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...