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2005-02-24 Entry: "The End Of Deadwood (For Now)"

The end of Deadwood, hopefully, but late home from work means that's probably all it'll be tonight...

And we kick off with episode 11: "Jewel's Boot Is Made For Walking" and who the hell is Jewel? Did I blink and miss her in a previous episode?

Swearengen is being hit up for a bribe by a magistrate in Chicago. Ah, Jewel works at the Gem - she's the disabled woman who sweeps. Swearengen mysteriously allows Trixie half a day off... is he going soft or something? Okay, Jewel is going to see the Doc - she's got a book with medical diagrams of a brace on a guy's leg, and she's hoping that the Doc can do something about her leg.

Utter is dining with Joanie again. Alma appears to be dining with Ellsworth, although it's interrupted by the arrival of her father.

Utter's taking his responsibilities as fire marshall rather seriously. But one of the less upstanding members of the camp is looking to make himself Sheriff. Swearengen obviously has a problem with appointing anyone Sheriff.

Trixie goes to see Sol during her off hours... things are going well until Seth walks in in the middle of it, but he quickly realises what's going on and leaves.

Swearengen wants Bullock to be Sheriff, but he's clearly against taking the position. He does accidentally let slip that his partner and Trixie are together, which might not go down well with Al.

The Reverend is getting pretty sick - he's wandering the street raving, preaching to oxen, and anyone else who'll listen.

Bullock has dinner with Sophia, Alma and her father. The post dinner smoke proves to Seth that the father is a crook, who's just out here for the gold claim.

Swearengen forces Sol into paying for Trixie's visit. We do get some of his sorry backstory in Chicago while he's in bed with one of the other whores.

Then we move on to the last episode, "Sold Under Sin," and the Reverend is on his last legs. The Magistrate comes back, along with General Crook, whose men want some respite. The General agrees to a parade at Swearengen's prompting.

Seth and Alma's father have a difference of opinion, and come to blows in the Bella Union... Seth's anger is still gettting the better of him. Then the parade starts, and a fight breaks out in the Chinese area - the Sheriff getting in over his head when the drug addict shoots one of the Chinese over nothing at all.

Bullock's temper continues to get him into trouble - picking a fight with the Sheriff, telling the barman at the Gem (who killed Alma's husband) that the father needs to die. Wu comes in looking for a solution to the shooting. The barman points out that Bullock is something of a hypocrite to be carrying around the Sheriff's badge, basically doing the job, but not wearing it.

Bullock goes to the General to suggest he give protection to Alma's father, as there are people in the camp who wish him dead. The General in turn pushes Bullock to become Sheriff.

Seth and Alma have a late night conversation - although, there's not a lot of talking involved...

Swearengen gives the Reverend his peace... I think if he hadn't the Doctor might have... But that's not the only killing that's going on in the Gem tonight... as Adams takes out the Magistrate for him.

Jewel's leg brace seems to be working, and she's not suffering any adverse effects so far.

And Bullock accepts the position of Sheriff. Which is a dumb fucking move, but considering his actions so far, he's pretty much been doing the job.

The soldiers leave, with Alma's father strung over a mule.

And that's your lot... Season one over with and now I'm intrigued where they'll go with the second. Obviously there'll be fallout from Seth's family coming to town, especially with his affair with Alma. The love triangle between Al, Sol, and Trixie will probably continue. But beyond that, anything could happen.

It's strange - there appears to be a law of diminishing returns on my DVD collection - the longer something sits on the shelf unwatched, the less likely it is that I'll want to watch it. If we ignore the shows I really have to get around to finishing (Sea Of Souls being top of the list), then Millennium Season 2 and Charmed are top of the must watch list, but Charmed, as the newer show, is edging out Millennium, even though I really want to know how the cliffhanger is resolved...

There's also a correlation with size of packaging - the six slim-packs that are contained in the aforementioned series box sets are much more shelf intensive than things like Wonderfalls or Keen Eddie... so those get pushed back until I can justify the time for very little gain (or I decide I really must watch it now damnit!).

Anyway, Charmed kicks off with "Something Wicca This Way Comes" which if I remember correctly is part one of a two part opener... we'll see...

Okay, Paramount have been evil and put trailers on the start of the disc... if they're going to do this, put it on the menu, but don't force us to watch it... Okay, the menu key is trapped, but skip forward takes us from Happy Days to Laverne And Shirley. Then Mork And Mindy (which is sitting on the shelf, so a trailer isn't going to change my mind on it!). Yes! Finally the menu. Oh, and the Previews are on the menu... so why force us to go through them every time? Evil blasted Paramount...

San Francisco... and it's raining... it did that a lot when I was there as well. It seems to have finally stopped here though... okay, woman feeding her cat... lighting candles with just a touch of her finger is a useful skill - saves on matches anyway. But someone's coming down her fire escape and lurking outside the window. Alright, he's got inside, and she's chanting... she turns around, appears to know the guy, and then he stabs her.

Cut to the Halliwell manor, and the ever gorgeous Piper comes home... Prue's already there. Oh, and there's a hell of a lot of foreshadowing in this little scene... Cue titles.

Oh, here's Timecop Andy Trudeau and his partner, Daryl Morris. One of them will be around as a guest star for quite a while. The other will get recalled to the future to track down Jack The Ripper (or whats-his-name Pascoe).

Phoebe has moved back the area from New York... and once she moves in everything changes. First the ouija board gives her a message saying ATTIC, then once she goes up there, she finds the Book of Shadows, and reads the incantation in the front... which causes the chandelier to glow and a photograph to change.

Phoebe continues to do some reading, but the damage has been done. Prue starts affecting objects around her (including her boss' pen and his tie); Piper accidentally freezes her interviewer, allowing her to add the port she hadn't had time to add to her sauce; and Phoebe? She's out for a cycle when she sees two guys on roller blades get run over by a car... but it hasn't happened yet, so she manages to head them off before it can. Oh, and there's the cat from the beginning.

Prue and Andy appear to know each other - when did that happen? And moving the cream from the jug to her coffee without seeing it anywhere in between seems to be beyond where her powers usually limit themselves.

Otherwise everything pretty much plays out as I remember it. And no, it wasn't a two parter...