New AMC series: Hell on Wheels

Yep. It was a great series and wrap-up.

I'm kind of glad that the main antagonists (The Swede and Chang) were dealt with early on in this last split season. That made it so that the construction of The Transcontinental Railroad remained the focus of the series and it wrapped up nicely with the "race" to the hammering of the Golden Spike. Even though it was predictable of what Bohannon would do (go to China,) it was a nice ending for his character. Liked the fact that he didn't sell out (be a puppet for the US Army) and testify against Thomas Durant. Thomas C. Durant - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ». Even though Durant did some corrupt things, he got the job done on time that he set out to do and he probably was no different than many businessmen in those times.

After the finale, I started to think which characters of the show actually survived the entire run (much of the cast, main and support, were killed off or left during its run.)

I think only Bohannon, Durant, Eva, Mickey and Psalms survived from start to finish.

Edit:

Here is a nice interview with Anson Mount and showrunner John Wirth regarding the finale, some of the main characters, and how the pivotal scene regarding Bohannon's decision comes full circle to the first episode.

‘Hell on Wheels’ Series Finale Postmortem: EP John Wirth and Anson Mount Talk Cullen’s Fate »

 

I watched the first four seasons, and really liked the series at first. It started to go downhill, s l ow l y at first. I tried to watch season 5 -- just to be a completist -- but I couldn't stomach it and bailed after about three episodes. Sick and tired of the Swede among other things. Should have killed him off several seasons ago. I liked Anson as an outlaw type, drifter. I didn't care as much for him when he became the main foreman and worked for the railroad.