Two addled dope fiends, Leon (Larry Cedar), who works for Cy, and Jimmy (Dean Rader-Duval), who works for Al, murder and rob a courier who was running opium. Now Al has his hands full dealing with the mess, and trying to placate Mr. Wu (Keone Young), the man whose pigs are frequently fed the camps' dead bodies. Seth now regrets raising his hand at the town meeting, but takes his duty as health commissioner seriously. Silas Adams (Titus Welliver), the bagman for the crooked magistrate, arrives in the camp with bad news for Al. And the poor, addled Reverend Smith (Ray McKinnon), (whose problem is believed by Doc Cochran to be a tumor) starts frequenting Als' place, drawn by the piano music. And his presence is NOT welcome.
It's nice to see Wu, and actor Young, brought more to the forefront in this episode that bears the characters' name. Not knowing much English (save for the *repeated* use of a certain obscenity), Wu struggles to make himself understood to Al - and vice versa. This creates some humor as well as some tension. This episode also gives Leon / actor Cedar more to do, and both he and Rader-Duval are excellent. There's also a fleeting appearance for another top character actor, Richard Gant, as a man named Hostetler who has dealings with Seth & Sol.
The good Reverend comes off as completely sympathetic here, especially considering the nature of his affliction. And McKinnon has a great scene with Timothy Olyphant and John Hawkes as both Seth & Sol succinctly declare their friendship with the holy man. It's a touching moment. Also touching is how Eddie vows to help Joanie break free from Cy.
'Mr. Wu' may contain the standard liberal use of profanities (including more uses of that aforementioned obscenity than this viewer has ever heard within an hour of television), but it's also violent without being particularly gory. All in all, it's another sterling episode of this series.
Eight out of 10.
It's nice to see Wu, and actor Young, brought more to the forefront in this episode that bears the characters' name. Not knowing much English (save for the *repeated* use of a certain obscenity), Wu struggles to make himself understood to Al - and vice versa. This creates some humor as well as some tension. This episode also gives Leon / actor Cedar more to do, and both he and Rader-Duval are excellent. There's also a fleeting appearance for another top character actor, Richard Gant, as a man named Hostetler who has dealings with Seth & Sol.
The good Reverend comes off as completely sympathetic here, especially considering the nature of his affliction. And McKinnon has a great scene with Timothy Olyphant and John Hawkes as both Seth & Sol succinctly declare their friendship with the holy man. It's a touching moment. Also touching is how Eddie vows to help Joanie break free from Cy.
'Mr. Wu' may contain the standard liberal use of profanities (including more uses of that aforementioned obscenity than this viewer has ever heard within an hour of television), but it's also violent without being particularly gory. All in all, it's another sterling episode of this series.
Eight out of 10.
