While Bullock was initially introduced as "Deadwood"s protagonist, Emily VanDerWerff of "The A.V. Club" noted that the character of Al Swearengen came to "dominate the show ... This is not to slight Timothy Olyphant. He's a fine actor, and his portrayal of Bullock is frequently very, very good. Bullock is still unquestionably one of the most important characters on the show but the character of a Wild West lawman, no matter how revisionist it was in its portrayal of that lawman as someone who seemed barely in control at all times, just ended up not having as much to do in a blatantly revisionist Western about how chaos gives way to civilization." Matt Feeney of "Slate" described Bullock as "laconic, feral, hot-tempered and a little vain", and said the character was "not so much played as embodied by Olyphant". Alan Sepinwall of "HitFix" found his performance "fierce and commanding" while Jeremy Egner of "The New York Times" said that he showed "a capacity for explosive, nuanced performance barely suggested by earlier roles." The cast were nominated for the 2006 Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series.