 Tagline: Blood will be spilled. Lives will be lost. Men will be ruined. Former Confederate soldier Cullen Bohannon (Anson Mount) made a home in Hell on Wheels while hunting down the men responsible for killing his family. Now, following the Indian attack that destroyed the railroad settlement, Cullen has reshaped his lust for revenge into a burning ambition - to take control of the Union Pacific and complete its drive across the country. Storyline: Cullen Bohannon, 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 The third season is a western about work - the building of the railroad, the binding of the nation after the Civil War, and the rehabilitation of the men who lived and fought their way through those exploits. This season places Cullen Bohannon at the center of the show and takes him away the revenge motive which propelled him into the series. Bohannon abandons seeking revenge for the deaths in his family in order to battle Durant for control of the Union Pacific Railroad. Eva gives birth to a baby that was sired during her marriage to Gregory Toole. Elam proposes marriage to her, even though her post-partum depression weighs heavily on her. The Swede takes up with a Mormon family on their way to Fort Smith and later reveals his true nature. 3.01 Big Bad Wolf - Alone in his snow-covered burned-out caboose, Cullen hallucinates seeing Doc Whitehead, who tells him that his candle will soon go out. Cullen runs outside to a riverbank, splashes water on his face, and hears a wolf howl. Cullen fends off its attack and scares it off. Cullen finds the train engineer frozen to death and takes his tobacco pipe. He then walks to the train engine, breaks ice away, and starts a fire in its firebox. With the engine cranked up, he drives it away from the destroyed town. He arrives in Omaha, Nebraska and finds Elam and a very-pregnant Eva. Cullen orders Elam to accompany him to New York or lose his place on the railroad. Eva insists Elam go as they need the work. In New York City, Clement Beale, Secretary of Crédit Mobilier, tells Cullen and Elam that the Chief Engineer position has already been filled Senator Metcalf's son-in-law. Cullen has Clement take him to see Thomas Durant in Hudson Prison, where Cullen asks Durant to vouch for him to Crédit Mobilier. Durant refuses. They won't listen to him and, besides, Cullen is not a Yankee. Cullen buys new suits for himself and Elam then meets with the board with detailed plans and designs. He is awarded the job with Union Pacific stock as payment. They get a telegram about Eva having the baby. In his cell, Durant criticizes Senator Metcalf for failure to oust Bohannon. He warns the senator that his fall will be greater if Durant is not returned to the railroad. Beale shows Cullen to Durant's former railroad car. Collis Huntington, head of Central Pacific Railroad, tells Cullen the Union Pacific is broke. He offers Cullen an opportunity to cross the California border, promising gold as payment, but Cullen declines. At home, Elam greets his newborn daughter. At the Omaha train station, Sean McGinnes tells Cullen that the many workers arrived after hearing Cullen was back. Durant leaves the prison in a carriage with Metcalf. Cullen tosses his hat in the air as the train takes off. 3.02 Eminent Domain - Cullen gives Louise, who's writing a story about the First Transcontinental Railroad, a tour of the town. He claims he doesn't need Thomas C. Durant's help in the race against the Central Pacific Railroad. She asks where Lily Bell is buried. Cullen replies Lily is in a wildflower field, adding that Hell on Wheels is no place for a lady. Elam Ferguson meets Dick, who says Elam now works for him. Three armed riders enter town and order Cullen to keep the railroad off their property. Cullen rides to a nearby farm and meets Aaron Hatch, a Mormon, and his family. Hatch invites him to dinner, during which he insists his family is not moving. Cullen says he'll try to find a route around the farm, but the family will have to move if none can be found. Cullen spends the night and, in the barn, he and the eldest daughter, Naomi, begin to kiss. Her inquisitive younger brother Henry interrupts them. The next day, Cullen is told an alternate route can be built but would put them five weeks behind schedule. Back in town, Sean McGinnes, the railroad's new bookkeeper, tells Cullen that Durant has cancelled the livestock contracts and cornered the market. An angry Cullen says he should have killed Durant long ago. Louise overhears this. In Omaha, Nebraska, Durant dines with some ranchers, one of which is a woman whom he proposes building a commercial railroad terminus on her land. As a representative of Crédit Mobilier, he offers $100 per acre to prevent the railroad from claiming eminent domain. At the bar, he is joined by Sean, who slips him an envelope stuffed with money and the Union Pacific telegraph routing code. Durant can now eavesdrop on Cullen. The next day, Elam and Dick have breakfast together. Cullen arrives and instructs them to ride out and order the Mormons off their land. At the Hatch farm, Dick approaches the boarded-up house. He hears Hatch yell that, again, the family isn't leaving. Dick is shot in the stomach. Elam drags him away and rides back to town with him draped over the horse. Elam tells Cullen he doesn't know who fired the shot. Eva declares Dick has no chance of surviving. Dick asks to see Elam's baby. declaring her beautiful as Elam had described. Dick dies and Cullen places his police badge on Elam's vest. Elam says he didn't want the job in this manner. Cullen, Elam, Louise and a cavalry arrive at the farm with a writ of execution. Hatch and his two sons approach the railroad group with weapons. Cullen tells Hatch that he must be accountable for the murder. After Hatch insists his family will not survive without him, Cullen assures him they'll be taken to a Mormon settlement. Hatch grabs his eldest son, Jeb, and says the boy killed Dick. A reluctant Jeb agrees with his father and is hung as his family watches. Hatch tells Cullen that he now owes him a life. Later, Louise composes her newspaper story, writing that the railroad business has always involved unscrupulous and corrupt people, neither of which Cullen Bohannon seems to be. 3.03 Range War - A young man survives both arrow and scalping to tell Bohannan of an Indian raid at the stockyard that took five lives and 300 head of cattle. Bohannan sends word for soldiers and rides ahead with Mr. Ferguson. They discover that the "Indians" are actually disguised white men; now camped, drunk and without the cattle. The two take down the crew and interrogate a survivor that reveals that the money man is in Omaha. There Cullen confronts and accuses Durant who denies involvement and then strikes a deal with Margaret Palmer for cattle, who warns him of a coming range war. Back in Hell On Wheels the late Mr. Toole's brother arrives from Ireland to claim, as per custom, his widowed sister-in-law, Eva, as his bride. And despite Bohannan's redaction to his original orders the cavalry rides in with innocent Indian heads on pikes. Meanwhile, on the trail a tall Scandinavian called Mr. Andersen, either a death-defying "Swede" or his doppelganger, aids a family with their broken wagon wheel. 3.04 The Game - Cullen and Elam must travel into Kiowa territory to barter for lumber, only to learn they must play a game of stickball with their own lives at stake. Back in town, Durant arrives to tell Louise of Cullen's murderous past and Eva ponders her and her baby's future. Out on the prairie, the Swede learns the Dutson family is traveling to Fort Smith, where Mr. Dutson will be a bishop. 3.05 Searchers - As storm clouds draw closer to town, Cullen joins Elam in his search for the missing baby; Psalms interrogates Declan Toole for his possible involvement; Eva questions her motherhood; and Durant offers a reward to anyone finding the baby. Meanwhile, the Swede witnesses the Dutson son's baptism. 3.06 One Less Mule - Cullen's railroad job is in jeopardy, as Durant brings the Crédit Mobilier Board, as well as Ulysses S. Grant, to town for a competency hearing. Jasper Prescott arrives in town seeking revenge on Cullen for killing his brother. Elam proposes marriage to Eva and she accepts. The Swede kills the Dutson parents but their son Ezra witnesses the murders but manages to escape. 3.07 Cholera - Cullen sets out in search for fresh water when some of his workers, himself included, suffers from cholera. He gets no help from Durant, who has difficulties of his own when Senator Metcalf threatens to remove him from Crédit Mobilier. Eva makes a decision about her child's future. The Swede poses as Bishop Duston, telling about the loss of his family to his Fort Smith escort. Ezra Dutson saves both Cullen and the town by leading him to water. 3.08 It Happened in Boston - Elam's and Eva's relationship becomes strained, when he learns she gave the baby to Declan. Cullen and Durant ride to Fort Smith to reclaim the deserted workers, but must first have dinner with Collis Huntington, owner of the Central Pacific Railroad and the fort. Sean informs Mickey of his plans to confess his past crimes; the revelation to Ruth results in fatal consequences. 3.09 Fathers and Sins - Bohannon's plan for the railroad to reach the nearby town of Cheyenne must continue without him, when he is captured by armed men led by Aaron Hatch and taken to Fort Smith. Elam rallies the railroad workers to resume the construction. Eva mistakes Louise Ellison's concern for her as something more. Ruth questions Mickey about Sean's death, believing it to be senseless. 3.10 Get Behind the Mule - Cullen is taken before the Mormon bishop, whom he recognizes as the Swede. He is shown mercy, but must marry the pregnant Naomi Hatch. Durant, owning a majority share of the railroad, usurps control. Elam makes a dangerous decision to rescue Cullen on his own. ------------------------------Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman on July 13, 2014 -- In Blu-ray.com's Hell On Wheels: The Complete First Season Blu-ray review, I mentioned having grown up in Salt Lake City where elementary school kids were guaranteed (at least back in the Dark Ages when I went to school) a field trip to Promontory Point, the place where the vaunted Golden Spike was pounded into a track, symbolically joining the efforts of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific to create the first transcontinental railroad. This third season of Hell on Wheels has another connection to Utah, albeit perhaps not quite as celebratory. While the bulk of the season plays out with several characters still reeling from various crises that exploded over the course of the second season, a fascinating plot arc develops in the season that sees Cullen Bohannon (Anson Mount) having one particularly bad series of events with Mormons. If the Broadway musical The Book of Mormon poked scabrous if ultimately kind of sweet natured fun at the religion, Hell on Wheels offers a much darker perspective on the pioneers who under Brigham Young's mentorship emigrated west from Illinois to finally land where Brigham himself said "this is the place", the desert valley which would ultimately become known as Salt Lake City. Hell on Wheels has continually attempted to mine the same kind of gritty, angst filled world that informed much of Deadwood, but this particular plot arc is rather notable not just for how potentially offensive it might be to current Latter Day Saints (though there are some at least relatively noble Mormons on hand in the show, too), but also for how it slyly reintroduces a conflict that some fans of the series may have thought was finally over and done with. While it doesn't take long to get to some Mormons who are hardly saintly (latter day or otherwise), though, the series still has to wend through a typically labyrinthine assortment of various arcs for its large (and in this season, even larger) cast. Hell on Wheels may be alive and kicking as it enters its third season, but as the climax to the second season showed, Hell on Wheels (the town) has lived up to its underworld moniker, becoming a devastated conflagration due to an attack by the Sioux which also involves some machinations on the part of the always scheming character The Swede (Christopher Heyerdahl). That in turn led to what was obviously an ambiguous showdown between Cullen and The Swede which has repercussions later in the third season. While the second season had a major plot arc dealing with the increasing shenanigans of Durant (Colm Meaney), his comeuppance seemed a fait accompli as that season wound down. That of course turns out not to be the case, and while Cullen starts the season in a somewhat stronger position, it should come as no great surprise to find out that Durant does not take his new (imprisoned) state lying down. Hell on Wheels continues to be rather surprisingly visceral and even touching quite a bit of the time, but there are troubling signs in at least a couple of arenas. While the series tends to repeat ideas (this season, as with the second, ends with a shocking death, or at least what appears to be a shocking death) and situations (how many times are we going to see the power balance between Cullen and Durant shift back and forth?), this season perhaps tries too hard to offer too many new little stories with their attendant characters, something that draws momentum away from several key arcs. It's probably not much of a spoiler to state that The Swede survives the precipitous fall (jump?) he took at the end of the second season. What is a surprise is what happens to him after his reappearance. There's always been a creepy subtext to this character that hints (and maybe more than merely hints) at him being a psychopath, but as this season moves on, it may not be stretching things to say that the diagnosis might be narrowed down to schizophrenia. Heyerdahl makes the most of the changes his character goes through this season, with an especially nicely done final arc as the season comes to a close. The other most compelling arc, and not so coincidentally one featuring a longtime recurring character, belongs to the strangely tattooed Eva (Robin McLeavy). Eva has long had a "complicated" relationship with Elam (Common), and her new motherhood only exacerbates that situation. The baby tangentially provides one of the longer arcs of the season which involves both Elam and Cullen. Some other arcs, while interesting, don't quite pack the emotional wallop that was probably intended. Sean's (Ben Esler) long simmering and frustratingly unconsummated affection for Ruth (Kasha Kropinski) kind of crashes and burns (or perhaps more appropriately crashes and drowns after a misguided baptism), but doesn't create much actual drama. Several new characters drift in and out of various episodes, but perhaps the biggest surprise here is the lack of really compelling developments for Durant. Perhaps one time too many, the show plays out a kind of teeter totter ride between Durant and Cullen, and the fact that Durant ends this season on the upswing may feel like this particular train has stopped at this particular station once too often. Make no mistake about it, Hell on Wheels is still viscerally exciting a lot of the time, and there are several really well done plot arcs that are interwoven throughout this season. But there's also just the slight whiff of having been there and seen that as the series tends to trod over content that it has already covered. This season belongs squarely to Christopher Heyerdahl, who emerges as one of the all time creepiest characters ever to inhabit a western. Several other plot arcs have their ups and downs, but the creative staff behind Hell on Wheels had better realize that with a seven year life span (if the series follows actual historical events), they'd better keep moving forward rather than retracing old routes. Technical merits continue to be exceptionally strong on this release, and despite some niggling qualms about what lies ahead, Hell on Wheels comes Recommended. Cast Notes: Anson Mount (Cullen Bohannan [30 episodes, 2011-2013]), Colm Meaney (Thomas 'Doc' Durant [30 episodes, 2011-2013]), Common (Elam Ferguson [30 episodes, 2011-2013]), Phil Burke (Mickey McGinnes [30 episodes, 2011-2013]), Ben Esler (Sean McGinnes [28 episodes, 2011-2013]), Robin McLeavy (Eva [28 episodes, 2011-2013]), Christopher Heyerdahl (The Swede [25 episodes, 2011-2013]), Kasha Kropinski (Ruth / ... [23 episodes, 2011-2013]), Dohn Norwood (Psalms [21 episodes, 2011-2013]), Dominique McElligott (Lily Bell [20 episodes, 2011-2012]), Eddie Spears (Joseph Black Moon [20 episodes, 2011-2012]), Tom Noonan (Reverend Cole / ... [17 episodes, 2011-2012]), Duncan Ollerenshaw (Mr. Toole [16 episodes, 2011-2012]). IMDb Rating (09/22/13): 8.2/10 from 18,944 users
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