BigLouKnows: New TV Series Review: Hell on Wheels

Hell on Wheels (created by Joe and Tony Gayton) is a gritty series (in its second season) that portrays the malevolent and corrupt nature that engulfed America’s early railroad development. The story’s main protagonist is rough-neck former Confederate soldier named Cullen Bohannan, played by Anson Mount, whose family was murdered by union solders. This event sets him on a mission of violent revenge that subsequently leads him to the further reaches of the great frontier, and, ultimately, into the employment of a powerful railroad baron named Thomas ‘Doc’ Durant, played by one of my favorite actors Colm Meaney. The story line seems simple enough at first: man seeks revenge for slain family, but as the plot unfolds what begins to develop is a dynamic story of many different characters attempting to survive long enough to stake their claim of the great undeveloped west. This mobile tent town that spearheads the train track construction is laden with lawless men running from their pasts, voluptuous women working the world’s oldest trade, recently freed slaves, and hardworking immigrants. However, this combustible melting pot lives under constant fear of attacks from the Native Americans, and it is this aspect of the show I find the most compelling. I personally was drawn to the stark contrast developed between the industrial “white man’s world” and the natural world of the Native Americans. This struggle is best exemplified in the season 1, episode 6 where a sit down is arranged to discuss a peaceful resolution to the tumultuous relationship between Chief Many Horses of the Cheyenne, played by the ubiquitous Wes Studi, and the railroad conglomerate, e.g., Durant, Senator Jordan Crane (James D. Hopkin), and the town reverend Cole (Tom Noonan). It is within this exchange that the underlying issue of this series presents itself; the struggle between industrialization and nature, colonization and independence, and, ultimately, genocide. The railroad barons argue that the land they need to develop does not actually belong to the Indians but actually to the government. They assure the Chief that he and his people would have a better way of life if they were to move to a reservation. Needless to say, the Chief disagrees and the parties leave in a hot huffy. I vehemently recommend this show. It is an excellent rendition of the bloody turmoil that surrounded the development of the Wild West.