Note: Major spoilers for the episode of Hell on Wheels. You have been warned.
As expected, in this episode we find out that Chang has figured that Mei is in fact a woman, and that she and Cullen are in a relationship. I knew this was coming, I guess I was just a little surprised that it all happened in one episode, and was resolved before the end of the episode. I can honestly say that most of the episode caught me off guard, as they really picked up the pace and did some things that I wasn't expecting.
We first see some backstory with Chang and how he came to run the business on the railroad. He answered to a man in a flashback, and the man allowed Chang to start his business, as Chang sells himself as ready to take on such responsibility. He buys one of the Chinese women, which happens to be the woman that knew about Mei all along, and they head to the railroad. She attempts to kill him to be free, which causes him to break her leg, which explains her limp.
Back in the present, we see Cullen going to try to buy the Chinese women, and we get an interesting exchange between Cullen and Chang, with neither side willing to budge, due to their genuine dislike for each other. Cullen tells Chang not to underestimate him, and Chang tells Cullen not to underestimate the people he works for. On the way out, Cullen realizes that the woman is wearing Mei's mother's dress, and realizes that Chang knows.
He gets a boat ticket for Mei, and tells her that she has to leave immediately. She fights him on it, but ultimately gives in and goes with Stagecoach Mary to Cheyenne. On the way there, they are attacked by Chang and his men, and Mei runs off. Mary sends a telegram to Cullen, letting him know that the coach has been attacked, and Cullen takes off immediately. Mei runs to a mine, and Chang follows, where he is confronted by the men working. They attack Chang and he whoops all sorts of ugly on the men. It had been hinted at that Chang was dangerous, but we see him in action here, and he takes out about five or six men with little trouble. Meanwhile, Mei runs to a saloon in the village nearby.
Chang goes inside and asks the bartender if a young man had come through within the last hour. Mei is hiding out under the bar, with a gun to the man, and he says that there was someone, but they left and headed east. There is a noise outside, distracting Chang, and Mei then gets the jump on him, using the gun that Cullen had given her before she left. Chang is forced to drop his weapon, but he has a smile on his face, because he knows that he will get the upper hand on Mei before all is said and done. But then the door opens, and Cullen walks in.
Assessing the situation, he knows that there is only one thing he can do. Frustration is apparent in his face, as he realizes that all he has been trying to accomplish over the last couple of season is about to come to an end, and with that, he shoots Chang in the head, killing him. He then proceeds back outside and kills all of Chang's men with efficiency. He comes back in, gets Mei, and they leave together.
On the way back, he tells her that she has now see what he truly is, and she says that he saw the real her a long time ago. After they get back to town, Mei tries to give the boat ticket to the Chinese woman, but she refuses to take it. Later, Cullen asks why she visited the woman who had betrayed her, and she said that the woman had lost way more than she ever could. She also tells Cullen that she loves him, and he doesn't respond, because he feels guilty for what he did. She says that she accepts him for what he is, and they get busy, as is the recurring theme in the show lately.
The next day, the man that Chang worked for shows up in town, and she tells Cullen that they have to leave, that they can't fight against the man and his company. Cullen says that he has lost all these people in his life because he gave up, and that he is done giving up. He tells Mei that he loves her, and he goes to meet the man, telling her to stay inside.
Arriving at the railroad office, Huntington is there talking to the man when Cullen walks in. Cullen says that maybe Chang was killed because he was arguing over the cost of one of his whores, and asks if risking his whole business was worth one man. The man judges Cullen and says that business will continue as if nothing happened, and will send a replacement for Chang. The man leaves, and Huntington asks Cullen if he had anything to do with Chang's murder. Cullen doesn't answer, he just walks out, seeing wanted posters around the town for Mei Fong.
Arriving back at the room, Mei is gone, and we see that the boat ticket is also gone. She has left, so that Cullen doesn't have to spend the rest of his life fighting for her, and Cullen has now lost the only real thing he has left in his life. We see Mei on the boat, leaving the country to end the episode.
Okay, so a lot going on here, actually a really good episode. It's the episode that I have been waiting for, it just took them this long to get to it. We get to see Chang finally do something other than glower menacingly, even if he is dead one scene later. We get to see Cullen go back to accepting who and what he is, and doing it for the woman he loves. We get to see Mei do what she has to do to protect the man she loves. And we get to be left at the end wondering just what else can happen to poor Cullen Bohannon. He has been through the ringer and back again, and from what I can tell, there is only one purpose left for him, and that is to finish the railroad. I really don't think he has anything left, and I wonder if he even really is going to care about that when we finally get there.
There are two episodes left, and I honestly don't know what will happen in them. I almost feel like all the storylines that have been hanging out there are over, so I don't know what will happen in these final two episodes. I assume the railroad will get finished, but I'm thinking that everyone involved will have lost everything good by the time they get there. We saw it last week with Mickey and Durant, and this week, Cullen loses even more, so there is no way that the show can end on a positive note. I think I have come to the conclusion that Cullen is going to die before the end of the show. I don't know how or under what circumstances, but honestly, with all that he has been through, it might be the best ending that can happen for him. For the first time in this last part of the final season, I'm actually interested to see what happens next.
My rating for the episode is 8/10
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