dialogue | Deadwood | Sci Fi
I have been watching the first season of Deadwood on DVD, and finding all kinds of interesting bits to admire. This line of dialogue jumped out at me, as it did the first time I heard it:
I begrudge that pervert his capacity for happiness.
This from the hotelier E.B. Farnum (played by William Sanderson), who provides a really excellent example of complex characterization. On the surface E.B. seems like nothing more than a weasel without any scruples, but there's a lot more to him. He's completely self aware and unapologetic, but more interesting: he's articulate in a stilted, sometimes funny but often strikingly on-target way, so that I find myself wondering what kind of family he came from. He must have had some education, and yet here he is in an outlaw town, nickel and diming himself to wealth, sleezy as Eddy Haskel, and twice as scruffy. In fact, I just realized: he reminds me of a less-than-successful Iago. Just as manipulative and scheming, but without the personal charm to really pull off a coup.
If I think about a secondary character this much, it means (to me) that the writers and actors have done an excellent job.
In case you're wondering, the man whose happiness he's begruding is a regular visitor to The Gem Saloon, a man with a fetish that has earned him the nickname the titlicker.
It's Friday evening, which means I put everything down except whatever bit of sewing I'm working on to sit in front of the television with my husband so we can watch the Sci-Fi channel. The three shows, in order: Battlestar Galactica, Stargate Atlantis, and Stargate SG1. Of these three, I'd have to say that Battlestar Galactica is the one that I like best for its storytelling and writing, although there isn't a single character that stands out for me above the others. I wish I could say that I liked Stargate SG1 as much, especially as Ben Browder of Farscape has joined the cast (permanently) and Claudia Black is there for the first five episodes or so... but. It's an established show with an established writing staff, and I'm just not a huge fan of the style or the premise, which often strikes me as having run its course. I love seeing Ben Browder in a new role, and I think he's doing a fantastic job with the material he's got -- but the material itself is lacking. On the other hand, early Farscape had some eps that didn't work, and that came around beautifully. So I'm giving SG1 every chance. And as others have pointed out to me so cleverly, it is actually good to see the actors whose work I followed so closely for four years in new roles that allow them to stretch in different directions. Although it does take some getting used to to have Claudia Browder as the flirty bad girl with an exhibitionist streak.