Deadwood

So we just recently started watching Deadwood. Tremendous. It covers the same kind of story arc as The Wire. With each episode adding up to a whole season. It's set in 1876, a time of extreme change in America and in many ways, Deadwood represents the last of the Free States; not quite ready to join the union, with its laws and statutes. The honour among thieves system operates (or doesn't) in Deadwood and if you don't like it, you can leave or get fed to the pigs. There is, as yet (and we're nearly finished season 1), no Marshall to uphold the law. Nor are there any laws to uphold. There is a lot of scheming in Deadwood and it is almost upsetting how quickly scamming came to be in America - a desolate sign of the future.

One of the most endearing things about the story is that it is largely true, with of course, a healthy dose of dramatic licence added. It's wonderful to see and hear Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane in the flesh. In actual fact, most of the main characters are actually real life inhabitants of the original Deadwood. Rarely has the phrase, "you couldn't make it up" held more weight. Special mention should be made of the dialogue. The writers took the view to populate the script with a lot of swearing. Many and varied words that could only be shown on HBO. This was a sensible decision and makes the script ring true. If the characters were asking for darn tooting sasperillies and were telling each other to wait a cock-a-meeny minute, modern viewers would not entertain the show. As it is, the swearing is modernised and is a powerful tool.

The script. At times, almost Shakespearian. It is wonderful. There are soliloquoys, wonderful dialogues and anytime the doc opens his mouth, I sit enraptured. He is a man under duress and is a brilliant character to watch.

The characters. Intricate and complex. All come with back stories and are explored in turn. Favourites are the Doc, the Journalist, Montana, EB Farnum the hotelier, (Calamity) Jane and of course, Al Swearengen, the local pimp, saloon owner and real estate magnate.

It's a treat. If you haven't watched it yet, put it on your list. I got hooked from the events of the first 10 minutes (again, the first scene actually happened in real life, however hard to believe it is).