I used to watch Deadwood when it originally aired and I was in High School. I always love it but I didn't watch intently enough to follow it. With the streaming options of today it's very easy to blast your way through the series, but that's also a good way to catch where a show faulters.
The first 2 Seasons of Deadwood are an absolute masterpiece. The acting, the writing, the set design, it was just perfect. The show features some of the most Shakespearean dialogue I've ever heard, with a few "cocksuckers" thrown in for flavor. EB's frantic soliloquies are probably my favorite moments of the show.
Then there's Season 3. Don't get me wrong, I still like Season 3 there's a lot of great stuff, but that's where the show definitely changed. The story hit a bit of a climax with the arrival of Hearst at the end of Season 2, but the writers spent about half of the season on side stories that didn't seem to factor into the main plot. Jane was entirely wasted, Cy became a confusing mess whose cruelty lacked any perceptible motivation, everything with Steve, Hostettler, General Fields, Aunt Lu, O'Dell, just didn't seem to have a point (granted the show was cut short), Johnny became silly, Al was too nice, Harry was there for fart jokes, the Earps were overdone, the Theater Troup a complete waste of time, and the logic of the final episode was just bad. I hate saying that I understand why it got cancelled in retrospect, but after rewatching it for the fifth time I've decided they didn't have the writing to justify a Season 4.
Still one of the greatest shows ever made and the third season is still better than 90% of other television.
The first 2 Seasons of Deadwood are an absolute masterpiece. The acting, the writing, the set design, it was just perfect. The show features some of the most Shakespearean dialogue I've ever heard, with a few "cocksuckers" thrown in for flavor. EB's frantic soliloquies are probably my favorite moments of the show.
Then there's Season 3. Don't get me wrong, I still like Season 3 there's a lot of great stuff, but that's where the show definitely changed. The story hit a bit of a climax with the arrival of Hearst at the end of Season 2, but the writers spent about half of the season on side stories that didn't seem to factor into the main plot. Jane was entirely wasted, Cy became a confusing mess whose cruelty lacked any perceptible motivation, everything with Steve, Hostettler, General Fields, Aunt Lu, O'Dell, just didn't seem to have a point (granted the show was cut short), Johnny became silly, Al was too nice, Harry was there for fart jokes, the Earps were overdone, the Theater Troup a complete waste of time, and the logic of the final episode was just bad. I hate saying that I understand why it got cancelled in retrospect, but after rewatching it for the fifth time I've decided they didn't have the writing to justify a Season 4.
Still one of the greatest shows ever made and the third season is still better than 90% of other television.