Most helpful customer reviews
|
|
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
What Television Could Be, Feb 20 2008
This is THE show which demonstrates the potential of television when it reaches out to adult audiences in the same way that movies do. Brilliant writing, brilliant acting, beautifully evocative cinematography, and a dedication to authenticity that brings the American frontier alive in a way which is rarely seen. Imagine 'The Unforgiven' as a series and you'll know what I mean. The characters are so complex and real, even the minor ones, that you sometimes feel like you're watching a Western reality show unfolding in real time. Just like the rest of us, the citizens of Deadwood are unpredictable and subject to powerful emotions that cause stupid, impulsively destructive behaviour. The human condition defined. Al Swearingen, brothel keeper, drug pusher, booze hound, is the one inhabitant of Deadwood who tries to ride his frontal lobes to the light at the end of the tunnel, but even he is confounded by demons from his past and his own lower self. But the great joy of this show is watching him try. A Shakespearian hero if there ever was one, his soliloques are absolutely spellbinding expositions of the failings of all mortals, and his plans to pilot his town safely through all the threats that surround it. The way the show presents a man who is the epitomy of what everyone thinks of as 'evil' and then gradually evokes sympathy for him is brilliant. The 'good' guys are flawed, the 'bad' guys are flawed but they're always human and, like the real world, there is no black and white, only a million shades of gray.
Naturally, like all exceptional television, the show was killed by money just like the real Deadwood was ravaged by the gold deposits beneath it's streets. There is so much more to be told about the inhabitants of Deadwood. I hope we'll see more of them, but I doubt it. The same fate befell 'Rome', another show of similiar quality, too expensive for HBO to continue to fund. So many more stories to be told there as well, but you'll have to watch 'I Claudius' to get a taste of them.
|
|
|
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Deadwood's Swan Song, Jun 29 2007
My boyfriend and I have been a fan of Deadwood since we decided to rent the first season a couple years ago. We both love how perfectly the show depicts the behaviour, language, and political intrigues of a town just beginning to establish itself during frontier times. It's one of those rare shows that doesn't dumb down it's material for viewers. You have to pay attention to nearly every bit of dialogue and action or risk being completely lost as to what is happening.
The beautiful thing about Deadwood, though, is that it makes you truly want to pay attention to every bit of dialogue, what's occuring with each of the characters, and keep track of the complex politics of an outlaw town struggling to find it's way in a newly formed America. All three seasons of Deadwood are sheer poetry, but the last one is especially poignant. Tragically it is Deadwood's swan song, which is sad because with it's complexity of characters and storylines, it was a show that could have lasted numerous seasons. Most TV shows fade away because they've run out of stories to tell; Deadwood had only just begun to tell it's tale. It's disheartening to be a fan of an amazing show in a time when "great" TV is often decided by ratings and advertising dollars.
|
|
|
0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
The Best Show - the Weakest Season, Sep 29 2008
I fell in love with Deadwood. Seasons 1 and 2 are incredible. The show was put together by genius. What happened in season 3? Some idiotic theatre group comes to town, and our tough as nails characters stand around wringing their hands about what to do about a rich eccentric who kills and pushes everyone to their limits, and then stands around on his homemade balcony begging for a bullet to the skull. Wu, the Chinese boss, complains that Swearingen has left him waiting for 10 days for action. That's just about right. It was episode 11 and damn little had happened that season. If a show cannot maintain the magic, it is right for it to be cancelled. Deadwood was amazing. I just wish they could have kept it that way.
|
|
|
|