“You’re the second guy I’ve met within hours who seems to think a gat in the hand means a world by the tail.”

– Phillip Marlowe in Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep.

Hard to believe it’s been almost fifteen years since AMC debuted a gritty new western, Hell on Wheels. In November of 2011, Justified had completed two seasons, and suddenly I had two favorite shows. Back then television shows aired weekly, not in multiple episode ‘drops.’ and they weren’t available on-demand. You watched them when they aired or recorded them on your DVR. I would actually sit and watch both those shows every week, ‘live.’

MILD SPOILERS

I’m not gonna blatantly drop stuff, but don’t get mad if you can infer something from this post. The show’s been out there for fifteen years. Go watch it!

Anson Mount played Cullen Bohannon, a former Confederate soldier out for revenge against the Union soldiers who had killed his wife and son and burned his farm. His pursuit takes him to the camp of the Union Pacific Railroad, which is headed across the central plains under the leadership of Thomas Durrant (Colm Meany of Star Trek: The Next Generation fame).

While the series starts out as a revenge tale, Bohannon abandons that quest after he kills the wrong man (played by Capt. Stottlemeyer of Monk) and instead focuses on helping build the Transcontinental Railroad. The series becomes the story of the various employees and camp followers who move along as the laying of track progresses: the mobile community is ‘Hell on wheels.’

Hell on Wheels is a Western Noir: And a darn good one. One of AMC’s taglines was ‘Hell ain’t civilized.’ For a color series, it’s got a black and white vibe. You’ll understand when you watch it. Bleak can be a tone and a color. But the feel is Noir – not just the look.

I had never seen Mount in anything before, but I’m telling you, he was made for this part. He’s the protagonist, but he’s not a white-hatted cowboy: Roy Rogers need not apply. He develops his own code of honor as the series progresses, but he’s a ‘get it done guy’ who rises from swinging a pick to the most important person in the Transcontinental’s story. And as he demonstrates many times, he isn’t afraid to use a gun.

Bohannon is the only character which appears in every episode. Durrant, who is in 52 of the 55 shows, is a greedy, conniving rail baron and I think it’s Meany’s definitive role. There’s some good inside Durrant, but it never gets in the way of his ultimate purpose: to win the race against the Central Pacific in getting to the famed Golden Spike. Meany is playing an actual historical person and the real Durrant was a swindling financier like Rockefeller and the other giants in American history.

You’ve probably seen tall, creepy Christopher Heyerdahl before. For a large part of this series, his character, The Swede, was as compelling a villain as I’ve ever seen. There’s a scene near the end of Blood Moon Rising (the season two finale), shot in slow motion during a siege of the town, that is one of the most amazing things I’ve seen on television. And it’s all about the Swede.

I could almost argue that Heyerdahl carried the show for the first three seasons or so. Not that it was lacking, but he was just that great to watch. More recently, he was in four episodes of Peacemaker (Captain Locke), and guested in season three of Dark Winds (which I wrote about here). He was in an episode of Psych, as well as a different role in the Psych 2 movie. I’d like to see him pop up on Poker Face.

Harsh weather, Indians, cholera, outlaws, nature, corrupt officials, overzealous US soldiers, financial machinations: the series is a constant battle of man vs. man and man vs. environment (and for a short time, man vs. bear. That’s probably my least favorite storyline of the whole series). Thriving is barely a recognized goal much of the time Merely surviving is.

It should come as no surprise that in this hostile setting, a lot of people die. Many prominent characters don’t make it through the series. One particular hanging is still hard for me to believe. If you’re going to root for anybody other than Bohannon or Durrant, you may end up disappointed.

Filmed in Canada, some of the scenery is gorgeous. But much of it is bleak and depressing. The people look dirty and tired. This isn’t Hollywood’s Wild West. The building of the railroad was backbreaking work, mostly done by Irish immigrants, freed black men and Chinese coolies. You think you had a hard day at the office… From the pilot episode to the series finale, Hell on Wheels is a fine-looking show.

A friend repeatedly refused to watch the show because he doesn’t like Westerns. But this is as much of a Noir as it is a Western. And it’s a story about the Transcontinental Railroad, not a cowboys and Indians tale. The series opens with an emotionally exhausted Union soldier going into a church to unburden his soul of his sins from the war. He’s one of the men who Bohannon is hunting and it is payback time right there in the confessional. The action, the mood, the music: we’re in Noir territory.

In season four, Sydney Stone (played to perfection by Jonathon Scarfe), an old “friend” from Bohannon’s past, shows up and initiates an absorbing storyline with fatal consequences for many. It’s like a forties Pulp story.

As we know, the railroad got built. The two lines were brought together at Promontory Point, Utah and the American West was truly opened up for settlement. Hell on Wheels paints a dark picture of that story. And it does it very, very well.

Bohannon tries to build a new life, with his wife, son, and farm becoming ashes of memory. He has a chance at a new family, but you’ve probably already figured out this isn’t a Happy Hollywood horseshi* show. Bohannon faces the hardest choice of a difficult life.

After Justified wrapped up (and after BBC Sherlock jumped four sharks), Hell on Wheels became my favorite television show. Its renewal status was up in the air after season one, but it lasted five seasons. The show’s movers and shakers agreed that season five would be the final one, allowing them to steer the final fourteen episodes in the direction they wanted to reach the series closure that they desired. And it worked out pretty well.

I think Hell on Wheels will appeal to fans of Justified. It’s not as good as that show (heck: what is?), but it has some of that same feel. Anson Mount has a little Timothy Olyphant in him, without the humor. Since binge-watching is now one of America’s great pastimes, go ahead and give Hell on Wheels a try.

And Mount has become more popular since I wrote this post back in 2016. He took on the role of Captain Christopher Pike for season two of Star Trek: Discovery. Trekkies know that Pike was the original captain of The Enterprise. Played by Jeffrey Hunter in the pilot, he was dropped for William Shatner and television history was made.

Mount was so popular in the season-long storyline, they spun it off into its own show. Season three just started dropping last week, and there will be five seasons of the show. SNW is my favorite series of them all – replacing The Next Generation – and I think it’s great Mount has two excellent TV series.’ I recommend watching season two of Discovery before you start SNW, though that’s not mandatory.

I didn’t watch AMC’s Breaking Bad, or The Walking Dead. Just wasn’t interested. But I’m finishing up some re-watches, and I’m getting a hankering to revisit this one. I think it’s time.

Here’s the trailer for season one.

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Bob Byrne’s ‘A (Black) Gat in the Hand’ made its Black Gate debut in 2018 and has returned every summer since.

His ‘The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes’ column ran every Monday morning at Black Gate from March, 2014 through March, 2017. And he irregularly posts on Rex Stout’s gargantuan detective in ‘Nero Wolfe’s Brownstone.’ He is a member of the Praed Street Irregulars, founded www.SolarPons.com (the only website dedicated to the ‘Sherlock Holmes of Praed Street’).

He organized Black Gate’s award-nominated ‘Discovering Robert E. Howard’ series, as well as the award-winning ‘Hither Came Conan’ series. Which is now part of THE Definitive guide to Conan. He also organized 2023’s ‘Talking Tolkien.’

He has contributed stories to The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories — Parts III, IV, V, VI, XXI, and XXXIII.

He has written introductions for Steeger Books, and appeared in several magazines, including Black Mask, Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine, The Strand Magazine, and Sherlock Magazine.

You can definitely ‘experience the Bobness’ at Jason Waltz’s ’24? in 42′ podcast.