SWIGIN! WU! AMERICA!!!!

"May She hold she hold you to her teet till you are full."

Yeah, I know Jackie and I are 36 hours behind on our final Deadwood posting.  The fact of the matter is this, "The Boy The Earth Talks To" was a fantastic end to a taut season, and there was just too much in it to rush this post.

There is so much to like in this episode, I just don't know where to begin.  Ok, I do know where to begin.  How about the Wu redemption?  Just awesome.  One day he is sloppin' pigs, gettin' dissed by Li and held prisoner in the Gem, the next, he is king of Celestial Alley.  Not since the days of the Clapper has so much happened by just four little claps.  I'm sorry to see Li go, but hey, if you are gonna go out, some opium and a trick isn't a bad concourse to be leaving on.  I can't wait till Wu learns more English now that he wants to be American. 

All of this was arranged, of course, by Swigin, who outdid himself in this episode.  First, orchestrating the Wu takeover, then endearing himself the Hearst and undoing all of Tolliver's work for the entire season; finally playing Jarry like the bespectacled monkey that he is.  This was a bravura performance by the best villain on TV.  Thanks for the good times, Swearingen.

Other developments of note:

• This guy is lovin' Hearst.  Finally there is a villain worthy of dealing with Swigin.  Plus, Gerald McRaney has something to do other than watching Delta Burke eat.
• Farnum's demise never fails for comedy's sake.  Dollars to doughnuts he is running around naked in the thoroughfare by the 6th episode of next season, and is poorer than Williamson.  Kudos to Hearst for picking Farnum out in one of his opening lines - "He looks like he just stepped out of a specimen tray," which is undoubtably the 19th century version of, "His daddy should have flushed that wad down the toilet."
• Like William's sunflower, Mrs. Bullock is laying down roots in Deadwood.  I can't wait till she shows her slutty side.
• Gotta love Jane in a dress.  No doubtin' the unwarranted cold clok by her too.
• Tom Nuttall is getting back in the saddle, though probably never on that bike.
• Cy Tolliver will not mock the Lord again.  If his gut cut don't get him, then Hearst will.
• Adams finally proving his worth.  If anybody wants to know what my job is like (banging heads when necessary, yelling at people in negotiations, parsing documents, adding value on all your deals and then still getting pissed on by your bosses), check out what he didn in the past two weeks.  It's like a day in the life of Cozmo Cramer, what without the Isringhausen benefits and all.
• The Deadwood Pioneer going the way of Fox News.  Gotta love yellow journalism.  Plus, just like Bill O'Reilly, Merrick digs on the freak honeys from the Gem.
• Blasinov's Russian Dance - just like at a bar mitzah, when Russians start doing that lunge dance, good times ensue.
• Elsworth is gonna lay some pipe without payin' for it for the first time in a long time - Go'bless.
• Wolcott done did the only honorable thing he could.  I may be the only one who will miss him (and Chiles must have been the only one who saw it coming).

But, there are unresolved issues for Season 3, such as:

• Where the hell has Utter been, and why is he in such good spirits?
• When are the Little N***a General and Hostetler coming back?  What's gonna happen to them?
• What of Mose Adams, will he cause problems for Hearst?
• Will Alma and Seth get it on again.  Or will they have a 21st centruy style custody battle for the little one, now that the Bullocks are without child?
• How long til cat-piss stinkin' Jarry gets wacked?
• Swigin for mayor?

All this and more to be answered next winter. 

It was a great season for the best show on TV.  I can't wait till it comes back.  INnthe mean time, check out this site, which tracks all the F bombs and c**ksuckers in the entire series.  That should hold you over for at least a day.

Comments

[bcg11]

bless you.

could not have summed it up any better. well worth the wait.

another question: did joanie know all along that andy was back to murder cy? is tolliver going to die?

that big fat ass was shot, and he lived...

swidgin brought the A game, showed why he was the man. i like that they didn't force bullock into the season's end also... his story line was played out already for the season, they did an awesome job by tidying up some other business.

wu is one of my favorite tv characters of all time. dude knows no english, just bides his time, you turn your back, and wu will fuck you up.

[john pike]

it was driving me crazy at the end that I forgot whose head is in the box that al takes out onto his perch.

[Cozmo]

You mean the Chief, JP? Remember, Swigin bought the Chief's head instead of having it displayed in camp. Now the Chief is Swigin's confidant.

[membengal]

thanks for these updates all year. I watch the show as much as I can, but sometimes can't get to all of it. you guys are cliff's notes in the best sense.

[Jackie]

Excellent stuff, Cozmo.

Yeah, I saw that rope by Wolcott's side and knew what was coming (although I didn't expect it to happen in that manner.) Thought he do it in the middle of his room.

Al was friggin' awesome.

[puddy]

I thought this was the last season and that they were making some kind of screen adaptation. Am I wrong there?