Hell On Wheels - You've Just Been Bohannaned!

Happy New Year, Guys!
After a dry week of television, it's time to get back on the horse. And New Year's Day provided the best show to do so. Hell On Wheels was back this week after a two week hiatus and it did not disappoint (not that it ever has).

With Cullen and Elam doing their Lone Ranger routine elsewhere, Durant and Lily were on their way back to Hell On Wheels when the train they were traveling in got derailed...big time. Apparently, the Cheyenne had dug some sort of pit in the path of the train tracks, and the subsequent scene was not pretty. With tensions between the two sides already running high, the proverbial shit finally hit the fan as Durant finally decided that his cup runneth over, and not in a good way.

It was around this time, that The Brothers Gruff (Cullen & Elam) made their dynamic entrance at the crash site. The Swede (also the president of the "I Hate Bohannan" club) finally decided to be uncool for once in his life and made the mistake of pointing his weapon at Cullen. Well, he almost did.
For the first time in season one, The Swede got all his swedeness whipped out of him (as it turns out, he's Norwegian) by a seriously pissed Cullen, as a flabbergasted Lily and Durant looked on. However, Durant didn't seem to give a crap about The Swede as he still asked Cullen to be his personal assassin and kill the rogue Cheyenne responsible for this derailment. If memory serves me right, all this happened in about 5 minutes.

In case you were wondering, Lily gave Durant the bean after his proposal in the previous episode. We all knew she would. Durant subsequently behaved like a toddler with a full diaper and told her to go take a hike, (which she was in the process of doing anyway). I'm a little confused as to what her role is from now on. Now that she's living groundside amongst the best and the smelliest, I imagine she will have many more 'run-ins' with Cullen.

The hunting party (so to speak) employed to take down the rogue Cheyenne was a unique one. I was disappointed they kept us hanging for another week when they got ambushed, but what transpired before that was interesting. Joseph seemed to be caught in two minds, neither of which wants his tribe to come to any harm. The train massacre being what it was, a peaceful solution seems more than a stretch, and Joseph knows that. The purpose for his involvement is sketchy and I'd like to know more about it.

Meanwhile, the backlash of the train incident finally got to Reverend Cole as he did his Edward Nigma impression, and finally decided that God had left Hell On Wheels and moved on to a friendlier, less fuzzier settlement. His loopiness made him overlook a seriously tender moment between Joseph and the Reverend's daughter, Ruth.

The last week of television in 2011 reeked of desperation, so I can wholeheartedly say 2012 has got off to a pretty decent start! The comparisons to Deadwood notwithstanding, I can comfortably see Hell On Wheels carve out a niche for itself on Sunday nights. I think it already has!

Tidbits

- I'm sorry, but Elam looked like a complete doofus brandishing his weapon (...er both of...never mind) in front of Eva. Not to mention the creepiest smile of 2012. Now he has two facial expressions in eight episodes.
- 2012 is the year of TV badasses. Cullen Bohannan just made it to number two on my list, after John Reese.
- Even though he got his ass handed to him last night, The Swede is still awesome!!
- How many rogue Cheyenne is Cullen going to kill next week?? I'm guessing five. What's your guess??

Hell On Wheels got renewed for season two last week. How cool is AMC??

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