review of Hell on Wheels finale 

Hell on Wheels tonight, with Bohannon doing just what I\'d hoped and predicted (see my previous reviews) in the end:  taking a boat to China to find Mei.

It wasn\'t that hard to predict, but was still very good to see.  Being a Union colonel, killing Indians, of course didn\'t suit him for at least two reasons.   But neither did working on a much smaller railroad in California.   Only finding the love of his life - or at least his recent life - made sense.

Durant came across very well, too, which made me sorry we had to see his ultimate decline in the flashforward a few weeks back.  But every word Durant said in his testimony rang true.  He lied, cheated, stole, all in the service of building that railroad, and he succeeded.

And the railroad Durant had built with Bohannon\'s help is the vehicle that gets Bohannon from Washington to San Francisco, where he boards a boat to China, in the end.  That was one of the nicest touches in this finale, that Bohannon used what he built to help his personal dream a reality.  In other words, Bohannon helped make Durant\'s vision real, and in turn used that reality to get his own dream underway into reality.

Seeing Custer was fun, too - though knowing what\'s going to happen to him makes this not quite fun, either.  But it\'s Custer\'s style and swagger than convinces Bohannon he isn\'t a soldier anymore, and doesn\'t want to be one again.

And so this wonderful series ends.  I still miss Lily, and would have been happier if the Swede had been dispatched much earlier, but hey, we were treated to a few years of a great Western with real history and some memorably personal stories to boot.   How about a movie, say, five or ten years from now, which shows what Bohannon and Mei are up to?

See also Hell on Wheels 5.1: Rails and Truckee ... Hell on Wheels 5.2: Mei and Cullen ... Hell on Wheels 5.3: Prejudice ... Hell on Wheels 5.8: Letting Him Live? ... Hell on Wheels 5.9: A Good Night for Bohannon ... Hell on Wheels 5.10: Nitroglycerin and Love ... Hell on Wheels 5.11: Durant and Shakespeare ... Hell on Wheels 5.12: Sailing Away ... Hell on Wheels 5.13: Almost Grinds to a Halt

And see also Hell on Wheels 4.1-2: Rolling Again ... Hell on Wheels 4.5: New Blood ... Hell on Wheels 4.6: Bear and Sanity ... Hell on Wheels 4.7: Why? ... Hell on Wheels 4.8: Aftermath and Rebound ... Hell on Wheels 4.9: High Noon ... Hell on Wheels 4.10: A Tale of Two Sicko Killers ... Hell on Wheels 4.11: The Redemption of Ruth ... Hell on Wheels 4.12: Infuriating and Worthwhile ... Hell on Wheels Season 4 Finale: The Buffalo

And see also Hell on Wheels 3.1-2: Bohannan in Command ... Hell on Wheels 3.3: Talking and Walking ... Hell on Wheels 3.4: Extreme Lacrosse ... Hell on Wheels 3.5: The Glove ... Hell on Wheels 3.6: The Man in Charge ...Hell on Wheels 3.7: Water, Water ... Hell on Wheels 3.8: Canterbury Tales ...Hell on Wheels 3.9: Shoot-Out and Truths ... Hell on Wheels Season 3 finale: Train Calling in the Distance

And see also  Hell on Wheels: Blood, Sweat, and Tears on the Track, and the Telegraph ... Hell on Wheels 1.6: Horse vs. Rail ... Hell on Wheels 1.8: Multiple Tracks ... Hell on Wheels 1.9: Historical Inevitable and Unknown ... Hell on Wheels Season One Finale: Greek Tragedy, Western Style

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Paul Levinson, PhD, is Professor of Communication & Media Studies at Fordham University in New York City.  His 8 nonfiction books, including The Soft Edge (1997), Digital McLuhan (1999), Realspace (2003),  Cellphone (2004), and New New Media (2009, 2nd edition 2012), have been the subject of major articles in the New York Times, Wired, the Christian Science Monitor, and have been translated into 12 languages. His science fiction novels include The Silk Code (1999, ebook 2012), Borrowed Tides (2001), TheConsciousness Plague (2002, 2013), The Pixel Eye (2003), The Plot To SaveSocrates (2006, ebook 2012), and Unburning Alexandria (2013).  His short stories have been nominated for Nebula, Hugo, Edgar, and Sturgeon Awards.  Paul Levinson appears on "The O'Reilly Factor" (Fox News), "The CBS Evening News,"  “NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” (PBS),  “Nightline” (ABC), NPR, and numerous national and international TV and radio programs. His 1972 album, Twice Upon a Rhyme, was re-issued in 2009 (CD) and 2010 (remastered vinyl). He reviews the best of television in his InfiniteRegress.tv blog, and was listed in The Chronicle of Higher Education’s “Top 10 Academic Twitterers” in 2009.

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