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Taking up where things left off last week, Doc and his men find Lily tending to her husband's grave. She's still bloody and weary when they finally escort her to town. It turns out that Robert and Doc had had some falling out; for this reason Lily has buried the maps in his grave. Doc spends most of the rest of the episode trying to find out where they are without actually seeming like it. So he's very courteous and deferential to Lily, and she plays along. She also gets that hundred-dollar reward and secretly gives it to Joseph Black Moon, who at first refuses it but accepts it on behalf of the church.
Meanwhile, Cullen has reached the logging camp, but Sergeant Harper beats a hasty retreat. There's a long-distance gunfight in which Cullen's horse is wounded and has to be put out of its mystery and makes me wish it had trampled Cullen on its way out. Cullen, feeling like the big crybaby failure that he is, returns to Hell on Wheels to sulk and get drunk. In the saloon, he's approached by the Swede, who wants him to "look the other way" while his men smuggle a few barrels of black powder from the latest shipment. To this end, he pays Cullen ten dollars, although he could have just counted on Cullen's incompetence and saved himself the money. Cullen pays a visit to the brothel and gives the money to a young prostitute. He doesn't even ask for a happy ending, probably because he feels like he doesn't deserve it.
Elam has better luck, though. That tattooed lady offers him a secret rendezvous for the low, low price of a dollar. What starts out as a business transaction quickly turns into something more, as they spend some time chatting in the afterglow and learning how much they have in common.
At the end, Weasel screws up the smuggling and an explosion rocks the camp. Cullen realizes that, hey, maybe he should get up off his ass and actually do some work and keep things in line a little better. That's where things leave off for the week. Stay tuned for the full recap.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Because my French is kind of rusty, I saw the title of the episode and thought it meant "never will I open you." I watched the whole thing with that in mind. It was kind of confusing.
Previously: Cullen "the Sullen" Bohannon got a promotion after his boss was murdered. He found a photograph of the sergeant who killed his wife, but someone Photoshopped his face beyond recognition. Elam wanted to spend some time with a tattooed prostitute, but she laughed until he lost all trace of sexual desire. Joseph Black Moon rescued Lily Bell, but Cullen took over so a bunch of misunderstanding white folks wouldn't kill Joseph. Cullen brought her to the edge of town, then went on his merry, vengeful way to kill the sergeant.
Currently: It's the logging camp, twenty miles west of Hell on Wheels. A bearded fellow wanders away from the tents to enjoy a cigarette. He casts a wary look around before setting his rifle down. No sooner has he taken his first, refreshing puff when he hears a twig snapping somewhere behind him. He snatches up his rifle and takes a shaky breath. "Anybody there?" he asks. A riderless horse walks into camp. Since it's not Mr. Ed, it doesn't answer him. In a second, Cullen is there, pointing his gun into the back of the man's neck. "Drop the rifle, turn around," he says. Beardy does as he's told. "You Harper?" As soon as the man says he's not, Cullen lowers the gun. For all he knows, the guy could be lying, but Cullen seems to be a pretty trusting fellow. Or maybe he's just dumb. So he asks the guy about Harper and the guy's suddenly all cocky, like, "Who wants to know?" Cullen says he's the new foreman and lies about Mr. Durant sending him after Harper. Beardy says that Harper took off a few hours ago, headed north. As Cullen gets back on his horse, the guy remarks on Johnson's murder, asking, "What's the world coming to, sir?" "The world ain't coming to nothing, son," Cullen says. "Same as it ever was." That's depressing. Beardy makes a mental note to look for a rope long enough to hang himself.
Cullen gallops north on his beautiful chestnut horse through a montage of changing scenery. Finally, he spots another man on horseback in the distance. Quite handily, this guy is wearing a Union soldier's jacket. Just to be sure, Cullen shouts, "Harper! Is that you?" He double-checks with a telescope and sees the guy aiming a rifle at him. A bullet whizzes by him. Even though Harper starts riding even farther away, Cullen whips out his own rifle and returns fire. Seriously, they look like they're at least a quarter of a mile apart. Harper disappears over a hill. Cullen squints, straining to see him. Suddenly, Harper pops up closer than before. They exchange fire. Cullen's horse takes a bullet in the shoulder and falls onto his side. Shoot and stab all the people you want, but leave the animals out of it, you jerks! Sadly, Cullen is not crushed beneath his mount and jumps up to continue firing. He keeps shooting even after Harper disappears behind a stand of trees. Is he trying to kill two horses in one day? He finally runs out of ammunition and throws his hat down in frustration. "Shit!" His horse is lying on the ground, expressing pretty much the same sentiment. Cullen has the decency to look sad and kneels down beside the horse, whispering, "Sh, sh, sh..." He covers the horse's eye with his hand, then shoots him in the head. I hope that horse is waiting to kick your ass in the afterlife, mister. Cue the annoyingly twangy, knee-slapping opening credits.
Lily, still filthy and bloody from her long journey, has decided to stop by her husband's grave for a bit of gardening. Also probably for some mourning. She uses her trusty knife to hack away a few weeds and pats at the freshly mounded soil. She's so engrossed that she barely notices when Doc and a few others come up behind her. "Mrs. Bell? It's me, Thomas Durant." He takes a few cautious steps towards her and tips his hat. "I know who you are, Mr. Durant," she says without looking up from her weeding. After a while, she hoists herself up onto her feet and manages to make a crack about her appearance. Even covered in dried blood and dirt, she's still cleaner than the working ladies in town. Doc offers her his arm, offering to get her some medical attention. She looks at his arm like it's the last thing she wants to touch. He notices she's still clutching that knife and reaches for her, but she draws back slightly and grips it tighter. "You won't need this anymore," he says gently. "Your ordeal is over." She gives it up. I hope she gets that knife back someday; she sure as hell earned it and a lady needs to be able to protect herself. When Doc offers his arm again, she grits her teeth and accepts it. As they walk back toward town, Doc offers his condolences and wonders with amazement how she managed to make it back. She tells him about Cullen, except she doesn't remember his name. She just remembers that he was a Southerner. And kind of an asshole, but that part remains unsaid. "Bohannon?" Doc asks, sounding a bit surprised. "Yes, I believe so," she says. Doc makes a funny grunting noise that on first watching I thought came from one of the nearby horses.
In town, a supply train has just arrived. The men are unloading the goods when Mr. Toole decides to regale them with tales of his night in the brothel. "Did I tell you about me rendezvous with the tattooed harlot?" he asks nobody in particular. Elam pauses in the middle of the unloading, but just for a second. "The scarlet whore of Babylon had nothing on this lass, I tell ya," he goes on. Someone -- curse him -- asks for particulars. Toole gladly obliges: "She used her organ like a velvet hand on me tallywhacker!" She probably wished she had a glove for that hand. Elam does his best to ignore the grody little leprechaun, but he just keeps going on and on. He's talking about how the lady with the velvet vadge has been known to do it with both men and beast alike. "Chinks, monkeys, horses," Toole prattles on. "In fact, there is but one creature in all the world with whom she refuses to copulate -- the common American nigger, of course." Elam loses his temper, as was Mr. Toole's aim, and rushes toward the unseemly little braggart. Psalms grabs him before he can get far, no doubt saving his life.
Just then, Cullen arrives on the scene on the back of a logging cart. One can only hope his ass is full of splinters. Elam goes over to him, surprised to see him alive. "Did you kill him?" Elam asks, within earshot of several people. This is like Smallville where people kept talking about Clark's big "secret" where anybody could hear them, and yet no one ever did. Cullen doesn't answer and just starts walking away. Elam calls after him: "Sooner or later, you're gonna have to give us some orders, boss man." Cullen has nothing to say to that because he doesn't believe in micromanaging. Or managing anything of any kind, in any way.
In his fancy train car, Doc dictates a telegram asking for funds for a new survey team. The Swede comes in with bad news: "Payroll is late, work disorganized and slow... this new foreman of yours just up and leave yesterday." Doc apparently knew all about Cullen's plans, or at least what Cullen told him of them at their meeting earlier. The Swede looks nauseated, which seems to be his default setting. He doesn't like Cullen, thinks he's up to something, and isn't shy about saying so. In a sort of defensive way, Doc tells him that Cullen brought Lily into town. "Did she have the maps?" the Swede asks. Doc quickly hushes him because Lily is in the room. In barely more than a whisper, Doc says she didn't have the maps. The Swede wonders how they'll reach the Pacific without them. Just keep going west 'til you hit ocean, maybe? Doc gives him an assignment, which is to guard a shipment of black powder due to arrive the morning. As soon as the Swede leaves, Doc dictates a new telegram to his operator. It's for his stockbroker: "Invest $147,000 in R&R Railroad stock as discussed." The Swede, who's been listening outside the door, looks even grimmer than usual as he socks away this information for later.
His shady stock dealings out of the way, Doc goes to check on Lily. She's been lounging in the tub long enough to cause some concern. Doc calls to her from outside the door. She seems a bit uncomfortable or maybe she's just annoyed at having her solitude intruded upon. He invites her to dinner. She makes herself sound chipper as she accepts the offer. She just wants him to go away, but then she remembers something: "Has the reward been given to anyone?" Doc offers to make sure Mr. Bohannon gets the money, but Lily turns him down, saying there's someone else who deserves it.
Some time later, she makes her way through the town. Magically, she has managed to find a clean, perfectly tailored dress to wear in this place full of grimy men and destitute whores. Hiking up her skirts, she picks her way over muddy patches. Most of the men she passes are quite polite and tip their hats to her, but the ladies in the cathouse are less welcoming. "Stay off my corner, sweetheart," one woman says. "What do ya say, blondie? Them injuns teach you anything?" Beside her, the tattooed lady tells her to knock it off and calls after Lily: "Hey, I'm sorry, ma'am. These dirty whores don't know a lady when they see one." Lily takes a few deep breaths and keeps on walking. I bet that tattooed girl is super popular with her coworkers.
Finally Lily comes to the church. Joseph sits inside, praying. "Where there is hatred, let me show love. Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is doubt, faith." He sounds so earnest, it's really kind of heartbreaking. He's pleased to see her. "You look like you're feeling much better," he says. "It's amazing what a little soap and water can do," she says. And a curling iron and a new dress and a Zoom! teeth whitening. She gives him a look over and notices with a smile that he's cut his hair. He shyly runs his hand over his new 'do. I wish this whole show was about Joseph and his hair and their adventures through life. Lily tries to give him the reward money, pressing the gold coins into his palm, but he declines. She thinks it's because he's afraid people will know, so she assures him she hasn't told anybody about him. He explains he can't take the money because he's not a bounty hunter. "It's my duty to help," he says. The Reverend, who must have smelled that sweet, sweet money like chum in the water, suddenly appears and encourages Joseph to take it. "That money will buy a lot of Bibles," he says. Joseph introduces Lily to Reverend Cole. The Reverend calls her the "fair-haired maiden of the West" and shows her Doc's article. The artist's rendition shows Robert stabbing their attacker with an arrow while Lily faints against a tree. Lily goes along with it. The Reverend is worried that Indians will die as a result of the article. Lily bristles. "The Indians attacked us. If they die, they will be to blame, not me." He tries to tell her about the Sand Creek Massacre, appealing to her to correct any misinformation in the article. "Try to see the bigger picture," he pleads with her. "My husband was slaughtered in front of me; it's a little hard to see the bigger picture," she says. She takes her leave as Joseph stands around looking awkward and uncomfortable.
Elsewhere in town, Cullen has that crappy photograph in one hand and a bottle of liquor in the other. He looks at the picture for a long time. The horrible cut-and-paste job makes him so sad that he has to toss the picture into a nearby fire. He downs the rest of the bottle and tosses it aside, the damned litterbug. Elam walks by and suddenly Cullen is feeling talkative. "That sonofabitch got away because of you," he says, following Elam. Elam's like, "How you figure that?" Cullen says, "You killed Johnson before he could give me Harper's name." It's amazing any of these people are alive, the way they loudly discuss murdering people. They're just standing there to some tents, blabbing away. Elam looks nervous, as well he should. He lowers his voice just a bit and reminds Cullen: "I killed Johnson before he killed you." Cullen's still pissed. He thinks he could've gotten a name out of Johnson and then killed Harper before he had a chance to run. Elam and I both think he's drunk and crazy. Elam tries to leave, but Cullen calls him back. "You have any idea what they took from me?" Cullen asks. Elam fixes him with an intense look. "They ain't took nothing from you that ain't been took from me," he says. Does Cullen have a moment of epiphany? Does he realize that many, many people have had it worse than him? Does he realize how self-indulgent he's being? No, because then the show would be over. I will say, though, that he seems to have washed his face and he's really quite handsome under that grime. Too bad he's so annoying.
Outside the Tent of Magic Lamps and Irish Nostalgia, Mickey and his hideous yellow suit are trying to drum up business. Alas, the Irish workers aren't feeling especially nostalgic this evening. Sean tells his brother to give it a rest. Mickey thinks they need some new slides, but Sean reminds him they don't have the money for that. So Mickey suggests they move to where the rent is cheaper, but Sean refuses to let the Swede push them around. He keeps talking, but Mickey's attention has shifted to the bathhouse across the way. He watches a few working ladies as they come out, all scrubbed and (relatively) clean. "I've just had a grand idea," he says with an impish grin. Sean immediately starts worrying.
In much more pleasant surroundings, Doc and Lily have just sat down for dinner. She's come up with a gorgeous dark green dress for the occasion. Perhaps her belongings from the survey camp were brought into town, but would she have packed such an outfit for a survey expedition? He tells her that he's telegraphed her family to let them know she's all right. Lily's father was against her coming to America and against her marrying Robert. She touches her wedding ring and smiles, remembering how she met him. She tells Doc about meeting him at a lecture he was giving at the British Museum of Natural History. "He spoke of the American West," she says. "I fell in love with him, and with this land." Doc tries to align himself with Lily, making them appear to have more in common than they really do. He talks of them both being under "Robert's spell" and Robert's dream of a transcontinental railroad. Lily gets the best expression on her face, an undisguised disdain for Doc's obvious bullshit, but almost instantly she gets herself under control again. "It's a shame you two had such a terrible falling out," she says. He's fishing and she's baiting. The thing is, Lily knows what Doc is up to, while he doesn't have a clue about her. Doc and Robert clashed because, as Lily puts it, her husband disagreed with how Doc wanted to get every possible dollar out of the railroad. Doc gets a bit defensive, calling Robert a "starry-eyed dreamer" whose dreams would have otherwise been unrealized. Lily, near fuming, excuses herself from the table. Doc is suddenly very apologetic. He all but begs her to stay and she reluctantly agrees.
Elam walks through town while Mr. Toole glares at him from the brothel's front steps. He's itching to fight, but Elam keeps on going. Soon after, Elam notices that the tattooed lady is following him. They're in a relatively secluded area of the town. He grabs her wrist. "You trying to get me killed?" he asks. "Mister, you do that all by yourself, busting into a white cathouse," she says. He's suspicious, so she looks around to make sure they're alone, and asks, "You still want to give me a roll?" He's still distrustful of her motives, but she tells him this would be entirely off the books. She can't afford for her customers to find out she's with him and she's already giving out discounts because of her tattoos. She cozies up to him and asks him if he's got a dollar. Elam knows a bargain when he sees one.
Meanwhile, Cullen is settling into the saloon for a solid night of moping and drinking. He reaches into his jacket pocket, doesn't find what he's looking for and starts crawling around on the floor. Some men at a nearby table see this and chuckle. One of them is Weasel, whose earless head is now all bandaged up. Do you suppose he told anyone that Cullen shot him and his men? The other guys seemed pretty dead. Seems like that'd be the kind of thing he'd want to report back to Doc. But Weasel has no time for logic because he's busy taunting Cullen with a scrap of cloth. "Drop your hankie, madam?" he asks. It's the tattered piece of needlepoint that Cullen's wife was working on. Cullen reaches up like he's going to grab the scrap, but instead punches Weasel right in the nuts. The impact sends Weasel crashing into a table and his testicles into Wyoming. Weasel stumbles back up onto his feet and draws his gun. "Now, now, boys," says the Swede as he walks between them. "I doubt Mr. Durant wants his new foreman assassinated." He picks up the scrap of cloth that Weasel dropped while in the throes of scrotal agony. The Swede tells him and his friends to leave in that creepy-friendly voice of his. Weasel really, really wants to shoot Cullen, but thinks better of it and backs down.
The Swede looks at the scrap and recognizes magnolias in the stitchery. There were magnolias just outside the gates of Andersonville, he says with an odd wistfulness. "Some nights, the perfume was almost enough to mask the awful stench." Ah, the good old days. Seriously, though, magnolias smell awesome. If you've never smelled one, I highly recommend it. Cullen takes back the scrap without so much as a word of thanks. "You're a difficult man to cipher, Mr. Bohannon," says the Swede. He offers to buy Cullen a drink, which Cullen doesn't turn down. The Swede pours him a drink while denying himself a glass. "I know you killed Johnson," he says. "What I do not know yet is why." Cullen just raises his glass and downs the booze. "Who are you?" the Swede asks, quite genuinely puzzled. How do you solve a problem like Bohannon? How do you catch a cloud and pin it down? When Cullen says nothing, the Swede shrugs and says, "Ah, I'll figure it I out." So Cullen says, "Let me know when you do," and the Swede laughs himself hoarse. His humor threshold is just that low. Cullen quite rightfully looks at him like he's crazy. The Swede pours him another drink. Cullen would probably do well to remember this is how things ended with him and Daniel Johnson. But the Swede has something else in mind. He lowers his voice and tells Cullen about the black powder delivery due the morning and gives him five dollars to look the other way while his men take a few barrels. Cullen remembers those "immoral mathematics" the Swede talked about. He whips a knife out of nowhere, stabs the money on the counter a millimeter away from the Swede's hand and negotiates his fee up to ten dollars. The Swede agrees to the terms. He could have just counted on Cullen being crappy at his job and saved himself the money, but whatever.
In an otherwise unoccupied train car, Elam and his tattooed lady friend get dressed to the strains of sad guitar music. They talk about how "them Injuns" treated her and whether it hurt to be tattooed. She's very girlish and a little shy there in the dark, away from prying eyes. She tries to make out like nothing bothers her, but Elam sees through her. He tenderly touches her chin. He tells her he thinks the marks mean she was a slave, same as him. She says something in the language of her captors, then translates: "Three blankets and a horse. That's what I was worth to them." She looks away, but he takes her face in his hands, his thumb tracing her eyebrow. "Them eyes of yours alone is worth a hundred horses." She tries to look at it like the mark was their way of naming her, saying she was one of them. Elam points out he has his master's name, too, but he's not one of "them." They agree they have that in common. They smile and kiss and fall a little bit in love.
In Doc's train car, the unending dinner of awkwardness is still going on. Henri pours Doc and Lily some bright red wine while Doc moans on about his railroad woes. There's the forty-mile goal yet to be met and the savages and his terrible employees, too. Also, I'd wager that Henri is probably peeing in his coffee every morning. "Must be hard to be you," Lily says with a mock sincerity that Doc doesn't pick up on. He just sees her smiling at him and feels encouraged to go on. He says he asked for more troops but got none. His investors won't give him money for new surveyors. Lily makes an interested sound and walks over to Doc. "They haven't got your guts, Thomas," she says. She even bats her eyelashes at him. At this point, she could probably tell Doc to cluck like a chicken and he would happily oblige. Lily asks, ever so innocently, what the new surveyors would be doing. "I thought the lion's share of Robert's work was finished," she says. "Yes, it was," Doc says, "but he still owed me some surveys. I think he was keeping them from me because of our 'falling out.'" Lily, even more innocently asks, "What kind of surveys?" He shows her a map and points out the Rockies. He thinks Robert knew the way through. Lily's look of secret pride confirms this, but Doc doesn't notice. He brings up the missing maps, then quickly adds that of course he was happy to see her safe and sound. He takes her hand, which she quickly takes back. There's only so far she can stomach going with this game. So Thomas asks Henri for a song and Henri sings "A La Claire Fontaine" in a lovely, clear voice. The episode takes its title from a line in the song, meaning "never shall I forget," which makes more sense than my original interpretation.
Henri sings over a montage: There's Cullen stumbling by the train car in a drunken stupor and seeing Lily sitting with Doc. There's the tattooed lady looking about a million miles away as she's getting plowed by some random, grimy customer. There's Elam, lying in his cot, hands behind his head, looking peaceful. There's Mickey, looking at one of the slides from home, crying his eyes out while brother Sean counts up their meager coins. And then, dear Lord, there is the Swede, buck nekkid on his hands and knees, scrubbing his floor clean by the grim light of a kerosene lamp. For some reason, a woman's voice has overtaken Henri's. Doc, alone later that night, looks at the picture of Lily's inside her dead husband's watch. Lily tosses and turns in bed. The last bit of the montage shows Cullen walking into a young prostitute's room; he stops her when she's about halfway through undoing his pants. He presses his ten-dollar bribe into her hands, kisses her on the forehead, then staggers back out.
Reverend Cole tries to drum up some business outside the church, but nobody seems interested in what he's selling. He even offers up some eggs and coffee to go with his scriptures. People just keep walking past him. He sees Cullen in the distance and chases him down. In a friendly enough way, he asks, "Did the good Lord save you from hanging so you could drown yourself in whiskey?" Cullen is just barely staying upright, but he manages to say the word "proselytizing" with nary a slur. He tries to get away from the Reverend, but the guy just keeps after him. He's all, "My wickedness has been washed away by the blood of the lamb," and Cullen's scoffing like, "What do you know about wickedness?" Cullen didn't read the memo about everyone on the show having a past they regret. The Reverend brings up Bleeding Kansas. That gets Cullen to stop and listen. "I rode with the martyr John Brown," the Reverend says. "John Brown was a coldblooded killer," Cullen says. The Reverend calls him on his hypocrisy, then proceeds to tell him about the night they killed five slave-owners with broadswords. He says he was such a drunk that he had neglected to keep his sword sharp. "It was hard work, brother, but I kept a-hackin' and a-hackin until I couldn't hack no more." Cullen blinks at him for a second and asks, dumbfounded, "Well, why didn't you just shoot 'em?" Heh. The Reverend says it would have been too merciful. Plus, the swords looked cooler. Cullen tries to be all tough and unimpressed, but the Reverend persists. He offers Cullen forgiveness, even if he thinks he doesn't deserve it, because, as he says, "that's the beauty of grace." Cullen stumbles away a few steps and then decides to rub salt in the Reverend's wounds by mentioning that John Brown was hanged. He starts singing "I Wish I Was in Dixie" in an off-key warble until the Reverend finally gives up and heads back to the church.
The morning dawns bright and blue and the train pulls into town with its load of black powder. The Swede and his men are there to greet it. Cullen is nowhere to be seen -- not because of his deal with the Swede, but because he's in bed with a roiling hangover. Elam barges into his tent, letting in the evil, evil sunlight. Cullen reaches for his gun, then calms down when he realizes he's not under attack. Elam tells him about the hill they're coming up on: "We either got to blow it or go around." Cullen's mumbled reply is to blow it, but Elam tells him his men have never handled black powder. Cullen, striving hard to maintain his reputation for having the worst ethic ever, doesn't think it's his problem. Elam tells him he's no better than Johnson. And really, he's probably worse, considering we actually saw Johnson doing some work. "How come every time I turn around, you're knee-deep in my bidness?" Cullen asks. (He really says it like that.) "Cuz you the boss," Elam reminds him. Cullen reaches into a bucket near his bed and splashes what I hope is water onto his face. "I ain't your master," Cullen says. "You wanted freedom, you got it. Figure it out your damn self." Elam makes a mental note to punch him in the balls one of these days.
Mickey and his awful yellow suit are looking much happier this morning. Naturally, this fills Sean with dread. He frowns with an equal mix of confusion and fear as his brother leads a group of men toward the bathhouse. Mickey's big monkey-making idea is to charge the men for a peep at the ladies as they wash up. I'm confused as to why they need Mickey for any of this, since all he does is lift up a bit of curtain, which even the dumbest of horndogs could do for himself for free. Plus, the ladies aren't even naked. They're sitting around in their corsets and bloomers, which they do out in public most of the time anyway. Nonetheless, as soon as the ladies realize men are getting free erections, they shut the operation down. A very buxom lady beats them all away with a broom, calling Mickey a "thick Irish bog-trotter" when he's dumb enough to ask for a kiss. Weren't the Irish Bog-Trotters a basketball team?
In Doc's train car, Lily is snooping around his desk, looking through papers and maps. She sees Doc coming up to the door and abandons her search, plastering on a big smile. Doc apologizes for his behavior the night before. He's as awkward as a teen-aged boy and clearly smitten with her. Lily asks to see more of his railroad. "After all, your passion for this great enterprise was an inspiration." She blinks prettily at him and he all but offers to carry her on his back for the whole tour. Before they can continue, an explosion rocks the train and shatters a window. Lily ducks.
Outside, everything is chaos. Spooked horses run every which way. Men scatter and shout in confusion. Cullen finally comes out of his tent. The Swede is yelling for everyone to fall back. A cart full of powder kegs is on fire. Black powder from a busted keg is pooling on the ground. Weasel, who was already down one ear and probably now afflicted with killer tinnitus in the other, doesn't hear the Swede's warning. There's another explosion. A broken wagon wheel pins Weasel to the ground. He looks up and sees Cullen standing over him. "Oh, shit!" Heh. Cullen tells him to shut up and lifts the wheel up just enough for Weasel to free his shattered leg. "Ow, my leg, my leg!" Cullen grabs his arm and leads him away from the fire, saying, "Quit your crying, madam!" See, Cullen's not so bad when he's not moping.
Everyone bands together to put out the scattered fires, passing buckets of water down the line. Elam and a few others move corpses out of the way. Lily helps some of the working ladies tend to the injured. Cullen tries to split a man's arm, but he's short a hand. Lily comes over and puts pressure on a bleeding vein like Cullen tells her. "I gotta go," he says. "Stay with him." Before he goes, he stops a moment to stare at her, and she stares up at him. They'll probably be doin' it before the season ends. Cullen snaps out of it and starts shouting directions to his men. Hey, what do you know? It only took a series of explosions and a few dead people to get him to finally act like a boss.
The episode suffered from a lack of action now that Lily's not wandering the plains. Even Cullen's shootout seemed a bit plodding. But that's not the only kind of action I'm talking about. Like The Walking Dead before it, it too often feels sedentary and bogged down in overly talky scenes. How can it lack a sense of suspense and imminent danger? Maybe the Swede can figure that one out while he's figuring out Cullen Bohannon.
Tippi Blevins is a recapper wouldn't turn down a drink about now. Email her at b_tippi@yahoo.com, or find her on Twitter.