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Last night I finished watching the first two complete series of HBO’s Deadwood and found it addictive viewing, if a little slow to begin with. Deadwood is a lawless US gold mining town established in ‘Red Indian territory’ beyond the reach of the government in Washington. Established by Al Swearengen (Ian McShane AKA ‘Lovejoy’ – no he doesn’t talk to the camera anymore…) the town is unofficially ruled by him from his whorehouse ‘The Gem’ - with the aid of his henchmen and whores.

The first two series tell the story of the town’s evolution and expansion; from the unofficial sale of land, to the arrival of Small Pox, banking, the telegraph, the bicycle and eventually official government (and corruption). Murder and foul language abound, no character is safe from harm – which makes it all the more difficult to predict the enthralling storylines.

What initially stands out most about Deadwood is the bad language, once you get over the initial shock of hearing the ‘f’, ‘c’ and other words used every two minutes, mixed in with an almost Shakespearean dialect, the show is easy to follow. The fact that the characters like to talk in riddles to disguise their corrupt intent doesn’t help either, the hotelier ‘E.B. Farnum’ is by far the worst and best culprit, but not far behind him is Al Swearengen (perhaps the name is itself a pun on ‘swear’ing?). Ian McShane is a fantastic actor throughout, don’t expect a nice smooth operator, he’s far more rough than our Lovejoy ever was (but just as devious).

If I was to use a series of adjectives to describe Deadwood I’d have to use humorous, revolting, intriguing, gripping, shocking and superb. I’m not sure we can say that early US towns were really like this in the 19th century, but it seems so much more realistic a portrayal than any John Wayne or Clint Eastwood movie - immortal super heroes just didn’t exist except in the imagination… everybody was human.

Technorati Tags: deadwood, lovejoy, ian mcshane

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