II think you're right on the money with those specific observations. I
thought that too and mentioned it to my wife derisively.
But I was real bored and stuck out the first episode. Then I watched
maybe two more and certain aspects fell together for me:
1) You can view the setting and social environment almost as a fairly
honest sociology experiment. It is important to realize at the outset,
Deadwood was a part of no political entity in the US: it was on Indian
Territory and was hence beyond any formal law.
Now they could have sensationalized this, but somehow did not. The
situation is exactly like would be found in a Sergio Leone movie, but it
was clear that it was in the best interest of all who were there to try
to get along in some fashion, and to profit by the opportunity--which
was why they were there in the first place.
This came off very well in the course of the series, because more and
more people came in almost daily, and there was increasing pressure to
incorporate the area into some form of government, primarily to exploit
any financial advantage from resource extraction.
2) The characters develop very slowly. It might take 4-5 episodes to
begin to see the motivations for the particular behaviors they manifest.
The acting is quite good (mostly). For the most part it is believable,
although there are pot-boiler elements to the plot.
3) Worldview.
This is personal and will vary among viewers. I happened to like the way
some of the characters tended to view the nature of life. Others might not.
4) Humor. There is some very witty humor contained in the series. No
guffaws, just sly stuff.
5) Language and dramatic/technical aspects. It dawned on me that parts
of the dialogue were constructed like Shakespearean passages; I happen
to like this sort of language, if there's not too much of it. There are
also true soliloquies in several points, just like Iago talking about
how he's going to fuck up Othello, or Hamlet talking to the skull.
If you can watch it for 4 episodes and do not find it appealing, there'd
be no use watching any more of it.
--
--Sawfish
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"Would someone please tell me what 'diddy-wah-diddy' means?"
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