I finished the series today, and for the most part really enjoyed it.
Bohannon was a great character to follow, but so much tragedy piled on him along his journey. The bookend with the Washington church was a nice touch, and the final ray of hope as he sails for China.
The 1885 Durant episode was quite sad, even though he had ruin coming to him, but it also cast a shadow over the rest of the series because it revealed certain plot points beforehand.
A couple of episodes jumped the bear, and would better have been left out, and Elam's fate left unknown.
In style the series tended towards
Deadwood, but with less swearing and vulgarity! It also tended more towards reality rather than a lot of westerns. For example, there wasn't a single quick draw or showdown as such. Killings were more opportunistic and brutal.
However, the sheer number of the latest Model 1866 Yellowboy rifles was a bit off-putting. Everyone had them, as though the production company got a good deal in bulk!
There was also very little attention paid to the time consuming loading of cap and ball revolvers, apart from one instance where Bohannon is prising a used cap off. His pre-loaded cylinders did make for some good scenes though, as he calmly advances on his enemy while changing them over.
I think Elam was the only one to have a cartridge revolver, a Colt 1860 Richards-Mason Conversion. At the time it seemed odd that he had the faster loaded weapon, while Bohannon retained cap and ball to the end. However, Bill Hickock carried his unconverted 1851 Colt Navy pistols until at least 1873 because he favoured them.
As a series
Hell on Wheels kept me on board until the end, which isn't always the case. Sometimes you can't wait for a series to be over, but with this I wanted it to continue.
And it was nice to see the older weapons, as opposed to the usual Colt .45s. I used to avidly collect, but haven't added anything since this old photo, though there are some not shown.
Top left are a pair of Navies, and in the middle a cartridge conversion example of Bohannon's final sidearm, the Remington 1858 New Model Army.
Also, the scene where Mickey is leaving town, and he looks over to Campbell and Campbell wipes the mud off his boots as a final insult, and Mickey flashes him that **** eating grin, beautiful job by both actors there.
