He boasts of starting his own newspaper to crush the Pioneer (though this is more of a nod to Hearst’s media mogul – and “Citizen Kane” inspiration – son William Randolph Hearst, George did buy a few newspapers along the way). He rigs the elections so Bullock will lose (though because mayor is not a county position like sheriff, he has no power to stop Sol’s victory). He murders Ellsworth with no consequence (and, most likely, had Odell killed as well). His victory is as close to absolute as it gets.
Earl Brown’s theory, may have been influenced by what was going on between Milch and HBO at the time.) Hearst wins. So the idea that all the talk of war with Hearst – of Hawkeye and Wu raising separate armies, of skirmishes with the Pinkertons – amounted to little doesn’t seem out of keeping with his style, and it ultimately fits with the story of this season. That the first two seasons of “Deadwood” ended as well as they did (the second more than the first) is something of an anomaly in his career, and even in this show, where the improvisational nature of the writing meant that some story arcs got interesting conclusions and many others just petered out, as we discussed with the Earp brothers a few weeks back. He’s a genius with dialogue, with character, with introductions, but clear, powerful, appropriate resolutions often elude him. Now, endings have not been a strong suit of Milch’s throughout his career.
DEADWOOD SEASON 3 EP 12 SERIES
Regardless of what might have come in the mythical fourth season, or in the movies that HBO was never going to have the ability to make (because every actor was released from his or her contract the day the show was canceled, and the odds on getting all of them – or even of getting McShane, Olyphant and Molly Parker after the career boost the show gave them – was going to be next to impossible), there is a conclusion to the series and its themes, and something of a conclusion to the stories of the third season. It ends before we want it to, before Milch intended to, but it ends. It doesn’t take us to the rest of the story of Deadwood and George Hearst, doesn’t get into the role Jack Langrishe would play in the community going forward, doesn’t get us to the fire that claimed the Gem, Sol Star’s political career, Seth’s friendship with Teddy Roosevelt or anything else that could have come later. And Al scrubbing Jen’s blood from the floor of his office, lying to Johnny about the manner of her death, does feel like the most appropriate end – premature or otherwise – “Deadwood” could have had: one more lie agreed on, one more piece of violence being wiped away on the path to civilization, one more victory of money and power over decency and fairness. Of course, in the years since, Milch has told me that he more or less knew the show wouldn’t be back, and that as a result he wrote this episode – and the final scene that provides its title – as the closest he could get to a conclusion. I reviewed that episode, like I reviewed most of that final season, on my old blog, and at the time felt frustrated with “Tell Him Something Pretty” as an end to the third season, but surprisingly effective as an abrupt end to the series as a whole.
It’s nearly seven years to the day that “Deadwood” came to an end. “In the aftermath, play the lie as mine, knowing I speak of you in Heaven.” -Al Swearengen A review of the series finale, “Tell Him Something Pretty,” coming up just as soon as I ask for unguent by secret thinking… We’ve come to the end of our three summer-long rewatch of David Milch’s revisionist Western “Deadwood.” No need for any disclaimers about veterans versus newbies at this point no more episodes after this, folks.
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