When it comes to the Western boom in television during the 21st century, it all started thanks to David Milch‘s brilliant HBO series Deadwood. Set in the titular town during the 1870s, the series follows the denizens of the lawless frontier during the annexation of the Dakota Territory. Using real-life residents of the time, Deadwood captured the exploitative-laden universe, combining historical truths and fictional elements.
With a stellar ensemble cast, the series only ran for three seasons before coming to a close. Thankfully, in 2019, Deadwood: The Movie revived the characters for one last “where are they now” celebration. The big-budget historical fiction is still beloved today, so if you’re eager to start your journey in the gun-slinging political adventure or if you’re just looking for some episodes to go back and watch, these episodes are essential for your Deadwood viewing.
All good things must come to an end, but the end of Deadwood was a bit premature. “Tell Him Something Pretty” served as the series’ final episode, but also very much could have lived as a season finale before a fourth season. Much of Season 3 focused on George Hearst (Gerald McRaney) and his upheaval in Deadwood. Hoping to secure the lot of claims in the area and to influence the upcoming election, his reign as a fearmonger truly impacted the town. With no other options left, Alma Ellsworth (Molly Parker) sells her claim to Hearst. Meanwhile, he seeks revenge for being shot at by Trixie (Paula Malcomson), demanding her death. Unwilling to sacrifice her life, Al Swearengen (Ian McShane) orders Johnny Burns (Sean Bridgers) to kill Jen (Jennifer Lutheran), his favorite prostitute and special friend, and pass her off as Trixie instead. The episode’s title comes from Al having to tell Johnny “something pretty” as he cleans up Jen’s blood, pondering if she had suffered in the process.
There was so much more story for Deadwood to tell. The entire aftermath of the election and Deadwood’s revolt against Hearst was ripe for potential. Though many of the other primary characters lack a proper conclusion, one of the most important aspects of Deadwood: The Movie is Joanie Stubbs (Kim Dickens) revealing her true feelings for Calamity Jane (Robin Weigert). It’s one of those shows that’s always in the “canceled too soon” conversation. The reality was, the production was too expensive to keep alive, and with cast members seeking other opportunities, the timeline for continuation diminished over time. Milch desired six to eight episodes to conclude the series, but it was impossible and never came to fruition. The finale is essential simply for the fact that it is the end of an era.
Now, you might be thinking why would the episode before the finale be more essential than the finale? Well, it’s because of the events that set up the finale and the extraordinary impact it had on the story. One of the most beloved and genuine individuals of Deadwood was Whitney Ellsworth (Jim Beaver). During the first season, the prospector was obliged to take care of Alma and her claim by marrying her. But being her husband ultimately became a liability as Hearst had the Pinkertons murder him in order to press Alma to sell. As the town discovers Ellsworth’s corpse rolling through the streets, it causes a stir, which ultimately prompts Trixie to shoot to kill. Unfortunately, she does not kill Hearst, wounding him instead.
Death is not uncommon on Deadwood. In fact, in a lawless camp, it happens more often than not. But death, loss, and grief hold a different weight for each person. With very few children in town, it’s rare to have that perspective. But for Sofia Metz (Bree Seanna Wall), the young girl who was rescued and ultimately taken in by Mrs. Ellsworth, she may have never seen her family’s bodies when they were murdered in the pilot. Thus, it was important for her to say goodbye to Mr. Ellsworth to avoid further trauma. At Doc Cochran’s (Brad Dourif) urging, Sofia spends one last moment with Ellsworth. The scene becomes a new vantage into loss and the toll it took during the era. She had grown fond of him as a father figure, so it was gut-wrenching watching her rub his beard one last time.
This Season 3 episode “A Two-Headed Beast” is known for two drastically different moments. There is a storyline about Alma falling back into her opium addiction despite Ellworth’s dismay. But that plotline is overshadowed by the show’s most brutal battle. Deadwood is a violent show. If you’re sensitive to curse words and graphic violence, the show may not be for you. But in the early aughts, there was still some censoring and sensitivity to violence on HBO. That is, until this episode. We’ve spent countless episodes witnessing people being shot, but when the brawl between Dan Dority (W. Earl Brown) and Captain Joe Turner (Allan Graf) fell into the streets, no one expected to see just how graphic the fight would be.
Dan has an undying loyalty to Al. He’s always willing to do his bidding. So, when it came to facing off against Heart’s right-hand man, he was up to the task. But it was perhaps the first time we nearly witnessed his demise. We knew it would be a fight to the death, but not to this extreme. Just when you thought Dan was out for the count, he literally gouged out Turner’s eyes. And remember, this was many years before we saw a similar eye-conic fight on Game of Thrones. Literally, seeing Turner’s eye dangle from its socket is something you can never remove from your head. Coming from a character perspective, Dan did what he’s done before. He’s never been a stranger to murder, but this one truly affected him in a way that even Al noticed a brutal change. The character shift became essential as killing another individual can cause an emotional burden, especially when your life is on the line.
The Deadwood pilot is one of the best HBO has ever had. Milch sets the tone for the entire series with its dusty, sepia-toned universe, which introduces viewers to the key players they’d spend three seasons with. The dialogue is rich with a Western Shakespearean aura. The characters are larger-than-life. Even the portrayal of the names you might have heard over time finally gives viewers a historical perspective. Vulgarity and violence run amok. Deadwood officially established itself as a television titan.
The episode establishes a good versus evil ideal through the lens of the arrival of Seth Bullock (Timothy Olyphant), disrupting the established traditions set forth by the malicious, foul-mouthed Al Swearengen. As Bullock and his partner, Sol Star (John Hawkes), set up a business in camp, it’s revealed that a Swedish family is slaughtered off-screen, serving as the inciting action that sets up the entire series. Al wants to instill fear in Deadwood to maintain control, while Bullock sets up his mission of justice. A pilot’s mission is to hook you in. That’s exactly what Milch does. It’s a crucial episode for frontier viewing that makes you want to visit the real-life town today.
We’re going to talk about Garret Dillahunt twice on this list in two very different capacities. First, it’s through one of the most complex and despicable people in all of Deadwood: Francis Wolcott. George Hearst always had a presence in Deadwood, but before he set foot in the camp, he sent his lackey to do his bidding. What no one in town realized was just how vile he was. Everyone has their vices, but for Wolcott, he was filled with secrets that he literally was willing to take to his grave. And if anyone stood in his way, they would be taken out first. Deadwood eventually saw a shift of the town’s villain over to rival saloon proprietor Cy Tolliver (Powers Boothe). Even more sinister than Al, Cy was willing to ruffle feathers for his own gain, even if he didn’t care about the potential consequences. So, when he blackmailed Wolcott about his sexual fantasies, rather than killing Cy, he took aim at the hookers of The Chez Amis, whom he believed gave him up. This also meant Maddie (Alice Krige), the woman willing to take a stand and protect the girls from the monster.
Joanie, the owner of the brothel, turns to her former employee to clean up Wolcott’s mess as she sends the rest of the girls away for their safety, ultimately destroying her business in the process. Deadwood makes no secret about how women were seen as objects during this time. Even if you came from wealth, you were pushed around by the whims of men. So, if they were mistreated, watching how the town’s prostitutes, the reason why there was a cash flow in Deadwood, were objectified and manhandled made this episode even harder to watch. Women were disposable, and Wolcott proved it. He ultimately gets what is coming to him, but his sadistic practices have little consequences due to his association with the powers that be.
Many people point to Game of Thrones as the series that most notoriously shocked viewers by killing off a major actor within its first season, but let’s not forget, Keith Carradine played Wild Bill Hickok. Whether you know your Western lore or not, Wild Bill Hickok was a folk hero of the American Old West. Though there have been some fabricated tales about his journey on the frontier as a soldier, scout, showman, and more, Deadwood served as a true-to-life recounting of his ultimate demise. Wild Bill Hickok, infamous, was murdered playing poker in a Deadwood saloon. It was inevitable that the series would get to this point, but no one expected it to happen four episodes in!
Perhaps the most true-to-history episode of the series, “Here Was a Man,” was Hickok and Carradine’s farewell to the town and the series. As previously mentioned, it’s all thanks to Dillahunt, who took on the guest appearance as Jack McCall, the drunkard seeking wrongful revenge on the man he falsely believed had fooled him. The episode served as a reminder that a seismic tragedy can and will happen in Deadwood, and that the series is rooted in historical accuracy. Hickok’s death caused massive reverberations in camp, especially from his travel companions, Calamity Jane and Charlie Utter (Dayton Callie). But for Seth Bullock, it marked the start of his heroic journey that eventually led him to be the town’s sheriff. The episode is crucial viewing for the impact that it had on the series as the true turning point in the story.
What made Deadwood unique was its unabashed fearlessness in sharing the entire history of the American West. Hollywood often depicts Westerns through the “cowboys and Indians” trope, but there were many other key players in the universe. In Deadwood, you had a multitude of businesses that kept the camp afloat. When it came to drugs, it was Mr. Wu (Keone Young), who kept tabs on opioid smuggling. Oh, and when his pigs need to be fed, it’s Mr. Wu you would go to dispose of the body. The Season 1 episode “Mister Wu” put the character in the spotlight as his relationship with Al began to be further established. When two white men steal from Wu’s stash, he turns to Al to resolve the issue. When it’s revealed that one of his own and one of Cy’s men, Leon (Larry Cedar), were responsible, the focus turns to Al on whether to forge a war with Cy and bring him to Wu, or sacrifice one of his own. Al goes with the latter.
The episode exposes a further class and race hierarchy within Deadwood through the eyes of the Gem Saloon owner. It’s very much an Al-centric episode that furthers his arc and relationship with the entire town. Al knows the operations of Deadwood and how one decision could cause a cascade of chaos. Instead, the pace is slowed down as you are granted the inner workings of Al’s brain.
Many of the individuals who die on Deadwood are those who deserve what’s coming to them. And then, you establish a beautiful plotline in which Seth finally begins to bond with his nephew-slash-son William (Josh Eriksson) before killing him off. We’ll get to the conspiracy theory behind the scenes shortly, but “Amalgamation and Capital” is a quintessential episode of Deadwood. At the start of Season 2, Seth’s world is turned upside down as he has to minimize his affair with Alma when Martha Bullock (Anna Gunn), his deceased brother’s wife, and her son William arrive to come to his care. Until this point, the relationships were a bit tepid, perhaps due to adjusting to this new life. But just as things are getting better, it all comes to a devastating conclusion.
The final block is what makes the entire episode. There are a few storylines wrapping up at once. You have Alma dropping by the hardware store to see the installation of her new bank safe. There is Mose Manuel (Pruitt Taylor Vince) being gunned down after trying to rob the Belle Union. Racist Steve causes havoc as Tom Nuttal (Leon Rippy) and William play with Tom’s new bike. And then, there is Chekov’s horse. Hostetler (Richard Gant) and Samuel Fields (Franklyn Ajaye) try to geld their horse, but when the mare escapes, that happy scene with the bike is no more as it tramples William. The scene, repeating in slow motion, is devastating to watch. In fact, you might watch it multiple times to see it happen to grasp the reality. By the next episode, we learn that William’s fate is death, which causes a temporary moment of peace in Deadwood.
Now, to the conspiracy theory. In case you haven’t watched Timothy Olyphant in an interview before, it’s quite an experience. Let’s just say he’s the gift that keeps on giving. While appearing on The Rich Eisen Show, Olyphant spilled the beans about why exactly his young costar was killed off, and it was certainly not planned. In fact, that’s not what happened to the real Seth Bullock. According to the show’s star, “There was a character on the show – perhaps it was a younger character – and there was some brouhaha going on that someone connected to that actor was being a pain.” One thing led to another, and Milch visited Olyphant’s trailer and revealed, “We’re going to kill the kid,” before telling him it would be “wonderful” for his character. William’s death did change Seth’s trajectory, so maybe Milch was onto something! Needless to say, this episode is essential in Deadwood lore.
Deadwood‘s first finale may be the best of the three simply because it’s the final moments of the Deadwood we began with before a new era begins. The episode is a culmination of defining moments. The crux of the episode centers around change coming. First, the arrival of U.S. soldiers seeking to recruit men to hunt out a group of Sioux and Cheyenne. Cy wants the men to remain to maintain order in Deadwood, but Army General George Crook (Peter Coyote) rejects the attempt. Meanwhile, the attempt to extort Alma out of her by implicating her in the death of her husband, Alma’s father, Otis Russell (William Russ), finally wears out his welcome as Seth nearly beats him to death, defending the woman he’s fallen for. It becomes the impetus of Seth’s urge to finally own the badge as sheriff.
With Seth’s rage finally emerging, the other side of violence takes over Al, who does a mercy killing of Reverand H.W. Smith, putting him out of his misery as he has been slowly deteriorating. Al, who has been no stranger to his own violent rage, uses this moment to help an individual in pain. After Doc Cochran offers his prayer for the Reverend, he spends time dancing with Jewel (Geri Jewell), for whom he just made a brace for to help her work. The episode ends as Trixie smiles at the last bits of solace in Deadwood as Al knows that it won’t last. It’s a bittersweet episode that sets up the most essential episode of the series.
A lot has changed in the time between the Season 1 finale and the Season 2 premiere. The new era of Deadwood is here, setting the stage for the next 24 episodes. As Deadwood nears its annexation, it also represents a turn to modernity as telegraph poles are installed. Meanwhile, the relationship between Al and Seth is put on full display. The Gem Saloon owner taunts the sheriff for his romantic entanglement with Alma, which pushes him to his breaking point. The two engage in a violent brawl that sends them tumbling over the edge of the Gem. Al nearly kills Seth, but is only stopped by the arrival of Martha and William. This moment gives us the most iconic line of the series: “Welcome to f—ing Deadwood!”
Al and Seth’s relationship throughout the series is one of the most fascinating on television. It almost mirrors that of Olyphant’s other big hit, Justified, with the ebbs and flows between Raylan Givens and Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins). Al and Seth are friend and foe, ally and rival. The tension is not just personal and political; it becomes a symbol of the larger picture of law and survival that defines the show. I’m not advocating starting from this point, but you could feasibly begin with the Season 2 premiere and still capture the essence of Milch’s series.
Deadwood
2004 – 2006-00-00
HBO Max
David Milch
David Milch
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