Note: Major spoilers for the season finale of Hell on Wheels. You have been warned.
The final episode was titled Done, which ended up being a perfectly titled name for the series finale. For the most part, all storylines were tied up, or least put to an inconclusive end that made sense in the grand scheme of the show. For the last eight episodes of the show, I was pretty sure that I was going to be unhappy with the finale, but now that it is over, I can honestly say that I was wrong. I thought the finale was pretty good, considering the up and down nature of the show over the years, and I was content with the way it all ended.
We start off with the final spike being put to the railroad, and it turns out that Durant has put the screws to Huntington one last time, as he is going to put the spike in himself. As he finishes the job, Campbell shows up to give him a subpoena to show up in Washington to face trial for bribery. Cullen also gets a subpoena to testify in the case, after he and Mickey start a bar fight that ends up with them laughing and not really knowing why they were fighting anyway, as the railroad is done and they aren't on opposite sides any longer.
Prior to leaving, Huntington tells Cullen that he has a job waiting for him on the short line railroad in San Francisco after he is done in Washington. Cullen doesn't think he wants the job, but Huntington tells him that he is a railroad man, and then leaves. Also prior to leaving, Durant pays Mickey off for his share of the railroad, since he doesn't want Mickey to get tied up in the problems that Durant now faces. Mickey is angry, but realizes that all he has done was for nothing, and he takes his money and leaves.
Upon arriving in Washington, President Grant requests that Cullen show up to his gala that evening. Cullen shows up and meets General Custer, and they have a discussion about how they were on opposite sides of the war. Grant then pulls Cullen aside and offers him a job as Colonel in the army, protecting the railroad that he helped build. Cullen isn't sure, and Grant tells him that he is a soldier, much like Huntington told him that he was a railroad man.
Cullen finds Durant at the gala and they have a talk. Durant tells him to say whatever he wants, that he has no one left on his side any longer. He says that several of the people he bribed over the years have turned on him and that he is going to prison anyway. Cullen says Durant has gotten out of worse things in his life, but Durant looks spent on the subject.
Meanwhile, Mickey asks Eva to come with him, leave everything behind. She says she just wants her 10% that she is owed, and that they are no good for each other. She tries to kiss Mickey goodbye, but he pushes her away. Eva then goes with Ms. Ellison to make a book about her life, but she ends up backing out after she realizes that she will have to be something she is not.
Cullen decides to take the job as Colonel, and he shows up at Durant's trial in his uniform. He refuses to sell out Durant, and only says, "The railroad would not have been built without Thomas Durant." He is excused from the room, and Durant gives him a look as he leaves, realizing that maybe he does still at least have one person on his side.
Cullen is shooting some guns with Custer, when he realizes that the job he has been given isn't what he thought it was. Seeing the way Custer acts, and hearing him tell his stories, makes Cullen realize that this isn't what he wanted after all. He leaves and goes to a church, and sits down in the confession booth, similar to what he did at the beginning of the series. The priest asks him a series of questions, and Cullen breaks down crying. He thanks the priest and he walks out.
Back at the trial, it is Durant's turn to speak, and he gives a very good speech, that only Durant can give. He talks about how he was out there making the railroad happen, no matter what means were necessary, he was determined to finish the railroad, and that is what he did. We are left without knowing if Durant went to jail for his crimes, but I think it is safe to say that, despite his rousing speech, that he did in fact go to jail. We did see him many years later with nothing left, so he obviously didn't go away for life but I think it's still a safe assumption.
During Durant's speech, we see everything else tied up as well. Eva breaks the horse that she got several episodes back and rides it off into the wilderness. Mickey is shown looking at the slides he and his brother were using at the beginning of the series, and throwing them off into the dirt.
And finally, we get to Cullen's ending. If you have read any of my other posts on this show, you know that I thought Cullen was going to die before this show was over. He has lost everything, and I thought there was no way that there was a happy ending. And I was wrong, as it turns out. He leaves his uniform behind and goes to San Francisco, but instead of meeting with Huntington, he goes to the docks. He pulls out the paper that we found out earlier in the episode had Mae's address in China on it. He looks out across the ocean and then we see him sailing away, looking back over his shoulder at America as he leaves it all behind. After all he has been through, it appears that he is indeed finally done.
I think it was a very solid ending, that I didn't think the show was ever going to get to. I was pleasantly surprised, as I wasn't really looking forward to the finale, but they delivered and everything ended as I feel that it should have. I was happy for Cullen, as he is going to finally get what he deserves, after sacrificing so much for the railroad. I thought that after everything, he was just going to lose one last time, but he finally is going to be happy, and I genuinely feel good for him.
The series as a whole has been all over the place for me, but with the solid ending, and the many good episodes along the way, I do think that the show was way more positive then negative. Certainly not the best show I have ever seen (that goes to Breaking Bad), but overall I did enjoy the show. I wish the ending could have seen two of my favorite characters, Elam and the Swede, both dead long ago, but for the characters left, I think they got the endings that were deserved and the show ended the way it should have. After the show was over, there was a commercial thanking the fans for "One hell of a ride," and I guess I would agree that it was a pretty good show overall.
My rating for the episode is 8/10
My rating for the series is 7/10
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