Deadwood Finale
Aug. 28th, 2006 09:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shipperxSo, that's it. Hearst wins. Hearst has everything he wants -- Alma's mine, Al's servitude, the fixed election, and (he thinks) Trixie's dead body -- as he smugly rides out of town with Seth Bullock clenched, impotent and feeling like a fool.
Sad ending when we expected a big showdown with fire and blood. We kept waiting for the gun fight and for the foreshadowed fire, and all we got was a poor dead (innocent) prostitute and a dead drug addict. Everyone else in town essentially folds and Hearst wins.
And it's all so very unsatisfying, and yet...
It's difficult to argue with this state of affairs because... that's sort of what happened. We all knew that as evil, awful, and despicable as Hearst was, he lived a long, wealthy life leaving generations to wallow in his wealth. We also know that Al Swearenjen (real one) dies a broken, penniless man, so in many ways this kind of ending is valid. But it feels so wrong. We want Hearst to suffer. We want him humiliated in the dirt. Instead, we see him get everything he wants, and it burns.
And to see our beloved bunch of screw-ups and thieves fold like that is disheartening. They have their town back (sorta) and they survived. There's a little to celebrate in that, but we really wanted them to also have revenge.
There were a few spots of light, I suppose. Joanie and Jane found some measure of happiness with one another. That's something. And Trixie is alive instead of dead. Also, E.B. is thrilled that Hearst is at least gone. Al thwarted Hearst in the matter of Trixie's execution, but Hearst will never know that he's been bested. And Al preserved Trixie's life by making a blood sacrifice of an innocent he didn't want to murder, so there's no joy in this 'victory' (which feels like a defeat). There's only grim determination and whatever measure of satisfaction he can take that Trixie wasn't killed.
Still... I'm frustrated (which I think we're intended to be.) While the ending makes total sense (and I'm sure the sense of dissatisfaction is what we're meant to feel) it feels as though the show ended with a whimper and not a bang.
Fucking Hearst (and Milch for no new season to come.)
Sad ending when we expected a big showdown with fire and blood. We kept waiting for the gun fight and for the foreshadowed fire, and all we got was a poor dead (innocent) prostitute and a dead drug addict. Everyone else in town essentially folds and Hearst wins.
And it's all so very unsatisfying, and yet...
It's difficult to argue with this state of affairs because... that's sort of what happened. We all knew that as evil, awful, and despicable as Hearst was, he lived a long, wealthy life leaving generations to wallow in his wealth. We also know that Al Swearenjen (real one) dies a broken, penniless man, so in many ways this kind of ending is valid. But it feels so wrong. We want Hearst to suffer. We want him humiliated in the dirt. Instead, we see him get everything he wants, and it burns.
And to see our beloved bunch of screw-ups and thieves fold like that is disheartening. They have their town back (sorta) and they survived. There's a little to celebrate in that, but we really wanted them to also have revenge.
There were a few spots of light, I suppose. Joanie and Jane found some measure of happiness with one another. That's something. And Trixie is alive instead of dead. Also, E.B. is thrilled that Hearst is at least gone. Al thwarted Hearst in the matter of Trixie's execution, but Hearst will never know that he's been bested. And Al preserved Trixie's life by making a blood sacrifice of an innocent he didn't want to murder, so there's no joy in this 'victory' (which feels like a defeat). There's only grim determination and whatever measure of satisfaction he can take that Trixie wasn't killed.
Still... I'm frustrated (which I think we're intended to be.) While the ending makes total sense (and I'm sure the sense of dissatisfaction is what we're meant to feel) it feels as though the show ended with a whimper and not a bang.
Fucking Hearst (and Milch for no new season to come.)
