Deadwood Episode Guide: Full Faith and Credit

Written by Ted Mann

Directed by Ed Bianchi

Another problem with the third season of Deadwood is that, more often than not, there are episodes like this where things seem to be happening, but they are buildup with no apparent climax. Where the season works is when it calls back to the past and reveals the harsher divides in the camp and, in a larger sense with society.

This is clear in the major action of the episode. Fields and Hostetler, who left the camp in search of the horse that trampled William Bullock  now return. (Fields has sent a telegraph to Jane announcing their eminent return, but Jane who knows what a bad idea this is, can barely read it to Charlie before the two have ridden back in. In the interval, the overly angry Steve has been caring for horses in the livery. We see him in a rare moment of peace, but the second he sees Hostetler back, he returns to the Number 10, and starts berating his bad fortune which he blames on blacks in general. He becomes so belligerent that after he leaves, Tom actually gets a gun which he holds beneath the barn.

Hostetler’s immediate concern is to bring back the horse and to apologize to Bullock for what he has done, and to try and resume the plans he discussed with Fields when we last saw them. The possibility that Seth is channeling whatever residual grief he may have over William’s death into the rage that powers him is a possibility, but it is more likely the inexorability of the conflict he sees coming is filling him with anger. When Hostetler and Bullock enter the Number 10, and Hostetler simply tries to offer thanks, Steve basically tells Bullock ‘to translate for him’, and continues to ‘indirectly’ use every single slur imaginable – ‘ape’ is the kindest word he uses. Bullock practically has to yank Hostetler outside to stop the two from coming to blows right there.

Bullock then tries to negotiate a ‘plea agreement’ – Hostetler, who was planning to go to Oregon will sell the livery to Steve. He manages to get both parties to agree to it, then goes to the new ‘Bank of Deadwood’ (we’ll get to that in a moment) and negotiates a loan and papers. But when the time comes for both parties to sign off, each man wants the other to sign first – a clear point that the two can’t coexist in the camp. Sol comes to a solution – have them sign simultaneously the next morning ‘when their dicks are down’. But that night Seth confides in bed with Martha that he just can’t see this ending well, though I’m pretty sure not even could foresee what was coming.

Swearengen is still in recovery from Hearst’s attack on him. When the episode opens, Hearst waves at him from his ‘veranda’, and Al doesn’t even acknowledge him. Dan take on itself when Hearst says good morning:

“Best time of day to go fuck yourself.”

He doesn’t provoke Hearst, but he does provoke Turner, who comes to the Gem with a message for Swearengen. When Swearengen makes an offhanded remark about his attack, Turner ignores him, and concentrates on the offense Dan gave, which he considers more pressing.  Dan has now decided that he’s going to ‘kill that cocksucker’, and Al responds: “All in good time”

But Al is more disturbed by this then he lets on. The message Turner comes says for him to meet with Hearst and Tolliver later, and he is clearly unmanned by it. This leads to another monologue while Dolly is trying to fellate him, only this time he is angry because he is unable to ‘come and clear his head’. He blames Dolly for her technique, and then, for small talk asks who does she favor in the election. She tells him Starr for Mayor and Manning for Sheriff, and when he tells her he prefers Bullock, she says: “Bullock yells at you.”

At the meeting, Tolliver is fully willing to act as ‘Hearst’s dog’, but by now Al has given up even the niceties of negotiating. He refuses to kowtow to Hearst any more, and finally gets to the point where he says he will not even meet with Hearst, and that he will have Adams as his representative from here on out. Even at a loss, Al is still the strategist. He demeans Silas in a public, and then makes it clear that the reason he’s chosen Adams as his second is because, not knowing him, Hearst might think Silas will betray his boss – something that Dan, for example, would never do.

But Al is still trying to deal with his own sense of impotence. He ends up confiding in Langrishe – the last person who’d understand and yet already the one person Al is willing to confide in – about the situation, and Jack suggests trying a different hour. Al does so, and then starts blaming Dolly again, and then gets to the core of the matter, by telling another story, comparing how Turner held him reminded him of a similar situation at the orphanage, where he says the proctor stopped him from getting to go with his mother on a ship to New Orleans. This sounds wrong (Milch himself said in his writing that this is Swearengen lying to himself) and that he doesn’t like being held back. Dolly tells him that she doesn’t like it either, and in  a rare moment of self-realization, he realizes he’s been doing the exact same thing to Dolly. When she doesn’t hurt (Milch says by this point ‘she has fallen in love with him’, he hands her some whiskey, and adds ‘Bless you for being a fucking fibber.”

There are other actions going on within this episode, one critical, one less so. As I mentioned earlier, Alma officially opens the Bank of Deadwood, a move that will eventually lead to Hearst escalating his war against her. Unfortunately, at this critical juncture, Alma has decided to impede herself again. This episode confirms what the Doc suspected before – Alma has become addicted to laudanum. And if she was subtle in a way that Trixie didn’t suspect, she flaunts it now. Leon, Tolliver’s opium addicted craps dealer, comes to the bank to secure a loan. Trixie immediately picks up on what is going on, and if Bullock wasn’t so caught up in the Hostetler-Steve drama he might too,. That night, we see married and engaged in the luxury of a new house, but rather than spending time with her child, she is watching for Leon to show up. When she appears, the impression is of a vampire detecting the scent of blood. In a matter of days, all the progress she has made since coming to the camp is gone, and she is the ‘haughty cunt, weak for dope’ that Farnum related to Hearst in the last episode.

The other story going on involves Langrishe’s search for a theater for his troupe. In the last episode, he approached Joanie, and she basically told him to ‘fuck off’ before he could make his intentions clear. In this episode, he comes forward and tries again. Joanie is still unsettled, but goes to Charlie first with her own doubts. As is the case in their unlikely friendship, Charlie (who is dealing with the mess with Hostetler’s arrival) takes the time out of his schedule to try and work the issue out. Joanie admits that she’d been willing to do it, if Langrishe would be willing to build a schoolhouse for the children to replace the Chez Ami’s role. Charlie then approaches Bullock in the midst of his crisis, and in dealing with the idea, Seth actually manages to calm down for a moment. Jack then goes to talk to Al about it, and again we see some insight into his own character. Despite the fact she worked for Tolliver, and was, however, briefly a rival to him, he understands what happened to her, and gives his opinion: “She’s all right.” Considering he can only tolerate Bullock in small doses, this is praise from Caesar.

That night, Joanie agrees to the sale of the Chez Ami at a more than fair price. One of the sweetest moments in a dark series comes when Joanie tells Jane about it, and Jane says that she can sleep anywhere ‘south of the graveyard’. By now, it has become crystal clear that the two are falling in love, even if neither is acknowledging it, even to themselves.  Only when they say their niceties does Jane ask: “So where do you think they’ll put the stage?” Joanie admits: “I don’t know. Ain’t our calling, I guess.”

Perhaps in retrospect, ‘Full Faith and Credit’ is the last bit of calm before the storm. The events involving Hearst are bubbling beneath the surface, and starting in the very next episode, every single problem is going to erupt.