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87 of 91 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
a third season of ridiculously great TV, March 25, 2007
"Deadwood" either is your cup of tea or isn't, and if it isn't, then you probably have no business even considering prchasing these DVDs; the third season in't gonna change your mind. If it IS your cup of tea, and you're just wondering whether or not the third season meets the high marks set by the first two seasons, allow me to answer: it does. In some cases, it even surpasses them.
The third season finds the camp in a general tizzy about the upcoming elections for mayor and sheriff, and Al Swearengen in a bit more specific tizzy about the impact the arrival of George Hearst has had on his life and livelihood. In a sense, the entire season is about the power play between these two titans, with Cy Tolliver trying to edge himself into the mix somewhere and Seth Bullock trying to figure out what his place is in the whole mess.
Amongst the other plot threads explored in this season: Jane's growing friendship with the increasingly troubled Joanie Stubbs; Alma's opening a Deadwood bank; the feud between Steve and Hostetler; the oddly touching relationship between Trixie and Sol; Elsworth's marriage to Alma, which may not prove to be the bed of roses he had hoped for; the appearance in town of the Earp brothers, and of a troupe of actors; and, of course, Seth Bullock's ever-present willingness to be grumpy with the wrong person, Farnum's weasly nature, and Merrick's desire to write about it all.
The plots don't matter much, though. The dialogue and the acting are what make this show great. "Deadwood," in its three seasons, had so many iconic moments that it makes most other shows look like film-school projects in comparison.
In addition to the regular cast standouts -- Timothy Olyphant, Ian McShane, W. Earl Brown, William Sanderson, Brad Dourif, Molly Parker, Powers Boothe, Robin Weigert, and so on, ALL of whom do Emmy-caliber work -- I think special mention needs to go to Gerald McRaney, who turned up right at the end of season two but becomes an integral character in the third. His portrayal of Hearst is just awesome. Not that he's better than anyone else on the show; he just immediately fits in with the tone of the show, so much so that it really feels as if his character had been there all along, lurking in the shadows somewhere.
Much has been written about the fact that HBO decided to cancel the series, and pretty unexpectedly; but don't fret too much about the show ending on a cliffhanger. Not all plot points are resolved, but there is at least a sort of closure; it's like the first two seasons, where it feels as if a chapter has ended, but the novel will continue. Well, it looks like the novel WON'T be continuing -- HBO has claimed that there will be two two-hour movies to wrap things up, but no filming dates seem to have been set, and it's been months since anyone had anything to say about that project -- but if the series has to end with the close of the third season, I won't feel as if I was cheated too terribly badly. I'd prefer it had run for ten or twelve years, but hey, we're lucky the doggone thing ever even got made.
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44 of 47 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The end?, March 25, 2007
The third, and possibly final, season of HBO's critically acclaimed Deadwood had it's share of slow moving moments to be sure, but the series as a whole lived up to the excellent precedent set by the previous two seasons of the show. As the third season opens, sheriff Seth Bullock (Timothy Olyphant) makes a run for re-election, which gets side tracked by forging an uneasy alliance with Al Swearengen (Ian McShane) against the vendictive George Hearst (Gerald McRaney) who comes to the camp with some deadly plans for everyone involved. The lives of newly weds Alma Garret (Molly Parker) and Whitney Ellsworth (Jim Beaver), as well as Sol (John Hawkes) and Trixie (Paula Malcomson) are in jeopardy as Hearst prepares to wreak bloody havoc, which is mainly what this season of the series is focused on. Also during this season, we witness the recovery of Cy (Powers Boothe), as well as bonding between Calamity Jane (Robin Weigert) and Joanie (Kim Dickens), and the debilitating health of Doc Cochran (Brad Dourif). If you've been a fan of the show for some time, you know what to expect with Deadwood in terms of it's vulgarity and violence, so if you're new to the show, you won't really be won over by anything here. That being said, the third season of Deadwood is some truly great TV regardless, and the ensemble cast as usual is superb; with Olyphant, McShane, and McRaney being the best of the bunch. As the previous reviewer stated, if this is indeed the final season of the show with no other kind of resolution, there isn't any real cliffhanger that leaves the viewer cursing at the screen (a la Carnivale). That being said, hopefully this isn't the last hurrah for Deadwood, and there will be another chapter before these characters ride off into the sunset.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Artful dialogue, compelling characters and raw, deadly action!, July 8, 2007
What I loved about season one of Deadwood was how it strived to be more authentic in its set than many Western television series. The streets were filled with mud, and people are actually shown to not have a bath for long periods of time. Season two further dove into the intricate and sometimes elite style of speaking with the conversations between the compelling characters throughout the series often seeming like more of a challenge to see who could one up the other with grandiose sentence structures. This coupled with foul language galore from the likes of Calamity Jane and Al Swearengen (to name a few) make Deadwood a likeable mix when it comes to swallowing the script of every episode.
Season three did not disappoint me, although I was a bit apprehensive since season two seemed so character driven that the actual major happenings between good and bad, bad and bad and such were few and far between. That is what is so likeable about the show to me, you spend a lot of time saturated within the community and its daily happenings that when there is a scene intensity, it is done with nothing held back. There is a mean hand-to-hand combat scene involving Dan Dority and one of Hearst's cronies that bounces around all over the street and gets pretty ugly. This particular scene is of one but many that whether involving physical fights or not, plays out the war that is going on throughout the camp between the main players.
Gerald McRaney is superb as he returns as George Hearst, and he doesn't pull any punches as he starts to throw his weight around against the likes of Swearengen, Tolliver and Sheriff Bullock. With impending elections unfolding, the drama only continues to heighten as I found that the last 8 episodes or so tend to speed things up and throw a bevy of problems and ultimatums at the characters involved. Robin Weigert brings the humor of the often drunk Calamity Jane to another level and while her witty quirks leave me laughing, her compassion is heartfelt through and through. Although some reviewers seemed to be put off by the relationship that is introduced between Calamity Jane and Joni Stubbs, it is so fleeting and minimal that I did not feel it took away anything from the overall plot execution. From the schoolhouse to the Livery and everywhere in between, Season three didn't necessarily provide closure in the series swan song, but had enough character driven finesse and raw fighting scenes to make me yearning for another year.
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