S1, E2

Good shot of "the camp" from the outskirts, where the three men closest to the camera are Sol Stern, Seth Bullock, and the Reverend--they are burying the man Bullock shot the day before. 

Enjoyed this second episode more than I thought I would. After finishing Episode One, truth be told, I went fast-forwarding, scanning ahead to a few dramatic parts I remembered. Having done so, and having remembered that I watched Seasons One and Two, I wasn't sure I'd even be interested in re-watching them.

But it was a fascinating episode--it's fascinating remembering just what makes big bad Al Swearengen so big and so bad. In this episode, he stands up to Seth Bullock (admirably, I thought) but at the same time, he meets with the men who attacked the family in Episode One and tries to get the more drunken one of them to kill Wild Bill Hickok. Then, he pushes his way into the doctor's office to find out the health of the little girl who survived that attack. Finding her alive, he orders his henchman Dan Dority to go kill her.

Al is basically a killing machine. In the first episode, he ordered Driscoll killed for no particular reason--just, he was on Al's nerves, somewhat. He threatened Trixie with death but settled for getting the message across to her that he was letting her live somewhat reluctantly--like, against his better judgment. He also decked one of his employees kind of abruptly ...

Now in Episode Two, he's ordering a little girl killed and Wild Bill Hickok killed. Then, when the henchmen fail to carry out his orders, he kills the surviving henchman--the one who was with the guy who tried to kill Wild Bill and failed. He takes him upstairs, shakes his hand, and then stabs him. Then he calls Dan Dority upstairs--"bring the sled." I think he knows Dan and the Doc are in cahoots against him to save the little girl. Thus, to avoid any problem with the girl identifying any of her attackers, he kills the remaining attacker.

So ... yeah. He gets shit done. It's cool seeing him deal with Bullock--the latter all temperamental, the two of them glaring at each other. Sol counsels Bullock to just deal with Al, just partner up with him. Al is understandably not eager to do business with Bullock either--since the latter keeps giving him all these looks--like, so disgusted at having to do business with the likes of him. Al buys the two of them a drink, and then as he turns around to hand it to him he jokes, "as you can see, I'm unarmed, I don't want there to be any misunderstanding," but Bullock refuses to have any sense of humor about it--which is somewhat honorable, I suppose. Al's just a little bit quicker, I'd say--but they're both very much in their power. Living in the moment, I guess.

As the curtains are drawn on Episode Two, we see Calamity Jane and Charlie Utter hiding the juvenile survivor who Al had tried to have killed. I don't imagine they will have to hide too much longer.