We’ve been enjoying Hell On Wheels. Interesting characters, and we laugh every time someone provokes Bohannan. After three complete seasons, they should know better! 
Spoiler to follow…
So I’m checking out the DVR schedule, and I see the description for S4E6, which airs on 09/06.
New, HD, “Bear Man”, S4/Ep06, (2014), (TV-14, V),
Following an attack by a bear, Elam struggles to survive in a Comanche village and finds his way back to Cheyenne. (Western, 60 mins.), (V=Intense violence).
OK, we were sad to see this character leave the show. We liked him. And now I know the aftermath. The title of the episode would have been spoiler enough, as you can guess what happens. But the listing goes on to spoil it more. I’m sure that the plot point would be revealed before the titles, or right after them. (I’m betting before.) But it kind of sucks that I know what’s coming over a week before airing.
What do you think of the other plot developments this season?
I agree, the open spoiler really sucks. I also think it would have been more gutsy to kill off that character outright, but perhaps the creators didn’t want to do that after recently killing another of the ensemble folk.
The scene in which Bohannan pretended to be having a religious conversion to con The Swede into confessing that he murdered the real bishop was great. But The Swede is really sneaky and I fully expect him to find a way not to get executed. I think ultimately that boy (whose name I can’t remember) will testify that The Swede murdered his (the boy’s) father. Perhaps they’ll hold off until the season finale for that scene.
They can’t get rid of Gunderson until the finale. He is one of the most loathsome, evil and interesting characters ever invented, making Darth Vader look merely mean and power hungry by comparison.
The Bridge has also begun to feature a character named Eleanor, who is bizarrely evil.
I also liked the scene in which Bohannan referred to him as “The Swede” and he angrily pointed out that he was Norwegian. You can tell that he hates having acquired that nickname.
That’s exactly what I figured would happen to that character - he’d return as a Native adoptee. I would have preferred to be surprised by it, though, and even had I not read this spoiler the title and description completely give it away.
HOW is going Deadwood - too many complicated characters kind of spinning in circles, and the main one is reduced to a macho grunting bystander. They should have Tim Olyphant do a cameo.
The Swede is a great character! I liked him better when he was less insane though. Incidentally, the actor’s father’s cousin was Thor Heyerdahl.
Running gag, which we find hilarious, being of Norskie heritage.
I like how he went from a sparse black comb-over to curly John Brown wrath-o-god afro.
I liked the black comb-over and the long black coat.
I’ve never seen this actor (whose name I forget now) in any scene in anything where he didn’t steal the whole scene with his wonderful hamminess. Kinda like how Jennifer Lawrence steals every scene she is in with her talent at conveying emotion. I don’t think his character is insane at all. I think he is evil for the sake of evil. As an archetype he is Loki, the trickster god.
I think more than Deadwood, HOW likes to shuffle its characters around - several have changed roles more than once to fit a new ensemble idea. I assume it’s planned and purposeful, but Bohannon in particular has been three or four completely different things in the short run, and it’s getting just a tad silly.
In the last episode Durant was being friendly to Eva (offering her a chance to take a bath and eat). Previously he was seen as the primary antagonist, but now that the new territorial governor is the Big Bad, Durant is aligning with the rest of the community. This reminded me of how Al Swearengen started as the villain but later aligned with the townspeople against George Hearst.
…and looks like a stoned Roman Polanski…
I hate the narration device using the newspaper publisher. Bohannon is no saint.
Bohannon’s exploits do seem to be a little bit dime novel in their episodes, but his character is more or less consistent, except for his stint as a train robber.
Thanks, and thanks for the link. He is always great fun to watch.
Remember that at the start of the series, Bohannan’s main motivation was to find and kill the men responsible for murdering his family. So he’s never been viewed as a saint. But he’s been shown to be a competent engineer, a good friend and a good foreman/manager.
I got tossed pretty good by this week’s episode (S4:E12, "Thirteen Steps.) Very different from most prior episodes, which have been wide-angle, big-story, everyone’s going to _____ type instances. This one was almost claustrophobic, verging on noir.
For what it’s worth, I was pretty sure of the conclusion - this is not a show that dances around the edge and then takes everyone safely home. But the way they handled the climax literally had me short of breath.
On the other hand… this is still not a great show. There’s a “disciple” tinge to it, where the runners are looking at what makes the other critically-acclaimed shows work, and saying, “Hey! Let’s do THAT!” Killing off front-credit star used to be a never, and even now occurs only to really bend the storyline or plot. HOW keeps setting up major characters to be killed off in bizarre ways… just to do it. Just because those other shows do it. It would be one thing if they were redshirts, or maybe something a little less cardboard, but to take one front-cred actor after another and suddenly kill them off in a peculiar twist that tells us nothing and advances the overall storyline not a whit… huh.
The first blonde - pointless. Sean - pointless. Forget even the double deaths of Elam, both pointless. The death of the boy almost made sense in a story development way. Then Sidney - pointless. And now… can anyone justify the Ruth storyline and ending? In any way?
I missed this episode and the last one, not having realized that they restarted the season. I’ll have to watch them On Demand. (I have no idea why the show took a month off.)