Deadwood is... well, it's fine.

To be completely honest, deadwood feels like what the Case Files should have been from the start of things. Honest to god short films which, sure, aren't anything to write home about, but you can feel the appeal, fan-films born out of a love of the series and a desire to have fun with it, rather than push to put content out to get money and stay relevant.

That all said, because it's coming after the other case files, where it is so clear that they're not just made for the joy of it, it just doesn't work for me as well as it should.

Watching this story, as much as I'd love to be coming at it from the perspective of it being a fan film, seeing the fun that people are having, laughing with it at moments that are unintentionally funny, I'm coming at it from the perspective of it being a case file. I'm not laughing with the story when things are off, I'm laughing at it, I don't see the actors having fun, I see Baggs wanting to get paid. There's a whole four actors in this thing, and unlike other fan films where I wouldn't give a second thought to that, I'm shocked that Baggs actually (hopefully) paid three other people to be in this.

The plot itself is fine, nothing to write home about, but there's some nice nods to history, and I can appreciate what it's going for, but that's kind if where my appreciation ends.

I think when you have more to say about everything surrounding the story than the text of the story itself, there's a problem, and unfortunately all I can think to talk about with the case files is the real world 'story' surrounding them.