Deadwood: Social Study

The first season of Deadwood introduces us to the town and its inhabitants, and slowly shows us how everyone works together in this "lawless" society to ensure things run as smoothly as possible. There is a doctor (the camp would be pretty screwed without him), a hotelier, some saloon owners, miners, shopkeepers, whores, a newspaperman, and a reverend. What Deadwood does NOT have is a mayor, a sheriff, lawyers, teachers (let alone a school), or bankers (let alone a bank). And things actually get well enough. Sort of.

People have to resort to self-help when they feel they are wronged, and whoever has the most muscle (Swearengen) will likely win any resulting bout, but the camp is still standing. I've sometimes said that society could survive without lawyers but not without doctors (keep in mind I'm a law student), but there is a difference between surviving and flourishing. But lawyers, police, and politicians do not inherently bring law and order. Deadwood citizens are forced to rely on themselves, but that also means that people can get to the root of the problem themselves. When the people hold a criminal trial after the death of a prominent citizen, Swearengen ensures that a corrupt man is chosen as a lawyer in the case for political reasons. By the first season's end, the citizens realize that they will soon be a part of the United States, and accordingly elect a mayor and a sheriff.

The next two seasons show the transformation from mining camp into actual community. Slowly but surely, people start coming to Deadwood to make changes. Bullock's wife (I understand that I'm kind of skimping on character information in this series to focus on the meaning, but there is a lot to be said about the Bullocks' relationship) is a teacher. When telegraph wires are erected, a Russian telegraph operator shows up. And a man named Silas Adams (played by Titus Welliver, who now plays the character on LOST I refer to as Titus, AKA Jacob's rival) becomes Swearengen's pocket magistrate, the man who is bargaining with different states to make Deadwood an official part of them. Throughout this transformation, Deadwood remains a dangerous town, but as the city comes closer and closer to being a legitimate town, various people's illegal acts have to be hidden or given political spin. Suddenly, Swearengen has to sway certain people to his side to get them to do his bidding, while his rival, Cy Tolliver, has to convince others that the political situation Swearengen favors is wrong so that they will upset his plans. Nothing that is unfamiliar to us.

Throughout this transformation, no one character is the show's true hero or villain (Tolliver comes closest to the villain role). Everyone does good things and bad things, sometimes because they blindly follow the advice of someone with more information, and everyone has their own motivations for doing things. But then, George Hearst shows up. Hearst is the father of newspaper magnate and Citizen Kane corollary William Randolph Hearst, and he is BATSHIT CRAZY. Hearst has one love in his life: gold. The man comes to Deadwood with plans to buy out everyone's gold claims, mine the mountains dry, and leave the town in financial ruin. Hearst is only concerned with himself, and has absolutely no regard for any social contract. He does not hide the crimes he commits, and when people challenge him, he simply pays them off. If the challenger doesn't accept the payoff, he takes care of them in other ways. He buys out media outlets to keep stories about him favorable, but doesn't care if people actually see how heartless he is.

It is because of Hearst that Deadwood, for the most part (Tolliver tries to stay on Heart's good side), comes together as a single unit, because they are united by a common enemy. Unfortunately, the show was canceled after its third season (creator David Milch envisioned one more season), and I would very much have liked to see how the characters picked up the pieces of their lives in the wake of Heart's machinations. He rocked the community to its core by doing as he pleased (the very goal many people had in coming to Deadwood), and sacrifices were made when the community came together to oppose him. Obviously, even if people don't realize it, doing what you please without regard for the people around you requires lots of money and influence, not an absence of formal laws. And breaching the social contract comes with very high prices.

Up next: Roman holiday...

Dollhouse: Wake Up

On Friday, the final episode of Dollhouse aired, and unfortunately, I wasn't as blown away as I could have been. I understand that the writers rushed to wrap up the stories and condensed a few years of stories into a couple episodes, but for whatever reason, the acting and writing were not up to par. Therefore, I must give it my lowest rating yet: seven thumbs up... Sorry, Simpsons reference. Anyway, I'll get back to "Epitaph Two: The Return" in a moment. First, a brief look at where the series has gone since I went all radio silent.

Things went to hell for a while, with Keith Carradine's Harding taking over the L.A. Dollhouse after the debacle in D.C. that ended with Echo escaping. During that time, she became fully self-aware, and she and Ballard prepared to return to L.A. to free Victor, Sierra, and the other dolls. Topher, under pressure from Harding, figured out how to make a device that could remotely wipe and imprint anyone, even people without "Active architecture." Alpha returned and caused trouble (including leaving Ballard brain-dead, requiring Topher to turn Ballard into a doll of himself). Victor's contract expired, he and Sierra declared their love for each other, only for them and Echo to wind up in the Attic. Let me just say that while the entire concept of the Attic was pretty creepy, the saran wrap over their bodies unsettled me to no end. We also got to see Dominic again, which was great. And then we learned the identity of the head of Rossum: Boyd Langdon. Now I have to go back through the series to see if there are any subtle hints to his true identity. The penultimate episode was very thrilling, as well as heartbreaking (November had been recaptured in D.C. and her original personality was lost, so they put Mellie back in her... then Paul told her that she was an imprint). Although the characters thought they had saved the day, the episode ended in 2020, where we last left Mag, Zone, and mini-Caroline.

So "Epitaph Two." The story wasn't amazing, in my opinion, but I'm letting it slide a bit because of the circumstances. Regarding the characters, they are obviously in very different places than they were in 2010. For the most part, we got hints as to why they are the way they are now, but, obviously, it would have been so much greater to actually see them evolve. Speaking of evolving, Alpha is good now. Echo alluded to him switching sides in "Epitaph One" (although I thought her statement, coupled with her tone, was ambiguous and could have implied that Alpha did not intend to help), and in this episode, she said that he had evolved. But that was it. Nothing explaining how he was able to get control over himself the way Echo did. It was fun seeing him on our side, but it was like seeing Spike from Season 2 of Buffy, then, without warning, five episodes later seeing Spike from Season 7/Season 5 of Buffy/Angel.

My other big complaint with the ending was that things turned out relatively happily. Yes, I am a sadist when it comes to fictional characters, but I was fine with the happy ending of Buffy because they earned it and it fit with the story (as dark as the show could be, and as many shades of gray they added, Buffy's characters were Whedon's closest to traditional "heroes" and "villains"). The technology on Dollhouse was the problem, and, rather easily, the technology provided the answer. I have no idea how I would have ended the show, but allowing everyone to regain their original personalities without consequence (Victor and Sierra were able to avoid consequences by staying underground) and very little sacrifice (Ballard died, but was kind of reborn, and Topher sacrificed himself, but he was barely himself anymore anyway) didn't seem right to me. Once again, though, I acknowledge that the writers were working under a impossible situation.

Unfortunately, I can't give the acting and writing the same pass. Most of the regulars' acting was fine, but the two guest stars playing Harding and Ambrose (in new bodies; one of them was Eliza Dushku's brother) were painful to watch. And the writing for the entire first act (which was the only act the included Harding and Ambrose) was pretty bad. Eliza Dushku is not an amazing actress, but I like her more than many critics, but she had a hard time selling the "kick-ass" dialogue she was given in these scenes, and that is usually what she excels at. Oh well, the episode was still good. Much better than the back-up singer or blind girl episodes from Season 1. I'm probably just bitter that the show is over.

Up next: Social construction...

LOST: Final Pre-Season Predictions

Wow I have been busy. I swear that I will get back to Deadwood and Rome (and The Wire, which I am nearly done with). However, with the premiere of LOST's final season debuting in less than 5 days, and a certain other thing (see below), I wanted to get this out sooner rather than later. First, I always wanted to put out this post so that I could detail a few of my pre-season predictions. In addition, The A.V. Club posted a "leaked" clip from the Season 6 premiere, "LA X." One of my friends told me about it and pointed out that it ends with an ABC ad, so it was released by ABC themselves. At first, I simply assumed that it was misdirection by them, so I watched it, believing that Lindelof and Cuse were screwing with us, but my friend and I came to the conclusion that it could in fact be real. Anyway, the question is definitely whether ABC is messing with us or not, rather than whether some random person got a hold of it. In addition, it is only 4 minutes long, and the first minute and a half or so is footage from "The Incident."



Anyway, my predictions. Ever since Comic Con, when they released the Mr. Cluck's commercial featuring a Hurley that never crashed on the Island, it has been pretty apparent that the writers were going to do something with alternate realities (see my old post about the characters' would-be fates). However, they cannot simple reset the timeline because that would negate the past 5 years and would probably end with a geek riot. My theory on the subject is that the visions of the alternate reality will be in place of flashbacks/forwards, and that the alternate characters will be vaguely aware that something is not quite right with the world (kind of like Buffy in the episode "Superstar," when Jonathan's fantasy world didn't sit right with her). Daniel and Eloise have pointed out that "the rules" of time travel don't apply to Desmond, so he will likely have a very important role to play in setting things right (even if he won't have a starring role this year). Some kind of sacrifice, maybe?

I'm sticking with my prediction from last year that Titus (who I will soon be referring to by a different name) and the Smoke Monster are either the same entity or principal and agent, respectively. The Huffington Post predicted that Rose and Bernard end up as "Adam and Eve" from the caves, and I'm going to agree with them. Assuming the producers make good on some old promises, if we see the adult version of Annie (young Ben's friend from the DHARMA barracks), I believe that she will be played by Elizabeth "Juliet" Mitchell. The producers have said that Annie will play a "seismic" role in Ben's story, and in Season 4, Juliet's therapist commented that Ben took a liking to her because Juliet "looks just like her." Who's the "her" in that sentence? I'm guessing Annie.

I wouldn't be too surprised if Illana and Bram are agents of Widmore. The commando approach (come back, Keamy!) failed, so maybe this is his attempt to retake the Island through a small infiltration? They clearly have knowledge of the Island and currently oppose Ben while supporting Jacob. However, they only oppose Ben because he is with Locke (though maybe Widmore knows that Ben has been unable to actually see Jacob). In addition, Widmore does not seem like the kind of guy Jacob would grant an audience to any more than Ben. As for the "magic box" from Season 3, I think that, like Ben said, it is just a metaphor. The Island is a place of miracles, and if someone wants something bad enough, it will be granted (though there is likely a price). People get healed (Locke wanted nothing more than to be a hunter, and suddenly, his legs were restored and he was the designated hunter/tracker), Jin and Sun's marriage was restored, Michael and Walt became close, Sawyer settled his score with the "real" Sawyer, Kate became free. On the other hand, the Island was a source of strife for people like Jack, Juliet, and Desmond. I think the magic box is as subjective as it is not a box. It is for believers like Locke and Ben, and rewards the righteous (Locke was healed) while it punishes the wicked (Ben contracted cancer). I have competing theories about it, which is why my analysis here is so scattered.

Anyway, I really need to get back to work. I'll probably do a final Dollhouse post before getting back to Deadwood (I didn't realize that I haven't spoken about the Attic or the founder yet!). The final episode airs tonight! Until then, here's a neat little video:



Up next: Where mind and body are as one, forever...

Deadwood: The Birth of a Community

Holy crap, it's been a long time. I got tied up preparing for final exams, watching Rome (and now The Wire, which I'll probably get to after I finish Deadwood and Rome), dealing with a family tragedy, skiing, and getting reoriented for the new semester, and have had little time to work on this. In addition to getting the HBO posts done, I want to do a bit of a catch-up for Dollhouse (final episode airs in less than two weeks) and a pre-season prediction post for LOST's final season. But first, the intro to Deadwood, a show very much about the birth of a society.

The series takes place in Deadwood, South Dakota before the Dakotas were part of the United States. In the summer of 1876, people came to Deadwood for two reasons: to make their fortune (mining gold or exploiting the miners) and to escape to a place governed by no laws and part of no sovereign nation. The first scene of the series takes place in the Montana territory, where Seth Bullock is leaving his position as Marshal. He and his friend/business partner, Sol Starr, plan on going to Deadwood to open a hardware store (when I said "exploit" earlier, I didn't necessarily mean illegal; Bullock and Starr plan to legitimately rely on the miners' needs for equipment to keep their business running). His last prisoner asks him if it's true that there is no law in Deadwood, and men are free to do as they please. We soon learn that, even though Deadwood lacks formal government and legislation, to call it a place without laws is not exactly true. Like all communities in Western society, the citizens of Deadwood carry on their business operating under a social contract with each other to prevent pure chaos.

Deadwood is by no means a safe place. Local bartender Al Swearengen acts as a kind of overlord of the town, with his hands in nearly every aspect of the town. He owns the most popular and, for the first two episodes, most "full-service" saloon in town, where people spend their hard-earned money on liquor and women. He has powerful influence over many important (relatively) figures in town, notably hotel owner E.B. Farnum. Through E.B., he gets notice of who comes through town and what their likely intentions are. He also has his hand firmly on the pulse of the political scene, and closely monitors the inevitable movement toward incorporation into the United States. He portrays himself as ruthless, and is not afraid to kill (whether it be personally or by one of his minions) people who stand in his way, but he also knows that in order to maintain some level of order, murder is usually the last resort. If he were too bloodthirsty, people would move away or would rise up against him (both bad for business). He is keenly aware of the social contract and knows when the rules can be bent and when they can be broken.

As the series progresses, certain characters come to dominate the the town. In Todd VanDerWerff's spectacular series of AV Club posts on Deadwood (the man analyzes the show in ways I can only dream of), he refers to these characters as gods, watching over the city from their balconies and directing various events. Each character brings their own perspective to the town and tries to bring it closer to their world view. Bullock brings a nearly uncompromising law-and-order view, which contrasts with Swearengen's fluid method of dealing with situations. Alma Garret is a high society woman from New York who tries to make the town closer to cities back east, while newcomer Cy Tolliver, who opens a "classy" saloon/brothel near Swearengen's Gem, is out to make the city serve him and him alone. None of these characters is a traditional hero or villain (Tolliver comes the closest, though), and the series follows them as they work together and against each other to shape Deadwood into a society.

Up next: Building blocks of a community...