Deadwood “The Catbird Seat”

Well, Hearst made another move, and he paid for it.

Sort of.

Hearst has been fuming and hating his time in Deadwood for quite some time.  He wants Bullock dead, and maybe most of the rest of the camp as well.  After an ineffective attempted assassination on Alma failed to get him her claim or Bullock dead, he has someone killed.

That would be Whitney Ellsworth, Alma’s husband, who has a nice monologue addressed to a dog before he’s shot in the head.

Now, for a lot of shows, this might be the end of the episode.  Or the next thing would be.  That would be when Trixie finds out and decides to do something about it.  She has a small gun, and she’s a woman.  Walking up to Hearst’s room with her shirt open, and then lifting her skirt, he’s too busy noticing everything but her face when she shoots him and runs off.

Did Hearst die?  No.  And Trixie suspects as much and runs to Sol for help.

So, here would be where a lot of shows would end the episode.  But this is Deadwood, where the characters need to react and try to figure out what to do.  That means Alma runs to Swearengen’s again, Al tries to get through to Wu to bring his Chinese immigrants to Deadwood for back-up (Wu doesn’t seem to get it).  Bullock goes to comfort Alma and then with Doc Cochran tries to figure out whether or not it’s OK for Alma’s adopted daughter Sophia can see the body.

So, while it seems Hearst will live, what will he do now?  He’s got people coming, and Jarry even admits he’s there to rig the vote.

Too bad given the series untimely cancellation, we may never know.