Damn, that's some high-tension stuff they're doing on the show. And now I don't know whether Randy or Namond has a bigger target on his chest. And Michael's implied history of abuse came crashing down today.

That episode was so tightly written (Richard Price, I know) that I can hardly believe that it was less than an hour long. The Bunk undid Omar's incarceration. Carcetti visited homicide, the Eastern, heard Rawls out, and made his move with Daniels. Rawls threw his cards on the table with Burrell. Another wake, another sober McNulty sighting. Prez and his team completely took down the horseshit Leave No Child Behind hypocracy. Colvin and the university people got through to the corner kids. Prez got through to some of his kids. Michael's world became infinitely shittier. The seeds of Randy's destruction were sown. Prop Joe is the funniest motherfucker on the show all the sudden. The seeds of Namond's destruction were sown (in the form of his mother!). Slim Charles appearance, which is never unfortunate. Herc attempted to force Marlo's hand. The major crimes unit is coming back in a big way. Lots of Snoop and Paltrow, and the last of the nail gun that started the season. Did I miss anything?

Herc's still looking for um, Fuzzy Dunlop, but no. Nice little precis, bunk. I hate Namond's mother. Even more than Michael's mother the fiend. That's pathetic and all that, but in a way that I could accept. Namond's mother puts him in harm's way on purpose...that sucks.

How much am I loving Ms. Zenobia this episode?

She was awesome, but that was some harrowing shit for our kids. I love how Carcetti's getting himself schooled, too.

He's learning a lot but it's troubling. I think he'll find, like Prez, that he can only do a fraction of what he wants to.

So the Deadwood S2, disk 1 has showed up from Netflix. I'm eager to watch. Probably tonight.

Yeah, so we watch Deadwood S2.1, A Lie Agreed Upon pt. 1 last night, and damn was it wonderful. It's only problem (a small one) is that it played like a season opener, in that much of the episode is spent establishing who all the characters are, and what the State of Things is. Two primary examples, the utterly gratuitous (considering it's her only appearence in the episode) shot of Jane rousing herself from her horse-back stupor long enough to shout "Cocksuckers!" at the passing stagecoach, and Bullock's extended recap of Alma Garrett and her situation for the benefit of new viewers his wife.

That being said, the hilarity started right off -- Al's semi-drunken, UTI-cranky rant about telegraph poles and the progress of technology had us breathless with laughter. In fact, the whole first ten or fifteen minutes, centering on Al, Dan, and the Bagman, ending with Al's "I would not be staring like that, if I were you," to Bullock, was fan-fucking-tastic.

The fist fight between Bullock and Al was great too -- the quiet assembly of Sol, Dan, Charlie Utter, the Bagman, and Trixie, down in the saloon, waiting to see what violence would erupt and everyone eyeing everyone else; the two combatants going over the balcony rail into the muck below (how tough is Al that he kept on fighting after Seth landed on him?); and best of all, Al's "I do have a knife. It come to me just now."

Poor Cy Tolliver, wanting so badly to rage out on Joanie, but restained by who knows what -- his "love" for her, his knowledge that who he really wants to hurt is Eddie, for ripping him off. And over the course of the episode, it became clear that, like Lando Calrissian's deal with the Empire, Joanie's arrangement with Cy is going to keep being altered to suit him, because frankly he just doesn't want to let her go.

Poor Charlie and Sol getting shot! I was very upset by that. And it's also clear that Bullock's marriage to his brother's widow is strained at best. And how much did I love that Trixe never left Sol's side after he'd been shot!?

And SO MANY really fantastic lines, I can't remember most of them. May need to rewatch.

The wonderfully long, awkward, and more than a little heart-breaking

That episode - hell, that season - is pitch-perfect.

Al's "I do have a knife. It come to me just now."

I love his line about how seeing the boy "unmanned" him. That's a line straight into the heart of Al's psyche.

I should warn you that both High Hat articles dealing with Deadwood assume that you have seen Season 3, so beware of spoilers.

Aw, mine looks so shallow now...less "New Journalist" than "Nice boots" journalist. But Tim Goodman totally writes Simon's name in his notebook and he appears not to be too worried about it.

I'm deliberately avoiding them, Corwood, just in case they're spoilery.