New Money

Recapped by Al Lowe · Aired 2005-03-20 · S02E03 · Page 1 of 16

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This is not a stage play where you can trot out the guy from Act I who played 'Gambler Number 3' at the horse track, and now suddenly after intermission he's a waiter at the Hot Box and nobody notices because we're all twenty rows back. I mean, I'm looking right at the guy.

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Al Lowe
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Oh, gracious. We open this episode hearing the soft groaning of Al, who is on the floor of his rooms, laid out in his union suit beside the overturned, empty piss pot. Al is in a bad way. A very, very bad way. Shivering and grimacing, he seems truly beside himself with anguish. Outside his door, his employees are oblivious to is condition. The whores are ready to open for bidness, but Dan tells them, morning coffee in hand, that the Gem will open "when me and Johnny fuckin' say so, and you three, hovering around like buzzards outside Al's door, will not hasten the situation." Big words, but Johnny doesn't seem so confident about the unique situation of Al's absence, here. Dan tries to reassure him by whispering out of earshot of the whores that Al's just tired, having worked until sun-up, and deserves to sleep in. Johnny is still worried, though. "He locks the door, Dan, when he leaves his office," Johnny says. "Al does not lock the door when he's inside." Dan's worried but he's not going to let Johnny see it, so he smarts back with, "Well, that's just the exception that proves the fuckin' rule."

Outside, E.B. Farnum is welcoming a new guest to town. The guy seems a bit of a dandy. He also seems...kinda familiar. The same actor who played Jack McCall in Season 1, Garret Dillahunt, is back to play the new guy, Mr. Francis Wolcott. Tricksy Milch with the double-casting. I really like Dillahunt, but what? Are there just not enough actors in Hollywood to go around? This is not a stage play where you can trot out the guy from Act I who played "Gambler Number 3" at the horse track, and now suddenly after intermission he's a waiter at the Hot Box and nobody notices because we're all twenty rows back. I mean, I'm looking right at the guy.

I'm just saying, it's an interesting choice -- Dillahunt is pretty incredible, in both parts, so in that way it's rather fascinating.

Wolcott has a bunch of fancy luggage, and seeing this, E.B. practically licks his lips, clearly thinking he's got a mark. He asks Wolcott what he's doing in Deadwood, and receives a quick answer: "Gold."

In the House of Clench, Bullock is sitting down for breakfast. He notes that his wife, Martha, has bought provisions for the house. She says yes, she bought stuff last night while waiting on him to come home. "Twenty-four-hour camp," he says, and they share a smirk. Ah, free enterprise. I wonder if there's a Super Wal-Mart in Deadwood these days. If so, we learn here that they came by it honestly.

While she prepares his eggs and whatnot, Bullock broaches the subject of the events of the day before -- specifically their moment in the hardware store when Mrs. Garret came in and dropped (off) her basket. I should note that, sitting here with Martha, he is completely UnClenched. Bullock: "Certain things I said yesterday I regret. I'd be thankful if you'd not rely on them." She quietly says "all right," not really asking for an explanation, but he goes on: "Representations I made as to letters I'd written...I didn't." Not skipping a beat, she prepares to dish out his scrambled, saying, "I'll be grateful then if you'd not rely on my...assurance that I got them." He gives her a patented Bullock Family "all right," but she's not quite done. "I'll hold my deepest gratitude, Mr. Bullock," she says, "for what will let us live as we are now." This does make Bullock clench at a mild level. His wife is asking to, you know, be his wife, and she seems pretty serious about it.

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