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Deadwood: Season 3
  • Network: HBO
  • Series Premiere Date: Mar 1, 2004
  • Season #: 1 , 2 , 3
Metascore
85 out of 100

Universal acclaim - based on 20 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 19 out of 20
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 20
  3. Negative: 0 out of 20
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  1. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: David Hinckley
    100
    The language, the acting, the themes - everything in "Deadwood" is good as gold. In TV entertainment terms, maybe even better.
  2. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Adam Buckman
    100
    Its scripts - always among the finest on TV - are even stronger this time around.
  3. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Tim Goodman
    100
    This series is one of a kind.
  4. Slant Magazine
    Reviewed by: Keith Uhlich
    100
    Milch has a keen eye for his actors' untapped resources--he doesn't so much cast against physical types as he does psychological ones--and this is what makes Deadwood's expansive ensemble so continually exciting to watch.
  5. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: Melanie McFarland
    100
    To call "Deadwood" great television doesn't begin to do it justice.
  6. Detroit Free Press
    Reviewed by: Mike Duffy
    100
    Milch's darkly hilarious exploration of the American frontier spirit is back for a third season of twisted human conniving.
  7. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Maureen Ryan
    90
    Every scene teems with an enthralling, fully realized vision of life, the kind of jostling pageant of humanity in the most satisfying works of Dickens or Trollope.
  8. The New Yorker
    Reviewed by: Nancy Franklin
    90
    A gorgeously living thing.
  9. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Robert Bianco
    88
    For all the artificiality of the language, there has seldom been a show that felt more authentic.
  10. San Jose Mercury News/Contra Costa Times
    Reviewed by: Charlie McCollum
    88
    The series returns with its creative six-shooters blazing, its florid language and baroque manner of storytelling still gloriously riveting.
  11. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Gillian Flynn
    83
    Like last season, the plots are thick and quick-flying. (Also like last season, the abstruseness can sometimes feel showy.)
  12. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Paul Brownfield
    80
    The dialogue is "Deadwood's" calling card, with its mixture of gutter and Elizabethan grace. It layers Milch's broader, working theme -- the coming-together of various organisms to create a single, functioning one.
  13. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Alessandra Stanley
    80
    As it lurches to its conclusion, the politics of "Deadwood" keep growing more dense and colorful, and that magnificent obsession crowds out other primal forces.
  14. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Matt Roush
    80
    The circuitous plot is challenging, but the true glory of Deadwood is in its vivid creation of a volatile world where scoundrels, wretches and tormented heroes coexist in an unvarnished time capsule of Wild West history.
  15. Variety
    Reviewed by: Brian Lowry
    80
    "Deadwood" remains a series like none other.
  16. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Barry Garron
    80
    The third season, as much as the two preceding ones, continues to breathe new life and vigor into the Western genre. What's more, the actors have become so comfortable in the skins of their characters, we can now appreciate the complexity of their personalities and desires.
  17. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
    Reviewed by: Rob Owen
    80
    [A] fascinating, challenging series.
  18. New York Magazine (Vulture)
    Reviewed by: John Leonard
    70
    What makes Deadwood so fascinating is not the action we put up with; it's the language we listen to.
  19. Time
    Reviewed by: James Poniewozik
    70
    It's worth hopping on this poetic, profane story of frontier money lust before it rides into the sunset.
  20. Newsday
    Reviewed by: Verne Gay
    40
    Yes, "Deadwood" was incomprehensible last season. It is incomprehensible this season. Fans will be delighted.
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User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
9.0 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 101 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 59 out of 62
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 62
  3. Negative: 2 out of 62
  1. Bairdo
    10
    Astonishingly good. With a cast of characters that boasted better villians than fellow TV titans The Wire and The Sopranos, Deadwood was one of a kind. The show died far too young, but it's three seasons shine brighter for it.… Full Review »
  2. JenB
    4
    Well-acted, as usual, but I was bored and confused and skeptical all season about the inclusion of certain subplots, and the writers' ability to pull them together in a meaningful way. I was right to have doubts. The acting was strong as always, but this season otherwise was a long, boring, anti-climactic mess.… Full Review »
  3. halb
    9
    Have yet to view seasons 2 and 3, but if they're anywhere close to the level of season 1, then they deserve AT LEAST a "9". This is amazingly good television, one of the best series I've ever watched. Granted, I had to get past the language at first (every other exclamation seems to include the "f word" or c**k-s**ker)... and I had at least one female co-worker tell me she just couldn't get past the depiction of women as whores and drunks and/or crippled lackeys)... But I think, on balance, most of the male characters are portrayed as MUCH worse than the women, who are simply trying to survive in a world dominated by violent machismo, evil and pestilence. This is not Gunsmoke, that's for sure. It's more like Cormac McCarthy's incredibly dark/violent novel, Blood Meridian, brought to roaring life. One of the central themes is the challenge of holding onto one's essential humanity in the midst of such a violent and amoral culture. Olyphant, McShane, Dourif and Parker (Alma Garrett) are particularly excellent in their roles; but really, ALL the cast -- including relatively minor supporting characters -- are top notch. Don't miss Robin Weigert as Calamity Jane! Kudos to Milch (sp?) and HBO for creating such an amazing cast of characters and such an incredible story line. The dialogue, acting, cinematography and sets are all top-calibre. Just an incredibly gripping and entertaining series.… Full Review »
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