merrick’s newspaper. Behind the scenes, Jewel informs Dan that Harry seemed to enjoy the cinnamon she put out. Dan doesn’t want to hear about it.
When Merrick goes back to the newspaper office, Blazenoff tells him that Hearst has received a telegram that makes him uncomfortable; normally he wouldn’t impinge on the telegram recipient’s confidentiality but he feels that Al needs to know what is in the message. Merrick takes Blazenoff to Al and we learn that the message is that Hearst’s order for “25 bricks” will be arriving soon. Al agrees with Blazenoff’s interpretation that this means Hearst has 25 hired guns on their way. That’s not so good. Out on the boardwalk as he and Tom are walking back to Tom’s saloon, Harry collapses, unable to breathe. I guess that Harry is allergic to alcohol because Tom cries “Where did you lay your hands on liquor?” as he calls out for help. That’s hilarious because HARRY IS A BARTENDER.
Ugh. The dying fat actor and Jack Langrishe. Then Langrishe goes to the former Chez Amie to tell his company that tomorrow they’ll bring the fat actor over to see the new space they’ve been cleaning, readying for just that event. Whatever. Downstairs at the hotel, Aunt Lou says she thinks Hearst will kill Odell rather than send someone back with him to Liberia. Odell says he isn’t trying to put one over on her boss – he’s just trying to make something of himself. She tells him that she gave the N.G. $742 to give to Odell to get him out of camp safely but Odell will not be swayed from his course.
Back at the Gem, Dan, Adams and Johnny try amongst themselves to figure out what exactly got decided at the meeting. Johnny’s having a tough time with it. As Jewel walks by, Dan toasts her with his fork, saying “Aaaay! Little Miss Fuckin’ Cinnamon!” and she flips him the bird. Hee hee. Blazenoff delivers Hearst’s telegram and the big man is very well pleased, tipping Blazenoff an unprecedented $20.
At the Garrett-Ellsworth mansion, Alma is crying and being a general drama queen as she checks on a sleeping Sophia. “I want to be good, I want to be good,” she murmurs as she goes downstairs to answer a knock at the door. It’s her husband: “For being gone, I seem to be frequently back.” I love Ellsworth and he doesn’t deserve stupid Alma. She apologizes for going back on the dope; he says his moving out should help her odds at kicking the habit; she actually makes me smile when she says, “I started using spirits at seventeen, Ellsworth, with no premonition we’d marry.” He stands by his position, however, saying that she obviously is stronger alone and doesn’t need him to take care of her, but that he’ll always be there to support her if she needs a friend. I guess he’s probably right about that.
Jack Langrishe drops by Al’s office. Al apologizes for not having invited him to the meeting and Jack wonders what topics he might have helped with: “Reprobates? The elderly?” “Fuckin’ Hearst!” gripes Al. He relates the situation and Bullock’s nice letter. “Strategy some may call ingenuous, others … off the point,” observes Jack, before expanding to say that publishing the letter is cunning and genius, invoking a decency that Hearst cannot display. This cheers Al quite a lot and he shouts over the inside balcony to open the Gem back up and get those whores’ legs in the air! He returns to his office to ask Jack how he’s doing himself. Jack is sad because his friend is dying; Al pulls out the good whiskey. “Oh, perhaps just the one,” says Jack gratefully. Brian Cox is great – I just wish he wasn’t surrounded by those annoying actors.
The drunk Steve finds the N.G. asleep in the loft of the livery and blusters around for a while before actually offering the N.G. a job. The N.G. turns him down, saying he’s heading west, hopefully with Odell. I guess the writers are trying to garner some sympathy for Steve but it’s too little too late.
Back at Tom’s saloon, Harry has come around under the ministrations of a coughing, haggard Doc Cochran. “Don’t eat cinnamon!” are his instructions. Al sees Doc hobbling along on his way back to his cabin and calls him into the Gem, then calls Doc out for being a lunger. Doc says that the disease he has is airborne and he doesn’t want to make anyone else sick. “No one gets out alive, Doc,” philosophizes Al. Doc tries to leave and Al screams a whole lot of things at him – basically, suck it up, we all struggle – before throwing the cloth samples at the poor doctor. “Pick a swatch for a spitrag, use others for masks and go about your fuckin’ business. I ain’t learning a new doc’s quirks!” Doc is amazed and slightly appalled, but he picks up the swatches and goes about his fuckin’ business.
Next episode/previous episode
We pick up right where we left off. Hearst meets with Odell to talk about the potential for the African gold; since Hearst is gold-mad, he is intrigued. Bullock comes home and asks for dinner quickly, seeing how he has a town elders meeting to get to and soon. Martha is a little snippy with him because she’s been slaving all day and now he wants to eat quickly and get on to the menfolk bidness. You know, I think Bullock checks out her ass when she bends over to get the roast out of the oven. Either that or he was ogling the roast.
While Johnny circulates throughout camp notifying the elders about the called meeting, Dan struggles to open the cans of peaches for the meeting. I find these recurring peaches hilarious. Jewel takes some initiative and sets the eponymous unauthorized cinnamon out on the table in case folks want some. When Dan rebukes her, saying that’s not her province, she retorts, “Well, if food ain’t my province, then you can make your own fuckin’ breakfast!” You tell him, Jewel. Dan is cranky about lingering in camp and not being on the road to Cheyenne. When Johnny makes it to Doc’s cabin to summon him for the meeting, Doc is unable to talk for all the hacking and wheezing and thus will not be attending. After Johnny leaves, Doc sinks down onto the floor, gasping and sighing. Poor Doc. How I’ve missed him of late.
Hearst and Odell are now eating dinner together in the hotel dining room. Hearst grills Odell about the purposed Liberian gold while Aunt Lou watches nervously from the kitchen. Seems like Odell is trying to draw Hearst away to Africa (for whatever purpose) but I can’t see Hearst going purely on spec – he’d send a lackey first. Things get tense for a bit between Hearst and Odell but when Aunt Lou asks Richardson how her boy is doing out there, Richardson replies, with energy, “Holdin’ his fuckin’ own!” I’m starting to come around on Richardson – he’s gross and squirrelly but has hidden depths.
Sol is trying to soothe Trixie who is beside herself with worry about what will happen to Sophia now that Alma is back on the dope. He suggests that perhaps the Bullocks could take Sophia … or maybe they could. Trixie holds her breath a moment, then asks, trying to keep the hope out of her voice, “You’d have us care for a child?” Sol nods solemnly and she reaches out and holds his hand. It’s just lovely, the HOPE in both of them.
Cy and Al convene in Al’s office just before the meeting starts, Cy telling Al that he pretty much handed the Garrett-Ellsworth claim to Hearst on a silver plate but that Hearst is so furious with Bullock that he can think of nothing else. Cy says “giving Hearst Bullock is the only move that don’t end with the camp in flames … and that one only gets us up to 50/50.” Al is noncommittal. They go down to the meeting, allied in their worry about Doc’s illness.
Oh lordy – it’s Detective Metavoy from NYPD Blue. He’s a strange flamboyant tailor who has brought silk swatches for Al wrap his mutilated finger with. Al humors him for some reason that is beyond my fathoming. Moving on, the Gem whores are enjoying the respite the meeting gives them, sagely noting that even if you own a bank, being a woman won’t get you a seat at the meeting. They use more colloquial terms, mind.
At Shaunessey’s, Joanie is helping Jane bathe. Jane is either drunk or sobering up and a little nervous to be disrobing with pretty Joanie, telling her she’s not used to this, never having had a sister. Joanie breaks my heart when she says, “I had two. And I slept with both of ‘em. I don’t know why God let me, or if he forgives me when I pray. But I’d never hurt you, Jane, or touch you if you didn’t want.” Jane stares at her, saying “I believe that […] but you can go ahead and kiss me if that’s what you fuckin’ do.” And sad, lonely Joanie leans in, and gives sad, lonely Jane a gentle kiss on the mouth.
Hearst and Odell stroll in the thoroughfare. Hearst is being a complete nut job, ranting and raving about “the color,” but then actually tears up a little (!!) at the memory of Bullock stuffing him in that cell. He tells Odell he wants to send one of his men back to Liberia with Odell (which appears to have been Odell’s thought all along, so I guess I was wrong about the revenge scenario). Then Hearst looks around at the camp and growls that he’ll “bring this place down like Gomorrah.”
Meetin’-time. Since he’s running for sheriff, poor pathetic Harry has come with Tom Nuttal – he’s in way over his head as far as the concepts and schemes flying around the table and sticks to eating the peaches. Al asks the assembled group for their suggestions against his instinct to send for more guns; he says he fears for the innocents in camp if it comes to all-out warfare with Hearst. Charlie thinks they should send the innocent folk out of camp and then attack Hearst. This is not all that well-received. Then Bullock hands Merrick a letter that he has written: It’s to the stabbed Cornish miner’s family, informing them of his death. Merrick reads it aloud. “That’s a very nice fuckin’ letter,” according to Al, and it makes no explicit mention of Hearst at all. The group decides to publish the letter in Merrick’s newspaper. Behind the scenes, Jewel informs Dan that Harry seemed to enjoy the cinnamon she put out. Dan doesn’t want to hear about it.
When Merrick goes back to the newspaper office, Blazenoff tells him that Hearst has received a telegram that makes him uncomfortable; normally he wouldn’t impinge on the telegram recipient’s confidentiality but he feels that Al needs to know what is in the message. Merrick takes Blazenoff to Al and we learn that the message is that Hearst’s order for “25 bricks” will be arriving soon. Al agrees with Blazenoff’s interpretation that this means Hearst has 25 hired guns on their way. That’s not so good. Out on the boardwalk as he and Tom are walking back to Tom’s saloon, Harry collapses, unable to breathe. I guess that Harry is allergic to alcohol because Tom cries “Where did you lay your hands on liquor?” as he calls out for help. That’s hilarious because HARRY IS A BARTENDER.
Ugh. The dying fat actor and Jack Langrishe. Then Langrishe goes to the former Chez Amie to tell his company that tomorrow they’ll bring the fat actor over to see the new space they’ve been cleaning, readying for just that event. Whatever. Downstairs at the hotel, Aunt Lou says she thinks Hearst will kill Odell rather than send someone back with him to Liberia. Odell says he isn’t trying to put one over on her boss – he’s just trying to make something of himself. She tells him that she gave the N.G. $742 to give to Odell to get him out of camp safely but Odell will not be swayed from his course.
Back at the Gem, Dan, Adams and Johnny try amongst themselves to figure out what exactly got decided at the meeting. Johnny’s having a tough time with it. As Jewel walks by, Dan toasts her with his fork, saying “Aaaay! Little Miss Fuckin’ Cinnamon!” and she flips him the bird. Hee hee. Blazenoff delivers Hearst’s telegram and the big man is very well pleased, tipping Blazenoff an unprecedented $20.
At the Garrett-Ellsworth mansion, Alma is crying and being a general drama queen as she checks on a sleeping Sophia. “I want to be good, I want to be good,” she murmurs as she goes downstairs to answer a knock at the door. It’s her husband: “For being gone, I seem to be frequently back.” I love Ellsworth and he doesn’t deserve stupid Alma. She apologizes for going back on the dope; he says his moving out should help her odds at kicking the habit; she actually makes me smile when she says, “I started using spirits at seventeen, Ellsworth, with no premonition we’d marry.” He stands by his position, however, saying that she obviously is stronger alone and doesn’t need him to take care of her, but that he’ll always be there to support her if she needs a friend. I guess he’s probably right about that.
Jack Langrishe drops by Al’s office. Al apologizes for not having invited him to the meeting and Jack wonders what topics he might have helped with: “Reprobates? The elderly?” “Fuckin’ Hearst!” gripes Al. He relates the situation and Bullock’s nice letter. “Strategy some may call ingenuous, others … off the point,” observes Jack, before expanding to say that publishing the letter is cunning and genius, invoking a decency that Hearst cannot display. This cheers Al quite a lot and he shouts over the inside balcony to open the Gem back up and get those whores’ legs in the air! He returns to his office to ask Jack how he’s doing himself. Jack is sad because his friend is dying; Al pulls out the good whiskey. “Oh, perhaps just the one,” says Jack gratefully. Brian Cox is great – I just wish he wasn’t surrounded by those annoying actors.
The drunk Steve finds the N.G. asleep in the loft of the livery and blusters around for a while before actually offering the N.G. a job. The N.G. turns him down, saying he’s heading west, hopefully with Odell. I guess the writers are trying to garner some sympathy for Steve but it’s too little too late.
Back at Tom’s saloon, Harry has come around under the ministrations of a coughing, haggard Doc Cochran. “Don’t eat cinnamon!” are his instructions. Al sees Doc hobbling along on his way back to his cabin and calls him into the Gem, then calls Doc out for being a lunger. Doc says that the disease he has is airborne and he doesn’t want to make anyone else sick. “No one gets out alive, Doc,” philosophizes Al. Doc tries to leave and Al screams a whole lot of things at him – basically, suck it up, we all struggle – before throwing the cloth samples at the poor doctor. “Pick a swatch for a spitrag, use others for masks and go about your fuckin’ business. I ain’t learning a new doc’s quirks!” Doc is amazed and slightly appalled, but he picks up the swatches and goes about his fuckin’ business.
Next episode/previous episode
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Juno - mini-review
I finally got to see the multiple Oscar-nominated (Best Film, Best Actress, Best Screenplay, Best Director) indie film, Juno. Most of you will already know what it's about: a high school girl gets pregnant after having sex for the first time and decides to give the baby up for adoption. It's so much more than you would ever expect from that terse synopsis.
Juno, played by Ellen Page, is smart, loyal, very funny, edgy in an inoffensive way and while she's amazingly self-possessed for a sixteen year old, she is still a young girl who needs her parents when she gets in over her head. Page is, simply put, wonderful. She never plays it too broadly even when she's funny; she moves easily through the rollercoaster of emotions her character must feel. I haven't seen any of the other films that the Best Actress nominees are in - it looks like terribly tough competition and I can't imagine Page will win - but she's just great here. You like Juno from the start and never waiver from it.
Michael Cera plays her best friend (and baby-daddy) Paulie: Cera is doing the same schtick he did in Superbad and Arrested Development, but it's nice to see someone underplaying rather than munching on the scenery. Another AD alum, Jason Bateman, plays the forced-to-grow-up-before-he-wants-to prospective father. Bateman is not given too much to do but Jennifer Garner, his wife and adoptive mother-to-be, does a very nice job. She's anxious, terrified, on-edge, hopeful, and gains empathy from the audience, and from Juno, as the movie goes on. Juno's parents, played by J.K. Simmons and Allison Janney, are the only piece that doesn't quite ring right: I find it hard to imagine parents of a pregnant teenager being that cool and understanding about their daughter's predicament. But invoke a little willing suspension of disbelief and enjoy the ride.
Much has been made of - and blogged about elsewhere - the terminally hip script, saying that it verges on too much, too glib, too many pop culture references. The complaint is that no one would talk like that. Well, in Buffy the Vampire Slayer they talked like that, so it's not new. And if you're looking for real life comparisons, I'm pretty certain that a fifteen minute conversation with my smart, funny, amazingly self-possessed teenage cousin Emily could be lifted right out of the Juno script - minus the reverence for late 70s punk music.
Verdict: Go see it if it's still in theaters near you and if it's already gone, move it to the top of your movie queue.
Juno, played by Ellen Page, is smart, loyal, very funny, edgy in an inoffensive way and while she's amazingly self-possessed for a sixteen year old, she is still a young girl who needs her parents when she gets in over her head. Page is, simply put, wonderful. She never plays it too broadly even when she's funny; she moves easily through the rollercoaster of emotions her character must feel. I haven't seen any of the other films that the Best Actress nominees are in - it looks like terribly tough competition and I can't imagine Page will win - but she's just great here. You like Juno from the start and never waiver from it.
Michael Cera plays her best friend (and baby-daddy) Paulie: Cera is doing the same schtick he did in Superbad and Arrested Development, but it's nice to see someone underplaying rather than munching on the scenery. Another AD alum, Jason Bateman, plays the forced-to-grow-up-before-he-wants-to prospective father. Bateman is not given too much to do but Jennifer Garner, his wife and adoptive mother-to-be, does a very nice job. She's anxious, terrified, on-edge, hopeful, and gains empathy from the audience, and from Juno, as the movie goes on. Juno's parents, played by J.K. Simmons and Allison Janney, are the only piece that doesn't quite ring right: I find it hard to imagine parents of a pregnant teenager being that cool and understanding about their daughter's predicament. But invoke a little willing suspension of disbelief and enjoy the ride.
Much has been made of - and blogged about elsewhere - the terminally hip script, saying that it verges on too much, too glib, too many pop culture references. The complaint is that no one would talk like that. Well, in Buffy the Vampire Slayer they talked like that, so it's not new. And if you're looking for real life comparisons, I'm pretty certain that a fifteen minute conversation with my smart, funny, amazingly self-possessed teenage cousin Emily could be lifted right out of the Juno script - minus the reverence for late 70s punk music.
Verdict: Go see it if it's still in theaters near you and if it's already gone, move it to the top of your movie queue.
Puppies, the return of Spike and oh, a book
If you're not that interested in either the Giants or the Patriots (or the ads in between the football), Animal Planet offers an excellent alternative to the Superbowl: Puppy Bowl IV. Mr. Mouse and I have watched this for the last couple of years and it is hilarious, heart-warming and oh-so fuzzy. There's a kitten half-time show but my favorite part is the Bowl-Cam. Be sure to check it out.
The season premiere of Torchwood's Season 2 was last Saturday night and it was fantastic to see James Marsters guest-starring as a blast from Captain Jack Harkness's past. Marsters was channeling early Spike for sure, full of swagger, sex appeal, British accentyness and unrepentant evil. And that much ballyhooed kiss between him and John Barrowman? DAMN sexy. Marsters is said to be returning for several more episodes as the season goes on to which I say bravo.
Finally, I guess I should mention the last book I read: Amy and Isabelle by Elizabeth Strout. I'm not giving this one a full review because I didn't really like it. Set in a mill town, the story is about a single mother struggling to raise her 16-year old daughter. The writing was fine if unremarkable; I didn't like any of the characters; and the reveal of the mother's big harrowing secret turned out to be an inconsequential let-down. Anyway, I'm putting it in the "already read" stack and moving onto something else.
The season premiere of Torchwood's Season 2 was last Saturday night and it was fantastic to see James Marsters guest-starring as a blast from Captain Jack Harkness's past. Marsters was channeling early Spike for sure, full of swagger, sex appeal, British accentyness and unrepentant evil. And that much ballyhooed kiss between him and John Barrowman? DAMN sexy. Marsters is said to be returning for several more episodes as the season goes on to which I say bravo.
Finally, I guess I should mention the last book I read: Amy and Isabelle by Elizabeth Strout. I'm not giving this one a full review because I didn't really like it. Set in a mill town, the story is about a single mother struggling to raise her 16-year old daughter. The writing was fine if unremarkable; I didn't like any of the characters; and the reveal of the mother's big harrowing secret turned out to be an inconsequential let-down. Anyway, I'm putting it in the "already read" stack and moving onto something else.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Lost recap – “The Beginning of the End” airdate 01/31/08 (S4E1)
At long last, what we’ve all been waiting for … a car chase in Los Angeles, being watched on television by a neat and tidy Jack while he drinks a screwdriver for breakfast. This is not yet the heavily bearded, drunken, druggie Jack of last episode’s flash-forwards, so this “present” is located on the Lost timeline after they got off the Island but before Jack seriously downward-spirals. The car finally crashes and the cops surround it, guns drawn. Slowly, Hurley gets out (having lost no weight whatsoever in the interim). He tries to make a break for it but the cops get him. As they cuff him, he pleads, “Don’t you know who I am? I’m one of the Oceanic Six!” Who?
A cop who, as it turns out in the coincidences that this show loves so much, used to be Ana Lucia’s partner, is interrogating Hurley after his arrest. The cop is not impressed by Hurley’s Oceanic Six celebrity and asks why he ran; apparently Hurley was in a quickie-mart, saw something that was not captured by the CCTV, and took off after knocking over a rack of snack foods. That was enough to make the cops chase him? The cop steps out and suddenly Hurley has a vision of glass breaking and water flooding the interrogation room. He starts screaming for help and the cop bursts back in, threatening to toss Hurley in the nut house. “Thank you! Oh, thank you!” cries a relieved Hurley.
Flash-back to the Island: On the beach with the Lostie commando unit that killed Tom and all the bad Others during the last episode (i.e. Sayid, Jin, Sawyer, Juliet and Bernard) Hurley gets the heads-up from Jack (still up in the mountains by the radio antenna) via walkie-talkie that contact has been made with the ship and rescue is coming. There is much rejoicing on the beach until Desmond shows up and tells them that Charlie has died, and that the ship is not in fact here to rescue them. Now everyone’s pretty upset about both things. They grab their guns and head into the jungle to warn off Jack’s Mountain Losties.
Meanwhile, after he hangs up with Hurley, Jack tells Kate to get everyone moving back to the beach. Ben, bloody and tied to a tree, begs Rousseau to take Alex and get far away from Jack’s group, saying that everyone is going to die unless they hide from the ship’s party. The Mountain Losties get another call from the purported rescuers on the sat-phone asking to speak with Naomi. Not wanting to tell the rescuers that their girl got killed by Locke, Jack stalls until he realizes that Naomi has disappeared. She’s not quite dead yet.
Rousseau finds a blood trail and Jack decides he, Rousseau and the captive Ben will follow the trail and collect Naomi. Kate runs up, saying she too found a trail and she thinks they should follow both since Naomi seems to have created a false one, not wanting to be found. Jack pshaws her so Kate hugs him and agrees to take the Mountain Losties back to the beach. Ben is watching this exchange very closely. Me, I’m too quickly remembering how much Jack annoyed me with his self-righteous priggishness.
Flash-forward to the mainland: Hurley is back in the mental hospital he was in before he crashed on the Island. He gets a visit from an Oceanic Airlines attorney who offers to have him transferred to a much nicer facility, at the airline’s expense, “with a view of the ocean.” Hurley does NOT want to see the ocean and, suspicious, asks to see the guy’s business card. When the guy forgot them at home, Hurley gets up from the table. The guy asks, sinisterly, “Are they still alive?” Hurley freaks and the guy slips out the door and disappears.
Flash-back to the Island: It’s now nighttime and the Beach Commando group is trekking through the jungle. Sawyer reaches out to see if Hurley wants to talk about losing Charlie but Hurley isn’t ready for that yet. Sawyer is being awfully nice for Sawyer! Hurley stops to catch his breath for a moment, and then strangely loses sight of the other Beach Commandos. Frightened, he starts running through the jungle, getting more and more lost, until he comes into a clearing and finds himself in front of Jacob’s cabin! Yikes! And there’s a light on and all that freaky whispering. That can’t be good.
The blood trail that Rousseau, Jack and Ben were following ends: Kate was right and Naomi fooled them. Ben smugly points out that Kate took the sat-phone from Jack when she hugged him and has taken matters into her own hands to find Naomi. As usual, Jack looks constipated when he’s wrong. Meanwhile, Kate has found Naomi who drops out of a tree on top of her; Naomi ends up holding Locke’s knife against Kate’s throat. When the sat-phone rings again, Naomi resets the coordinates so her people can lock in to their position. Grunting to tell her sister that she loves her, Naomi dies while Kate looks on, helpless.
Hurley peeks in the window of Jacob’s cabin and sees someone rocking in the rocking chair. When someone (else?) then looks at him back through the window, Hurley runs away, screaming. There’s some spatial strangeness for a bit whereby no matter where Hurley runs, the cabin pops up in front of him. Hurley closes his eyes, willing the cabin to disappear, and then Locke pops up. He’s real, no hallucination this time. Hurley decides to join forces with Locke to convince the Mountain Losties that rescue is not actually here for them. They catch up with the Commando group at the Oceanic 815 fuselage, coming full circle, I suppose. Sayid and Sawyer are not that thrilled to see Locke (“Why’d you blow up that submarine?” Sayid wants to know) but the tension is diffused when the Mountain Losties arrive. Reunions are joyful except that Claire is worried when she can’t find Charlie. Hurley tells her what happened and everyone looks sad.
Flash-forward to the mainland: Hurley is out on the lawn at the mental hospital when another patient tells him that some guy is staring at him. Hurley looks up and it’s Charlie (at this point I’m FURIOUS because bringing Charlie back totally cheapens his death last season). Hurley freaks out, insisting “I may be in a mental institution but I know you’re dead and I’m not having an imaginary conversation with you!” Charlie is agreeable: he is dead, but he’s also here. And now, says Charlie (who is looking quite handsome for a dead hobbit), it’s time for Hurley to do something. Hurley starts to panic again, closing his eyes and counting to five, telling Charlie that he’ll be gone when Hurley opens his eyes again. Charlie warns him, “Don’t do this – they need you. You know they need you!” But it’s too late and Hurley wills Charlie away.
Flash-back to the Island: Finally the gang’s almost all here as Rousseau and Ben join the Losties. Jack sneaks up behind Locke and slugs him, knocking him to the ground and then taking his pistol. “You’re not going to shoot me, Jack,” Locke starts to say … then CLICK! Jack tries to shoot him in the head but nothing happens. Locke is incredulous: “It’s not loaded!” Jack looks really annoyed and a little shaken.
After the commercial, Sawyer and Sayid pull an enraged Jack off Locke. There’s lots of shouting and a big old Jack vs. Locke standoff. Locke insists that he never did anything to hurt any of the Losties. Kate arrives to report that Naomi has died and to hand the sat-phone back to Jack. Locke says that he is not sticking around for the faux-rescuers; he’s going to the Others’ abandoned barracks where there’s still a little bit of security and everyone is welcome to join him. Jack tries to shout him down but Hurley cuts the doctor off, asking “What about Charlie? [who died warning us about the boat]… I’m not listening to you [Jack], I’m listening to my friend.”
At least half the Losties end up with Locke, including Claire and Sawyer; Kate asks Sawyer what he’s doing and he answers her, using no nicknames this time, that he’s surviving, like he always does. Ben makes me giggle when he snarkily says, “With your permission, Jack, I’d like to go with John.” Alex, Karl and Rousseau also go with Locke; Rose, Bernard and Kate stay with Jack. I can’t tell where Sun and Jin are but I’m guessing they’re going with Jack to try to get off the Island so Sun can safely have her baby. It starts to rain (always a sign on this show that something is about to go down) and Locke’s party heads off.
Flash-forward to the mainland: Jack drops by the mental hospital to visit Hurley. It doesn’t take long for Hurley to realize that Jack is worried that he “went nuts and was going to tell.” Jack is uncomfortable when confronted and starts to leave. Hurley says he’s sorry he went with Locke and he should have stayed with Jack. Jack waves it off, saying “Water under the bridge,” but Hurley’s not done. “I don’t think we did the right thing, Jack. I think it wants us to come back. It’s doing everything it can …” Jack shouts, “We’re never going back!” “Never say never, dude,” says Hurley.
Flash back to the Island: Jack and Kate reminisce at the fuselage until a helicopter’s rotors are heard. They run into the jungle to find the parachutist. It’s a guy. “Are you Jack?” he asks. Kate and Jack just stare at him like they’ve been pole axed.
Questions: Who are the Oceanic Six? What did they do that wasn’t the right thing that the Island wants them back? Why does Hurley think he’s safe in the mental institution? Who was that fake Oceanic Airlines attorney and what does the airline have to do with all this? What changes Jack’s mind about needing to go back? When will we get to see Sawyer with his shirt off again?
Next time on Lost.
A cop who, as it turns out in the coincidences that this show loves so much, used to be Ana Lucia’s partner, is interrogating Hurley after his arrest. The cop is not impressed by Hurley’s Oceanic Six celebrity and asks why he ran; apparently Hurley was in a quickie-mart, saw something that was not captured by the CCTV, and took off after knocking over a rack of snack foods. That was enough to make the cops chase him? The cop steps out and suddenly Hurley has a vision of glass breaking and water flooding the interrogation room. He starts screaming for help and the cop bursts back in, threatening to toss Hurley in the nut house. “Thank you! Oh, thank you!” cries a relieved Hurley.
Flash-back to the Island: On the beach with the Lostie commando unit that killed Tom and all the bad Others during the last episode (i.e. Sayid, Jin, Sawyer, Juliet and Bernard) Hurley gets the heads-up from Jack (still up in the mountains by the radio antenna) via walkie-talkie that contact has been made with the ship and rescue is coming. There is much rejoicing on the beach until Desmond shows up and tells them that Charlie has died, and that the ship is not in fact here to rescue them. Now everyone’s pretty upset about both things. They grab their guns and head into the jungle to warn off Jack’s Mountain Losties.
Meanwhile, after he hangs up with Hurley, Jack tells Kate to get everyone moving back to the beach. Ben, bloody and tied to a tree, begs Rousseau to take Alex and get far away from Jack’s group, saying that everyone is going to die unless they hide from the ship’s party. The Mountain Losties get another call from the purported rescuers on the sat-phone asking to speak with Naomi. Not wanting to tell the rescuers that their girl got killed by Locke, Jack stalls until he realizes that Naomi has disappeared. She’s not quite dead yet.
Rousseau finds a blood trail and Jack decides he, Rousseau and the captive Ben will follow the trail and collect Naomi. Kate runs up, saying she too found a trail and she thinks they should follow both since Naomi seems to have created a false one, not wanting to be found. Jack pshaws her so Kate hugs him and agrees to take the Mountain Losties back to the beach. Ben is watching this exchange very closely. Me, I’m too quickly remembering how much Jack annoyed me with his self-righteous priggishness.
Flash-forward to the mainland: Hurley is back in the mental hospital he was in before he crashed on the Island. He gets a visit from an Oceanic Airlines attorney who offers to have him transferred to a much nicer facility, at the airline’s expense, “with a view of the ocean.” Hurley does NOT want to see the ocean and, suspicious, asks to see the guy’s business card. When the guy forgot them at home, Hurley gets up from the table. The guy asks, sinisterly, “Are they still alive?” Hurley freaks and the guy slips out the door and disappears.
Flash-back to the Island: It’s now nighttime and the Beach Commando group is trekking through the jungle. Sawyer reaches out to see if Hurley wants to talk about losing Charlie but Hurley isn’t ready for that yet. Sawyer is being awfully nice for Sawyer! Hurley stops to catch his breath for a moment, and then strangely loses sight of the other Beach Commandos. Frightened, he starts running through the jungle, getting more and more lost, until he comes into a clearing and finds himself in front of Jacob’s cabin! Yikes! And there’s a light on and all that freaky whispering. That can’t be good.
The blood trail that Rousseau, Jack and Ben were following ends: Kate was right and Naomi fooled them. Ben smugly points out that Kate took the sat-phone from Jack when she hugged him and has taken matters into her own hands to find Naomi. As usual, Jack looks constipated when he’s wrong. Meanwhile, Kate has found Naomi who drops out of a tree on top of her; Naomi ends up holding Locke’s knife against Kate’s throat. When the sat-phone rings again, Naomi resets the coordinates so her people can lock in to their position. Grunting to tell her sister that she loves her, Naomi dies while Kate looks on, helpless.
Hurley peeks in the window of Jacob’s cabin and sees someone rocking in the rocking chair. When someone (else?) then looks at him back through the window, Hurley runs away, screaming. There’s some spatial strangeness for a bit whereby no matter where Hurley runs, the cabin pops up in front of him. Hurley closes his eyes, willing the cabin to disappear, and then Locke pops up. He’s real, no hallucination this time. Hurley decides to join forces with Locke to convince the Mountain Losties that rescue is not actually here for them. They catch up with the Commando group at the Oceanic 815 fuselage, coming full circle, I suppose. Sayid and Sawyer are not that thrilled to see Locke (“Why’d you blow up that submarine?” Sayid wants to know) but the tension is diffused when the Mountain Losties arrive. Reunions are joyful except that Claire is worried when she can’t find Charlie. Hurley tells her what happened and everyone looks sad.
Flash-forward to the mainland: Hurley is out on the lawn at the mental hospital when another patient tells him that some guy is staring at him. Hurley looks up and it’s Charlie (at this point I’m FURIOUS because bringing Charlie back totally cheapens his death last season). Hurley freaks out, insisting “I may be in a mental institution but I know you’re dead and I’m not having an imaginary conversation with you!” Charlie is agreeable: he is dead, but he’s also here. And now, says Charlie (who is looking quite handsome for a dead hobbit), it’s time for Hurley to do something. Hurley starts to panic again, closing his eyes and counting to five, telling Charlie that he’ll be gone when Hurley opens his eyes again. Charlie warns him, “Don’t do this – they need you. You know they need you!” But it’s too late and Hurley wills Charlie away.
Flash-back to the Island: Finally the gang’s almost all here as Rousseau and Ben join the Losties. Jack sneaks up behind Locke and slugs him, knocking him to the ground and then taking his pistol. “You’re not going to shoot me, Jack,” Locke starts to say … then CLICK! Jack tries to shoot him in the head but nothing happens. Locke is incredulous: “It’s not loaded!” Jack looks really annoyed and a little shaken.
After the commercial, Sawyer and Sayid pull an enraged Jack off Locke. There’s lots of shouting and a big old Jack vs. Locke standoff. Locke insists that he never did anything to hurt any of the Losties. Kate arrives to report that Naomi has died and to hand the sat-phone back to Jack. Locke says that he is not sticking around for the faux-rescuers; he’s going to the Others’ abandoned barracks where there’s still a little bit of security and everyone is welcome to join him. Jack tries to shout him down but Hurley cuts the doctor off, asking “What about Charlie? [who died warning us about the boat]… I’m not listening to you [Jack], I’m listening to my friend.”
At least half the Losties end up with Locke, including Claire and Sawyer; Kate asks Sawyer what he’s doing and he answers her, using no nicknames this time, that he’s surviving, like he always does. Ben makes me giggle when he snarkily says, “With your permission, Jack, I’d like to go with John.” Alex, Karl and Rousseau also go with Locke; Rose, Bernard and Kate stay with Jack. I can’t tell where Sun and Jin are but I’m guessing they’re going with Jack to try to get off the Island so Sun can safely have her baby. It starts to rain (always a sign on this show that something is about to go down) and Locke’s party heads off.
Flash-forward to the mainland: Jack drops by the mental hospital to visit Hurley. It doesn’t take long for Hurley to realize that Jack is worried that he “went nuts and was going to tell.” Jack is uncomfortable when confronted and starts to leave. Hurley says he’s sorry he went with Locke and he should have stayed with Jack. Jack waves it off, saying “Water under the bridge,” but Hurley’s not done. “I don’t think we did the right thing, Jack. I think it wants us to come back. It’s doing everything it can …” Jack shouts, “We’re never going back!” “Never say never, dude,” says Hurley.
Flash back to the Island: Jack and Kate reminisce at the fuselage until a helicopter’s rotors are heard. They run into the jungle to find the parachutist. It’s a guy. “Are you Jack?” he asks. Kate and Jack just stare at him like they’ve been pole axed.
Questions: Who are the Oceanic Six? What did they do that wasn’t the right thing that the Island wants them back? Why does Hurley think he’s safe in the mental institution? Who was that fake Oceanic Airlines attorney and what does the airline have to do with all this? What changes Jack’s mind about needing to go back? When will we get to see Sawyer with his shirt off again?
Next time on Lost.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Deadwood recap - “A Rich Find” (S3E6)
The dropping: This is another transitional episode and not much seems to happen (at least we don't get bogged down with that dying actor). Bullock and Al chase their tails trying to figure out how best to oust Hearst while Hearst, for his part, seems to be hiring reinforcements, all of which means bad things for the campfolk caught in the middle. Alma's opium supply seems to have dried up but not before she clashes with a concerned Trixie over getting back on the dope. There's some stuff going on with Steve and with Aunt Lou and her son but it doesn't seem all that important. And Joanie tries again to help an increasingly sodden Jane.
The next morning, Hearst is fuming in his cell as Charlie struggles to bring in the morning’s mail. Charlie tries to provoke Hearst a bit, first playing dumb as to who he is, then revealing the dead Cornish miner in the cell next to Hearst: “Is that your knife, George Hearst?” Calamity Jane is helping N.G. bury Hostetler, which prompts N.G. to say that such an act won’t endear her to the other whites in camp. Jane scoffs: “[That’s] a question I wake to in the mornin’ and pass out with at night: ‘what’s my popularity with my fellow white people?” Hee hee. She’d rather help a friend, no matter what color he is, plus she owes a visit up to the graveyard anyway.
Al interrupts Bullock and Mrs. Bullock at breakfast. She excuses herself so the menfolk can talk. Al’s position regarding going after Hearst: “Our hour is wrong. Having lost his man Turner, being embarrassed by you, Hearst will be on the muscle. We, his wrath’s object, ought to stay close and confide – our alternative is flight.” Bullock doesn’t want to run either and gets the message.
Dan lurches out of the back room of the Gem, looking terrible. Johnny fills him in on the evening’s events (Bullock twisting Hearst’s ear) and Dan just stares at him, incredulous. Then, blah blah blah – it’s Steve, ranting and raving, and I just don’t care. After walking Martha to school, Bullock goes the freight office and lets Hearst out of the cell. Hearst pulls his knife out of the dead miner, wipes the bloody blade on the banister and walks out, glowering at the sheriff. He then goes to send a message at the telegraph office, snarling at both Blazenoff and Merrick.
A concerned Charlie tags along as Bullock walks through the thoroughfare. Bullock bemusedly tells his self-appointed bodyguard that he’s just going to the hardware store. Good, says Charlie, “it’s a little early to start drinkin’.” (I expect an immediate cut to Jane drunk in an alley but am disappointed.) At the hardware store, Sol joins Bullock and Charlie in rehashing the Hearst issue. Charlie thinks that “Hearst is fuckin’ comin’” and that Bullock should strike first, setting up an ambush and working with Al and Cy to destroy Hearst’s men. Sol objects that there’ll be nothing left of the camp. “How much you figure’ll stand once Hearst’s had his fuckin’ say?” retorts Charlie. He’s got a point. Bullock looks thoughtful.
Cy tells Hearst that Alma Garrett-Ellsworth is back on the dope and insinuates that he could have Alma killed by tweaking the quality of the product. Hearst finds this interesting but wishes he’d heard this yesterday – might have saved him the loss of his man and a night in jail. I’m not sure where he’s going with this line of thought but okay. In any event, Hearst tells Cy not to kill Alma yet. On his way out, Cy gives E.B. $200 and tells the innkeeper to keep him posted on Hearst’s activities. If not, the consequence would be for Cy to cut E.B.’s throat. “Oh my,” says E.B. After Cy leaves, E.B. scurries off to let Al know what just transpired. “Save us,” squeaks E.B., “think of something!” Al is lost in thought but murmurs, “When have I not?”
Not knowing that Hearst doesn’t want to kill Alma quite yet, Leon gets really twitchy and goes to the bank. Trixie gets disgusted at the sight of him and goes out for a smoke. Leon tells Alma he’s shutting her off. She’s all snooty and on her high horse – I hate it when she does that, even to icky drug dealers. After Leon leaves, Trixie confronts Alma, saying she knows about her drug habit. Alma gets even snootier and fires Trixie from her bank teller job. Trixie clears off her desk (hee hee!) and leaves. She goes to report in to Al who gives her a pep talk, Swearengen-style.
Aunt Lou’s son Odell has arrived in camp. Great – more new characters. Odell has been in Liberia where his mom sent him to keep him away from Hearst. I have a thought that Hearst is perhaps Odell’s father. Anyhow, Odell has come to speak with Hearst about mining operations in Africa. Aunt Lou thinks this is a bad idea and fears for her son, who seems to possibly be trying to get some sort of revenge on his mother’s employer. It’s vague and confusing and, again, I really don’t care. I want to get back to Al and Dan and Bullock and Charlie and Jane and Sol and E.B. and Doc – where the hell has Doc been? Moving on.
Here we go: Dan comes up to see Al in his office. Dan is a little testy but Al just wants to know if Dan has gotten over killing the Captain. Dan quotes the light going out of the eyes line and Al wryly points out there was only one eye left for it to go out of. Dan looks crestfallen at this and Al leans in, kindly saying, “Better the one of his than both of yours.” Al wants Dan to go to Cheyenne to hire guns for the upcoming battle with Hearst. Dan’s down with that as he’s ready to get out of camp for a while.
More Odell. Plus Steve, drunk and raving. Spare me. Is Steve supposed to be funny? Because he just makes me scream obscenities at the t.v.
Bullock goes to the Gem to talk to Al. He says that perhaps he and Al should strike first against Hearst. Al echoes Sol as he says that if they battle Hearst, the camp will be destroyed. He calls to Dan to hold off leaving for Cheyenne tonight as he and the sheriff call a meeting of the camp elders: “Let’s be baffled among friends.” Hee.
Jane is drunk off her ass and in an alley – I knew it would happen sooner or later, usually after a visit to Bill's grave. Joanie finds her and convinces Jane to come back to Shaunessey’s with her. Jane manages to puke en route but Joanie is sweet and patient with her. Better to puke in the thoroughfare than in the boarding house, I guess.
Next episode/previous episode
ONLY TWO F-BOMBS IN THE FOLLOWING RECAP
-- DEFINITELY A SLOW DAY IN DEADWOOD
The next morning, Hearst is fuming in his cell as Charlie struggles to bring in the morning’s mail. Charlie tries to provoke Hearst a bit, first playing dumb as to who he is, then revealing the dead Cornish miner in the cell next to Hearst: “Is that your knife, George Hearst?” Calamity Jane is helping N.G. bury Hostetler, which prompts N.G. to say that such an act won’t endear her to the other whites in camp. Jane scoffs: “[That’s] a question I wake to in the mornin’ and pass out with at night: ‘what’s my popularity with my fellow white people?” Hee hee. She’d rather help a friend, no matter what color he is, plus she owes a visit up to the graveyard anyway.
Al interrupts Bullock and Mrs. Bullock at breakfast. She excuses herself so the menfolk can talk. Al’s position regarding going after Hearst: “Our hour is wrong. Having lost his man Turner, being embarrassed by you, Hearst will be on the muscle. We, his wrath’s object, ought to stay close and confide – our alternative is flight.” Bullock doesn’t want to run either and gets the message.
Dan lurches out of the back room of the Gem, looking terrible. Johnny fills him in on the evening’s events (Bullock twisting Hearst’s ear) and Dan just stares at him, incredulous. Then, blah blah blah – it’s Steve, ranting and raving, and I just don’t care. After walking Martha to school, Bullock goes the freight office and lets Hearst out of the cell. Hearst pulls his knife out of the dead miner, wipes the bloody blade on the banister and walks out, glowering at the sheriff. He then goes to send a message at the telegraph office, snarling at both Blazenoff and Merrick.
A concerned Charlie tags along as Bullock walks through the thoroughfare. Bullock bemusedly tells his self-appointed bodyguard that he’s just going to the hardware store. Good, says Charlie, “it’s a little early to start drinkin’.” (I expect an immediate cut to Jane drunk in an alley but am disappointed.) At the hardware store, Sol joins Bullock and Charlie in rehashing the Hearst issue. Charlie thinks that “Hearst is fuckin’ comin’” and that Bullock should strike first, setting up an ambush and working with Al and Cy to destroy Hearst’s men. Sol objects that there’ll be nothing left of the camp. “How much you figure’ll stand once Hearst’s had his fuckin’ say?” retorts Charlie. He’s got a point. Bullock looks thoughtful.
Cy tells Hearst that Alma Garrett-Ellsworth is back on the dope and insinuates that he could have Alma killed by tweaking the quality of the product. Hearst finds this interesting but wishes he’d heard this yesterday – might have saved him the loss of his man and a night in jail. I’m not sure where he’s going with this line of thought but okay. In any event, Hearst tells Cy not to kill Alma yet. On his way out, Cy gives E.B. $200 and tells the innkeeper to keep him posted on Hearst’s activities. If not, the consequence would be for Cy to cut E.B.’s throat. “Oh my,” says E.B. After Cy leaves, E.B. scurries off to let Al know what just transpired. “Save us,” squeaks E.B., “think of something!” Al is lost in thought but murmurs, “When have I not?”
Not knowing that Hearst doesn’t want to kill Alma quite yet, Leon gets really twitchy and goes to the bank. Trixie gets disgusted at the sight of him and goes out for a smoke. Leon tells Alma he’s shutting her off. She’s all snooty and on her high horse – I hate it when she does that, even to icky drug dealers. After Leon leaves, Trixie confronts Alma, saying she knows about her drug habit. Alma gets even snootier and fires Trixie from her bank teller job. Trixie clears off her desk (hee hee!) and leaves. She goes to report in to Al who gives her a pep talk, Swearengen-style.
Aunt Lou’s son Odell has arrived in camp. Great – more new characters. Odell has been in Liberia where his mom sent him to keep him away from Hearst. I have a thought that Hearst is perhaps Odell’s father. Anyhow, Odell has come to speak with Hearst about mining operations in Africa. Aunt Lou thinks this is a bad idea and fears for her son, who seems to possibly be trying to get some sort of revenge on his mother’s employer. It’s vague and confusing and, again, I really don’t care. I want to get back to Al and Dan and Bullock and Charlie and Jane and Sol and E.B. and Doc – where the hell has Doc been? Moving on.
Here we go: Dan comes up to see Al in his office. Dan is a little testy but Al just wants to know if Dan has gotten over killing the Captain. Dan quotes the light going out of the eyes line and Al wryly points out there was only one eye left for it to go out of. Dan looks crestfallen at this and Al leans in, kindly saying, “Better the one of his than both of yours.” Al wants Dan to go to Cheyenne to hire guns for the upcoming battle with Hearst. Dan’s down with that as he’s ready to get out of camp for a while.
More Odell. Plus Steve, drunk and raving. Spare me. Is Steve supposed to be funny? Because he just makes me scream obscenities at the t.v.
Bullock goes to the Gem to talk to Al. He says that perhaps he and Al should strike first against Hearst. Al echoes Sol as he says that if they battle Hearst, the camp will be destroyed. He calls to Dan to hold off leaving for Cheyenne tonight as he and the sheriff call a meeting of the camp elders: “Let’s be baffled among friends.” Hee.
Jane is drunk off her ass and in an alley – I knew it would happen sooner or later, usually after a visit to Bill's grave. Joanie finds her and convinces Jane to come back to Shaunessey’s with her. Jane manages to puke en route but Joanie is sweet and patient with her. Better to puke in the thoroughfare than in the boarding house, I guess.
Next episode/previous episode
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Where did you get that book?
Lately* I've had quite a few inquiries as to where I find the books that I review. I hereby proclaim that on subsequent book reviews on this little blog, I will let you all know who tipped me to the volume, be it loan from a friend, recommendation from another blog or a lucky purchase at the sale table. Until then, here is where I found the books that have been reviewed thus far:
- Flora Segunda - from Andrew Wheeler's excellent blog (this guy reads a LOT of books!)
- The Sport of Schutzhund - a review copy direct from the author
- The Summer of My Greek Taverna - picked up at the $4 clearance table at Borders this summer
- The Girls - borrowed from Periwinkle who had it on loan from Michelle R., I think
- St. John of the Midfield - a review copy from the publisher
- The Rozabal Line - a review copy from the publisher
- A Walk for Sunshine - a review copy from the publisher and personally signed by the author!
- A Good Dog - scored at the 3-for-2 table at Borders
- Guards! Guards! - borrowed from my friend Kevin C.
- Quicksilver - having difficulty remembering exactly but I think I read about it on the Antick Musings blog
- Mike and Psmith and Blandings Castle - Antick Musings blog
- The Sparrow - I can't remember (probably Antick Musings again) but I do know that Anna B. and Kevin C. both recommended this one after the fact
- Tales of H.P. Lovecraft - Antick Musings, I'm pretty sure
- The Woman in White - borrowed from Periwinkle
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