The best episodes of Deadwood
Ranked by viewer rating, highs first. Lit marks on the season rail place this list across the run. Vote on a placement to back it or contest it.
- 01
Swearengen directs Farnum to buy back the Garret claim; Alma prevails on Calamity Jane and Hickok for help.
- 02
I Am Not the Fine Man You Take Me For
Captain Turner tips off Swearengen with a cryptic note to another bloody incident at the Gem; later, Hearst makes his intentions known in a more straightforward way. While Jane finds a captive audience for her oratory skills, the candidates for mayor and sheriff aren't as fortunate. Alma's health raises the issue of Sofia's stewardship and newly reformed Andy Cramed pays a visit to Tolliver, with a different agenda and outcome
- 03
Swearengen transforms the Gem into a courtroom as Deadwood is forced to try a cowardly killer.
- 04
Alma proposes forming a bank, and looks to familiar faces to run it. To test himself, Swearengen grants audience to a long line of supplicants; talks with Farnum and Miss Isringhausen prove most illuminating. The arrival of low-priced Chinese whores begins the next phase in Tolliver and Wolcott's arrangement. Humiliated by Bullock, an angry claim owner looks to "square the scales." An enchanted Merrick tours a new schoolteacher about the camp. Wolcott's inner demons test his alliance with Tolliver, and prompt Stubbs and Utter to covert action.
- 05
Swearengen's shrewd manipulation of the rumor mill pays off in a Yankton counter-offer that requires only slight amending. Meanwhile, George Hearst's arrival in Deadwood has shaken up the camp's status quo from Wu to Farnum to Wolcott. Tolliver, for his part, seeks to avoid marginalization by offering the tycoon damning nuggets about his engineer's nasty habits.
- 06
As Deadwood is overrun by Hearst's men, Bullock issues contingency plans to Martha. Wu is caught in a Pinkerton stampede and delivers a cryptic message, that is solved by the unlikeliest person, to Swearengen. Barrett makes Merrick pay for embarrassing Hearst in "The Pioneer", while Morgan Earp calls out one of the "Pistoleros". As night falls, Langrishe mines Deadwood's talent pool with an amateur-night performance in front of his future theater, financed in part by a "loan" from Alma's bank.
- 07
With the Sheriff out of camp, Alma is assailed by Hearst's men and as she never would have expected, shelter comes from Swearengen. Barrett is sent to the Gem, but Al resorts to old fashion methods of inquiring to his employers plans. Meanwhile, Langrishe recruits a new actor.
- 08
Bullock holds an impromptu morning meeting to determine which emergencies warrant wiring him in Sturgis, where he and Harry are delivering campaign pitches. The first summons doesn't take long, as Hearst follows up Alma's close call with one that's decidedly more on-target. In the aftermath, Alma takes refuge at the Gem, again, while Trixie decides to take matters into her own hands. Langrishe has a falling out with Hearst, giving him little time to huddle with his new lineup of actors. Dismissing the likelihood of ever seeing 23 mercenaries promised by Hawkeye, Swearengen turns to Wu to deliver more reliable, if not quite weapons-tested, reinforcements from Custer City.
- 09
Deadwood breathes easier when riders bring a vaccine--and word of a possible Sioux treaty.
- 10
With annexation looming, Swearengen calls a meeting to set up an informal government.
- 11
As Tolliver tries to find a respectable employee suitable to be his liaison with Hearst, Swearengen tries to understand the reasoning behind Hearst's actions. The conflict becomes more tense as Dority and Captain Turner violently settle their differences. Bullock tries to finally settle the dispute between Steve and Hostetler and another murder brings Bullock once more face to face with Hearst, forcing him to take action. Trixie becomes suspicious of Alma's odd behaviour at the bank. Ellsworth and Alma have a close encounter that alters their relationship. Langrishe welcomes more arrivals from his theater troupe.
- 12
Montana marshal Seth Bullock executes a last act of justice and relocates to a gold-mining camp known as Deadwood, where he and partner Sol Star look to start a hardware business.
- 13
As suspicions arise that 'road agents' may have been the true perpetrators of the massacre, Swearengen takes a special interest in the health of its sole survivor—a young girl ministered to by the unlikely team of Doc Cochran and Calamity Jane.
- 14
Competition arrives for Swearengen in the form of the Bella Union, a gambling outfit from Chicago.
- 15
Bullock encounters native resistance in his quest to bring a murderer to justice.
- 16
An opium theft leaves Swearengen trying to find common language with his supplier.
- 17
In the Season One finale, the U.S. Army--under General Crook, a.k.a. 'Custer's Avengers'--rolls into Deadwood.
- 18
Silas brings Al bad news about the new division of the hill country. In the meantime a shooting at Tom Nuttall's saloon requires the Sheriff's presence. Insulted by Swearengen and in defence of Alma's honor, the latter and Seth Bullock engage in a violent fight. In the meantime a stagecoach with the Sheriff's son and wife, as well as some friends of Joanie Stubbs, comes into camp.
- 19
In the aftermath of the fight, Al enquires about Seth's condition. Meanwhile, the Sheriff is concerned about his future with Alma, not knowing what he should do now that his wife and son have arrived in camp. At the same time he is determined to return to Al, to recover his badge and gun. Charlie Utter tries to delay Bullock, fearing the outcome. Joanie and Maddie begin work on the Chez Ami and Calamity Jane returns to camp.
- 20
Francis Wolcott, agent for the mining magnate George Hearst arrives in Deadwood. Al's condition severely deteriorates from his kidney stones. Enclosed in his room and unable to speak nobody knows about the bad state he is in though, thinking he is simply ignoring them. Farnum tries to con Wolcott by lying about the contents of Hickok's letter. Alma tells Ellsworth that she plans on buying the Grand Central Hotel. Meanwhile rumors start spreading that Deadwood's gold claims might be invalid.
- 21
New arrivals on the stagecoach usher into Deadwood: Jack Langrishe, a stage promoter and friend of Al Swearengen, and Aunt Lou Marchbanks, Hearst's longtime cook. Also returning to town is a newly westernized Wu, with news for "Swegin" about a soon-to-arrive group of imported Hearst workers. Recovered from her ailments, Alma decides to approach Hearst with a claim deal, despite Ellsworth's adamant objections. Bullock uncovers the truth about the Gem killings, and vows to put Hearst on notice. Hearst calls Tolliver's bluff, then offers him a "fresh start."
- 22
While Alma officially opens the bank of Deadwood, Langrishe asks Joanie whether she is willing to sell the Chez Ami, so he could make it into a theatre. Stapleton sets his eye on one of the new actresses in town and Jane receives a telegram from Fields. Hostetler and the latter arrive in camp and engage Steve with regard to the ownership of the livery, forcing Bullock to intervene. Meanwhile, Al delegates Adams to represent him in his affairs with Hearst and Tolliver.
- 23
Merrick and Blazanov deliver the day's edition of "The Pioneer" around camp. A stagecoach arrives accompanied by the sound of gunfire as two strangers (Wyatt and Morgan Earp) come into town, unsettling the Sheriff and Al, who wonder if they're Hearst's men. Swearengen talks to Wyatt Earp, evaluating his story, while Fields prepares for his departure. Jack tells his ailing friend, Chesterton, that he will move him to the theater that day. Lastly, Hearst finds an unexpected doctor for his back problems as he awaits an important "package".
- 24
After tracking down a murderer, Bullock returns to Deadwood a changed man--and a marked one.
- 25
As a convalescing Swearengen bridles, Cochran schools Burns and Dority how best to assist his recovery. Alma is also feeling unwell, mornings. Unexpected profits at the Chez Ami lead Tolliver to an unexpected discovery about Wolcott. Merrick posts a provocative statement from Yankton on title to the claims; Bullock protects Commissioner Jarry from an angry mob, which redirects its ire. After returning a horse to Hostetler at the livery, professional go-between Samuel Fields finds a kindred spirit in Jane.
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