Hell on Wheels: Out of the Frying Pan (And into the Fire)

Even railroads can be dramatic!
"To the victor belongs the spoils." - Bobby Baccilieri, The Sopranos, S02E02



First off, sorry I took a week-long hiatus! I'm back and ready to blog FOREVER! And, what better place to start than everyone's favorite western (other than Deadwood), AMC's Hell on Wheels! Last night, it aired the season four finale, right after the announcement last week that there will only be one more season. Of course, what AMC actually means by "one more season" is two more short seasons, but that's just AMC being annoying.

So, after a long stretch of fast paced, character killing, episodes, Hell on Wheels, in typical fashion, slowed things down for its finale. Much like in seasons past, the big events of the show occurred in the episodes leading up to the finale, allowing the final episode to pick up the pieces and move the show along to the next season. Thus, in the thirteenth episode of season four, titled "Further West," Bohannon, fresh off of seeing his spiritual adviser, Ruth, hang in the middle of Cheyenne, walks into Durant's tent and quits the railroad. After a brief conversation, Bohannon and Durant go their seperate ways; Bohannon off to his family and Durant to continue the railroad. From there, we watch as Bohannon searches for his family - eventually ending up in Salt Lake City, Mickey and Dandy Johnny Shea (love saying that whole name) getting forced out of Cheyenne by John Campbell, Durant and Campbell mud wrestle, and The Swede doing some dirty work for Brigham Young. Let's talk about Mickey/Eva/Dandy Johnny Shea first.
In what is probably the C plotline of the events going on in Hell on Wheels, we see Mickey and Dandy preparing to go to war with John Campbell. Under their employment is Eva, who is basically acting as a madame for Mickey's whores. As they get ready to take back Cheyenne, Campbell approaches them along with that awesome union soldier with a Mohawk and mutton chops. He basically tells them to get out of town unless they want to be killed. Not taken aback at all, Dandy believes he can just fight the few men that Campbell has with him. Moments afterwards though, about ten more soldiers swarm around the two Irishmen, forming a circle of guns. It's then that Mickey realizes he's lost. But, what I loved about this scene was the realism of it. Much like Deadwood, the characters in Hell on Wheels choose not to go down guns blazing against Campbell, Instead, they choose life and decide to just back out of Cheyenne. The truth of the matter, to both the characters and the viewer, is that going to war with Campbell is an un-winnable battle. No matter what the manpower is, Wyoming will be part of the United States. Even if they managed to kill Campbell, another governor would just step in to take his place. Cheyenne ends up with laws, whether our characters like it or not. Thus, after making Eva a partner in his business, Mickey packs up his people and departs Cheyenne, heading further west.
Much like Mickey, Durant comes to a similar realization. Campbell comes to him and states that all of Cheyenne belongs to the United States except for Chicken Hill, which he wants to buy from Durant. To this, the sixty-one year old Colm Meaney issues a challenge: if he can get the deed from Durant, it's Campbell's. The two prim, proper, men of power then fist fight, ending up covered in mud. After a pretty fun battle of two older men, Campbell agrees to purchase Chicken Hill at three times the asking price. With that, Durant gets his railroad workers and, with the railroad back under way, departs Cheyenne.

The time in Cheyenne has been a fun one. From the founding of the town by Durant and Maggie Palmer (what ever happened to her, by the way?) to the takeover by Campbell, it's been a great place for the show to rest. The character of Campbell was also a great addition to the cast. As a visual representation of the law, Campbell was harsh, ruthless, but also just. He did what needed to be done and took almost no regard for who it was done to. I doubt we'll be seeing him much in season five, so seeing him conquer Cheyenne will probably be the ending for his character. Though it would have been satisfying to see Campbell die, as he caused so much turmoil for our protagonists, no character can take down the government or the law. Au revoir John Campbell! Also, Jake Weber, wonderful job. I don't think your voice became un-raspy once.

Outside of Cheyenne, we can look over at Salt Lake City where Bohannon, The Swede, and the owner of the Central Pacific Railroad, Collis P. Huntington all arrive. Bohannon, searching for his wife and child, finds out that small pox struck Fort Smith, hence why everyone was dead when he arrived. He finds his mother-in-law in the hospital of Salt Lake dying from the pox. She basically tells him that he's terrible because he's a gentile, and that he hopes he never finds her daughter. Then, Bohannon shit-talks her until she dies. I kid you not. He talks down to her until she dies. Only you Cullen Bohannon, only you. Meanwhile, on the other side of Salt Lake, Huntington makes a deal with Brigham Young, buying a bunch of his railroad workers. The Swede, now the chief enforcer to Young, wants to go with him. At first Young says no, but after muscling some "gentiles" into making a deal with the Mormons, Young accepts. Yet again, in the small amount of time Christopher Heyerdahl was on the screen, he totally stole the show. Whether he's clean shaven or fully bearded, the man just captures all attention. He's the most entertainingly menacing man on TV right now.
Finally, Bohannon, aimlessly searching for his wife and kid out in the west, meets up with Huntington, who offers him a job on the Central Pacific Railroad. At first he declines, but after learning that Huntington will help him find his kids, Bohannon accepts the job, making him opposing Durant's Union Pacific. Also, though we haven't seen their confrontation yet, The Swede and Bohannon are now working together again. Sweet.

And, with that, so ends season four. Setting up The Swede vs Bohannon part III is always an intriguing plot device along with the exodus to the West that the rest of the characters seem to be making. Though episode 12 was more climactic, bringing the death of Ruth, episode 13, the finale, tied up the story arcs and set up the fifth season. I gotta say, I think season four was the strongest season this show has had. From the crazy-good death of Elam Ferguson to the seasonal villains of Campbell and Sydney Snow to the death of Ruth, it's been a wild ride. As we look into season five, it'll be interesting to see how Durant, Mickey, Eva, and Louise Ellison tie back into Bohannon's story. For now however, let's just nod at a fantastic season of what is probably the best western currently on television.

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