Hell on Wheels: Difference between revisions
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Set in the 1860s at the beginning of Reconstruction, the series follows Cullen Bohannon, a former Confederate soldier, who is determined to exact revenge on the Union soldiers who murdered his wife. His quest for vengeance sends him westward to Nebraska's "Hell on Wheels," the lawless town that moves with the construction of the transcontinental railroad. However, things get complicated when a Cheyenne tribe attacks the construction of the railroad, determined to destroy the project because it is being built through their lands.
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{{tropelist}}
* [[Affably Evil]]: Durant, The Swede
* [[The American Civil War]] just ended, and with the fighting over, the nation is turning to building the railroad.
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* [[Blood From the Mouth]]: "Revelations"
* [[Breaking the Fourth Wall]]: The only way to explain Durant's monologue at the end of the first episode.
** [[
* [[Camera Abuse]]: Cameras get splattered with water and dirt and more in the big fight in "Timshel".
* [[Card-Carrying Villain]]
{{quote|
* [[Christianity Is Catholic]]: Averted. Reverend Cole is an Evangelical Protestant. Toole is definitely Catholic, however
* [[Chekhov's Skill]]: Cole mentions how he killed slave owners with a sword when he was a Jayhawker. {{spoiler|When Sgt. Griggs tells him that he's going to kill Joseph, he gets to put those skills to the test}}
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* [[Confessional]]: In the opening scene, a Union soldier enters a confessional to speak with a priest. {{spoiler|It turns out to be Cullen, who's come to kill him.}}
* [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]]: Thomas "Doc" Durant, who owns the company that finances the railroad as well as the railroad company itself (so he's essentially paying himself to build the Union Pacific using government subsidies), and who fires one of his surveyors because the guy dares to suggest building the railroad straight (as opposed to curvy, which would make the railroad artificially longer and therefore mean that he gets paid more to build it). He also bribes/blackmails a senator only a little way into the pilot.
** [[Truth in Television]]: [
* [[Corrupt Hick]]: The Swede, despite being a northerner and an Immigrant, fits this trope to a T. When he's not out being the [[Hanging Judge]], he's shaking down businesses and bribing officials to look the other way while he robs his employer.
* [[Corrupt Politician]]: Senator Crane, whom Durant intimidates during his [[Establishing Character Moment]] and who later gets revenge by threatening to reveal Durant's double-dealing to the authorities.
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** Durant ([[Did Not Do the Research|unlike the historical Durant]]) grew up in Hell's Kitchen in abject poverty.
* [[Despair Event Horizon]]: Durant undergoes one of these when he thinks he's going to lose the contract for the railroad and be exposed for the [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] he is. Lily snaps him out of it with a [[Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!]] speech.
** Reverend Cole slowly but surely drifts over the line until he finally snaps {{spoiler
* [[The Determinator]]: Lily Bell, who manages to kill a Cheyenne warrior, escape through enemy territory avoiding trackers, and sew up her wound all on her own.
* [[Determined Widow]]: Lily Bell again. She is the perfect embodiment of this trope.
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* [[Heel Faith Turn]]: Toole in "Timshel". After being shot in the face, he claims an angel came down and flicked the bullet from his wound. He's noticeably less of an asshole after this.
* [[Historical Domain Character]]: Thomas Durant.
* [[Hooker
* [[I Don't Like the Sound of That Place]]: The eponymous town.
* [[Injun Country]]
* [[Inspector Javert]]: The Swede to Cullen. Subverted in that the Swede lacks a Javert's usual innate integrity.
* [[It Seemed Like a Good Idea At
* [[Jerkass]]: Johnson, the Copperhhead (i.e. Southern-sympathizing Northerner) foreman {{spoiler|who helped in the rape and murder of Bohannon's wife}}, who is casually racist and accidentally kills a black railroad worker, then claims it was a result of the guy disobeying orders. {{spoiler|He gets his throat slit by Elam before the episode is over.}}
** Also the Irish railworker who seems to have made it his mission to taunt Elam over how, as a black man, none of the white prostitutes will sleep with him, and continually denigrates Bohannon behind his back and to his face. Probably no coincidence his name is [[Meaningful Name|Toole...]]
* [[Jerk
* [[Large Ham]]: Colm Meaney is having way too much fun as Durant. For instance, the pilot ends with him giving a lengthy, operatic [[Hannibal Lecture]] to ''no one''.
* [[Lean and Mean]]: The Swede. Notable in that he went into Andersonville as a 200-some-odd pound man, and came out thin as a rake. His [[Badass Longcoat]] accentuates this.
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* [[Noodle Incident]]: Whatever happened in Boston to the McGinnes brothers, though it's early in the series yet.
* [[Not Quite Dead]]: Toole, shot in the face in "Revelations", turns up alive in "Timshel".
* [[Obfuscating Stupidity]]: "Revelations" opens with a flashback of a young Elam stumbling over a pro-slavery passage of the Bible, reading to entertain his master and some of his master's friends. One of the friends remarks upon the danger of teaching a slave to read, mentioning that [
* [[Odd Friendship]]: Bohannon (a former slaveholding ex-Confederate) and Elam (an ex-slave [[Scary Black Man]] who refuses to be treated badly) seem to be developing one.
** That or a [[Friendly Rivalry]].
* [[Only Known
* [[Oireland]]: the McGinnes brothers make a hefty sideline with a magic lantern show of images of Ireland for the Irish workers on the railroad.
* [[Rags to Riches]]: Durant's backstory.
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* [[Scary Black Man]]: Elam Ferguson.
* [[Shame If Something Happened]]: An [[Establishing Character Moment]] for The Swede.
* [[Shell-Shocked Veteran]]: Cullen says The Swede has "The Soldier's Heart," the period term for PTSD. Given what The Swede [[I Did What I Had to Do|endured]] [[Had to Come
* [[The Sheriff]]: The Swede, of the [[Corrupt Hick]] variety. He only uses his authority to lean on the local businesses or to step in when the Important People get wronged. Otherwise, he lets the town rot. Also something of a [[Hanging Judge]], as he has the power to order executions.
* [[Slashed Throat]]
* [[Smug Snake]]: Toole, who unlike more villainous characters such as The Swede and Durant has basically no redeeming qualities, not even intelligence.
** Though he's noticeably less smug when he becomes [[The Atoner]] after surviving being shot in the face.
* [[Thousand
* [[Title Drop]]: By Durant, toward the end of the premier episode. There's also a visual one earlier with the shanty town's sign.
* [[Torches and Pitchforks]]: {{spoiler|The Swede}} finds himself on the receiving end of this after pushing the townsfolk too far.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Hell
[[Category:TV Series]]
[[Category:TV Westerns]]
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