Deadwood: The Movie 2019

"Better late than never" most likely fits this endeavour the most. Before the haydays of modern television Deadwood and other HBO series were the best TV had to offer. I, along with many others, were pretty pissed that our beloved show was cancelled (together with Rome and Carnivale) before it got a decent farewel.

And now, over a decade later, we got what we wanted. Did we still need it? I guess not but it was a very happy reunion with the old(er) cast who fit into their roles as if it was just yesterday. I'd have wanted a "previously on" before the movie began for once but there was enough reflection during the episode... movie to refresh ones memory.

It's strange they still made this so many years after the show ended. I applaud them for it even though it doesn't make sense from a business standpoint. It makes me hope some of the other shows are allowed to be completed but I figure it's too much to ask.

I'm happy we got this, 15 years too late but... still. It's like a long lost letter that comes late from a long forgotten friend.

PS. The Shakepearian dialogue, which was often incomprehensable back in the day, was also a welcome return. It requires all your attention and it's somethat that simply just isn't seen or heard anywhere else these days... or any days.

"What a grand surprise, after such a piece of time."

Both fascinatingly alike and different to its abruptly canceled third season’s finale back in 2006. Like that episode, the many story threads here don’t exactly resolve themselves out, which feels appropriate for a show mainly about how a community forms, comes together, and evolves over time, rather than about full fledgling narrative arcs proper. The crucial difference though, is that this time Milch knows in advance that this is possibly the town’s final outing, so he seemingly pens the whole ethos of the show into one gloriously concentrated, feature-length burst, which is stirring and moving to the extreme.

Storylines are carried over from the show’s final episode and don’t end conclusively, but in between there are birth, death, funeral, and wedding, encapsulating the whole spectrum and emotions of what the original series usually take over multiple episodes to achieve its thematic catharsis. Most importantly, Milch makes very explicit this time how Deadwood the town has settled into a single, occasionally fractured, but collectively very united organism, ready to strike back hard as a front when threatened by a malicious and forceful outsides force. This sentiment leads to some rapturous passages, in which it’s amazing how Milch can make my heart soar by an auction to save one piece of themselves, or an angry mob forming to condemn one powerful, vile individual that threatens them.

That the characters we know to represent this town have aged visibly only add to the poignancy and pride. They remain the same in coming to protect their own, just with more lines etched on their faces, history shared in the long years we haven’t seen, and, in the case of one particularly distinguished member, heartbreaking frailty. Don’t let that one know though, or you will be cussed out for feeling too much about his vulnerability. “Fucking… stay there” indeed, Al.

Thirteen years after its abrupt cancellation, HBO's finally put the band back together for a proper conclusion to Deadwood, its unfinished Shakespearean western. The result fits like an old pair of boots. Perhaps a bit dustier than before, withered and cracked and worn, but no less familiar.

It's pleasant to occupy this world again, to see all the familiar faces rubbing elbows and butting heads, but the limits of a two-hour movie are far more pervasive than those of a twelve-hour season. Particularly so when applied to a show like this one, which has always made good use of television’s episodic format by employing lengthy exposition, carefully distributed plot points and a whole mess of exceptionally well-developed secondary characters. I wanted more time with Doc, with Dan, with Wu, but instead the supporting cast only pops in for the occasional cameo, then fades back into the woodwork in the name of a big-players-only featured narrative. And even that feels a hair on the light side, with an armload of unnecessary flashbacks and a rather easy, under-thought resolution. Al gets a big speech or two, Bullock is given the chance to grit his teeth and stare daggers, Hearst acts smug and operates in underhanded ways, and then... we're done, and it's goodbye forever.

I understand why it had to be this way, and I'm grateful for the long-awaited chance at closure, but I'm also disappointed it couldn't have been three or four times longer. In a way, I'm even hungrier for a fourth season than I was before.