Note: This article will contain major spoilers of the above mentioned episode.
At the beginning of the episode, we see a flashback of how Mae and her father came to America, after their village was attacked. We see Mae disguising herself to be a boy, and then we get a brief glimpse of what happened leading up to her and her father coming to work for the railroad.
We then see her trying to go to work, but Cullen makes her take a sick day. Later, he and Fong discuss what is going on, and Cullen says that Mae will not be coming back to work. Fong then tries to explain to Cullen that this will cause people to ask questions, which he fears will lead everyone to figuring out the secret. Cullen then goes and discusses this with Mae, who tells him that she was supposed to be made to marry a Chinese royal, and that she would then belong to him. This causes Cullen to reconsider, and lets Mae get back to work, only under the assumed male name that she has chosen.
We also get to see Cullen's new engine at work, which has put three of the railroad men out of a job. They try to offer these men a new job working with the Chinese men, that pays significantly less, and they don't take to kindly to it. As they become more and more bitter throughout the episode, it finally culminates in them attacking Chang, and hanging one of his men. They attempt to hang Chang as well, but Fong and Cullen save him. This causes Chang to ask Huntington for justice, and they attempt to get a trial for the men, but due to some laws in California, they will not allow there to be a trial, which makes Chang question just what is justice in America.
The other thing of note during the episode is a lot more details about what Thor is up to. He is buying rice by the crate from Chang, but he says he wants to triple his order next time. Chang questions his motives, but Thor tells him it is none of his business and they work out a deal. We also see Thor telling Brigham Young's son that there appears to be something wrong in the accounting books, and that he thinks he made an error, or his father is not sending him all the money that he is supposed to be sending. This causes Brigham's son to become very irate at his father, and asks Thor for help, which we can only assume was his plan all along. He is the Swede after all.
Not as much going on in this episode as there was in the last episode, but they are still fleshing out everything that happened during that episode. I'm very glad to see where things are headed with Thor Gunderson, as it is starting to become more clear just what his motives are. I think the rice is to hide the guns he has been stockpiling, and gaining the trust of Brigham's son will basically give him full control over the Mormons. By also making them bitter over having to shovel all the snow, it should be easy for him to turn the Mormons on the railroad in the near future, and thus make Cullen's life more miserable.
I also thought it was very interesting that they had Fong and Cullen save Chang's life, and it will be interesting to see where this goes. I like to think that there will be no love lost between them all, but there should at least be some sort of respect. I look forward to seeing what they do with this new dynamic, and how it will shape up in the near future. I also am really liking the character development they are doing with Mae, and it makes me wonder where her storyline is headed as well.
Overall, I thought the episode was as solid as the first two, maybe even more so, as we are really starting to see where the story is headed. I think there are a lot of angles that are working at the moment, and I'm very interested to see where we go from here. There is a slow build going on in the background with Thor, and that is just the way I like it. I think they are doing a very good job of keeping his character flying under the radar, while he is working his angle, and Cullen is too distracted with the other stuff that is going on to see just what he is planning. I can see things going a few different ways, and I like the prospects of all of them.
My rating for the episode - 8/10
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