Deadwood and existential filth

So, I'm making my third (and hopefully final) attempt at watching all 3 seasons of Deadwood and something struck me during the second episode:  I can take the frequent offers of 'half-price pussy' from Swearengen, the off-handed pig-on-human crime, the flurry of 'goddamned cocksuckers' that comes out of everyone's mouth non-freaking-stop.

But I cannot. take. all. the filth!

Man, Deadwood wasn't just a lawless town, it was dirty, smelly, gross town. As in: the streets are filled with dirt, the faces of the characters are filthy. I guess it should say something that the first shot of the opening credits (which are lovely and I wonder if they were done by Digital Kitchen, the shop that also did the credits for Dexter and the truly, truly brilliant open for True Blood) focuses on a puddle of muck in what-passes-for-a-street.

(I think there's also something about peripheral characters being more dirty than central characters...that's just a working theory at this point. Bullock, for instance, in the first few eps, looks like he just stepped off the soundstage of a John Ford movie:

But look at Calamity Jane—she's a mess!)

I'm no neat freak (as my nearest and dearest will tell you), but watching just a few minutes is enough to send me running for my Clorox wipes.

And not to reach for low-hanging fruit, here, but:  okay, I get it. The ever-present filth is not only historically accurate, but works well for the psychological/sociological landscape of the series.

Still and all.

Thank goodness it's Sunday night and Mad Men's on. At least the dirtiness in that show is only implied.