Thanks to Scott, I have finally seen the first six episodes of Deadwood Season Two, catching me up to the week before last. Deadwood is a heady show, despite the fact that it uses more profanity per word than your average Bushwick Bill album, focusing on the formation of civilization from a more-or-less classic state of nature. Despite the massive cast, each character has well-rounded humanity and compelling storylines. Although Al Swearingen (easily the most compelling villain on a TV show who is not named "Stringer Bell;" heck, they could go hand in hand) and Seth Bullock (the very model of 'tightly wound') are presented as polar opposites, they have twice fallen into an uneasy alliance built on a need for honest law-and-order (Swearingen, who deals in all sorts of vices, would rather have honest law-and-order because it simplifies his thieving and murderous ways).

I sort of want to write about the plot points, but I want to see the rest of the season first. The first season's out on DVD now, and if you can deal with salty language spoken with the beauty of poetry (one of the best things about this show is the language; characters vacillate between Victorian loftiness and blunt profanities to convey or obscure their thoughts), rent or buy it.

Also, if you're a fan of character actors, this show the best use of Hey! It's That Guy actors since Sam Peckinpah quit making Westerns. I hate that Ricky Jay didn't return for the second season, but it's a testament to the greatness of the other actors (and let me single out Brad Dourif, aka Grima Wormtongue aka Hazel Motes aka Billy in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, as perhaps the best of all of them) that I haven't missed him at all. Between this show, The Wire, and The Sopranos, HBO has shown itself capable of producing the best that tv has to offer (and what's even close in quality besides maybe Freaks and Geeks and The Office?), although it's certainly shown its share of utter crap, too (Arli$$, anyone? Real Sex? Mind of the Married Man?).

On that ugly note, I'm just going to post this thing.