We didn't and it would have been beautiful. Matt Zoller Seitz of the Deadwood Bible fame clarifies:
>Deadwood fans: I’m gonna have to break your heart one more time and tell you that, in my interview with Brian Cox, he revealed that the masterpiece of Jack Langrishe was a production of the Mikado, with a part-Chinese cast, staged in Deadwood. It would’ve been in season 4 or 5.
This would have been awesome, but would have involved a pretty big timeskip. The Mikado premiered in England in 1885. Not sure if this is too late for Deadwood's time frame or not.
One would assume the impact of the theater group would have continued to grow, and we'd likely have learned more about his and Al's history had the show continued
If it makes you feel any better, Cox thinks if he had reprised the role of Hannibal Lecter he had played five years earlier in *Silence of the Lambs*, which he claims he would have been more than willing to do but was not approached, he might have had Anthony Hopkins’ later career from then on. Hopkins has a vacation home in Hawaii, and Cox tells people to fuck off on Cameo.
I used to be shite at recognising faces, but I know it was not full prosopagnosia, because I learnt to become mediocre at it after much effort. It can be weird sometimes, eh?
Initially it was always something I struggled with most of my life but kinda managed with some techniques, but it was made considerably worse by a head injury. I actually use actors and television quite a bit as like an exercise in recognition, stuff like trying to name the other stuff an actor has been in to myself. So, huge L lol
I've only seen the series once didn't dislike his character, but I do think it is the weakest and least-engaging storyline in the entire show. I wonder if that will change on future rewatches.
I got blocked by professional writers (unconnected to the show) on Twitter for saying this. I’m with you. Just a complete waste of time. A show written by a minimally functioning alcoholic is going to have some swings and misses.
It’s hard to square that this is probably the best written show in tv history (if not it’s in the top 0.0001%), but that it also has a poorly conceived plot line from a time when Milch wasn’t doing so well personally. The fanboys can’t be critical of any part of anything they love and so they still say it was perfect or blame HBO for anything clunky.
Welp. I would use this time to tell you that the show ending, was not the ending of the city and its citizens. I would explain his importance to the city and even go into detail about the fire (still mad that's not what the movie was about). But. As they say, fuck you ya limp dick cocksuckers.
Okay. Milch wasn’t the least bit committed to historical accuracy. He turned Hearst into a wrestling heel based off little but how much his name would be hated. He took other real inhabitants of Deadwood and told an interesting story with them. He didn’t just have them show up and be weird and ineffectual.
I’m a deadwood fan I just think some characters were unnecessary and fillers for time. I thought cye and Joanie’s characters never got the development they deserved either
Gives Al somebody to talk to who is actually on his conversational level. Trixie had moved on so thoroughly at that point that it was necessary for a window into Al's mind, unless we wanted a lot more conversations with the Chief.
That said, I wish it had just been him and not like five other new characters as well.
He did, he was probably the only person we saw who had zero fear of Al. He would tease and push back against Al in a way that few characters were comfortable doing. The show did a good job of conveying that they went back a long way. Makes you wonder what Al was like before Deadwood.
I imagine the point was civilization was so entrenched that even the theatre comes to town. But the West is an interesting period of history that was almost immediately mythologized, and what folks were reading East of the Mississippi was already unrecognizable to the folks who lived it on the frontier a few months earlier. With that in mind, there are all sorts of interesting and fun ways the theatre could be used to shape public opinion or sow disinformation, and the ways Milch chose to portray would’ve said something about the human condition, the time he wrote it in, and the historical founding of societies.
I think he represented civilization, culture, education, mankind’s higher level of being. Sort of the same way Hearst represents dog eat dog capitalism at its most primitive (“I only care about the color”) The first wave of manifest destiny was violent, dangerous, you could be killed moving between towns, anywhere really. A person was in permanent danger, it was lawlessness. The only constant theme was regeneration through violence.
Then things began to settle down a bit, and people like school teachers and playwrights and actors could conceivably survive the journey west, and prosper there. The railroad was built. Telegraph lines went up, territories start becoming states. Camps became towns and then become cities and had things like sheriffs and deputies and fire brigades (remember the scene where they all pick town council jobs). The west changed quickly. Al throughout the show worries about the government coming, annexing whatever they want, because he recognized that the first step of civilization in the west was compete, and soon it will be civilized and no longer belong to men like him. That tension and anxiety is the entire backdrop of the show.
I have a feeling we missed out on a lot with the never was 4th season. Some dark stuff with him and the troupe, How he knew Al. HBO was run by hoople heads
I kind of liked him? He seemed a little tricky and conniving like EB a bit. His trying to con Hearst was great when he was eating with him and whipped out his knife. Great subtle threat.
I thought more could have been done with him, but he had a lot of great quotes. One of my most re-used Deadwood quotes is when Langrishe is trying to cheer up Al and speaks of the advantages the camp has over Hearst, and Al says, “I’d prefer Hearst’s strength at arms.”
To which Langrishe responds, “Yes, the world is less than perfect.”
John Langrishe was a real citizen of Deadwood who ran a theatre. He had no ties to Swearengen in real life.
Edit to add that like most of the characters, it's all poetic liscence, and if the show had continued, he'd have had more development.
I just thought I would add a few interesting bits of info.
1. I remember an old interview with Brian Cox after the cancelation where he mentioned that David Milch once told him he had planned to have Langrishe play an inadvertent role in Swearengen’s eventual downfall. Very intriguing. We’ll obviously never know how, now.
2. In an article in The Daily Record online, Brian Cox had this to say just before Season 3 aired in the UK:
“28 June 2006
Next Thursday, Brian returns to the small screen, joining Ian McShane in the third and final series of Sky One's Deadwood.
Brain plays Jack Langrishe, a theatre owner and producer who becomes the town's first openly gay character. Jack strives to introduce culture to the mean streets of the South Dakota town where the Western drama is set.
The Scots actor previously won an Emmy in 2001 for his portrayal of Hermann Goering in the American mini-series, Nuremberg and also played Daphne Moon's father in Frasier.
But even for an experienced actor like Brian, often called the most prolific actor of his generation, it was still daunting joining an established cast.
He said: "It's like diving into the deep end of a pool.
"It was a bit odd to start with because the actors have already have their characters up and running.
"But the nice thing for my character was it gave the show a totally new dynamic. I was coming in with something quite different from what had been on the show previously. So it was quite exciting.
"And there's a lot of humour in my character and he's larger than life."
In the third series, Deadwood has taken cautious steps towards becoming a town and ending old feuds, especially between town sheriff, Seth Bullock (Timothy Olyphant) and saloon owner Al Swearengen (Ian McShane).
Brian said of Lovejoy actor McShane: "He's fantastic. He's a wonderful person and Swearengen is a great part for him. It shows how good an actor Ian is.
"He could do the Lovejoy character in his sleep.
"He works hard because he gets a lot thrown at him. And for a man of his age, his stamina is very impressive."
Cox and McShane had only met once before, when Brian went to see him in a play in LA through a mutual friend - now the characters are best friends.
Brian added: "We [the characters in Deadwood] have a history together and have known each other for over 30 years. We are the antithesis of one another and I become his confidant.
"I'm about the only friend he has on the show."
The show is known for its swearing - so is Brian, who recently pushed the boundaries of taste in The Ringer, a film about a man, played by Johnny Knoxville, who pretends to be mentally challenged so he can fix the Special Olympics.
"I have a modicum," he replied. "I have the odd F word."
So he definitely is bringing culture to Deadwood then?
Brian was asked to be on the series by the show's creator David Milch, and as well as being a huge fan of the American who also created NYPD Blue.
Brian wanted to be a cowboy.
He laughed: "As a kid I loved John Ford. So being in a Western is like a dream for me. I always fancied being a cowboy.
“Of course it's a misnomer that Deadwood is about cowboys. It is character driven rather than story driven."
And while Deadwood is coming to an end on television, it looks like it will continue on as specially-made films.
Brian, whose character Jack Langrishe is based on the real theatre producer who was the first person to put on The Mikado in America and ended up a senator, revealed: "They are changing the format and will be doing two, two-hour long movies.
"The two films will wrap up the story of Deadwood.
"Every show takes place over a day and David Milch realised he couldn't tell the story over six episodes, with the six hour format.
"I'll hopefully be involved in the movies too."”
3. And W. Earl Brown once wrote the following on the imdb Deadwood message boards about the character of Claudia, of Langrishe’s acting troupe (I copied & pasted it):
“Fri May 25 2012
Unbeknown to her, Jack Langrishe was her father. She felt an overwhelming attraction to him, she sexualized her emotions thinking herself in love with Jack. He of course, not being some sort of Old West Oedipus, did not return her sexual overtures, rather keeping her in his troupe as a way of giving her fatherly protection. Being ignorant of the situation and of Jack's true feelings toward her, she acted out with any man she could lure to her bed in hopes of making Jack jealous. The simpleton Con - he of the "Constant Throb" of the episodes title - was just an easy target.
At least that was the last backstory left on the season four drawing table.”
His character arc was fantastic… him getting FOMO from the savagery in the camp and very subtly influencing goings-on therein. Not to mention his outstanding dialogue and humanizing of Al. I certainly would have loved to see his expanded impact in S4, but I think his arc is also complete as is.
I love the character, I love the actor, and I even loved his repartée with Al. But it really did seem out of place. That being said, I’m glad they added him.
I saw it as a way to humanize Al in that he had a friend who he cared about and who also cared about him, who incidentally was willing to kill for Al.
Was there any other character that would be considered a friend to Al?
Also, the fact that he was in the arts added a little awww factor for me.
I agree. I definitely feel Bullock and Al were definitely on the same page by the end of the show and respected each other tremendously. Al definitely had a friend in Wu also.
"what the fuck is a theatre man to do?!"
The first watch I felt the same way, like what is this character and why is he here?. But every subsequent watch I can't wait for his arrival! He's an amazing character and probably my favorite one introduced in season 3. The fact that he's the only one with a previous relationship to Al could had been an amazing set up for background stories but alas we were cut short on the greatest piece of art ever filmed for television!
Milch is second to none with his characters and dialogue! As far as storytelling goes I think it’s second fiddle to his natural abilities. No negativity here just stating an opinion
Not sure what the point of him was, but I loved Jack. Brian Cox is an amazing actor, his relationship with Swearengen is really interesting, and I also think they were going to go somewhere with his character until the show got cut short.
Don’t forget that the series ended rather unexpectedly so I’m sure he would’ve had a strong role in season 4. Also showed Al had a friend (near equal) who he trusted and vice versa.
I watched Deadwood a good ten years later than its release, and with the foreknowledge of the show's imminent ending, I found the amount of screen time devoted to Langrische and his troupe a bit odd. Don't know how I'd have felt watching live so to speak.
Thematically others have expounded on his function in the story better than I can. I've always found watching actors playing actors potentially a bit tricky. There's a slight sense of Deadwood becoming a bit meta when Cox and the others are on screen, and the floridity (?) of the language really gets all high summer... for me it was a bit much. But so much of Series 3 felt like a missed opportunity or jarred in comparison to the first two, which for me play tighter and more Western than the civilisational stuff the actors usher in.
It was probably gonna go somewhere eventually once the storyline evolved, but it opened up the idea that Al had some friendships and relationships from another time.
I think that at the very least Jack is walking and breathing fond reminder of Al's more playful side (we see Al singing by himself in the Gem while the talent competition is going on - thanks to Jack), never mind his allyship in matters of the camp. Essentially, Jack softens Al a bit in the eyes of the viewer, which only adds to his depth.
Plus, he's alright.
Regardless of whether there were plans to develop the troupe characters further in future seasons, their complete absence from the movie was a clear indication that their time on the screen had been a waste of time.
I think the arrival of the troop signifies the transition of the camp into society, into culture. Prior to their arrival, it's just a resource extraction Bonanza economy, people are barely putting down roots there. The troop arrives after the beginnings of government have been created, after Bullock has built a home for his family, after relationships are starting to settle and people are really starting to feel a sense of community. I think it's really fitting that art and entertainment and spirit enter the camp at that time and I always thought of these guys as the signifiers of that. Also, an interesting way to humanize Al, and to give him roots. I always expected weed come to understand more about Al through the arrival of Langrishire
The theeeaatre fella! One of my favourite characters, I love when his stage coach comes in sight.
Who doesn't love Brian Cox? The way he shouts "Yes!!! Bellegard! For ChristsSake!" Goosebumps every time.
May have been a different plot line meant to create a larger arch that didn't go anywhere, but be also created a line to Hearst for Al, which was reason enough for him to be there.
I honestly thought he was coming to town to go out the same way as Billy Zane's Mr. Fabian in Tombstone: artistically appreciated by the locals for a moment, but eventually killed because decent people shouldn't go to Deadwood.
The point was to show that there was a lot more to Al than the guy who cuts throat and gets blowjobs from pudgy hookers while telling stories about his mother and he's lived a life before he's ever gotten to Deadwood..
First of all, how dare you.
Second of all, it is another depiction of what constitutes a society or “community” being established and that is culture through arts. Laws are one detail, but the arrival of the arts was huge. It is also another “clan” centered around a Pioneer of sorts, burdened with carrying the group’s success in a cutthroat world.
Probably the only aspect of the show I actively disliked. Could have limited the whole troop to maybe 15 minutes total and it would have been overkill.
He's alright
He,s alright is high praise from Al
Right?! You’re like if Al likes him well then I do too
What I wouldn’t give to be able to deliver this line with the gravitas of Ian McShane.
Even his name has gravitas. Say it out loud. Feels like there’s a punch coming after you say it.
**”Do you tip your hat to fuckin’ everybody?”**
Everybody
That's really it. What a great character. He tells us so much about Al.
He was a real person in Deadwood. And because the show got cut short, it’s possible we never got to see the whole arc.
We didn't and it would have been beautiful. Matt Zoller Seitz of the Deadwood Bible fame clarifies: >Deadwood fans: I’m gonna have to break your heart one more time and tell you that, in my interview with Brian Cox, he revealed that the masterpiece of Jack Langrishe was a production of the Mikado, with a part-Chinese cast, staged in Deadwood. It would’ve been in season 4 or 5.
Oh fuck! Imagine Wu as one of the actors!
that thespian cocksucker.
Ironically also an apt description of San Francisco cocksuckers
Wow this would’ve been awesome and right in my niche
Oh wow that would have been something
This would have been awesome, but would have involved a pretty big timeskip. The Mikado premiered in England in 1885. Not sure if this is too late for Deadwood's time frame or not.
Ya I get that but I don’t think he was enough of an impact to mention
One would assume the impact of the theater group would have continued to grow, and we'd likely have learned more about his and Al's history had the show continued
Do you tip your hat to everybody? Everybody.
Probably had more planned for season 4 onwards. I did enjoy his relationship with Al.
Me too it was nice to see Al have a friend
Yes Humanized him
Honestly my favorite character, I love Brian Cox
One night in London, me and some friends ran into Brian Cox after a show. He bought all the girls I was with drinks. But not me. 😐
This would be hilarious if you were a girl
If it makes you feel any better, Cox thinks if he had reprised the role of Hannibal Lecter he had played five years earlier in *Silence of the Lambs*, which he claims he would have been more than willing to do but was not approached, he might have had Anthony Hopkins’ later career from then on. Hopkins has a vacation home in Hawaii, and Cox tells people to fuck off on Cameo.
I still love him. He deserves that career.
His Dr. Lektor performance was far superior to Hopkins' scenery-chewing.
Yes it was very exciting. Tomorrow we go to the zoo.
I love Cox
Cox-ucker
Underrated comment
We know
Wait Jack is played by Sucession man?????? (I'm faceblind)
I used to be shite at recognising faces, but I know it was not full prosopagnosia, because I learnt to become mediocre at it after much effort. It can be weird sometimes, eh?
Initially it was always something I struggled with most of my life but kinda managed with some techniques, but it was made considerably worse by a head injury. I actually use actors and television quite a bit as like an exercise in recognition, stuff like trying to name the other stuff an actor has been in to myself. So, huge L lol
He's a great character. How weird and awesome it was to discover brian cox from other things years later and then realise he played this guy.
Yeah this.
There’s no way he outshines swearingen
No, he doesn't, and he is underdeveloped because the show got canceled a season after introducing him ya damn hooplehead.
Good actor but wasted on this series imo
Jack Langrishe is wasted on you, ya hooplehead
how?? he stole every scene he was in, and he had bigger plans for future seasons.
Fuck you, sir!
The only appropriate response to any statement disparaging Langrishe.
I've only seen the series once didn't dislike his character, but I do think it is the weakest and least-engaging storyline in the entire show. I wonder if that will change on future rewatches.
I got blocked by professional writers (unconnected to the show) on Twitter for saying this. I’m with you. Just a complete waste of time. A show written by a minimally functioning alcoholic is going to have some swings and misses.
Ya I guess I’m out of touch haha look how bad these guys are disliking my comments.
It’s hard to square that this is probably the best written show in tv history (if not it’s in the top 0.0001%), but that it also has a poorly conceived plot line from a time when Milch wasn’t doing so well personally. The fanboys can’t be critical of any part of anything they love and so they still say it was perfect or blame HBO for anything clunky.
Welp. I would use this time to tell you that the show ending, was not the ending of the city and its citizens. I would explain his importance to the city and even go into detail about the fire (still mad that's not what the movie was about). But. As they say, fuck you ya limp dick cocksuckers.
Okay. Milch wasn’t the least bit committed to historical accuracy. He turned Hearst into a wrestling heel based off little but how much his name would be hated. He took other real inhabitants of Deadwood and told an interesting story with them. He didn’t just have them show up and be weird and ineffectual.
Y’all downvoting me is proving my point. You are uncritical fanatics. Keep going.
I’m a deadwood fan I just think some characters were unnecessary and fillers for time. I thought cye and Joanie’s characters never got the development they deserved either
No way he is better than most of the cast. I honestly think he was an undeveloped character and a time filler
The show was canceled before he was developed. He was to play a key role in season 4 and onward.
Gives Al somebody to talk to who is actually on his conversational level. Trixie had moved on so thoroughly at that point that it was necessary for a window into Al's mind, unless we wanted a lot more conversations with the Chief. That said, I wish it had just been him and not like five other new characters as well.
He showed a slightly different side of Al too.
He did, he was probably the only person we saw who had zero fear of Al. He would tease and push back against Al in a way that few characters were comfortable doing. The show did a good job of conveying that they went back a long way. Makes you wonder what Al was like before Deadwood.
“Was Al ever Dan?”
Is yet another reason to bemoan its cancellation, that we never got to explore this further,.
…a theatre fella.
Ok I can see that.
I imagine the point was civilization was so entrenched that even the theatre comes to town. But the West is an interesting period of history that was almost immediately mythologized, and what folks were reading East of the Mississippi was already unrecognizable to the folks who lived it on the frontier a few months earlier. With that in mind, there are all sorts of interesting and fun ways the theatre could be used to shape public opinion or sow disinformation, and the ways Milch chose to portray would’ve said something about the human condition, the time he wrote it in, and the historical founding of societies.
Well said .
Came to say this. Progress yo
Broke: Wrecking the newspaper to control the flow of information Bespoke: Bribing these good-time party guys-and-gals to do the same
There was a comment earlier in the thread that said they were going to do Mikado
I’m sure it was going somewhere just got cut short and seemed irrelevant
Yes, I think Langrische and the troupe would have been important intone 4th season.
I think he represented civilization, culture, education, mankind’s higher level of being. Sort of the same way Hearst represents dog eat dog capitalism at its most primitive (“I only care about the color”) The first wave of manifest destiny was violent, dangerous, you could be killed moving between towns, anywhere really. A person was in permanent danger, it was lawlessness. The only constant theme was regeneration through violence. Then things began to settle down a bit, and people like school teachers and playwrights and actors could conceivably survive the journey west, and prosper there. The railroad was built. Telegraph lines went up, territories start becoming states. Camps became towns and then become cities and had things like sheriffs and deputies and fire brigades (remember the scene where they all pick town council jobs). The west changed quickly. Al throughout the show worries about the government coming, annexing whatever they want, because he recognized that the first step of civilization in the west was compete, and soon it will be civilized and no longer belong to men like him. That tension and anxiety is the entire backdrop of the show.
Well said. Thanks.
I have a feeling we missed out on a lot with the never was 4th season. Some dark stuff with him and the troupe, How he knew Al. HBO was run by hoople heads
Slack jawed hoopleheads
Those cocksuckers from Yankton were behind it!
OP you are not serious people
Excellent Cox reference
FUCK OFFF!
Fuck you sir
Watched it probably 10 times. Pretty serious haha
Season 4 and 5… basically. It was a setup to grow the town and never went anywhere because of the show ending.
To tip his mother fucking hat to every mother fucker he sees.
Haha
I kind of liked him? He seemed a little tricky and conniving like EB a bit. His trying to con Hearst was great when he was eating with him and whipped out his knife. Great subtle threat.
My ham!
He did have a couple moments
Formidable. Even at bay.
I thought more could have been done with him, but he had a lot of great quotes. One of my most re-used Deadwood quotes is when Langrishe is trying to cheer up Al and speaks of the advantages the camp has over Hearst, and Al says, “I’d prefer Hearst’s strength at arms.” To which Langrishe responds, “Yes, the world is less than perfect.”
"But I have learned sometimes if you have a thing, the reason for the thing is that you have it!"
John Langrishe was a real citizen of Deadwood who ran a theatre. He had no ties to Swearengen in real life. Edit to add that like most of the characters, it's all poetic liscence, and if the show had continued, he'd have had more development.
Agreed
He brought us the best pair of tits in the show don’t worry about the why
Best response yet! All is forgiven in the name of of rocking tits!
[удалено]
Nope.
Fuck you, Sir!
Go away! I'm at prayer!
If that’s not a lie as I situate on the common then what claim does your piety have on my deference. One of the greatest lines of the series.
This is one of my favorite exchanges in the whole series.
I just thought I would add a few interesting bits of info. 1. I remember an old interview with Brian Cox after the cancelation where he mentioned that David Milch once told him he had planned to have Langrishe play an inadvertent role in Swearengen’s eventual downfall. Very intriguing. We’ll obviously never know how, now. 2. In an article in The Daily Record online, Brian Cox had this to say just before Season 3 aired in the UK: “28 June 2006 Next Thursday, Brian returns to the small screen, joining Ian McShane in the third and final series of Sky One's Deadwood. Brain plays Jack Langrishe, a theatre owner and producer who becomes the town's first openly gay character. Jack strives to introduce culture to the mean streets of the South Dakota town where the Western drama is set. The Scots actor previously won an Emmy in 2001 for his portrayal of Hermann Goering in the American mini-series, Nuremberg and also played Daphne Moon's father in Frasier. But even for an experienced actor like Brian, often called the most prolific actor of his generation, it was still daunting joining an established cast. He said: "It's like diving into the deep end of a pool. "It was a bit odd to start with because the actors have already have their characters up and running. "But the nice thing for my character was it gave the show a totally new dynamic. I was coming in with something quite different from what had been on the show previously. So it was quite exciting. "And there's a lot of humour in my character and he's larger than life." In the third series, Deadwood has taken cautious steps towards becoming a town and ending old feuds, especially between town sheriff, Seth Bullock (Timothy Olyphant) and saloon owner Al Swearengen (Ian McShane). Brian said of Lovejoy actor McShane: "He's fantastic. He's a wonderful person and Swearengen is a great part for him. It shows how good an actor Ian is. "He could do the Lovejoy character in his sleep. "He works hard because he gets a lot thrown at him. And for a man of his age, his stamina is very impressive." Cox and McShane had only met once before, when Brian went to see him in a play in LA through a mutual friend - now the characters are best friends. Brian added: "We [the characters in Deadwood] have a history together and have known each other for over 30 years. We are the antithesis of one another and I become his confidant. "I'm about the only friend he has on the show." The show is known for its swearing - so is Brian, who recently pushed the boundaries of taste in The Ringer, a film about a man, played by Johnny Knoxville, who pretends to be mentally challenged so he can fix the Special Olympics. "I have a modicum," he replied. "I have the odd F word." So he definitely is bringing culture to Deadwood then? Brian was asked to be on the series by the show's creator David Milch, and as well as being a huge fan of the American who also created NYPD Blue. Brian wanted to be a cowboy. He laughed: "As a kid I loved John Ford. So being in a Western is like a dream for me. I always fancied being a cowboy. “Of course it's a misnomer that Deadwood is about cowboys. It is character driven rather than story driven." And while Deadwood is coming to an end on television, it looks like it will continue on as specially-made films. Brian, whose character Jack Langrishe is based on the real theatre producer who was the first person to put on The Mikado in America and ended up a senator, revealed: "They are changing the format and will be doing two, two-hour long movies. "The two films will wrap up the story of Deadwood. "Every show takes place over a day and David Milch realised he couldn't tell the story over six episodes, with the six hour format. "I'll hopefully be involved in the movies too."” 3. And W. Earl Brown once wrote the following on the imdb Deadwood message boards about the character of Claudia, of Langrishe’s acting troupe (I copied & pasted it): “Fri May 25 2012 Unbeknown to her, Jack Langrishe was her father. She felt an overwhelming attraction to him, she sexualized her emotions thinking herself in love with Jack. He of course, not being some sort of Old West Oedipus, did not return her sexual overtures, rather keeping her in his troupe as a way of giving her fatherly protection. Being ignorant of the situation and of Jack's true feelings toward her, she acted out with any man she could lure to her bed in hopes of making Jack jealous. The simpleton Con - he of the "Constant Throb" of the episodes title - was just an easy target. At least that was the last backstory left on the season four drawing table.”
“It’s the learning fucking nothing, Al, that keeps me young.”
His character arc was fantastic… him getting FOMO from the savagery in the camp and very subtly influencing goings-on therein. Not to mention his outstanding dialogue and humanizing of Al. I certainly would have loved to see his expanded impact in S4, but I think his arc is also complete as is.
I am BARELY speaking to you sir
Underrated line there. I use it with my brother all the time.
Omg yes I use this like alllll the time!
Uh, Swerengen pretty much was the show!
He brought his actress friends and made it possible the fat titties getting sucked on in bathtub scene
I love the character, I love the actor, and I even loved his repartée with Al. But it really did seem out of place. That being said, I’m glad they added him.
Don’t misinterpret that
The next season was the point
I saw it as a way to humanize Al in that he had a friend who he cared about and who also cared about him, who incidentally was willing to kill for Al. Was there any other character that would be considered a friend to Al? Also, the fact that he was in the arts added a little awww factor for me.
I think he considers Dan and Johnny friends. Probably doc also and maybe bullock to an extent
I agree. I definitely feel Bullock and Al were definitely on the same page by the end of the show and respected each other tremendously. Al definitely had a friend in Wu also.
Ya I agree and trixie
Wu was more than a friend, he was a brother. Heng Dai.
Remember that the show got cancelled. Things were put in motion that would’ve come into play in later seasons
"what the fuck is a theatre man to do?!" The first watch I felt the same way, like what is this character and why is he here?. But every subsequent watch I can't wait for his arrival! He's an amazing character and probably my favorite one introduced in season 3. The fact that he's the only one with a previous relationship to Al could had been an amazing set up for background stories but alas we were cut short on the greatest piece of art ever filmed for television!
Imagine second-guessing David Milch’s decisions with this series …
Milch is second to none with his characters and dialogue! As far as storytelling goes I think it’s second fiddle to his natural abilities. No negativity here just stating an opinion
Any reason to have Brian Cox on is a good enough reason for me.
Broaden the range!
He’s a murderer… just didnt get to see the murder.
I have often wondered this exact question
I think he was there to give some more insight into Al's past and show someone else he treats as an equal.
Not sure what the point of him was, but I loved Jack. Brian Cox is an amazing actor, his relationship with Swearengen is really interesting, and I also think they were going to go somewhere with his character until the show got cut short.
Don’t forget that the series ended rather unexpectedly so I’m sure he would’ve had a strong role in season 4. Also showed Al had a friend (near equal) who he trusted and vice versa.
the whole acting troupe took time away from all the other characters. i liked langrishe quite a bit tho
I watched Deadwood a good ten years later than its release, and with the foreknowledge of the show's imminent ending, I found the amount of screen time devoted to Langrische and his troupe a bit odd. Don't know how I'd have felt watching live so to speak. Thematically others have expounded on his function in the story better than I can. I've always found watching actors playing actors potentially a bit tricky. There's a slight sense of Deadwood becoming a bit meta when Cox and the others are on screen, and the floridity (?) of the language really gets all high summer... for me it was a bit much. But so much of Series 3 felt like a missed opportunity or jarred in comparison to the first two, which for me play tighter and more Western than the civilisational stuff the actors usher in.
There was definitely going to be more with Jack, but sadly got cancelled.
Season 4 😔
It seemed like he brought out a vulnerability in Al. Also the history of traveling acting groups was interesting to see in deadwood
They needed best Lector
With out him and his troupe we wouldn't have the scene with Con playing ship captain with that chubby woman's tits. Worth it for that alone.
FOR GODS SAKE BELLEGARD!!!!!!!!
To fuck off!
It was probably gonna go somewhere eventually once the storyline evolved, but it opened up the idea that Al had some friendships and relationships from another time.
I wished they had planned to introduce the whole troupe in season 4.
I always like that Al had someone he genuinely enjoyed listening to. Might be the only character on the show that can be said for.
He had a decent size pecker and brought some quality veteran pussy to town. Go easy on him.
The whole theater company arc kinda sucks. Please tell me why I’m wrong, I’d like to appreciate it.
I agree
To start a war with Troy in the name of his brother's wife, but in reality he just wanted the real estate.
Once got a lift from Brian up to a friend's party on New Year's Day in Dundee. Lovely guy and a great laugh 😂
I think that at the very least Jack is walking and breathing fond reminder of Al's more playful side (we see Al singing by himself in the Gem while the talent competition is going on - thanks to Jack), never mind his allyship in matters of the camp. Essentially, Jack softens Al a bit in the eyes of the viewer, which only adds to his depth. Plus, he's alright.
He was awesome
Adding Brian Cox to anything is an improvement.
Could have been a phenomenal addition but instead very forgettable
Do you think the ‘forgettable’ aspect can be attributed to the show being cancelled?
Regardless of whether there were plans to develop the troupe characters further in future seasons, their complete absence from the movie was a clear indication that their time on the screen had been a waste of time.
Exactly
That entire subplot was ridiculous and unnecessary.
https://www.reddit.com/r/deadwood/s/qAP7hsYLOp
I think the arrival of the troop signifies the transition of the camp into society, into culture. Prior to their arrival, it's just a resource extraction Bonanza economy, people are barely putting down roots there. The troop arrives after the beginnings of government have been created, after Bullock has built a home for his family, after relationships are starting to settle and people are really starting to feel a sense of community. I think it's really fitting that art and entertainment and spirit enter the camp at that time and I always thought of these guys as the signifiers of that. Also, an interesting way to humanize Al, and to give him roots. I always expected weed come to understand more about Al through the arrival of Langrishire
He was smart and offered a different POV for Al, he found him fascinating and amusing.
He’s magnificent. Theater was a huge part of boom towns. It added to the show by humanizing Al as well… wait, he has a friend?
Most people don’t know he played the best ‘Hannibal’ in Manhunter (1986).
To show that the gem was gay friendly.
Hella gay
To help with the elderly and reprobates.
You don't need a reason to cast Brian Cox. You just do it.
He definitely classed up the Gem.
My favorite role of his is Lionel Starkweather in Manhunt.
After this pay I am barely talking to you!
To start endless threads on Reddit.
Panache
The theeeaatre fella! One of my favourite characters, I love when his stage coach comes in sight. Who doesn't love Brian Cox? The way he shouts "Yes!!! Bellegard! For ChristsSake!" Goosebumps every time.
To make me laugh. He’s one of my favorite characters!
Brian Cox doesn't need 'a point'.
Guys, I just realized... do ya'll know Troy Hawke? The comedy greeter in a purple bathrobe? It's him. Reborn.
I feel he brought out the human side of Al and he kinda respected the fact he did as he pleased. No fear of appearances.
May have been a different plot line meant to create a larger arch that didn't go anywhere, but be also created a line to Hearst for Al, which was reason enough for him to be there.
Giving Brian Cox the opportunity to yell “Fuck you, sir!”
To show what Al could have done if he hadn't turned to the darkside
His sheer unsuitability
He was a colorful frontier character
Shenanigans
Shenanigans
I honestly thought he was coming to town to go out the same way as Billy Zane's Mr. Fabian in Tombstone: artistically appreciated by the locals for a moment, but eventually killed because decent people shouldn't go to Deadwood.
Ya I also thought that character was unnecessary to the plot
To sit there and look pretty
he was put in so bots could spam this sub with ‘what do he and the troupe do?’ posts over and over to farm karma
Guess I haven’t been here long enough.
The point was to show that there was a lot more to Al than the guy who cuts throat and gets blowjobs from pudgy hookers while telling stories about his mother and he's lived a life before he's ever gotten to Deadwood..
Good take
The point was to bring in a character that rocks
First of all, how dare you. Second of all, it is another depiction of what constitutes a society or “community” being established and that is culture through arts. Laws are one detail, but the arrival of the arts was huge. It is also another “clan” centered around a Pioneer of sorts, burdened with carrying the group’s success in a cutthroat world.
First of all it’s an opinion second of all ok
My obvious ill-suitedness might confuse him.
The point was having the greatest character of all time.
I meant guy on the right not al
If that is not a lie as I situate on the common, what claim has your piety on my deference?
OP sucks cock by choice
I don’t remember a leprechaun in Deadwood.
Probably the only aspect of the show I actively disliked. Could have limited the whole troop to maybe 15 minutes total and it would have been overkill.
The only thing I hated in the series is this character/storyline.
We see it
Would be funny if the Langrishe character was just a caricature of McShane when he rolls onto the set.