HELL ON WHEELS - TV GUIDE: Critic's Guide to Weekend TV: Hell on Wheels, Fringe, Homeland, and More!
Nov 4, 2011
by Matt Roush
Describing Hell on Wheels as "Revenge in the mud" makes it sound a lot more enjoyable than it is. AMC's sprawling but heavy-handed attempt to revive and redefine the Western (a newly hot TV-development trend) is solemn business indeed, with precious little wit or originality. (It premieres Sunday at 10/9c.)
Set in the uncivilized wilds of a post-Civil War America described as an "open wound," this dreary wallow in nihilism seems to fancy itself the second coming of Deadwood, as it depicts a squalid settlement alongside the under-construction Union Pacific Railroad. Hucksters and whores coexist with corrupt politicians and rapacious tycoons, as well as noble natives, self-righteous ex-slaves and sentimental Irish immigrant brothers to keep us all too aware of the show's socially conscious and groaningly obvious agenda. Everyone from antihero to villain seems more a type than a fully fleshed-out or truly colorful character, so we might as well call this one Driftwood.
The grim, morally ambiguous center of Wheels is occupied by grizzled Confederate War vet Cullen Bohannon (a glowering Anson Mount, who could be an ancestor of Person of Interest's whispery Jim Caviezel/Reese). Bohannon is on a crusade of bloody vengeance, seeking out the Union soldiers responsible for the murder of his wife. He finds work with unscrupulous railroad boss "Doc" Durant (Colm Meaney, who only lacks mustaches to twirl in his hammy mendacity), a blowhard who actually crows out loud at one point, "What is a drama without a villain? And what is the building of this grand road if not a drama?" And where is his off switch?
Durant also gets to deliver a preposterously over-the-top soliloquy that gives the series its promotional tag line: "Blood will be spilled. Lives will be lost. Fortunes will be made. Men will be ruined." And he goes on: "There will be betrayal, scandal and perfidy of epic proportion, but the lion shall prevail." And that's just in the first episode! (I've seen five so far, and I'd be lying if I said it grew on me.)
AMC enjoyed its first dramatic breakthrough with the Emmy-winning Western miniseries Broken Trail, so it's no surprise to see the network give the genre another crack. But Trail had emotional range and a bittersweet grandeur — and tremendous performances by Robert Duvall and Thomas Haden Church, among others — whereas Wheels just feels like a hell of a long, glum slog.
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