 Tagline: Blood will be spilled. Lives will be lost. Men will be ruined. Hellbent on vengeance, former Confederate officer Cullen Bohannon (Anson Mount) travels west in search of the Union soldiers who murdered wife. His quest leads him to "Hell On Wheels," the dangerous, raucous town that follows the construction of the nation's first transcontinental railroad. Storyline: Cullen Bohannan, a former soldier and slaveholder, follows the track of a band of Union soldiers, the killers of his wife. This brings him to the middle of one of the biggest projects in US history, the building of the transcontinental railroad. After the war years in the 1860s, this undertaking connected the prospering east with the still wild west. Written by cc ardbeg 1.01 Pilot - In 1865, a former Confederate soldier, Cullen Bohannon journeys to the Union Pacific Railroad's westward construction of the first transcontinental railroad to seek work and vengeance on the Union soldiers that have killed his wife. Thomas "Doc" Durant begins his "mad, noble quest" to expand his railroad westward. Lily Bell, accompanies her ailing husband Robert as he surveys the landscape for the Union Pacific. Their camp is attacked by Cheyenne braves and all are killed except Lily, who flees into the wilderness with maps that are essential to Durant's success. Reverend Nathaniel Cole baptizes Joseph Black Moon, a Cheyenne, in the Missouri River. The two later arrive at Hell on Wheels, the name for the mobile camp that follows the railroad westward. 1.02 Immoral Mathematics - Cullen Bohannon fights for his life as he answers to The Swede for his deadly actions. Lily Bell struggles to survive in the wilderness, as Thomas Durant attempts to spin tragedy for political gain. Joseph Black Moon tracks down the Cheyenne braves responsible for a massacre - one of which is his own brother. Cullen escapes the captivity of The Swede and goes to Durant's office where he asks for Johnson's job as the foreman. Durant gradually accepts, despite the fact Cullen fought for the South during the Civil War. 1.03 A New Birth of Freedom - Cullen Bohannon resumes his quest for vengeance by learning the name of one of the men responsible for wife's death. His plans change when he crosses paths with Lily Bell and Joseph Black Moon. She has been wounded from a Cheyenne attack on her camp that also killed her husband. Joseph has been seeking answers from his former tribe, including his own brother, about the savage attack. Elam is approached by his fellow freeman about not doing his share of the work. Thomas Durant telegraphs Senator Crane, appealing for federal troops to help them with the natives. Crane wires back his dissent about the troop request, the pacing of the construction, and Robert Bell's murder. 1.04 Jamais je ne t'oublierai - Cullen Bohannon searches for the man known only as "Harper," one of the men who murdered his wife. Lily Bell arrives at Hell On Wheels to learn more about her deceased husband's employer, Thomas Durant, and his railroad. Elam finds solace in the arms of another social outcast, Eva, a prostitute. 1.05 Bread and Circuses - Reverend Cole and Joseph Black Moon travel into Cheyenne territory in hopes of a peace talk, while Joseph's brother endures a native ritual. Lily Bell and Thomas Durant continue to discuss the future of the railroad construction. Cullen Bohannon and his crewman Elam settle their differences in a public fight. 1.06 Pride, Pomp and Circumstance - Senator Jordan Crane arrives in town for an arranged peace talk with the Cheyenne, and to discuss the Union Pacific Railroad's future with Thomas Durant. Cullen Bohannon is put in charge of security while the natives are in town. He prevents Lily Bell from causing a scene, after she spots a female native wearing Lily's dead husband's hat. Cullen and The Swede also prevent Mr. Toole and his gang from following the natives out of town and killing them. As a way of encouraging peace, Durant allows Pawnee Killer the chance to race a locomotive on horseback. The Cheyenne visitors leave without agreeing to peace. 1.07 Revelations - Thomas Durant and Lily Bell travel by train to Chicago, for different reasons — he, to further discuss the railroad with Senator Crane; she, to meet with her deceased husband's family. The Irishmen from Hell On Wheels intend to kill Elam for entertainment purposes. Cullen Bohannon interferes and helps him escape. 1.08 Derailed - A train is derailed by the Cheyenne and Durant orders Cullen to lead a team to track them. Lily moves out of Durant's coach and into her own tent beside the brothel, which allows her to become fast friends with Eva. Tension mounts for Cullen's team in the pursuit of the renegade Indian tribe. 1.09 Timshel - Cullen and the search party find the Cheyenne who attacked the surveyor's camp and later derailed a train. Elam and Eva discuss their future, before getting a strange visitor. The railroad crew reaches the important 40-mile mark. 1.10 God of Chaos - Durant and Lily conspire to gain arriving investors' interests, after she pleads for Cullen to not let his vengeful path ruin him. Sean and Mickey McGinnes exact their own revenge on The Swede. Elam and Eva each begin to see the future differently. Cullen tracks down the elusive Sergeant Harper. ------------------------------Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman on May 12, 2012 -- The first several years of my life were spent in Salt Lake City, and one of the "big" field trips public school students look forward to in probably the third or fourth grade is a journey north from Salt Lake for about an hour and a half or so (on slow moving school buses) to a nondescript place known as Promontory, an unassuming berg with nothing much to recommend it other than its status as the place where the "Golden Spike" was pounded into steel, joining together the Union Pacific with Central Pacific to create the long dreamt of Transcontinental Railroad. The train has been a regular part of my life since I was a little kid. My maternal grandfather was a conductor for the Union Pacific and so we regularly rode the rails when I was a child, and since I loved that mode of travel, I wanted to recreate the experience for my own boys when they came along. We have taken several cross country trips on Amtrak, as well as one or two up and down the west coast. If the train riding experience isn't quite as "glamorous" as the rosy memories from childhood might seem to suggest, it's still a wonderful way to see the country and it almost forces some "together time" for families, as there's precious little to do other than watch the scenery and talk. The clickety clack of train travel may tend to put some travelers in something akin to a beta state, a state probably more conducive to meditation than wondering about how this giant rail project was ever built in the first place. Hell on Wheels is just that story, a rollicking if sometimes fairly disturbing account mixing fictional and real historical characters into a chuck wagon stew that will probably remind more than a few of Deadwood, in both style and substance. In the wake of the Civil War, former Confederate soldier Cullen Bohannon (Anson Mount) is on a hunt for the Union soldiers who massacred his wife and son in the closing days of the conflict. That gets the series off to a literal bang in a sequence taking place in a church confessional, instantly communicating to the audience that not much is going to be held sacred here. Bohannon is a desperate, half dead soul himself, motivated only by revenge and seemingly without much else left in his cold eyes. His hunt for the few remaining soldiers he's on the hunt for takes him west to where the Union Pacific was just beginning its westward trek to forge a new link across the still largely unsettled American landscape. Bohannon's obvious ruthlessness recommends him to the foreman of the largely freed slave crew pounding the rails into the land, and Bohannon is almost instantly made the so-called Walking Boss of the crew. That brings him into almost immediate conflict with an angry former slave named Elam (Common), and in fact the shifting relationship between Bohannon and Elam, which swings from outright hatred to grudging admiration to several shades in between, is a major element of Hell on Wheels' first season. Also in the mix is real life character Thomas Durant (Colm Meaney), a Union Pacific executive whose shady business tactics may have helped build the Transcontinental Railroad, but also helped contributed to a stock market fiasco as well as several other unseemly events. The rest of the cast of Hell on Wheels is rather large and unruly, and includes Lily (Dominique McElligott), the widow of a surveyor who finds herself torn between Durant and Bohannon; Sean (Ben Esler) and Mickey (Phil Burke) McGinness, two Irish immigrant siblings who are out to make their fortune in the west; Eva (Robin McLeavy), a "working girl" who forges an unlikely (and due to the times scandalous) affair with Elam; and Joseph Black Moon (Eddie Spears), a westernized Cheyenne who finds himself waffling between furthering his Christianization or returning to his Native American ways. Probably the most memorable character in the first season doesn't show up for an episode or two, but then becomes unforgettable. That is The Swede (Christopher Heyerdahl), a vicious (and really weird looking) Norwegian (yes, Norwegian, despite his nickname) who becomes Durant's head of security and repeatedly clashes with Bohannon. Hell on Wheels is one of those supposedly "new" westerns that exults in a darker ambience, with a slew of tormented characters interacting in a desperate and wild landscape. It's to the series credit, however, that this first season works remarkably well almost all of the time. Bohannon is a fascinating character, one who is trying to open himself up to something beyond rote vengeance, but who repeatedly falls back into an almost atavistic killing mode when presented with the opportunity. Mount is an appealing presence, able to convey both Bohannon's viciousness as well as his innate sense of morality, despite his less than moral behavior. Meaney has a field day with the duplicitous Durant, crafting a kind of smarmy but also charming character that perfectly captures both the glitter and decay of a newly gilded age rising from the ashes of a horrible calamity. The rest of the large cast is also excellent, and the writing allows almost all of these disparate characters their own moment in the sun (and/or the mud, considering how grimy the nascent town of Hell on Wheels is). The series careens toward an expectedly violent finale, where The Swede gets a major comeuppance after several episodes of his nefarious and despicable activities, but also where Bohannon faces capture by Union marshals while also coming maddeningly close to a man he believes is the last remaining soldier who was involved in his family's death. The denouement of that particular struggle poses a somewhat larger question for Hell on Wheels' subsequent seasons: what's going to happen if and when Bohannon finally wreaks his revenge on those he feels responsible for his personal trauma? Can a character like Bohannon, whose sole purpose seems to be exacting his own brand of frontier justice, ever move on, like a steaming locomotive? Hell on Wheels has already been renewed for a second season, and that season is probably going to tell the tale of whether Bohannon will be a riveting enough character to provide focal interest once the revenge scenario is played out. The indication thus far is that he will be, and the good news is there is a veritable glut of other characters here, all of whom will allow the writers to open up the series and explore other storylines. This is a very impressively mounted series, and the writing in the first season is sharp and well crafted. This Blu-ray set provides excellent video and audio and comes with quite a few appealing supplements. Highly recommended. [CSW] -3.5- Adding this to my collection was a toss-up for me. I especially liked the 1.07 Revelations episode but you need to see most of the preceeding episodes to be able to appreciate this episode. See: The complete list of Hell on Wheels Episodes. Cast Notes: Anson Mount (Cullen Bohannan [10 episodes, 2011-2012]), Colm Meaney (Thomas 'Doc' Durant [10 episodes, 2011-2012]), Common (Elam [10 episodes, 2011-2012]), Dominique McElligott (Lily Bell [10 episodes, 2011-2012]), Tom Noonan (Reverend Cole [10 episodes, 2011-2012]), Eddie Spears (Joseph Black Moon [10 episodes, 2011-2012]), Ben Esler (Sean McGinnes [10 episodes, 2011-2012]), Phil Burke (Mickey McGinnes [10 episodes, 2011-2012]), Jeff Hänni (Tie Carrier [10 episodes, 2011-2012]), Christopher Heyerdahl (The Swede [9 episodes, 2011-2012]), Robin McLeavy (Eva [8 episodes, 2011-2012]), Duncan Ollerenshaw (Mr. Toole [7 episodes, 2011-2012]), Diego Diablo Del Mar (Dix [7 episodes, 2011]), Dohn Norwood (Psalms [6 episodes, 2011-2012]), Gerald Auger (Pawnee Killer [6 episodes, 2011-2012]), Barb Mitchell (Whore [6 episodes, 2011-2012]), Ian Tracey (Bolan [5 episodes, 2011]), Kasha Kropinski (Ruth [5 episodes, 2011-2012]), James D. Hopkin (Senator Jordan Crane [5 episodes, 2011-2012]), April Telek (Nell [5 episodes, 2011-2012]). IMDb Rating (05/19/12): 8.1/10 from 5,556 users
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