FanFare

Alma and an increasingly self-destructive Bullock face an abrupt decision on their future. At the Gem, while Swearengen readies for another showdown with Bullock, infighting between Silas Adams and Dan Dority yields more feed for Wu's pigs. Doc Cochran is surprised by Calamity Jane, who has returned to camp in a state of inebriated deterioration. [more inside]
posted by porpoise on Mar 10, 2018 - 0 comments

Tensions flare as the camp faces an uncertain future. Al Swearengen taunts Seth Bullock over his relationship with Alma Garret, and the resulting confrontation between sheriff and criminal turns violent. With a new business venture on the horizon, Joanie Stubbs and Cy Tolliver await the arrival of the next stagecoach, which also bears two important reminders of Bullock's past. [more inside]
posted by porpoise on Mar 3, 2018 - 0 comments

1876: Set six months after the founding of a gold mining camp called 'Deadwood' in South Dakota, shortly after Custer's "Last Stand." The show follows individuals who are drawn to this place for a variety of reasons - some of whom leave, some who stay, and some who come back. The eponymous town itself grows, both in population and in history and complexity. The stage was set, the characters introduced; the season ends with chaos, an outside threat, and a promise for more character- and character-relationship development next season. [more inside]
posted by porpoise on Mar 1, 2018 - 7 comments

General Crook rolls into Deadwood with his troops, known as "Custer's avengers," and the Yankton magistrate, Clagett, prompting a parade and business solicitations from E.B. Farnum and Cy Tolliver. Al Swearengen delivers a tortured soul from suffering, and Bullock reacts decisively to Russell's intentions regarding Alma. Stapleton's new commission as sheriff proves short-lived, and Bullock and Alma have a late-night meeting. [more inside]
posted by porpoise on Mar 5, 2017 - 4 comments

Alma's father, Otis Russell, arrives from New York to "help" with her claim. Swearengen strikes a bargain with Adams to rid him of some legal baggage involving the arriving magistrate. Jewel journeys to Doc's cabin for help with her leg. Eddie resumes work at the Bella Union, while Bullock is angered by the choice of the corrupt Con Stapleton as the new sheriff.
posted by porpoise on Feb 26, 2017 - 5 comments

With annexation of Deadwood looming, Swearengen calls a meeting to set up an informal government. Bullock and Alma compare notes on Ellsworth and each other, and Farnum gets a special-delivery letter from Hickok and a special new post. Joanie finally prepares to make a go on her own, with Cy's avowed blessings, and after a long binge, Calamity Jane decides to ride out of town.
posted by rhizome on Feb 11, 2017 - 6 comments

Deadwood breathes easier when some riders arrive in town with the smallpox vaccine, and word of a possible treaty with the Sioux. The results of Bullock's analysis of her gold claim move Alma to reassess her plans and sets up a confrontation between Bullock and Swearengen. When Flora tries to quit, Cy teaches Joanie a deadly lesson at the expense of a couple of con artists.
posted by rhizome on Feb 11, 2017 - 3 comments

After tracking down McCall, Bullock returns to Deadwood a changed man – and a marked one – while Utter pays final respects to a fallen friend. Trixie feels uneasy about her charge, which prompts a violent response from Swearengen. Cy Tolliver is shocked, and displeased, to see Andy Cramed return to his saloon alive. Miles and Flora, two young siblings arrive at Deadwood looking for their missing father and work.
posted by torisaur on Jan 23, 2017 - 7 comments

Bullock encounters native resistance in his quest to bring a murderer to justice. Swearengen presses a resentful Farnum to keep tabs on Alma and Trixie as the camp fathers pool their resources to dispatch riders after the precious vaccine and build a sick tent as smallpox arrives in Deadwood. Cochran turns to a distressed Jane for help caring for the diseased in the coming days.
posted by torisaur on Jan 17, 2017 - 6 comments

Swearengen transforms The Gem into a courtroom as Deadwood makes its own laws to try Jack McCall. With Jane off on a bender, Trixie is enlisted by Swearengen to help Alma with the Metz child and to keep her pliable to his purposes for getting back the Garret claim. Hickok's body is buried and Seth Bullock is determined to get revenge for his friend's murder.
posted by torisaur on Jan 9, 2017 - 6 comments

Swearengen directs Farnum to buy back the Garret claim. Garret's wife, Alma, prevails on Calamity Jane and Wild Bill for help with the claim issue. Hickok's respect for Bullock grows and, as a result, he commissions Bullock to do a review of the Garret claim. An ailing colleague, Andy Cramed, rejoins the Bella Union, and Wild Bill's run of luck at poker ends abruptly.
posted by porpoise on Jan 2, 2017 - 6 comments

Competition arrives for Swearengen in the form of the Bella Union, a new gambling outfit from Chicago operated by savvy Cy Tolliver, Madame Joanie Stubbs and gambling guru Eddie Sawyer. Hickok puts up precious collateral in a poker game with McCall, and a threat from Brom Garret regarding his gold claim invites harsh consequences. The relationship between Bullock and Swearengen continues to worsen over the latter's suspicions of Bullock's and Hickok's intentions.
posted by torisaur on Dec 20, 2016 - 10 comments

As suspicions arise that "road agents" may have been the true perpetrators of the massacre as opposed to Sioux scouts, Swearengen takes a special interest in the health of its sole survivor, a young girl ministered to by the unlikely team of Doc Cochran and Calamity Jane. Brom Garret suspects his newly acquired gold claim may not be all it was advertised.
posted by torisaur on Dec 12, 2016 - 12 comments

In year 1876, after executing a last act of justice as a Montana marshal, Seth Bullock relocates to a gold mining camp known as Deadwood, where he and partner Sol Star look to start a hardware business. Saloon owner Al Swearengen contends with a bungled robbery turned mass murder that threatens to incite mob violence throughout the camp. Wild Bill Hickok and his companions arrive in Deadwood.
posted by torisaur on Dec 5, 2016 - 24 comments

The bestselling, Man Booker Prize-winning novel hailed as "a true achievement. Catton has built a lively parody of a 19th-century novel, and in so doing created a novel for the 21st, something utterly new. The pages fly."--New York Times Book Review. It is 1866, and Walter Moody has come to stake his claim in New Zealand's booming gold rush. On the stormy night of his arrival, he stumbles across a tense gathering of 12 local men... [more inside]
posted by flibbertigibbet on Aug 3, 2016 - 3 comments