Deadwood

When we last left the putrid mining town of Deadwood, South Dakota, things had reached a head. The town was on the verge of legitimacy, hardware peddler Seth Bullock (Timothy Olyphant) had assumed his natural role as town sheriff, and Al Swearengen (Ian McShane) was spouting off the word cocksucker more than our senile great-grandma. But the proverbial honeymoon lasts all of 20 minutes into season two before Swearengen publicly calls out the sheriff's affair with rich widow Alma Garret (Molly Parker), prompting the kind of dirt-churnin', fist-throwin' brawl we've come to expect and love from Deadwood. Within the first couple of episodes it's clear that season one was merely the preamble to this frontier drama; the dialogue's as sharp and unforgiving as ever and many of the characters are back with a vengeance. Though it's not necessary to have seen the first season to join the rootin' tootin' fracas, we highly recommend picking it up on DVD to prepare yourself for one of HBO's most explosive shows to date. At the rate Deadwood's going, it'll soon make The Sopranos look like that cocksucker Arli$$.