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Elam and Cullen have been spoiling for a fight since the moment they met and now tensions are even higher because payroll is two weeks late. Thanks to Doc, they finally get to duke it out in a testosterone-soaked boxing match. Doc sees it as an opportunity to distract everyone from the fact that he has no money, while Cullen sees it as his chance to put Elam in his "place." Elam, who's been angling to become the freedmen's walking boss, sees it as a chance to stand up for himself. Elam looks to be losing the match until his friend Psalms fires him up, reminding him of the white man who fathered him by raping his mother. Cullen becomes a proxy for the slave owner who oppressed Elam; when you've got that kind of rage fueling you, it's kind of hard to lose. Plus, Sean dosed the bandages on Elam's fists with pepper and then bets against Cullen at 30-to-1 odds.
Lily sees the match from afar and recognizes it for the cheap distraction that it is. Doc is desperate and losing ground. She confesses to him that she has the maps he so desperately wants and that her husband Robert did, indeed, find passage through the Rockies. But she's not ready to give them up just yet, and tells Doc that she wants what Robert was owed. Whether this is money or respect or something else remains to be seen.
Elsewhere, Joseph and Reverend Cole are just about set off to warn Joseph's father that soldiers will be coming to avenge the survey team deaths when the Reverend's daughter shows up in town. Young Ruth hasn't seen her father in fifteen years and has come to tell him her mother is dead. The Reverend, who's so welcoming to strangers, is almost cruelly cold to his daughter. He allows her to stay in the church tent and then goes to meet Many Horses. Many Horses agrees to come into town to talk peace, but another of his sons has had a vision brought on by enduring a flesh-piercing Sun Dance. He saw himself fighting and killing a great metal beast. Symbolic! Stay tuned for the full recap.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Previously: Elam took exception to Cullen calling him by his first name, rather than his surname as he does with the white workers. Elam made friends with the tattooed prostitute. The Swede extorted "protection" money from Sean and Mickey. Cullen chased down Sergeant Harper but failed to kill him. He blamed Elam because he's kind of a jerk. Lily hid the survey maps before she came into town, and pretended not to know whether or not her late husband had found a path through the Rockies. Cullen finally started acting like the boss he was hired to be after a shipment of black powder exploded.
Currently: Wes Studi's voice says, "It is good to make this sacrifice where the sun can look down and see you." Sorry, but I'm writing this recap at night. Oh, wait, he's talking about a Cheyenne ritual. A man in wolf fur leads a small group of men through the trees and onto the grassy plain. He waves a bundle of smoldering herbs. A young man in a loincloth and white body paint drags a felled tree behind him. "It is a great privilege to dance with the sun. The sacrifice will be hard, but you are strong and brave." The tree is anchored to a hole in the ground and leather straps are lashed to a fork at its top. "You will not give up, as I did not give up when my father brought me to this place." Wes Studi is Many Horses. He's wearing a feather-adorned buffalo head atop his own. He takes a knife, squeezes the flesh above his son's left nipple and makes a cut. The son takes a shaky breath but doesn't scream. I screamed a little bit for both of us. "Follow the sun all day and pray." The straps are hooked into the fresh wounds. "If you are strong and true, your sacrifice will be rewarded, and you will have a vision." The son leans back, the weight of his body pulling the straps taut. He shakes and prays under his breath as the other men leave. The haunting wood pipe music gives way to the twangy opening credits.
Remember that episode of the X-Files where the Jim Rose character was stringing himself up by the nipples with little fishhooks? He said, "If people knew the true price of spirituality, there'd be a lot more atheists." The guy in the teaser must be super-duper spiritual.
As Cullen makes his way through Hell on Wheels, everyone's uncharacteristically pleasant to him. Guys are smiling at him and tipping their hats and calling him Mr. Bohannon instead of Hey Asshole. Naturally, Cullen eyes all of this with wariness. He knows he's a jerk, so people being nice to him just feels weird and wrong. He walks along the track, his steps inadvertently synching up with the beat in the soundtrack. It's like he's a grumpier version of Tony Manero or something. Lily, waiting outside Doc's train car on a horse, smiles as he approaches. He tips his hat a bit, but keeps going. She clears her throat and he thinks she's chastising him, so he takes his hat off all the way and stops for a chat. "It's not your manners, Mr. Bohannon, it's your manner," she says. As evidenced by his blank stare, semantics are not his strong suit, so Lily explains why everyone's being so deferential to him: "Yesterday, when everyone was running from the disaster, you walked calmly in. You are their hero, Mr. Bohannon." She gives him a big smile like maybe he's her hero, too, but Cullen just looks about as uncomfortable as usual.
Doc comes out of the train, waving a telegram. "Lily, I just heard from your father! Everything is arranged." Lily bows her head, looking sad. The arrangement probably involves Lily being shipped back to England. Cullen looks around for a while until Doc prompts him to speak up. Turns out the payroll didn't come in on the latest train. Doc tries to make like this is Cullen's problem, saying, "One of the reasons I spared your neck was I thought you were a capable man!" Anyone who's ever had a job has probably had a boss like this, right? The employees end up like a buffer, or a levee to stand between the boss and the deluge of crap he's created. Sure, you end up drowning in feces, but you can rest easy in the knowledge that your carcass will be used as a bridge to dry land. Anyway, enough about my first four jobs. Cullen points out that the men are already cranky on account of not getting paid last week, either. Doc tells him to see the Swede about getting some "petty cash" and Cullen reminds him that won't be enough to pay all the men. Doc's like, "Duh!" He just wants the walking bosses paid. "But keep quiet about it - we don't want a riot on our hands." Doc gets up on his high horse (for real) and sets off to join Lily. Cull rephrases Doc's orders thusly: "So, keep the men in line till you get your money troubles sorted out." Doc takes offense at that, but Cullen just snarks about them going off to enjoy a nice "pic-a-nic" like he's Yogi Bear. He rolls his eyes as they ride off, as if he's anyone to comment on the work ethic of others.
Joseph and Reverend Cole haul a crate of Bibles through town. Man, those things arrived quickly. At one point, the Reverend has to set his end of the crate down to catch his breath. He looks embarrassed by the necessity of it. Joseph offers to find someone else to help, but the Reverend waves off his concern. Four men on horseback gallop past, whooping and hollering and brandishing guns. Joseph struggles to drag the crate out of their way. After the men have passed, the Reverend says, "We need to ride out and speak to Many Horses immediately." Joseph scoffs a bit. "My father's people won't feel threatened by four men." The Reverend calls the men the "eyes of the Union army, the tip of the spear." Just sic Lily on them -- she's pretty good at using men's weapons against them, both figuratively and literally.
In the Tent of Magic Lamps and Irish Nostalgia, Sean and Mickey are trying to explain to the Swede why they don't have the money to pay him. Sean tells him that business has been slow. The sound system is crap, there's no outlet for the popcorn popper and the Milk Duds are actually rat turds. The Swede casually sifts through all the boys' slides. "We will pay you," Mickey says. "We just need a little more time," Sean adds. The Swede fixes them with the cold eyes of a fish, even though his tone sounds pleasant enough. That actually just makes it creepier. "I will give you a little more time," he says. Mickey, not quite skilled in the art of reading people, is quite happy to hear the news, while his brother looks like he's waiting for the other shoe to drop. On his head. The Swede keeps one of the slides as he leaves.
The Reverend and Joseph saddle up their horses. They talk about going off to find Joseph's father. Joseph warns the Reverend that he won't be happy to see him. The ritual they'll be barging in on wasn't meant to be seen by outsiders. Some distance away, a young woman with red hair walks toward them. She's dressed very primly and looks distressed at the catcalls of the townsfolk. She spies the church and the Reverend and stops in her tracks. "Father?" she calls out. The Reverend doesn't react and just keeps packing up his horse. "Father!" the young woman says a bit louder. The Reverend glances over at her without recognition. "It's Ruth!" she says. Still nothing. "Your daughter." Joseph looks surprised. The Reverend looks embarrassed. He drops his gaze and asks her what she's doing there. This was clearly not the reunion Ruth was hoping for, but she presses on, and tells him that her mother has died. The Reverend says nothing and keeps busying himself with the straps on his saddle. "I came to find you," Ruth says. He tells her to go to the mission in Council Bluffs, but she's already been there. They're the ones who sent her to Hell on Wheels. They must not have liked her very much. When she tries to explain, the Reverend cuts her off with a raised finger. "You're not staying here." Joseph is shocked at the Reverend's unwelcoming tone. When Ruth says she has nowhere else to go, Joseph says she can stay in the church. The Reverend glares at him, but agrees to let her stay until he and Joseph get back. Joseph gives her a polite, shy smile, which she returns with a gracious nod. She walks by her father, stopping for a moment at his back, waiting for him to at least look at her. He doesn't.
When Ruth has gone into the church, Joseph turns to the Reverend and asks how long it's been since he's seen his daughter. The Reverend doesn't remember, exactly. He estimates it's been twelve or fifteen years. He can quote scriptures from memory, but he can't remember the last time he saw his daughter. Maybe he just doesn't want to remember. The timeline is about right to coincide with his drunken broadsword days and joining up with John Brown. Joseph questions leaving Ruth alone in a place like Hell on Wheels. He's shocked and disappointed and it shows. So the Reverend goes into the church where Ruth is on the verge of tears. "There are some things I need to tell you," he says. She looks up at him with big, hopeful eyes. He loses his courage along with whatever he was going to tell her. Instead, he tells her where to find the bacon, coffee and flour. Ruth's hopes are dashed. "Don't let the drunks stumble in and sleep on the pews," he says. "There's knife under the altar, if you need it, and just... try to make yourself useful." So Ruth grabs the knife and hacks him into a dozen pieces. Or maybe she sits there looking devastated. He goes on to tell her not to leave the tent, unless it's on fire. With that, he leaves, and the tears that Ruth's been working on finally start to fall.
In the Tent of Magic Lamps and Irish Nostalgia (minus one slide), Mickey is struggling to read a letter from his ma. Either her house or her hair was set ablaze, but he can't quite figure out which. Sean, alarmed, snatches the letter away from him and starts to read for himself. He doesn't get far, though, because the tent begins to cave in around them. Mickey and Sean run outside to find the Swede axing the ties from the tent pegs. The whole thing crumples. "I thought you said you were gonna give us more time!" Mickey reminds him. "You asked for a 'little' more time," says the Swede, "and that's what I give you!" Heh. He makes like he's utterly bewildered by the lads' protestations.
On the green, green hill just overlooking the cut, Doc and Lily have their picnic in the shade of a white canopy. Nothing like watching the backbreaking labor of impoverished men to work up one's appetite! A delicious-looking berry tart is placed on the table between them, making it hard for me to concentrate on anything else.
Down below, Cullen rides up alongside the trench, calling for the walking bosses. Mr. Toole and a few others approach him. Cullen says in a low voice, "Y'all are getting paid to work the men till the payroll situation gets figured out." Elam looks up from his work, sees the conspiratorial huddle and chucks his shovel into the ground. Toole says the men will strike if they're not paid. Cullen tells him to keep it quiet as long as they can. Elam joins the group. "Walking bosses only," Toole says. "I am a walking boss," Elam says. He looks to Cullen. "Tell him you made me a walking boss." I think that was just a temporary thing when Cullen went on his road trip, but Elam apparently got a different idea. Cullen tells him to get back to work, but Elam confronts him about what's going on. "This is about all you walking bosses getting paid again, and we ain't getting paid again, right?" Cullen tries to get him to keep his mouth shut by threatening to fire him. Elam doesn't like it, but he goes back to the cut. "Somebody needs to put that boy in his place," Toole says. Somebody besides you, right, big talker?
Up at the picnic table, nobody has dug into that scrumptious tart. Inconceivable! Doc bemoans the unobtainable goal of the Pacific Ocean, blocked as he is by the Rocky Mountains. He keeps trying, in his own passive-aggressive way, to guilt Lily into giving up some information, but she's not quite ready yet. He goes on about not knowing which way to go when they come to the Platte River, just up ahead. A small mistake now could mean they miss the way through the mountains by hundreds of miles. "You think Robert knew the way?" Lily asks. Doc: "It took him seven years and my open purse, but yes, he told me he'd found it." Lily studies him while he's looking off into the distance. She takes a long breath and sighs. Her resolve is wavering. "Surely there'll be other surveys?" Doc laughs bitterly. "Ah, yes, there will be other surveys. Someone will build this railroad, but without the secret that Robert took to his grave, it will not be me." Then he overplays his hand a bit: "If I'm remembered, it will be as the man who failed." He gives her a sad smile, which she returns, but some of the sympathy she felt just moments earlier has clearly gone. "Unfortunately," Doc goes on, "Robert probably won't be remembered at all." Lily looks sad. Stay strong, Lily! You killed a man with his own arrow! You can withstand Doc's emotional manipulation.
Down in the cut, the men are having a messy time of it. The trench is muddy and ankle-deep with water. Psalms, working beside Elam, says, "I'm gonna buy me a double hot soak! And liniment! And a bottle of whiskey that don't burn going down!" Elam can't take it anymore. "We ain't getting paid," he says. He drives his shovel into the ground one last time and leaves it there. He says he's going back to camp. Cullen rides up on his horse and tells him to get back to work, but Elam says he's worked for free his whole life and he's not doing it anymore. "Get back in that cut," Cullen says. Elam stands his ground. "Get down off that horse and put me back in that cut." Cullen looks tired, but gets off his horse, saying he doesn't want a "slave uprising." Everybody's stopped working by now to watch. Cullen, for all his Northerner wife's abolitionist teachings, is still stuck pretty firmly in his slave-owning mentality. He says, quietly, that Elam is a field hand who thinks he's a houseboy. This could have gone either way up until that point, but a line's been crossed. Elam's friend Psalms accused him of something similar not long ago, but it sort of had the opposite effect. That's why it's important to know your audience, folks! Elam challenges Cullen to a fight. Considering Cullen could hand him over for Daniel Johnson's murder at any time, this doesn't seem like the best possible move, but what's done is done. Cullen grabs him by the lapels of his vest and gives him a shove. All the various cut crews abandon the trench and rush over to see the fight.
So far, it's mostly just grappling and nobody's thrown a punch yet, but the jeering crowd catches Doc's attention. He excuses himself from his picnic. "Mr. Bohannon!" he calls out in a booming voice. Even in the grip of a brawl, the men have no choice but to come to attention. "I hired you to run these men to build my railroad, not to wrestle in the dirt with your former chattel!" Cullen explains that the lack of payroll is to blame. Doc tries to look innocent. "Who told the men there was no payroll?" he asks. "I did," Cullen admits after a pause. Doc shouts down to the men that the payroll is on its way and merely delayed. As for Cullen and Elam, Doc suggests they settle their differences after work in a "pugilistic match." Murmurs of approval go up among the crowd. Then Doc adds ten cases of whiskey to sweet the pot and the murmurs turn into raucous cheers. Cullen and Elam eye each other warily.
Now we come to the Men Getting in Touch With Their Feelings part of the episode. Joseph and the Reverend are en route to their meeting with Many Horses when, looking for a subject of conversation, Joseph comes up with, "I didn't know you had a daughter." "Well, now you know," the Reverend says. His tone doesn't invite further inquiry, but Joseph doesn't let that deter him. "Why don't you ever speak of her?" The Reverend says nothing, so Joseph presses on and asks if he really means to send her away. I hope the show lasts long enough for Ruth and Joseph to fall in love; that would test the Reverend's religious attitude towards Joseph. By way of answering, the Reverend says, "Jesus said, 'If any man come to me and not hate his father, and hate not his mother, and his wife and his children and his own life, then he cannot be my disciple.'" I'm no religious scholar, but I don't think Jesus meant you had to be an asshole to your kids. Just, you know, love your calling more. Joseph thinks for a second and then grumps, "I don't think I have enough hate in my heart to be a good Christian." Hee. While they've been chatting, a figure has been following them through the trees. A young man steps out in front of them, bow and arrow at the ready. Two others join them. One of them is Many Horses. "Black Moon," he greets his son. It's nice of them to speak English so we the viewing audience can follow along without subtitles. He casts a disdainful look in the Reverend's direction. "Why have you brought this man to our sacred place?"
thing you know, they've all sat down in a small clearing. The guy in the wolf fur does some kind of ritual over the Reverend, shaking a rattle over his head and puffing out his cheeks at him. The Reverend looks mighty uncomfortable. "He's putting a curse on you," Many Horses explains. "He calls you 'black spider' because you trapped my son in your web." Many Horses hands the Reverend a pipe. "Joseph came to Christ of his own free will." The Cheyennes look doubtful and Joseph doesn't speak up for himself. "Do you not have children of your own?" Many Horses asks. Hey, how's that for good timing? The Reverend mentions Ruth, at first in past tense, as if he'd gotten used to thinking of her that way, and then corrects himself. Joseph praises God that the Reverend's daughter has returned to him. When the Reverend confesses that he left his daughter, Many Horses remarks, "You abandon your child and steal mine." For a second, Joseph looks like he's going to defend himself, but he looks away. Eventually, when he does speak, he tells his father that the Reverend has come because he's concerned for Many Horse's people. Soldiers are coming and they'll keep coming until they're all wiped out. The Reverend asks Many Horses to come to down to discuss peace. Many Horses says he'll come, but only if his son asks him. Joseph looks a little surprised by that for some reason and looks to the Reverend to make sure it's all right. Then he gets up and looks his father in the eye. "Please come. For me." Who could turn him down?
Night has come again to Hell on Wheels. The saloon is already hopping with activity. Inside, the Swede is displaying his flair for the dramatic. "Come inside, gentlemen, and witness the greatest contest in the history of Hell on Wheels!" He's picked up some of that "carnival barker" from Doc Durant. Men haul in wooden crates of "Madame Louise's Corn Likker." Classy. It probably tastes like the finest of turpentines. Bottles are passed around freely to men and working ladies alike. At a table, a man is taking bets on the fight. Or at least he's trying to. "You must be able to spell your name to wager, you morons!" he says to the assembled bettors. Maybe they can't spell because they've had too much "likker" to drink. Off in a corner of the saloon, Sean is looking mighty shifty. He looks around nervously as an old man in apron approaches him. "This here's enough peppers to make a Mexican cry," says the man. Sean slips him some money and gets a sack full of dried chilies in return.
Mickey's off with Cullen, wrapping his hands for the fight. "Sean's putting everything we got on you," he says. Cullen thought he was broke, so he explains they put the magic lantern up for collateral. No pressure or anything. Mickey actually doesn't seem the least bit worried. He says the whole town's betting on Cullen. He half-jokingly says Cullen should place a bet on himself, but Cullen tells him he's not in it for the money. Mickey asks him why he's fighting and he says Elam needs to be put in his place. He looks utterly bored by the whole thing, frankly. Considering how resentful he was of Elam killing Johnson before he could get the Sergeant's name, you'd think he'd feel some fire, but there's not even an ember of feeling. "What if, God forbid, you lose?" Mickey asks. Cullen makes a fist, tests his wrappings. "That ain't gonna happen."
Elam's getting ready for the fight in a tent by himself, which is a good thing because the tattooed hooker drops by to visit him. She's breathing hard and shiny-eyed as she looks up at him. "You win this fight, they're gonna kill you," she says, "and if you lose, they'll kill you for thinking you could win." He says he has to fight, and she asks him if it's because he's half white or because he's half black. He gives her a long, considering look. He says people have been telling him his whole life who he is. "Tonight, I say who I am."
Things are getting rowdier by the minute back at the saloon. A couple of drunks spar while others cheer them on. Outside, the black workers have gathered. The Swede tells them they'll be allowed - just this one - to come inside. "But one sign of misbehavior, and I'll throw you all in chains." The men hesitate before venturing indoors. The white patrons boo their arrival. Mr. Toole is especially unwelcoming: "Bloody hell! Look at what the bowels of the place have shat out!" Looking forward to this guy getting punched in the junk one of these days. When Elam steps inside, the boos grow even louder. A white man throws a shot glass at him. The Swede doesn't "throw him in chains" but he does at least throw the guy out. Cullen enters to much cheering and applause. He peels out of his shirt and, um, holy crap. He's been hiding some serious beef under his filthy clothes. He raises a glass of whiskey to the crowd and drinks. In the opposite corner, Psalms is psyching up Elam. "You gonna win this fight for us," he says. Then it's Elam's turn to strip off his shirt and he's got even more going on than Cullen. Mickey takes a look at him and says, "Jesus, he is a big buck, Mr. Bohannon!" "It ain't all about the brawn, Mick," Cullen says. I hope for your sake it's not much about the brains.
The Swede wades into the middle of the crowd, clearing out a space for the match. "Now this is going to be a fair fight," he announces. "No grappling below the waist, no eyeball gouging, no biting, no unnecessary kicking!" But go to town with the necessary kicking, y'all. The crowd reacts with increasing disappointment as each of the rules is listed. He says the fighters will meet in the center of the ring and Mr. Dix will be the referee. He's the one usually seen in Weasel's company. The Swede makes sure the fighters are ready, then leaves them to it.
Things start off in slow motion as the men walk out to their appointed starting place. What did they use for mouth guards back then? Because both of them are wearing them. Anyway, the shouting of the crowd sounds very distant and hollow. Then the Swede gives the command to start the fight and everything starts moving in normal time. Cullen punches Elam three times in quick succession. The last one sends him staggering back into the crowd. Men shove him back into the ring where Cullen proceeds to beat the snot out of him for a while. Elam falls to his knees and holds up a hand. Dix orders them back to their corners. Cullen takes a big swig of delicious, rejuvenating booze.
While the fighters take their brief timeout, Doc and his telegraph operator are burning the midnight oil in the train car. "The bank is denying your request for a credit extension," the operator says. Doc slams down some papers, paces a bit and calms himself down. He dictates a reply, basically threatening to ruin the bank by getting all his investors to pull their money out of it. "Samson brought the temple down his head; I will happily do the same."
The fight is back on in the saloon. Elam is taking more punches than he's giving. As far as TV fights go, it's a pretty realistic one, without the gravity-defying leaps and hits that land with the sound of cracking wood instead of the duller slap of flesh against flesh. Cullen throws a punch that lands Elam on his knees. "Knock his nappy nigger ass off!" shouts a man who might be white under his crust of filth and long, matted hair. Others should for Elam to go back to Africa. "Get up," Cullen tells him. "You gonna start fighting or what?" Elam's tattooed lady friend paces outside the brothel, peering across the road toward the saloon without daring to venture any closer. Elam and Cullen grapple and fall to the floor. Mickey pulls Cullen back to his corner and Psalms takes Elam back to his. "You seeing what I'm seeing?" Cullen asks Mickey. "He ain't fighting." Cullen's face is still as pretty as it ever was. Meanwhile, Elam is bloodied, puffy and bruised to hell. Psalms takes his face in one hand and looks him hard in the eyes. He wonders if Elam has a problem with hitting white men. "Look here, son. That man who sired you, he wasn't your father. That white man who raped your mother, that same man beat you all your life, with his foot on your neck." Psalms reminds him he's free now. He makes him look across the way over at Cullen. "That's him, sitting on his soft white ass. I want you to go over there, and I want you to kill him." All fired up now, Elam doesn't wait to be called back into the ring. He walks over and clocks Cullen a good one. Cullen spits up blood. Elam grabs him by the back of the neck and pummels him till he's not so pretty anymore. Some of the freedmen spectators look more worried than happy about this turn of events. Dix tries to pull the fighters apart , but Elam shoves him to the floor and keeps on fighting. He gets several more punches in before they finally go to their separate corners.
Ruth, in the church tent, tries to concentrate on her Bible studies, but the sounds of the nearby fight prove too much a temptation. She goes over to check it out, leaving a good many candles burning in the tent. No wonder her father warned her about that thing catching on fire. She makes her way through the throng of spectators just in time to get Elam's blood splattered across her face. She flinches, touches the blood and looks down at her fingers in horror. Welcome to Hell on Wheels!
Outside, Doc lights up a cigar when he sees Lily wandering by. He's been looking for her. She tells him she's been out for a walk. Normally, I'd think that was an unwise undertaking for a woman in a place like that, but Lily can obviously take care of herself. Lily says she heard the fight. "A little vulgar for a lady's tastes," Doc says. "Panem et circenses," Lily says, then translates it for Doc as the title of this week's episode. She goes on: "You engineered this fight as a distraction till you could get payroll, just like the Romans did with unruly crowds." He modestly says she's overestimating him, and she says she hopes not, for all their sakes.
Inside the saloon, Mickey is trying to get Cullen ready for the round. He looks around for Sean and sees him across the room, talking to Psalms. Psalms nods a few times and then Sean presses something into his hand before slipping back over to Team Cullen.
Outside, Doc offers to walk Lily back to the car. She thinks for a bit and sighs. "I have Robert's maps," she says. Doc stares at her, at first not quite absorbing what she's said. "And yes," she goes on, "he found the route." Doc's mouth hangs open. "To the Rockies?" he asks. No, to Krispy Kreme. Of course to the Rockies! Doc is flabbergasted to learn that Lily has had the maps all this time. His shock and confusion gives way to admiration. He's just slightly more relieved than he is furious, but Lily still isn't quite ready to hand them over. When he asks her what she wants for them, she says simply that she wants what Robert was owed. She gives Doc a cunning smile, picks up her skirts, and walks away.
Back to the fight. Psalms wraps fresh bandages around Elam's hands. Elam, bloodied and barely able to catch his breath, looks about ready to crater, but the Swede calls an end to the timeout. Mickey hoists Cullen out of his chair and points him in the right direction. Both fighters look to be in a dead tie at this point. They can hardly lift their fists. They just sort of weakly stumble into each other and clasp at each other. Cullen manages to punch Elam in the side a few times. They pull away and Elam swings at Cullen, hitting him across the eyes. Cullen blinks hard. His vision blurs. He rubs his eyes and struggles to see. He throws a punch, but it goes wide. Elam drops him with one last blow. Dix, kneeling over Cullen, calls the fight. To the sad strains of violin music, the freedmen lead Elam out of the saloon. White men leer and shout threats that we don't hear over the soundtrack, but the intent is clear. Across the road, the tattooed lady paces and tries to hide her feelings.
Later, Mickey leaves the saloon looking glum, only to find Sean sitting outside, as relaxed as can be and puffing on a cigar. "Why are you so glib?" Mickey asks. "We just lost everything." Sean gives a sad chuckle. "I bet it all on the darky. Thirty-to-one. We're rich, brother." He holds up a thick wad of cash. Instead of being relieved, Mickey is disgusted. He accuses his brother of cheating. "Was it liniment? A little pepper powder to the eyes?" Sean jumps up and hushes his brother before anyone can hear him. Mickey is devastated that Sean turned against their only friend. Sean holds up his ill-gotten gains. "This is my only friend." Mickey pushes past him. Maybe Sean will buy him a suit that doesn't look like a baby crapped all over it.
Cullen is still lying on the saloon floor, but now a chicken has joined him for some reason. He gives her a little shove away and she's like, "Man, you are weak." Now Lily comes in and sets a bucket down beside him. "Are you all right?" she asks, a bit amused. "Never better," he mumbles. As she walks away, he calls after her. "Did you enjoy the fight?" She smiles like she's almost laughing and says, "Very much!" Cullen dips his hand into the bucket and splashes onto his face what he was expecting to be water. Something isn't quite right, though. He tastes his fingers once, then twice. He laughs and winces at the pain. Is it urine? Corn likker? Something even more unimaginably horrible?
The day at his post in the foreman's tent, Cullen hands out the long-awaited pay. Mr. Toole comes to the head of the line for his money and voices his disappointment in Cullen's crappy fighting skills. So Cullen punches him in the nuts and throws a bucket of human waste in his face. Or maybe he just gives him his pay. in line is Elam, who identifies himself as the walking boss for the freedmen cut crew. Cullen doesn't argue. He makes a note in his ledger and holds out a parcel of coins. Because he's still a jerk, he holds on and makes Elam pull for it. They glare at each other a bit before Elam finally walks off. Now, realistically speaking, given the levels of hatred after the fight, Elam wouldn't have survived the night, but he'll live long enough to eventually become friends with his enemy. Or until the show is canceled, whichever comes first.
Out on the plain, that young man is still hooked up to the tree. Goodness gracious, how long has he been out there? His father comes to him and wraps an animal hide around him. The wolf man cuts the lashes and the young man collapses. Many Horses catches him and lowers him to the ground. "You've done it, my son. The sacrifice is over." In a shaky voice, the young man describes the vision he had: "I've seen a great steel beast, its breath was smoke. It shook the ground. I killed it." The older men exchange serious looks. Now, somebody go get some salve for this guy's poor nipples.
Tippi Blevins advises you to always smell the contents of a bucket before touching them in any way. Email her at b_tippi@yahoo.com, or find her on Twitter.
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