11 Great Things You Only Notice Rewatching Deadwood

11. The Perfect And Reluctant Sheriff

Seth Bullock moves to Deadwood to leave behind his life as a sheriff and earn an honest living for himself as the owner of a hardware store. When you know that he will fall into the role once more by the end of the first season it becomes all the more obvious to the viewer.

Upon arriving into the camp, he makes his presence known as the wholesaler of prospecting gear; speaking to the crowd with the demeanour of a traveling salesman. But the moment he gets a whiff of dissent amongst the crowd, he quashes it with a tone that we become more familiar with later on in the show.

What's most interesting about Sheriff Bullock is that he doesn't want to be the Sheriff, yet can't help but put in the time and effort to remedy the many injustices he sees within the camp - with or without the badge on his chest.