The only law is greed/power/desire

David Milch’s “Deadwood” remains the best written show yet screened on television as far as I’m concerned. The notion of a ‘slow burn’ was invented to describe this show. Having just finished Season 2 and with the third season waiting in the wings, I am hard pressed to think about any other show that features such well developed characters as this one. Often people use words like “colourful” and “eccentric” when referring to interesting characters. Those terms do not apply to the complexities and psychological dynamics that I’ve come to associate with this show.

For the uninitiated, “Deadwood” chronicles life in the famed town in the American West, emphasising power relations and politics more than anything else. There’s Seth Bullock (Timothy Olyphant), who became the town sheriff at the end of the first season, and Alma Garrett (Polly Walker), the object of his affection. There’s Cy Tolliver (Powers Boothe) and his gamblin’, whorin’ crew. Calamity Jane is somewhere, probably drunk; her acquaintance Utter also remains. The whores, Joanie and Trixie, have their own troubles to sort out. And then there’s the crown jewel: Al Swearengen (Ian McShane), one of the most well written, shaded and perfectly acted characters I’ve seen. As much as Michael Chiklis is Vic Mackey (“The Shield”) and Edward James Olmos disappears into Admiral Adama (“Battlestar Galactica”), no actor can rival McShane’s gritty, layered, apparently villainous Swearengen, who pretty much runs the town and sort out problems in his time, on his terms.

Season 1 opened with Bullock and then essentially followed his character trajectory while incorporating an ever-increasing amount of supporting characters. Season 2 abandons that clear narrative line and somewhat episodic plot for a more continuous, flowing narrative that gives equal screen shares to the vast majority of characters, with Swearengen being at the centre of activities (at least, that is, once the kidney stone passes – a gruelling scene indeed); here, Bullock is but one of many.

The main pleasure of the show remains: the Shakespearean screenplay. An understanding of Shakespeare’s work will illuminate “Deadwood” more than most readings.

Key highlights in season 2:
· Unexpected guests threaten Bullock and Garrett’s relationship;
· Tolliver getting increasingly cocky;
· The arrival of a geologist of sorts, one Mr. Walcott, who oozes trouble;
· The horse incident (beautifully edited);
· Swearengen’s never-ending battle to keep himself on the top of the pile;

Again, don’t expect gunfights and heroes reloading pistols at the speed of light. There is very little physical confrontation in the traditional sense. In a revisionist sense, however, there’s conflict and danger around every corner, even if nary a gun is fired.

All roads

The HBO-BBC co-production “Rome” (Season 1), with solid Ciaran Hinds as Julius Caesar and Kevin McKidd as Lucius Vorenus, paints a vivid if sensational portrait of life in Rome at the time of Caesar’s rise to power. The 12-episode first season uses actual sets and CGI to bring the ancient city to life. But the characters, not the look of the show, is what made me watch this: the chance to see Caesar, Brutus, Mark Anthony, Pompey Magnus, Cato, Cicero and other key figures from Roman history orate, plan, deceive and die. Those figures are all part of the Roman elite, so the show gives us two plebs, soldiers Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo, who have their own narrative line that inevitably crosses with other characters’. There are historical records indicating the existence of an actual Vorenus and Pullo, but the characters in the show are pure studio fictions, forcing the men into a ‘buddy-movie’ hate-him-but-he’s-my-brother type of relationship. Indeed, it is unfortunate that many of the secondary characters are rather wooden and underwritten (as is the case with Mark Anthony – apparently, he gets his due in the second season).

With full frontal male and female nudity, a dash of lesbianism and plenty of graphic violence, this is far from the superior, civilised empire often taught in history lessons. This dirty, messy TV “Rome” is an Empire for the masses. Lavish and fast paced, it requires less patience than the superior “Deadwood” and more tolerance, from a critical perspective, of its emphasis on spectacle. All said and done, I cannot wait to get my hands on the second (and final; the show was ultimately too expensive to produce) season.

DVD extra features include episode commentaries; a shot-by-shot approach to two key scenes of the first season; and “All Roads Lead to Rome”, where, when activated, text boxes appear as an episode unfolds to clarify and elaborate upon religious, social, cultural and political life as lived in ancient Rome.

For interesting trivia about the show (spoiler warning), visit http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0384766/trivia.