I finally got the chance to finish watching Season 2 of Deadwood last time I had it out of the library. While I have to confess that I don't find Deadwood as compulsively watchable as some of my other favorite shows (e.g. Sex and the City, Nip/Tuck, Queer as Folk) I must say that this show is consistently excellent, offering episodes that are fascinating and absorbing, drawing the audience into its characters as much as its milieu.

Deadwood Season 2

To its credit, Deadwood is not the sort of show where I could easily give a season recap. Even the thought of picking out the highlights of Season 2 feels like an artificial endeavor. This is a show that builds upon itself episode after episode. It cannot be encapsulated neatly into seasons as most other shows are. As this story progresses, the threads of its characters' conflicts twine and knot and fray.

That said, I will take the liberty to comment upon a few specifics. I've always found main character Seth Bullock less interesting than I feel I'm supposed to. Maybe I'm allowing my view of the show to be unduly influenced by Timothy Olyphant's top billing, and I should just ignore such Hollywood formalities. This show is too much of an ensemble to consider any one person to be the main protagonist. Still, the fact that I see his name first whenever the credits come up plagues me with guilt that I ought to like him more. Well, maybe "guilt" is a tad dramatic. It plagues me with head-scratching at the very least. This season, Bullock's affair with Alma adds a little fire to his character, but only briefly. When Mrs. Bullock comes to town, any intrigue Seth Bullock had managed to summon in my mind dispersed again. I suppose we're supposed to sense his pathos, but with so many compelling characters, including business partner Sol Star, Bullock pales.

The ghost of Al Swearengen in my apartment

On the other hand, you need no further motivation to watch this show than Al Swearengen. Ian McShane's portrayal of this ambitious, conniving, nefarious and ambiguous saloon owner is crucial to the show in every way. That, and Al Swearengen is exactly the sort of badass character I can't help but adore. Al Swearengen is a prime example of exactly what I love about unlikable characters. He's the type of character—I fully admit—I wouldn't want to know in real life, but I can't get enough of him on screen. And perhaps one other place... A few weeks ago my friend John asked me if I had any ghosts in my apartment. I was halfway through recounting for him my landlord's tales of yore about my apartment's historic past as a casino in the 1800s—and you guessed it, one name hopped to mind. The thought of Al Swearengen haunting my apartment is undeniably awesome. At least maybe my corridors are graced by his Allegheny River equivalent.

From here, it's onward to Deadwood Season 3—though likely no time soon. According to Amazon, Season 3 will be out on DVD June 12th, at which point I will promptly get in line behind sixty people at the library. I already exhausted my good luck with Rome Season 1 when I happened upon its library listing mere seconds, no doubt, after it sprang into existence. For now, I'll be lucky just to get the time to watch the rest of Battlestar Galactica Season 1 in the next two weeks before I have to relinquish to the library for the second time.