Deadwood Episode Guide: The Whores Can Come

Written by Greg Fienberg

Directed by Bryan McDonald

If the deathwatch for William overshadowed everything that happened in the last episode, The Whores Can Come is completely dominated by his funeral. Mourning follows everyone, except for a few who either can’t seem to comprehend the magnitude of what’s happened, or are too mired in their own problems to care

Swearengen tries to take the attitude that he doesn’t give a damn, but there are signs throughout the episode that it does bother him immensely. In the opening minutes, in one of his rare walks of the streets of the camp, observing the horrors in the celestial section, and then walking towards Bullock’s home, and in the gentlest of terms telling him what is going on with Jarry, who he thinks may try to intervene even today. (Indeed, Jarry does appear and Bullock just barely contains his rage.) When Dan and Johnny ask him he wants to go to service, he flatly says no. When Trixie tries in her own way to persuade him to make a showing, he is brusque with her. And when Jarry tries to approach him with the bribe he solicited in the previous episode, his attitude of refusing to do business ‘on my godson’s funeral’ is one of the few light moments in an episode mired in darkness. It is not until the actual memorial that he appears on his balcony with a look of what appears to be real compassion on his face to Seth. He covers for it by disappearing back into the Gem when the minister completes the reading, then reappearing a minute later.

It is not until the end of the episode, when Dolly is given him yet another blow job, that he gives another of his monologues. Admonishing her about ‘drooling on his balls’, he then asks her politely (for him, anyway) about the surfaces, and then gives an explanation as to why he hates funerals. His brother, who we know from past discussions from epilepsy, died, and after the funeral, he ended up in the house with his father. And if his mother was horrible enough by abandoning him at the orphanage (which he references again her), his father was more openly abusive by constantly beating him. “Never knew where it was coming from,” he says almost casually. Once again, we get a picture of Al opening up to someone he considers a non-person in a way he would never even think of talking to anybody else about.

Jarry remains equally oblivious to the darkness of the day, though admittedly there are signs he is developing a sarcastic streak. He goes to Tolliver and asks him to cash a check for $50,000 with which he intends to bribe Al with. Tolliver, who can see his position, is getting shakier tries to snap back at him for being bitter, and Jarry responds: “Shall we go to the croupier’s cage you locked me in, and did absolutely nothing to protect me?” Jarry considers the realities of events, but seems rather bemused that Swearengen would take a day of mourning. (This is actually something of a problem at his joint, for reasons we’ll get to in a moment.) But Swearengen, who is taking this as a chance for negotiation, gets increasingly hostile, ‘til he responds to one of Jarry’s more pointed inquiries:”

“What a type you must consort with, to not fear beating for such an insult.”

Even then, he doesn’t get the message, and Adams has to escort him out.

Wolcott tries to remain the attitude of cool blandness he had when he first came to camp, but he is beginning to see the ice thaw beneath his feet. He tries to negotiate from this position when he goes to Farnum, and tells him he wishes to buy his hotel, which causes the man to flee to his hideaway in terror. And when Tolliver tries to poke the bear again, referring directly to the murders, Wolcott rebukes him still more, and then reveals the biggest news so far: George Hearst will be in the camp within the week.\

Tolliver continues to isolate himself from just about everybody; alone among the elders, he does not attend William’s funeral, and when Leon returns with the news that Mose will live, he just tells him to get a fix. And even he learns that Hearst is coming to Deadwood, he still is trying to find a way to outflank Wolcott, as if trying to find a larger payout is all he can handle.

But is there a possibility that there is some kind of guilt motivating his behavior? The minister who returned to the camp to see to William’s funeral was none other than Andy Cramed, who claimed after nearing dying in the camp of smallpox, has come to see the word of God.  Farnum doesn’t quite believe it when he hears it (“How’s the new racket paying?” he asks him), but he sees to William’s funeral in a very orderly matter, doesn’t ramble but speaks sincerely (unlike the way Reverend Smith did last season), and is calm to handling both Seth and Martha’s wishes. But Tolliver seems incapable of believing that redemption is impossible, and orders his men to grab Cramed and bring him to the Bella Union. He outright accusing Cramed of putting on an act, which he doesn’t care so much about as long as he gets his cut. Cramed doesn’t remind him that Cy threw him in the woods and left him to die – he doesn’t have to, as Cy uses it as a threat. But considering that throwing Cramed out was the beginning of Tolliver’ s destruction of his ‘family’, there remains the possibility there is some residual shame in what he has done. And Tolliver does what he always does when something becomes shameful to him: he gets angrier.

Everyone else is dealing in their own way with the horrors of what has happened.  Trixie is partially in tears half the time, and asks Al if the whores can come to the funeral. She also is cold to Alma when she comes to see her to ask about Ellsworth’s proposal, but it’s more likely it’s because she wants to comfort Sofia. And when Sol asks Trixie why she went back to Swearengen when he called, she says, it’s because she was a whore first, and you still owe something to your pimp. Then taking a step forward, she says: “I’d like to learn another way.” She then takes charge of the whores, telling them not to shoot dope, drink, and to brush their teeth to get ‘the smell of cock of their breath’.

Joanie and Jane are still dealing with the aftereffects of the previous night, first seeing to Mose (the Doc spends much of the episode making sure that he will recover), and then preparing to get clean for the burial. Jane then proceeds to take a bath, bitching all the while about the hotness of the water (“I burnt my goddamn snatch!”) For all the nudity and sex we have seen on this show, and everything we know about the characters, there is something oddly moving that when Jane undresses, she asks Joanie to turn around, giving a display of modesty that we rarely see on the series. (Of course, this being HBO, the audience isn’t spared.)

And Alma finds herself finally facing the question she spent the last half of the season dealing with. And in a maternal approach, she shows it to Sofia, telling her “we will each take each other’s sadness’ before going to William’s funeral. When Ellsworth escorts them back to the hotel, and gently corrects Sofia on a point of grammar, Alma takes this as a sign. She said she was concerned for the idea of a marriage without love. And knowing that Ellsworth will care for her ward is enough to make her see what a good man he truly is. She finally answers the question. “Yes.”

But of all the people affected by this, of course, Seth and Martha are hit the hardest. Seth spends the opening of the episode building a casket for his son. (Al sees his hand is bloody from his work, and in a gesture that speaks volumes, just hands him a handkerchief.) He spends much of the episode being a pillar of strength for Martha, who barely holds it together. Seth sees that she ahs packed her things, and Martha tells him: “I can’t bear it anymore.” She barely makes it through Cramed requests for the service, and initially says that she wants the burial to be private. But when the actual service takes place, less than halfway through the reading, she runs into the house, and throws herself on the casket, weeping. A little while later, she comes out, and Seth takes her hand. In a moment filled with importance, she changes her mind and says “Let the others see him.” Once again, the camp is unified. And Martha clearly sees a place in it now somehow. The last words Seth says to his wife says: “Let us find a way to go forward”, and just as this is a unifying event for the camp, for all the horror involved, it is one for the Bullocks as well.