Deadwood Episode Guide: Boy-The-Earth-Talks-To

Written by Ted Mann

Directed by Ed Bianchi

This may be the pinnacle of Deadwood as a series. Not just in the way that it brings events in the second season to a close, and sets up things for the future, but in the way it shows everything that Milch and his cohorts do perfectly and succinctly.  You watch this episode and you realize this is why Peak TV gets such a name.

The key point in this series, of course, is the arrival of George Hearst. In his later writings on Deadwood, Milch said that he created Wolcott in order to understand the nature of Hearst. And initially, we don’t seem to realize what the murderous but refined geologist Wolcott and Hearst, who is clearly worth millions but admits that he’s more comfortable among ‘the color’, as he puts it, truly have in common. Perhaps Milch intended to give this as a demonstration early on, because our first impressions of Hearst are very deceptive.

Farnum, who was intimidated by Wolcott, is clearly terrified by Hearst. His mere presence seems to loosen his bowels in a way that not even his natural fear of Swearengen seems capable of overcoming. But this is meaningless because Farnum is intimidated by everybody and considered a non-person. When Hearst goes to see Al in the Gem, the two seem to talk nearly as equals – they talk as middle-aged men whose bodies are failing them. Swearengen is trying to negotiate a position of power, and Hearst seems more than willing to accommodate him – saying that he doesn’t seem to care about the power struggle between the celestials that has been going on for most of the season, and that nearly erupts at the beginning of the episode into a war in the early moments of the episode. He has no problem with Al endorsing Wu in the fight, and throwing the man who has served him so well under the bus. That in itself should tell us something – that to a man like Hearst, what makes up the struggles of day-to-day life are of no concern to him as long they resolve his way.

But we don’t begin to get a true sense of the nature of Hearst until Tolliver confronts him. He talks to him about all of his work, and then, just as he did with Wolcott, he begins to overplay his hand. It doesn’t seem like that at first; when he tells Hearst of everything he did in regard to the murders at the Chez Ami, Hearst seems utterly puzzled, and retreats to his room. It is now, literally, his room: Hearst casually purchases the hotel from Farnum as if you or I were buying breakfast.

The conversation between Wolcott and Hearst almost completely tells us everything we need to know about the two men:

HEARST: Ever since I was a child in Missouri, I’ve been down every hole I could find.

WOLCOTT: ‘Boy-The-Earth-Talks-To.’

HEARST: “Yeah, I’ve told you that’s what the Indians call me.

WOLCOTT: Yes

HEARST: Talks to you, too, Francis, I know. Our time together, your hearing has stayed keen. This gambler, Tolliver. Uh, who was our agent for securing the claims, has spoken to me about you. He says you’ve killed women. Prostitutes. And he has disposed of the bodies for you. (When Wolcott doesn’t respond) Well?!

HEARST: When I was in Campeche, you wrote a letter on my behalf.

HEARST: To the Jefe de Policia

WOLCOTT: “I am aware of Mr. Wolcott’s difficulty. You will find me personally grateful for any adjustments you may make in his case.” What did you think that was about?

HEARST: I didn’t think about it. You were my agent in Mexico. You had many responsibilities. You asked me for the letter and I wrote it.

WOLCOTT: As when the earth talks to you particularly, you never ask its reasons.

HEARST: I don’t need to know why I’m lucky.

WOLCOTT: Well, what if the earth talks to us to get us to arrange its amusement?

That is when we first realize the true danger of Hearst. He is horrified by what Wolcott has done, but only the sense for the affect it might have on his interests. And he is more upset that Wolcott has sullied what he considers his more important aspect than the murders he has committed with his permission. The severance he makes with Wolcott is not out of the destruction he has wrought, but because Tolliver is holding it over him.

And he recovers from it remarkably quickly. By the time he returns to the Bella Union, he is prepared to offer a payment to Tolliver. But once again, Tolliver misjudges his target. Claiming to say he hears the voice of God, he says is entitled to blackmail Hearst for more money because of proof of Wolcott’s crimes that we know he doesn’t have, and which Hearst could easily figure out Wolcott would never give him. Tolliver walks off, and then Hearst tells his second in command, Turner to find out if there’s proof.

But as much as Hearst is a presence within this episode, the majority of it belongs to Swearengen, as he exercises his command of the camp like a maestro conducting an orchestra. After Hearst leaves him, Jarry returns with the final offer from Yankton, and compared to Hearst, Al has no problem dealing with the elected official. He then calls upon Adams to help him parse the government document to try and figure out how to maneuver around the bureaucracy. After working around the cause of elections, he then operates against his interests and withdraws the demand for $50,000 from Yankton, reasoning that he’ll be able to continue fleecing everybody if they go through. He then calls upon the Commissioner and asks for Bullock’s presence: “And we’ll have a fucking quorum.”

The main event that focuses all the energy is the wedding between Ellsworth and Alma. Ellsworth is clearly dealing with his own set of nerves, as he asks Sol (who is apparently acting as father of the bride and best man) for help putting together his finery. Alma’s worries are deeper, but just like so many of the men in the camp; she is incapable of sharing them with another person. In a rarity for Deadwood, Milch has her express her feelings in an interior monologue to Brom, where she meshes her gratitude and horror at coming her, that she feels that her life has never been her own, and that she has a child coming and cares for one. It is hard to measure whether she really views her marriage to Ellsworth as a blessing or a curse, but as we will find out in the next season, there is another, darker reason that she may have decided to go forward.

Much of the rest of the episode deals with the preparations for the wedding. Jane and Joanie are dressing themselves in finery – Jane, as you can imagine with ill-grace because Joanie is following superstition about not wearing their mourning garb to the wedding. (The throwaway line that if you do so, both bride and groom are doomed is a prophecy that I wonder if Milch was considering at the time.)  Trixie is dressed in a fine gown by Jewel, who presents her with a broach. (When Trixie asks her how she got it, Jewel says: “I sold a piece of pussy.”)  When Trixie and Sol head to the ceremony, Al throws them a ‘gift’ (in actuality, the letter he received from Isringhausen). It’s meant for Alma, but the symbolism is clear: Al is blessing their relationship.

The actual ceremony is a powerful piece in itself: As Andy Cramed performs the marriage ceremony, in a series of Godfather like flashes, we see Seth and Al signing the offer to Yankton, Wolcott writing a letter and walking out of the hotel, Charlie is returning from his visit to Denver, and the various guests watching the ceremony. At the moment of the pronouncement, we heard the sound of a hammer against a wall. It is Hearst, breaking open a makeshift balcony, and the symbolism is equally clear.

We see a similar montage as the camp begins to dance at the wedding and celebrate: mainly Wu, Johnny, Dan and Adams, all dressed in celestial gear making their way into the Chinese section of the camp slowly killing all of Lee’s men. Lee himself is indulging in one of his whores, clearly in an opium stupor. The climax of the scene comes when Wu and the others return to the Gem, and Wu and Al exchange a glance, Wu cuts off his queue, and says:

Wu, America!

SWEARENGEN: That’ll hold you tight to her tit.

Al is clearly demonstrating himself as the master of events, but this is another fare-thee-well: he shall never be this powerful in the camp again.

Were it just for these elements this would be a mastery of work. But two more violent events occur that will be critical going forward. Andy Cramed is seen talking to Joanie and Jane, jesting about their own past relationships. Cy, still drunk from his dealings with Hearst, comes out, and again starts blasting Andy. Again he overplays his hand, and this time it nearly kills him: Summoning long-simmering rage: Cramed snarls: “God is not mocked, you son of a bitch,” and stabs Tolliver in the gut. Even Cy knows he’s gone to far, after initially saying he won’t die, he sounds genuinely afraid in his repeating of it.

Doc in the meantime looks at Mose, who seems well on the road to recovery. The two take their first steps outside, take deep breaths, and Doc walks away. Mose does the same, and just as he departs, we see the body of Wolcott drop from above with a noose around his neck. It is his final favor to the man he thinks he has disgraced.

One of the last people we see moving throughout the camp is Bullock. Earlier in the episode, he had a conversation with Martha in which she told him that she intended to stay in the camp and teach the children. Bullock is quiet throughout, and pointedly spends the dancing in the Gem, before Swearengen tells him: “Don’t you have a fucking home to go to?” Not even Al seems entirely sure what Bullock will do when he leaves. As he exits the Gem, he and Alma share a long look just as she is getting on to a cart with her husband and daughter. There is a very long pause, before Al almost gently reminds Seth where his home is. With the sounds of Merrick announcing that elections are to come for Deadwood, Seth heads to his home, and Alma leaves to hers.

If this had been the last episode of Deadwood, it still could’ve stood as a complete body of work, no matter how truncated compared to its fellow series. As it is, Boy-The-Earth-Talks-To remains a truly magnificent achievement that the series, despite numerous great moments to come, will never quite reach again.