Hell on wheels is a TV show I first heard about prior to it first premiere back in 2011. I had read the synopsis of the show and
saw the trailer and was like ‘I will keep an eye out for the pilot’ Two years
later I've finally watched it, and all I can say is what was I doing waiting so long to
watch this wonderful TV show. The only good thing for me being so late to the
party, was that I got to binge on 3 seasons back to back.
This is a hellish show, set in a hellish
place, populated with hellish people some naturally hellish some turned hellish, from the actions and situations placed upon them. Hell on Wheels centers on the
settlement that accompanied the construction of First Transcontinental Railroad, referred to as "Hell on
Wheels" by the Union Pacific company men, surveyors,
support workers, laborers, prostitutes, mercenaries, and others who made the
mobile encampment their home. It stars Anson Mount as Cullen Bohannon, a former Confederate
soldier who works as a foreman on the railroad
while attempting to track down the Union
soldiers who murdered his wife and young son. He
later becomes the chief engineer. He strikes up an unlikely love hate
friendship with a recently freed slave Elam Ferguson played by the rapper
Common. Their complicated friendship is up there with Breaking Bad’s unlikely
duo Walter White and Jesse Pinkman and is a joy to watch unfold.
The character development in this show is of
the highest order. I remember watching the pilot with the scene when Cullen
first meets the Irish Immigrant brother’s Mickey and Sean. Who both came across cliched, and that didn't bold well for the other characters naturally. I was proven wrong, no character is clichéd
but the other ‘C’ word 'Complex'. The characters are all driven with a selfishly pursuit
stoked with a furious commitment to their wants and needs. This brings about
heart wrenching and jaw dropping plot developments, twists and turns. When you think
the show is treading thin water with being safe and clichéd something happens
that blows that out of the water. I have at times sat back and been left truly
speechless with a ‘WTF just happened’ moment.
This is a show with a lot of action it doesn't
rest at all it truly moves as Hell on Wheels. With more hellish stuff happening
as it rides on. It's a show that has transformed itself into something more than the original idea of a mans vengeance. Season 2 was some of the best TV I have watched in the last
couple of years the finale was truly breath taking and I urge you to watch the
Show if anything but for that.
It has been renewed for a 4th
season that will premiere in the summer (2014) so sit back and binge on the
current 3 seasons on offer. You will not be disappointed.
Here is a trailer for Season 1:
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