Bullock Returns to the Camp

Bullock Returns to the Camp
Season 1, Episode 7
Air Date	May 2, 2004
Written By	Jody Worth
Directed By	Michael Engler
U.S. Viewers	4.29 million
Episode Guide
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next →	"Suffer the Little Children"

"Bullock Returns to the Camp" is the seventh episode of the first season of Deadwood. It is the seventh episode of the series overall. It premiered on May 2, 2004. It was written by Jody Worth and directed by Michael Engler.

Synopsis

After tracking down a murderer, Bullock returns to Deadwood a changed man--and a marked one.

Plot

Riding into a stockade, Seth Bullock and Charlie Utter spot the horse of the murderer Jack McCall. Soon the two are inside a crude bunk house, where McCall is passed out. "I guess sometime since he's been here, that fella face down on the table probably spoke of killing Wild Bill Hickok," Bullock says. "Well, we're Hickok's friends." Knocking McCall out with the barrel of his gun, Bullock ties him to a horse, and tells Charlie he thinks they should take him to Yankton for trial.

Back in Deadwood, two teenagers, Flora and Miles, have arrived from Buffalo, showing a 12-year-old photograph of their missing father. Swearengen eyes Flora like a hungry wolf, but can't convince her to join his establishment so he settles for giving the boy a job sweeping up. Cy Tolliver, meanwhile, is more successful with Flora and instructs Joanie Stubbs to take the girl under her wing.

With Swearengen watching out a window, Sol Star comes to pick up Alma Garret, Trixie and the little Metz girl for Brom Garret's funeral. "That widow ain't high", Al observes, accusing E.B. Farnum of fouling up his plan. Farnum replies with an accusation of his own, saying he's tired of being a pawn, and the two agree to cut Farnum in for a percentage if the widow will sell her claim.

But at the bleak and sparsely attended funeral, Farnum sees Bullock returning and makes a rushed and inappropriate offer to Alma. The widow later reports this to Bullock, and, flushed, tells him of Swearengen's scheming and of her own addiction. Feeling stronger, she offers to let Bullock out of his promise to help, but he says he'll stay on. "You are changed," he tells her. "You seem to be, too," she replies.

Swearengen gets physical with Trixie and confronts her with her betrayal, but Trixie is cool. The dope wouldn't help sell the claim, she says, and the child needs someone to take care of her. Swearengen backs off, but calls after her: "Don't kid yourself, Trixie."

Talking with Joanie, Flora begins to reveal a steely side, telling the madam that she isn't a virgin, and calling her old boyfriend a "son-of-a-bitch." Elsewhere in the Bella Union, Andy Cramed, now fully recovered thanks to Calamity Jane, walks in and confronts Tolliver. Flustered, Tolliver offers to stake him. But Cramed remembers that it was Cy who left him to die. "We ain't getting nothing going, Cy," he says. "All I came back for was my things, and you thrown those out too."

Exhausted, Doc Cochran, the Reverend H.W. Smith and Calamity Jane continue to tend to the sick. The matter is complicated somewhat by Smith's seizures, which the Doc attributes to a lesion, but the reverend feels may be divinely inspired.

As Bullock recounts to Star the story of the Indian who fought him to avenge his friend, he becomes increasingly emotional; something has crystallized for the former lawman. Striding to The Gem Saloon, he asks for a private moment with Swearengen, and informs the saloon boss that he is holding him responsible for the outcome of the widow's claim. "She gets a square deal, or I come for you," Bullock says. "And what if I come for you," Swearengen says. "Are you ready for that?"

Flora, the sweet little girl, has advanced to turning tricks, but returns to her prim self to pick up her brother from work at The Gem. Her fresh-faced brother Miles greets her, and without changing his expression, asks, under his breath. "Which place'd make a better score?" "Where I'm working," Flora replies. "But why not take 'em both?"

In Alma Garret's room, Trixie announces that she is headed back to the Gem. Alma offers to finance a trip for Trixie to leave Deadwood with the Metz girl, but Trixie is angry at Alma- for her stubbornness and for her inability to understand Trixie's situation. After blowing up at the widow, she touches the little girl goodbye. "She's about to say her name," she says to Alma. "Think of selling. If you took the money, you could hear her say it."

Appearances

First

• Flora Anderson
• Miles Anderson
• Terrence

Deaths

• Joey
• Loudmouth Drunk

Cast

Starring Timothy Olyphant as Seth Bullock Ian McShane as Al Swearengen Molly Parker as Alma Garret Jim Beaver as Whitney Ellsworth (credit only) Brad Dourif as Doc Cochran John Hawkes as Sol Star Paula Malcomson as Trixie Leon Rippy as Tom Nuttall William Sanderson as E.B. Farnum Robin Weigert as Calamity Jane W. Earl Brown as Dan Dority Dayton Callie as Charlie Utter Powers Boothe as Cy Tolliver Guest Starring Garret Dillahunt as Jack McCall Raymond McKinnon as Reverend H.W. Smith Sean Bridgers as Johnny Burns Kim Dickens as Joanie Stubbs Kristen Bell as Flora Anderson Ricky Jay as Eddie Sawyer Greg Cipes as Miles Anderson Geri Jewell as Jewel Peter Jason as Con Stapleton Zach Grenier as Andy Cramed Nicolas Surovy as Captain Massey Clay Wilcox as Loudmouth Drunk

Co-Starring Bree Seanna Wall as Sofia Metz Everette Wallin as Joey Richard Wharton as Cowboy Outside Bunkhouse Jim Cody Williams as Terrence Uncredited Jeff Feuerhaken as Prospector Michael Keyes as Gun Store Owner

Cast notes

• Twelve of thirteen starring cast members appear in this episode.
• Starring cast member Jim Beaver (Whitney Ellsworth) does not appear in this episode.

Memorable Quotes

TBA