Al Springs Back to Life

I watched more episodes of Deadwood last night. What a relief to see Al Swearengen, diminished since the finger lopping he received by Hearst, back in grand form as he delivered a massive shit-kicking and throat slitting to one of Hearst's Pinkerton minions.

There was an almost tender moment between he and Alma Ellsworth after she took shelter in The Gem following being shot at, presumably by the same Hearst flunky to later meet a violent end. Swearengen acknowledged that she had ample reason to distrust him (he engineered the murder of her first husband in an attempt to get at his gold claim, which she continues to own and acts as the backing of her Bank of Deadwood) but urged her not to play into Hearst's hand by striking back. Over the protest of her second husband she agree to continue her normal routine and clearly terrified, walks alone to the Bank of Deadwood, under the watchful eye of Swearengen and his crew.

The murky relationship between Joanie Stubbs and Calamity Jane has become clear; the two are lovers. I had to learn more about this and did some research. The writers of Deadwood have apparently taken great liberties with the characters, which is fine by me. I like their version better. Charlie Utter as a dandy?! Hell no! Calamity Jane wore dresses? Again, no. What I like about her character is that like many (if not all) butch lesbians, full of swagger and bluster, just beneath the surface is a giant marshmallow that weeps at the drop of a hat, competent femme Joanie there to take care of her. Sweet. I only have one disc left in the series and then it is all over. I saw some web chat about possible feature films, but I guess that is what people always speculate when a series ends.

Today I was chatting with a neighbor in the laundry room and she told me that my building used to have a swimming pool, which the owners filled in a few years back. I had a momentary pang for the Melrose Place-style life I could have had.