The whole town gets punk'ed including Bullock by Hearst. Hearst has what he came for and is now leaving. Of course Bullock then has the nerve to walk out and act tough by threatening Hearst. No action. Just empty eye rolling threats that he will never follow through on. What a joke
Its like that trope where the stronger dude walks away. Then some weakling looks on and goes "YEAH!You better run."
The creators were a bit hamstrung by history here, of course.
Having said that, the reason I'm so fond of the last episode is because even though we're all aware that Bullock can't "do anything" to Hearst, our understanding of the character at this point makes us incredulous that he won't do anything.
The fact that he manages to content himself with a curt vulgarity or two suggests that the character has actually changed quite a bit since the first episode. I don't think that's pathetic at all; it's a reflection of a profound shift in his worldview, and an accompanying understanding that to do anything would put the entire town at risk to serve his own personal thirst for revenge.
Besides, he's already managed to irritate and inconvenience Hearst pretty thoroughly, grabbing him by the ear, frustrating his ambitions as far as the town is concerned, daring to speak disdainfully of him in public -- does anyone else do half as much to Hearst and live?
Charlie Utter gave Hearst what-for more than once, and as much as called him a coward.
shareAh, true. I suppose Al did too, for that matter. But Bullock pulled his pistola, grabbed that sumbicth by the ear, dragged him through town and past the eyes of the townspeople, and finally threw his arse in the pokey.
shareThe handful of scenes Utter had with Hearst were gold. Charlie's always been my favorite to not muck around when it mattered. I think the jail scene was hilarious.
"Holy $#&@!! C#$ksucker's dead George! LOOK! There's a KNIFE stickin outta his chest! That aint your knife is it? George? Hearst?"
I see it diffently. What could Bullock really do at that point? He's got major anger problems but he sure as hell wasn't dumb enough to pull Hearst off that wagon and get himself killed and Hearst knew it. Bullock was powerless at that point and it would've been petty for Hearst to even respond to Bullock's empty threat. It was a sad and disappointing ending to the show.
DISPLAY thy breasts, my Julia!
He's got major anger problems but he sure as hell wasn't dumb enough to pull Hearst off that wagon and get himself killed and Hearst knew it.Oh, Bullock did some pretty dumb things as a result of his temper over the course of the show. Two that come to mind are refusing to give an inch when Swearengen was busting his balls about Alma (which, but for the arrival of the stagecoach, would've gotten him killed), and telling Swearengen that Trixie was with Sol, forcing a confrontation between the three of them.
Agreed. I think Bullock did change throughout the show. He became more and more willing to work with Swearengen. Season 1 Bullock probably wouldn't have gone along with the killing of the innocent women in season 3.
DISPLAY thy breasts, my Julia!
Bullock is awesome. See my replies to newer posts.
shareI think there's a little more to it than that. In one way you're right, there really wasn't much anyone could do about Hearst as he was a true powerhouse (both historically and in the show).
On the other hand, the reason why that scene works so well in terms of tension is that, having watched the series up to this point, you know there's a chance Bullock might do something. His temper, especially in service of his sense of justice, is an ongoing evolution and him just pulling a quick draw and shooting Hearst--damn the consequences--still seems in the realm of possibility.
More than that though, although ultimately it was an empty threat, I saw it as Bullock representing the camp ethos in a kind of cathartic rejection of Hearst and everything he represented. There is a lot of set up for this--many times we return to the theme of how there is fear of the camp becoming more "formalized" and losing their "way of life." Hearst bemoans on many occasions how he hates this sort of lifestyle. For me, even though there was not much of a chance Bullock would do anything, it felt like in that moment the whole diverse camp was united behind him (almost literally), supporting him, speaking through him, rejecting Hearst and the false civility he represented, and taking back their camp. Even if it was just words, it felt good to send him off with a reminder that he wasn't welcome...and of his humiliation (being led off by the ear).