Basket of Kisses

That…was not good. This week’s Hell on Wheels, The Lord’s Day, devolved into pure soap opera. Next week is the season finale, and this week we’re chock full of soapy plot, probably in preparation for the two-hour “event.” This seems to be happening everywhere on television: Penultimate episodes slam on the plot machinations willy-nilly, and [...]

                    A portrait of  Eva by Shilochan.   I’ve only just started watching this series, but I’m intrigued!

1. Comments were accidentally turned off for The White Spirit. I don’t know how that happened — the software should prevent that kind of error. I apologize because we’ve had lively discussions on Hell on Wheels. They’re on now. 2. Alphas for this week will go up a little late. Maybe this afternoon, maybe tomorrow.

The truth is, I think some people are beyond redemption. When Ruth said the quote above, it went straight to what Cullen Bohannon has wrestled with since almost the inception of Hell on Wheels. Cullen fears he is irredeemable, and longs for the touch of redemption. This episode stands on the cusp between those two [...]

Faces. Faces in close-up, distorted or dead-on, studied, examined, explored. Purged Away with Blood is replete with faces of sorrow, remorse, madness, rage, and acceptance. The number of close-ups this week is surely greater than we’ve seen before (at least it seemed that way to me–I didn’t count). A couple of big surprises this week.

I have received official word from AMC: The Season 2 finale of Hell on Wheels will air October 7. It will be a two-hour event. This means it’s a ten episode season, with episodes 9 and 10 airing the same night. You heard it here first, folks.

You judge and avenge in the name of the dissipated. A great sword is given unto you. Hell on Wheels is a Western; it has the costumes, the cadence, the guns and horses, but in some ways it is surprisingly unlike a Western. It explores topics that aren’t much explored in the genre. Often, I [...]

Anything moves, shoot the shit out of it. This week’s Hell on Wheels, Scabs, is about the usurpation and exercise of power. It’s about who has rights and who doesn’t, and it answers the question by suggesting those who have rights are those who fight for them. There was great stuff this week featuring Cullen, [...]

An excellent Cullen Bohannon by artist QuiteBubbly on Deviatart.  It’s like Bohannon as a western Dirty Harry!  (The artist describes it as ‘a Western Jesus’)

Every new land demands blood and we relent. It is our nature. We are, after all, animals. In our arrogance, we forget this, but in the end we rise from the land, only to return. This season of Hell on Wheels is definitely playing with broad themes. Episode 2.01 was about compromise, and 2.02 about [...]

Here’s Mr. Bohannon, with a slight Mario Bros. vibe! Great piece by doodlinjazz

Playing God comes naturally to you, don’t it? Hell on Wheels excels as a series of moments, visually arresting, often stunningly original; juxtapositions of people, place, and situation. Durant, suffused in sunlight, holding two documents, while being told he plays God; Lily and Eva across a table, and across the vast expanse that separates their [...]