Deadwood Faust of the Wild West September 2006

by Richard Koscher
Photos by Russell Byrne

In the 16th Century the brilliant German, Goethe, wrote the best-known version of the story of Dr. Faust. The tale involves dark themes such as demonic evil, lust, adultery, matricide, infanticide…. And that’s just the first act!

If Goethe were still around he might have been one of the writers for Deadwood, which is HBO’s very adult and extremely addicting drama series. Deadwood is currently in its third season and is created and produced by NYPD Blue’s brainchild, David Milch.

Deadwood is one of the most acclaimed television dramas. The show’s appeal derives from the quality that Milch imposes upon the production. Like a master surgeon performing some delicate medical procedure, Milch writes and rewrites every single line. At times he will spend hours on a small piece of dialog – refining and polishing until it fits perfectly into the show.

The show is definitely not for everyone. It deserves its R rating and should not be viewed until all children are safely tucked into bed. The characters use extremely course language and engage in explicit behaviors. If you can get past the vulgarities, however, the dialogue soars and swoops in cadences that at times approach poetry.

Deadwood takes place in the Dakota Territory during the 1870s and depicts life as it might have been during the full-blown Gold Rush that was going on at the time. The gritty realism of the sets gives the impression of what life during that unpolished era might have been like, but the series is no historical docudrama. It intends simply to provide first class entertainment. The cast mixes familiar names from history with characters created for the series.

An outstanding level of performance by a number of the leading actors characterizes each episode of Deadwood. Best of all, perhaps, are wonderful performances by Ian McShane who plays the role of the ruthless town boss, a villainous character named Al Swearengen. Robin Weigert, does a great job in her role as Calamity Jane. On one memorable episode she provided an ennui-laden observation that is probably as appropriate to our century as to hers when she blurted out at one point, “Every day it takes figuring out all over again, how to (explicative deleted) live!”

“If you build it they will come” could be more truly said about the show’s little Sierra foothill town than about any ball field. The citizens of Deadwood built saloons, houses of ill repute, a general store, a medical office, and a jail. As a result, the town was flooded by gamblers, hookers, merchants, doctors, liquor salesmen, saloon owners, and lawmen. One of the series’ lead actors, Timothy Olyphant, fits into that last category because he plays Seth Bullock, the town sheriff who is running for reelection. Sheriff Olyphant is a somewhat unwilling lawman who had come to town with a simple aspiration to open a hardware franchise together with his business partner and friend, a man named Sol Star.

During its first two seasons Deadwood was nominated for 22 Emmys, won seven of them, and earned a Golden Globe Award. Its fresh, relevant, innovative, well written, and superbly acted episodes have richly earned the series all the honors that are coming its way.

The bad news is that Deadwood is in its final season. It is going out in style with a season climax consisting of two full-length movies scheduled for release.

There is still sufficient time for you to catch the rest of the 2006 season. The show airs on HBO every Sunday at 9 p.m. You can also enjoy the first two seasons on DVD or through your cable’s On Demand service.

If your taste runs to this kind of Western Drama you will enjoy Deadwood. But don’t say I didn’t warn you! This is one show that could never be shown on broadcast TV without a lot of serious editing, deleting, and reshooting. Deadwood is a vulgar, profane, and nasty masterpiece. Goethe would have loved it!