Deadwood

"Pain or damage don't end the world, or despair, or fuckin' beatings.
The world ends when you're dead.
Until then, you got more punishment in store.
Stand it like a man- and give some back." -Al Swearengen

The past two weeks I rewatched my favorite TV show Deadwood. From the aesthetic to the acting to the dialogue itself it is an incredible piece of storytelling. Not only is it a great western it's a poignant allegory for civilization.

I've watched the series now a couple times, each time more layers unfold and I can spot more subtlety. Each time I learn something, not in an after-school-special kind of way but in a broad life lesson type of way. Themes of compromise, communication, violence, empowerment, corporatization, contrition, justice, revenge, and many others are explored. The show has taught me a lot about people, individual ambitions and desires and how they meld with society at large. How to soldier on, how to weather adversity, how to negotiate, how to conspire. In an almost antithetical way its characters, despite their deficiencies, work toward the greater good.

It's a fearless show that advocates courage. Despite all the booze and the swearing and the prostitution it's a show about people standing strong against the dark.