And in a way, it's the only end to his journey. What kept him going was the pursuit of the truth and in a way, a pursuit of his wife. By the very end, he's achieved the first, blown his stable quiet bureaucratic life all too hell, and all that's left is to finally catch his wife. Who is dead, so... And yet, at least in the way the last scene was shot, he's not going to actively commit suicide, which is what they want him to do.

Which doesn't really address Corwood's point, but anywho. Having read the book may have filled in any gaps.

No shit, Corwood, you like bleak. But actually "The Wire" has a lot of humor and "Deadwood" believes more strongly in community than I would have guessed when I started watching.

Shh, E. You're killing my street rep!

They're both darker than a motherfucker, though, okay?

I feel you.

They're both darker than a motherfucker, though, okay?

I've got the first season of DEADWOOD in my possession now (I'm watching the third as it's coming out - I don't mind being spoiled or playing catch up on a good show), and, knowing what's coming up, I'm thinking that watching Kristen Bell get beaten to a pulp, shot and then fed to pigs is going to be tougher to watch than the eye-popping street fight. Maybe if I hadn't been following VM from day one it wouldn't be so bad, but there you go.

It was even harder on Ricky Jay.

It was even harder on Ricky Jay.

Yeah, I notice HE'S not on the show anymore either. His fate I don't know - I am hoping he gets out under his own speed (and not in a permanently out kind of way).

And they're hard to quote in public, though I did in a fancy restaurant in Sausalito not that long ago. Fuck it...I'm not from there. It might make a nice change, being the "Fuck.""Motherfucker" girl instead of the chick in the wheelchair, but even so....maybe a bit too much. But our waiters would have more likely recognized dirty language from The Sopranos, anyway.

I really loved The Constant Gardener, and the ending worked well for me. I don't remember the details, but I'm pretty sure it made sense to me how the murderers were going to find him. It was out in the middle of nowhere, sure, but it was also a place they'd been to before, so that didn't require any suspension of my disbelief. As for why he had to die, I agree with sarameg -- it was the end of his journey, and he couldn't go back to who he'd been before. Also, the people who'd been following him and threatening him to try to keep him silent gave every indication that they would keep their word and kill him once he exposed them, so it's not as though he had much chance for a happy, peaceful life at that point.