'Hell on Wheels' - 'A New Birth of Freedom': When the whistle blows
Cullen and Lily meet, while Elam volunteers his men for more work
Dominique McElligott in "Hell on Wheels."
Credit: AMC
Well, there seems to be enough interest in discussing "Hell on Wheels" that I'm going to keep these posts going for now. "A New Birth of Freedom" brings together Cullen and Lily, gives Elam more responsibility with the cut crew, and lets Doc Durant give another speech that's meant to be terribly persuasive but really isn't. Oh, and it gave us more Swede, which is never a bad thing.
What did you guys think? Three episodes in, do you have a sense of the show's strengths and weakenesses? Are you enjoying it enough to continue?
Alan Sepinwall has been reviewing television since the mid-'90s, first for Tony Soprano's hometown paper, The Star-Ledger, and now for HitFix. His new book, "The Revolution Was Televised," about the last 15 years of TV drama, is for sale at Amazon. He can be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com
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November 21, 2011 at 12:37AM EST Reply to CommentI am enjoying it so far. The characters are interesting enough, and I find the storyline fine so far. There are periods of a few minutes, usually around the 3/4 point of the episodes, where I find myself restless / slightly bored and checking my computer and phone. No sure if it's just because the show comes directly after Walking Dead and 2 hours of consecutive TV is a lot, but there are dull-ish moments. Overall, I do like the show though.
bodie
November 21, 2011 at 1:12AM EST Reply to CommentI'm good with it so far. Some of the characters are showing promise and the story the show is built around is good enough for me to give this show a decent leash. Well, at least more leash than I gave The Killing. Glad I got out before the end on that.
John
November 21, 2011 at 1:14AM EST Reply to CommentLike Alan, I'm a sucker for westerns, and this is just Deadwood-ish enough to keep me interested. I'm in.
chudleycannonfodder
November 21, 2011 at 1:33AM EST Reply to CommentI had to give up on the show half way through this episode. It's just not interesting enough to make me want to pay attention to who the characters are or what the plot is when I can be on the internet and listen to part of an older ep of Best Show (trying to catch up).
chudleycannonfodder I'm willing to check it out on DVD if I hear good things (or even jump back in if it turns out like Rubicon), but when I try to recall what happened over the past 2 and a half episodes I can barely remember anything interesting that didn't involve the Swede or Buffalo Bill (who's not even on the show anymore).
November 21, 2011 at 1:35AM ESTAnon.Z.Moose
November 21, 2011 at 2:29AM EST Reply to CommentApologies if you addressed this elsewhere but I wonder if AMC is not really selling this series the way they did The Killing, for example. On one hand The Walking Dead is their most popular series so sandwiching it between two eps of TWD is beneficial but it looks like if you miss the 10pm showing you have to wait until 2am EST for the next train. Anyway, my impression is the show is likely to fail: it started slow, has characters that are not as interesting to watch as those in, say, Breaking Bad or Terriers, and so if you miss the 10 pm there's no incentive to stay up or tivo it. And no one will fight to keep it if the numbers slip. The selling point is that it's a Western that's telling a less well worn part of that story. So I'll watch until it's taken off the air which I expect is inevitable. Hope to be wrong.
Truck They play a 15 year old Rammstein riff on the commercial. That cheesy song pretty much kills their chance of bringing in any new male viewers that grew up in the 90s.
November 21, 2011 at 6:23PM ESTPrunella
November 21, 2011 at 3:25AM EST Reply to CommentThe episodes feel, so far, like a big, long setup – slow, like the beginning of an great epic novel. I hope that's the way it goes.
Greg Grant
November 21, 2011 at 3:33AM EST Reply to CommentIt's Deadwood-Lite, but way dumber. The writing does not trust the actors, so that their reactions have to be telegraphed by the script. No one can look surprised without then saying, "I'm shocked to find you here." and etc. Even little silly things like Our Grizzled Hero deciding he must protect his Obvious Love Interest and not leave her to Positive Ethnic Minority. They can't just show him change his mind, they have to tell us why and how he's changing his mind. Does anyone on this show trust anyone to do anything?
And Doc Durant's "Mad Men's Carousel" moment meant to show shades of gray and how Important he is falls flat on its face.
I like Westerns, but can they please un-dumb this show so that I won't have to be insulted each time I watch. Please?
AJ
November 21, 2011 at 10:27AM EST Reply to CommentI'm usually in lock-step with your opinion on shows Alan but I actually sort of like this show. It's not great, but it's not bad either.
The acting is fine - I like the lead and the Swede. The Durant character needs to have fewer long monologues but its not the acting so much as the writing there. His character is definitely trying too hard to be Al Swearegen and that's not a road anyone should try to walk down because you will fail.
Plot-wise its been slow but its managed to stay mostly entertaining. I agree with a poster above that said he gets restless around the 3/4 mark each week. It's not perfect but its a good start to a show in my opinion (and yes, I am sucker for Westerns).
bryan-a
November 21, 2011 at 10:42AM EST Reply to Commentnot bad so fay- it shows promise. Doc Durant is definitely a problem, the preacher's weak as well. I'm a little intrigued by the new whore - that could go either way. And I do like the irishmen. In short though they really need to keep the cameron on Mount as much as possible.
Jared
November 21, 2011 at 11:07AM EST Reply to CommentI agree with the slow plot and the restlessness. I get restless when either Common, the Swede or Bohannon are not on screen. The rest of the plot and cast just seems to be a drag.
I am a little more interested in both the widow and the new prostitute going forward. I think it will be interesting to see how their interactions with Bohannon and Common progress.
Elliot
November 21, 2011 at 11:26AM EST Reply to CommentI'm generally on-board with the show. I fall into the classification of people who didn't watch Deadwood, so probably can enjoy it more.
One question though. What is the tattoo on the prostitutes mouth? Is there symbolism there that I'm not picking up on? To me, it just seems bizarre. Oh well, still going to follow the show!
Jared Didn't they mention that she had been kidnapped by Native Americans as a child? I'm guessing the tattoo has something to do with that experience.
November 21, 2011 at 11:44AM ESTMark in Omaha I'm not aware of any native american tribes that used tatoos.
November 21, 2011 at 2:54PM ESTbryan-a I agree w/ Omaha about the tats - they looked more aboriginal to me (see The Piano).
November 21, 2011 at 3:51PM ESTThing is though I don't have enough faith in this show yet to say they are historically or culturally accurate. They may have just thought it looked cool so let's do it.
We'll see.
Prunella I have a book on women who made the journey west during that time, and it includes a picture of a white woman who lived with natives and had a tattoo a lot like that. In fact, I wonder if that book is where they got the idea.
November 21, 2011 at 6:58PM ESTTeklanika
November 21, 2011 at 3:52PM EST Reply to CommentStill interested. I like the premise so I'll give it more time. That said, it hasn't blown me away so far.
Louise
November 21, 2011 at 8:27PM EST Reply to CommentWhat was the deal with Bohannan swigging whiskey while taking the arrowhead out of Lilly? I don't know if the intention was to be funny but I thought it was hilarious. At first, I thought he was going to use it to cleanse her wound, but instead he drank it himself and kept drinking throughout the whole procedure.
It reminded me of a Seinfeld episode when Jerry was having dental work done. Instead of giving Jerry the gas mask, the dentist put it on himself.
Gob's Frozen Dove Yes, what WAS the deal with that?? I completely thought he was going to use it to clean her wound. Oh God, don't make me laugh about that Seinfeld episode!
November 22, 2011 at 10:27AM ESTAnother thing that bothered me HUGELY...Bohannon goes through all this effort to get made foreman of the rail crew. Yet the second he steps out of his tent, he issues a couple of commands, hands the reins over to Positive Ethnic Guy, then instantly proceeds to ride off into the sunset for what? Four days?? Way to impress your new boss with your authority.
I write historical westerns and I'm pretty impressed with the accuracy for the most part. Stylistically it's fascinating too. I'm in.
GarySF I recall seeing other movies or TV shows in which a doctor uses whiskey to both clean the wound and steel his own nerves to perform a surgery or amputation. Sometimes it's played for humor, but I think if you believe Hollywood the booze is needed to some degree to steady the surgeon's hands or to dull the mind enough to do something that's normally repulsive.
November 23, 2011 at 1:42AM ESTAngela
November 21, 2011 at 9:10PM EST Reply to CommentAfter reading a horrible review by a TV critic I like I didn't even bother to try one episode. Besides I'm already doing a rewind of the rest of Deadwood since Alan got me started on it again.
Anyone who has not seen Deadwood is missing out. It's a masterpiece in all ways. The writing, acting, settings, cinematography, and the authenticity is just so damn perfect.
Someone wrote on another TV site that they didn't like to watch cancelled shows. Whether it was cancelled or not, ( I recall something Alan said about this being untrue but I didn't pay attention because it is what it is) 3 seasons of any TV show is a long time for it to run these days.
Back to Wheels, I too will try to catch up if I hear anything more than, "It's OK". Time is too precious.
MM Still don't understand everyone's love affair with Deadwood, for me.....meh. Way too much dialogue, it takes them 10 minutes to utter one sentence (the hotel manager is the worst, that guy kills me). You'd think the over the top cussing would be a positve, especially for me, but it's unrealistic. Do some research, they substituted CSers and MFers at every turn to substitute gol darns and what not. That show is extremely over-rated.
November 22, 2011 at 12:41PM ESTThat being said, Hell on Wheels is ok, I'll DVR it and give it one season.
Omagus "You'd think the over the top cussing would be a positve, especially for me, but it's unrealistic. Do some research, they substituted CSers and MFers at every turn to substitute gol darns and what not."
November 27, 2011 at 4:24PM EST--
This has been explained many times by David Milch. There was even a meta joke about it IN the show. He chose to use anachronistic swear words to capture the *feel* of the language. Saying "gosh darn" wouldn't sway a modern audience in the slightest but at the time Deadwood takes place it's the equivalent of saying "motherfucker."
Chad
November 22, 2011 at 11:13AM EST Reply to CommentAs a massive fan of Deadwood, I made a conscious effort to not compare the two from the jump. As a result, I like HoW a good deal. Maybe im giving the writers too much credit, but it seems that they are making the characters a little cartoonish in their pigeonholed roles on purpose. The sets are gorgeous, and I love the wide angled shots of the terrain.
Anybody know the song that was playing when Common and the working girl were having their moment in the whore tent? I tried to tag it with my phone but the clip isn't long enough.