Deadwood V

last watched: s3e12 

i had a dream recently where i had some ore with gold in it that i was showing to others. is this because i've been watching deadwood? maybe. i found out after watching basically all of these people and locations were real? look at the god damn stache on the rl seth bollock

compared to the deuce - and i'm drawing this comparison because it's the only other multi-series drama i've watched on this blog - deadwood was much better. it's a cliche probably but what elevates a show above just being 'good' is having characters that are interesting and that you enjoy watching no matter what is going on in the plot/scene. that's why the sopranos is such a great show. i think deadwood had this going for it and but deuce did not. a good plot can only carry my interest so far before i inevitably just think 'who cares'.

some brief reflections on the cast of deadwood:

al swearengen

up there with the likes of rust cohle and tony soprano as a fantastic memorable character

jack langrishe

what the fuck was the point of this character/storyline

cy tolliver

cy tolliver is a bastard, maybe even more so than george hearst

joanie stubbs

i liked her but i couldn't get over the stupid hat that she always wore

seth bollock

i thought he was going to play a more important role in the series but he kind of just devolved into a proud little sheriff boy who would pop in the plot when necessary. it sucks his kid died or whatever

charlie utter

probably my favorite character in the show after al

final thoughts: 

• finale was a little underwhelming but great show overall
• maybe i'll watch the movie
• why do they call the chinese people 'celestials'

"if those are your last words here on earth, you tell the lord you went out stupid"- cy tolliver, deadwood s3e12

Deadwood IV

last watched: s3e06

almost done. haven't been good about watching frequently of late. i do need to pick it up or i'm going to be falling behind. hbo keeps producing more and more content and i'm starting to fear i'll be stuck finishing a series just as a new one is released, caught in an endless cycle, like sisyphus rolling his stone up the mountain.

"It's my family luck over centuries to get repeatedly fucked up the ass."– steve, deadwood s3e01

Deadwood III

last watched: s2e07

a list of things they do in deadwood that you can't do anymore:

• smoke inside restaurants
• beat someone's ass in the middle of the street
• shooting a fucking hole in the ceiling to get everyone's attention
• say the n word

"the world ends when you're dead. until then, you've got more punishment in store" - al swearengen, deadwood s2e07

Deadwood II

last watched s1e12

lots of parallels in this first season with the real world right now (there's a plague going around, everyone hates the chinese). well maybe just those two things. so far this show has exceeded my expectations. maybe once i get some more under my belt i'll put up a power rankings in the sidebar.

one didn't expect in this show was to see young kristen bell. she's only in two episodes before she get shot to death, but still.



also, everybody in this show spits on their hands and them shakes them when they seal a deal. it's vile.

"i'd rather try touching the moon than take on a whore's thinking" - al swearengen, deadwood s1e06

Deadwood I

last watched: s1e05

take HBO's westworld, swap the robots for real people, swap the convoluted plot for a comprehensible one, add in some prospecting, some schemes, a bunch of people calling each other cocksuckers, and you've got deadwood.

It is 1876 and the richest gold strike in U.S. history draws a throng of restless misfits to an outlaw settlement in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Welcome to Deadwood--a hell of a place to make your fortune. Timothy Olyphant and Ian McShane lead the cast in this drama series about the surly inhabitants in this dangerous frontier town.

betting.. whores..  small business.. drug addiction.. am i watching the deuce again? just kidding. little HBO humor there. did you know if you play craps correctly you can cut the house edge down to just 0.6%? something to think about next time you see dummies placing bets in the center of the table. anyway, this is one of the shows i had been meaning to watch for a while because i'd heard it referenced so many times. they have really unique slurs for people like 'squarehead' and 'celestial'. sorry if i'm not supposed to say those words.

"when a man wets his end in nebraska pussy his life is changed forever" -  cy tolliver, deadwood s1e05

Generation Kill II

last watched: s1e07

when i was in the third grade i was wild about playing gameboy, as were most kids during the time. i remember one day i got a new game, some lego adventure game, and i just couldn't put the thing down. the next day i feigned illness so i could stay home from school and play it. my mother obliged and, because i was too young to stay home alone, took me to work with her at a montessori school. they happened to be going on a 'field trip' that day to a library, where i could silently tag along and enjoy my new game. while we were on the way to the library, mohamed atta and friends were on their way to crash two boeing 767s into the world trade center.

--

it's somewhat (funny? refreshing? surprising?) watching a show where characters call things "gay" and "colossally retarded." the dialogue, paired with the songs that the marines sing (avril lavigne, nelly) really transport you back to the early 2000s.

my only complaint with this show is james ransone as ray. having been familiar with him from the movies IT 2 and sinister, it was tough imagining him as a hardened recon marine. i mean just look at him lined up against fruity rudy when they play football in s1e07.

final thoughts

• dudes rock
• most enjoyable series i've watched so far
• what if the iraq war... was bad?

"the point is we get to kill people you dumb fuck"- ray, generation kill 21e06

Generation Kill I

last watched: s1e04

Get ready to see the new face of American war. This seven-part HBO miniseries focuses on the first 40 days of the war in Iraq as seen through the eyes of an elite group of U.S. Marines who spearheaded the invasion. The result is a vivid account of the soldiers and of the forces that guided them in an often-improvised initiative.

good news. i finished the spreadsheet to keep track of my progress. i'll keep the sidebar updated with the % complete, but you can also visit here for more in-depth data. couple things to note.

1) there are still some shows that are currently airing, which i will update once they are finished.

2) i am excluding the following shows from my journey:

• last week tonight with john oliver
• vice
• real sports with bryant gumbel
• real time with bill maher

the reason for this is twofold. first, while they are technically classified as 'series' on the hbo website, they are, at their core, news. the second and more important reason is that with these shows, new episodes are constantly being added and old ones removed. it would be a sisyphean task to include these.

that being said, generation kill rules.

"that song is straight homosexual, country music, special olympic gay"- sgt. brad 'iceman' colbert, generation kill s1e02