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Set in an ungoverned stretch of South Dakota soon after the 1876 Custer
massacre, Deadwood concerns a lawless, evolving town attracting
fortune-seekers, drifters, tyrants, and burned-out adventurers searching for a
card game and a place to die. Others, particularly women trapped in
prostitution, sundry do-gooders, and hangers-on have nowhere else to go. Into
this pool of aspiration and nightmare arrive former Montana lawman Seth Bullock
(Timothy Olyphant) and his friend Sol Starr (John Hawkes), determined to open a
lucrative hardware business. Over time, their paths cross with a weary but still
formidable Wild Bill Hickok (Keith Carradine) and his doting companion, the
coarse angel Calamity Jane (Robin Weigert); an aristocratic, drug-addicted widow
(Molly Parker) trying to salvage a gold mining claim; and a despondent hooker
(Paula Malcomson) who cares, briefly, for an orphaned girl. Casting a giant
shadow over all is a blood-soaked king, Gem Saloon owner Al Swearengen (Ian
McShane), possibly the best, most complex and mesmerizing villain seen on TV in
years. |
