Hell on Wheels

After Deadwood (HBO)stopped being aired I was DEVASTATED. I love watching the "modern" western. When I saw that AMC had a new series Hell on Wheels I watched the first episode and wasn't so sure I'd like it. I was torn with a few of the characters and wasn't sure things meshed together but I watched the second episode and by the 3rd I was hooked! I just finished the season and am DYING for next season to get started. Some of the scenery is breathtaking and the musical score during the Indian battle with Cullen, Elam and the Union soldiers (when the Indians stole their horses) was absolutely mesmerizing. I think it's a great show and will only improve with time!! I'm a fan. For sure.

Hell on Wheels is a gritty and exciting western that takes place right after the Civil War ended. It follows former Confederate soldier Cullen Bohannon (Anson Mount) who can't seem to put the way behind him. He wife was killed by Union Soldiers and he sets out on revenge. It also follows the construction of the first transcontinental railroad. This all takes place in a lawless town called Hell on Wheels. I never watched it when it was originally on and thought I'd finally give it a chance after hearing so many great things about it and I'm so glad I did. I binged the entire series in just a few weeks and it was worth every second. It's one of the more underrated shows ever!

I Love this show. Best I've seen in a long time. I had no interest in a following a western, in fact was put of by genera, but decided to give it a try anyway as the trailers seemed pretty good.

The characters are complex, the cinematography outstanding, and the shows plot lines are solid.

I love the soundtracks... the fact that you seldom if ever hear "country music", but instead Dixieland, blues, folk and rock sometimes layered over scenes that you may not immediately equate with the music you are hearing and as a result make the scene more memorable.

Overall, each episode is a feast to the eyes and ears. Yes, the material may not be mind shattering, but that I think is not what one should expect from a western.

It has picked a period where it was able to mash up a lot of different "western" inspirations... railroad, civil war, calvary, Lynch mobs, cowboys and Indians, etc. and has tied them together very well.

Can't wait for season 2.

Just one word...Beautiful! I'm from the Netherlands and thanks to IMDb I started watching. And was hooked from the start. It reminds me of the comics Comanche, Durango and Blueberry of Flemish authors Greg and Hermann. The classic western tale not sparing us the harsh reality of racism, bloodshed for personal gain and 'immorality'. Even the cinematography is comicbooklike. Especially Cullen reminds of the character Red Dust in the comicbook Comanche. Very interesting characters all in all. My favourite (they're all my favourite, but i love this one) is the The Sweed. What a smooth yet chilling personalty!! They (casting) couldn't have done a better job with him.

LOVE THIS SHOW and every week I wait with anticipation for the next episode. Thanks AMC. For those who are curious, just check it out, you won't be disappointed.

Clearly this series is aiming for a mythical aura, and for me it has achieved that thus far over the first 3 episodes. I doubt I have ever seen such a beautifully shot TV show anywhere, and yet I am not sure how a series on AMC can afford to look this good given how their resources have to be spread over so many episodes. (For brief moments, this looks like DAYS OF HEAVEN.) Yet this is not merely a visual feast, it is one that attempts to delve into a critical juncture in American history, right after the end of the Civil War, a point of no return if there ever was one. The tropes here are familiar: rebels who have never really surrendered (THE SEARCHERS) and railroads leading the encroachment of civilization on a pristine wilderness (ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST). All of the contradictions of the USA in a peripatetic microcosm, a moving city with prostitutes and evangelicals practically living on top of each other. (No pun intended.) And then there is the corruption driving the whole project forward. None of this is new, but it always depends on the presentation with the Western. They present it beautifully in this case. I'm hooked.