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A quick Googling tells me that "timshel" is Hebrew means "thou mayest," which I'm taking to mean "thou mayest enjoy this episode." Because it was pretty enjoyable. How very pleasantly surprising! Picking up where things left off last week, Bohannon and the gang kill the Cheyenne dog soldiers that derailed the train last week. Joseph takes down his brother, Pawnee Killer, which just about devastates him.
The survivors return to Hell on Wheels to find various surprises awaiting them. Elam's work has so impressed Doc that Doc decides to hire him to do some "work off the books." This will no doubt be dirty work, but Elam is eager to continue moving up the ladder. With things looking better for him, he asks Eva to be his. Whether this means marriage or some kind of personal prostitute thing is unclear as of yet. But here's the real surprise: Toole isn't dead. He comes staggering back into town, claiming an angel removed the bullet from the back of his neck. Wait, no, this is the real surprise: Toole begs Elam's forgiveness. Holy crap, right?
Cullen returns to find that Doc has hired Lily to do some survey work for him. So presumably she's still living on her own and being Miss Independent. Just when it looks like Cullen and Lily might be getting a little cozy, Doc barges in and tells Cullen that Federal Marshals are on their way to arrest him for all those murders back east.
Joseph returns to find Ruth waiting for him. In fact, she's been waiting every night since he left. When he breaks down crying over the death of his brother, she comforts him with kisses. He stops being sad long enough to make out with her. Lieutenant Griggs comes looking for Joseph, ready to kill him, but the Reverend stops him. And how does he stop him? By cutting off his head with a saber, that's how! Mind you, he might not be done with that saber once he finds Joseph canoodling with Ruth, but that's for later.
In other plots, Doc finally gets his forty miles of usable rail built and even after all the slow, slow dawdling, it's the least surprising thing that happens in the episode. Stay tuned for the full recap.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Previously: Elam got cozy with Eva the (white) tattooed prostitute and was momentarily hanged for it. Cullen rescued him and took him on a revelatory road trip. Elam killed Mr. Toole, the man responsible for leading the lynch mob against him. The Swede extorted protection money from Mickey and Sean, the hard-luck Irish brothers who ran a "magic lantern" show in Hell on Wheels. The brothers won a heap of cash by rigging that boxing match between Elam and Cullen. The Swede was obsessed with proving that Cullen is a murderer. Thomas "Doc" Durant sent Cullen and some cavalrymen after the Cheyenne renegades who sabotaged his railroad. Joseph went with them, partly to help them track down the renegades, but also to buy the rest of his father's people time to get to safety. They were ambushed at the Cheyenne's campsite.
Currently: We pick up where we left off last week, as the battle ensues between Cullen's gang and the Cheyenne dog soldiers. Everything happens in slow motion to the strains of "Timshel" by Mumford & Sons. There is no other sound. Cullen and Elam fire rifles and the braves circle them on horseback. Elam must have picked up a rifle lesson between the road trip and now, because it's a little bit different than shooting a pistol. Nonetheless, he seems to acquit himself admirably, or at least he doesn't get himself killed, which is more than most of the others can say. Griggs has an arrow in his chest. It makes me hopeful that he's done for, but he keeps on shooting and standing and living. One of the cavalrymen takes an arrow in the leg, then two more to the torso. He's down. Elam gets an arrow to the arm but manages to shoot a brave off his horse.
When Cullen runs out of ammunition, he uses his spent rifle to club a brave. Griggs wrestles with a Cheyenne. It's Joseph's brother, Pawnee Killer. Joseph tackles him and gets kicked in the head. Pawnee Killer runs into the trees and Joseph runs after him. Cullen knocks another brave off his horse with his rifle. He grabs the fallen man's ax and whacks another guy in the head. Blood and bits of bone go flying. Elam drowns a man in a mud puddle; distractingly, the mud splatters all over the camera lens. Cullen beats another guy to death with a moose antler. Pawnee Killer runs and runs, then stops and looks down at his chest. An arrow protrudes from his flesh. As Pawnee Killer falls into the river, Joseph comes into view behind him, bow still poised from the shot. Cue the opening credits.
Hell on Wheels. Under the white gazebo near the tracks, Lily has an audience of several men, including Doc and his engineer, as she goes over a set of maps. She's cleaned herself up and is looking much happier than when last we saw her. She points out an area on the map. "As I remember, Robert warned you about laying track here, because this area is prone to washouts." Doc takes a deep breath. "Robert was right and I was wrong; is that what you needed to hear?" Lily gives him a friendly smile in answer. Doc asks her if she can survey the area for him. She says she can, but she tells him they'll need to reroute through solid bedrock further south. When Doc grumbles about the extra time, she reminds him he's being paid to build forty miles of usable road. "Those are my terms," she says. "Of course, you could always find another surveyor somewhere..." With that, she excuses herself from the gathering, knowing full well her terms will be met.
Cheyenne camp. In the aftermath of the fight, Cullen gathers up arrows and snaps them in half, perhaps to keep them from being used again. Or maybe he just really hates arrows. Surprisingly, Griggs is still among the living. In fact, he seems no worse for having had an arrow through his chest. He confronts Joseph. "You're gonna answer for this, you know that," he says. "I should have let my brother kill you," Joseph says. Griggs reaches for his saber and Joseph for his knife. Just when it looks like the two of them are going to fight, Cullen cuts in. "We've have enough killing for one day." Yeah, save it for tomorrow! There is much glaring, but everybody sheathes their weapons. Griggs is hot to hunt down the rest of Joseph's people. Most of his men are dead and Cullen doesn't care to join his idiotic quest. There's an interesting moment when Elam looks over at Cullen that Griggs interprets as Elam asking for Cullen's permission. I think it's more that Elam respects Cullen's opinion now. Cullen doesn't say anything one way or the other. Elam decides he likes being alive and stays behind.
After Griggs and his one remaining cavalryman leave, Joseph approaches Cullen. "Mr. Bohannon, you have to finish this." He offers his knife to Cullen and says he needs to bring back proof that the job is done. "You mean scalps?" Elam asks. Joseph gives him a solemn nod. "They just gonna have to take my word for it," Cullen says. "I ain't bringing back proof." Elam thinks that's a shame, seeing as how each scalp is worth twenty dollars. Still, Cullen doesn't want anything to do with it. He'll kill a man while he's on the shitter, or while praying in a confessional, but he has his limits. Scalping goes too far. Joseph takes his leave with Pawnee Killer's corpse draped over the back of his horse. Cullen continues on, snapping arrows. Elam looks at him, less for permission than guidance, but Cullen declines to offer any advice. Elam stares down at one brave's body for a long time before taking out a knife. He kneels over the dead man's body, grabs his hair and makes a tentative cut. Elam looks like he's going to cry and throw up, not necessarily in that order. Cullen shakes his head at his new friend's budding mercenary streak. Maybe he's disappointed, maybe he's worried. Maybe it's both.
In town, Ruth cleans up around the church and finds an empty whiskey bottle. Her father comes in and tries to explain himself, not so much about the drinking but about what led him here. For a man who believes Jesus forgives, he still needs the forgiveness of his daughter. He says he was chosen for this mission and that's why he left his family. Ruth says he failed. He tries to explain about his work with John Brown and how he thinks it may have helped free the slaves. But that's not what Ruth meant. She looks up at him with big brown eyes. "One drop of love, that's all we needed," she says in a quavering voice. "One drop of love would have sustained us." She gives him a pleading look, silently begging him to understand, but he still doesn't. "Ruth, I'm trying to tell you I'm sorry," he says. She breaks down crying and tries to flee the room, but he grabs her arm. "Don't you walk away from me!" The lost, pleading look in her eyes vanishes, replaced with anger. She slaps him hard across the face. For a second, she looks scared to death, then the anger comes back and she slaps him again. Blood drops from the Reverend's lip. He looks at the blood and laughs. "Praise his name, sister! Praise!" She runs from that craziness as fast as she can.
Oh, joy. The McGinnes brothers are back. I can hardly contain myself. At least Mickey has dapper new clothes now, having hopefully burned that monstrous diarrhea of a suit he used to wear. Mickey sets up their old sign, bemoaning the fact that it doesn't really reflect their new show. Sean goes over a box full of new slides and says a painter will be by soon to make them a new sign. As they watch, the Swede comes grumping down the road, shouting, "Nell! A Word!" A buxom redhead comes out of the brothel and exchanges a few words with the Swede. Mickey looks over at this sturdy lass and says, "Now that is one fine doorful of a woman!" Nell and the Swede are arguing because her girls aren't putting out until the men get paid again. Seems fair, but the Swede backhands her. She falls to the ground. Mickey's all het up to defend her honor, but Sean holds him back. "Now, we have an agreement," the Swede says. He pulls out a small club and whacks her across the face when she tries to get up. He continues to beat her across the back and shoulders while horrified onlookers stand by. He couldn't stand up to Cullen, so he's taking it out on this woman. Mickey is incensed, but Sean holds him back again. "There's a better way, brother."
Lily's out surveying when Cullen and Elam ride her way. Elam continues past her, but Cullen pulls his horse to a stop. After an exchange of pleasantries, Cullen tells her they killed the dog soldiers that killed her husband. Lily bows her head. Her husband's death has been avenged, but nothing has really changed. "I had hoped it would close the hole I feel in my heart," she says. "Ain't nothing gonna close that up, ma'am," Cullen says. Some hot, hot lovin' might help, though.
Elam drops his assortment of long-haired scalps onto Doc's desk. It looks like a deflated Kardashian. "That's... quite impressive," Doc says, a little bit horrified. He assumes that Elam is running errands for Cullen, collecting money for Cullen's kills, but Elam sets him straight on that account. When it's time for Doc to pay up, he tries to get away with paying Elam half the going rate. Elam sets him straight on that, too. Doc gives Elam a long, considering look. He offers Elam a drink, cigar, a place to sit. "You strike me as a capable man," Doc says. "I know which end is up," Elam admits. That probably comes in handy at the brothel. Doc says he's looking for a man who's "willing to get his hands dirty." Ominous music plays. Elam looks like he wants to smile but is trying to hide it, so as to not appear too eager. "I'm looking for a man who wants to be feared and respected, a man trying to improve his station in life." Doc drops several gold coins into Elam's hand, which seals the deal better than any handshake could.
On the outskirts of town, an unknown man hobbles across the grassy plain. A soiled cloth covers most of his head, obscuring his identity. He stumbles, rights himself, and continues on. As he finally makes his way into town, he's met by the incredulous stares of its citizens. They're like, "Isn't this the wrong show for a zombie?"
To show you how much things have changed in a very short time, Eva drops by Elam's tent in broad daylight for some very vocal nookie. Well, Eva's pretty vocal. Elam kind of just... lies there and takes it. Afterwards, she snuggles up against his chest. A conveniently placed stovepipe conceals their naughty bits from the camera. "How about you stay home tonight?" Elam asks. "Why not take the night off? Maybe take more than the night off." She blinks up at him and asks him what he's saying. He says he wants her to be his and no one else's. She moves to kiss him, but a voice from beyond the grave reaches them through their post-coital bliss. "Ferguson, you in there?"
It's Mr. Toole, also known as the man who just hobbled into town, also known as the man that Elam killed. He stands outside Elam's tent, looking a bit more alive than he has any right to. "Elam Ferguson, come on out here!" Elam pulls on his pants and comes out waving his gun. Toole drops to his knees and begs for mercy. He unwinds the cloth from his head. "You shot me straight in me gob, Mr. Ferguson, a shot that would have sent any man to his grave!" He speaks with some difficulty, as half his teeth are lying some miles away where he was shot. He was on the verge of death. "An angel reached out," he says, "and she flicked the bullet out of me neck." He speaks with the awed reverence of a man who's either had a true spiritual awakening or a hallucination-inducing fever. He leans forward and lifts up his scraggly hair to show Elam the deep but empty wound. Behind them, the sky is stunningly beautiful, with rays of sunlight peering out from approaching storm clouds -- a fitting backdrop for the revelation of a miracle. Toole says he wandered through the woods. "I came face to face with me ignorance and cruelty towards you, and I swore to God almighty that if I survived, I would come to you on bended knee and beg for your forgiveness." Elam looks at him and for a few seconds, it seems like maybe he might shoot him again. Instead, he tells Toole that it's Eva's forgiveness he should be asking. He hesitates, but makes his apologies. He and his men must have done some terrible things to her, which were thankfully off-screen. Elam and Eva let him go after that. They're bigger people than I would have been.
In a clearing in the woods, Joseph builds a raised platform out of tree branches for his brother's body. His father comes into the clearing with a few other men. "I came looking for Pawnee Killer and instead I find a burial," he says. But he's not mad, or even terribly surprised, and joins Joseph in completing the ceremony.
Back in Hell on Wheels, Mickey lures in new patrons for the evening's first show. "See the loveliest creatures from the bluest streets of Paris, France-ay! See soiled doves bare all!" Cullen walks by and hears his pitch. They shake hands and Mickey catches him up on what's been going on. The brothers went to Chicago and came back with a new business plan. He pulls back the tent flap to give Cullen a peek. Inside, men hoot and holler at a slide of a woman's bare back. Mickey offers Cullen a free show, but Cullen passes. Naked women would just make him happy and he can't have that. As Cullen walks away, Mickey calls him back. "Sean would like a word with you."
If you were hoping the little turd was going to apologize for rigging the fight, you'd be sorely disappointed. Cullen even ribs him about it a little. "How'd you pick up them new slides? You win money in a fight or something?" Sean looks slightly embarrassed and that's about it. He explains to Cullen about how the Swede has been taking a cut of their business, and from all the other businesses in town. He offers Cullen a hundred dollars that he's collected from all the merchants. They want Cullen to kill the Swede. "I ain't no gun-for-hire," Cullen says. Sean looks like he's going to cry, which softens Cullen up a bit. "All right, tell you what," he says. "I know the Swede's been stealing from Durant. Dig you up some dirt on him and Durant will ride him out of town on a rail." As he walks away, he adds, "Free!" Sean looks hopeful. Still no apology. Maybe the Swede will punch him in the face before his inevitable downfall.
As night falls, Cullen partakes in his evening ritual of drinking in the saloon and looking glum. To his surprise (and everyone else's), Elam walks through the doors of the saloon. Men stop drinking to gape at him. He walks straight to Cullen's table. "Ask me to sit down," he says. "Go on, ask me." Cullen glances around the room to gauge the atmosphere. "Have a seat," he says. "Now pour me a drink," Elam says. In a different era, in a different bar, this would be quite the pickup. His gaze never leaving Elam's, Cullen calls to the barkeep for another glass. Once he gets it, he pours Elam a shot. "Tastes like shit," Elam says, making a face like a kid who's just tasted stewed beets for the first time. Eventually, the other bar patrons go back to their conversations and ignore the desegregated friends. Cullen is worried about Elam's soul. He doesn't phrase it like that, but he carefully asks if Elam is "good" with what they had to do. "I'm better than good," Elam says. "'Bout time I get to be the one that's doin' the hurtin'." He tells Cullen about Doc taking him on to do some extra work. That just makes Cullen worry even more. "It's a slick slope you're heading down," he says. "Slick with blood," Elam agrees.
Cocktail hour is interrupted when the Swede walks in and pounds on a table with his club. He makes a big show of congratulating the "Indian killers" and toasting both Cullen and Elam. Everyone cheers. Cullen stands up and addresses the room. "Shut up!" Quite the public speaker, that one. "I want y'all to get a good night's sleep. Tomorrow we hit that forty-mile marker and I'm gonna work y'all like mongrel dogs." Everybody grumbles. Cullen raises his glass. "It's gonna get built, gentlemen, and we're just the bastards to build it!" He gets lots of cheers and hoots in response. The Swede, having lost the crowd, departs the room with a scowl.
The morning, the Swede meets with Senator Crane, who's come to town to mark the railroad's achievement. Crane has the information the Swede wanted. It's awfully nice of Crane to hold up his end of the bargain even after the insider tip about Doc's financial dishonesty was no longer of any use to him. He tells the Swede that Sergeant Harper is at a trading post near Council Bluffs. Doc watches the exchange from his office window.
Still in the midst of Pawnee Killer's burial rites, Joseph and his father have a chat. Many Horses says that Pawnee Killer was the "runt of the litter," and picked on by the other boys. "It made him strong, made him a great warrior," Many Horses says, "but not a great man." He takes out a knife and sharpens the blade on a stone. "He never learned, as you did, that sometimes it's better not to fight." Many Horses says he had hoped Joseph would come back to him, but realizes now that Joseph is becoming his own man. He says he has two sons to mourn today. Many Horses uses his knife to slice out small flesh offerings from his own arms. Joseph, who's been sitting in silence the whole time, looks like he's going to cry.
Back in town, the workday is in full swing. Everybody is pitching in to get to their forty-mile marker. Prostitutes work side by side with their customers. Lily hands out cups of water. Sean and Mickey fumble with a hammer and spike. Even Toole is there, barking out orders, having apparently gotten his job back after being fired and also dead. If these people worked like this all the time, they could build that damned rail all the way to Mars and back.
The Senator's train comes rolling towards them. Doc and Crane get out to admire the team's handiwork. Even Cullen, formerly known as the worst employee ever, is helping to tote lengths of track. As the last bit of track goes down, Elam hammers in the final spike part way, then hands the hammer to Cullen to drive it home. It's a nice moment that shows the respect that's grown between them. Unfortunately, Doc is all about barging into the middle of things this episode, so he takes the hammer from Cullen. With a big, shit-eating grin, he gives the spike a few taps. Yeah, fine, it's his railroad so it's his privilege to exercise. Whatever. Everyone claps and cheers and feels pretty good about things. Even Cullen allows himself to enjoy the moment and cracks a rare smile.
That night, Joseph returns home. His quarters are dark, so he lights a lamp. To his surprise, he sees Ruth sitting in a chair by the door, fast asleep. She stirs when he says her name. "You were waiting for me?" he asks. "Every night," she says, bowing her head. She sees the wound on his hand where he must have cut out a bit of flesh as his father had. "Joseph, are you hurt?" He assures her that he's not, but that's not quite true. "I killed him, Ruth," he says. He breaks out with the ugly-crying and sits on the edge of his bed. "I killed my own brother!" She sits beside him and rests her head on his shoulder. She says nothing, because there's nothing you really can say to that. Instead, she tilts up her face and kisses his cheek. Joseph's expression goes from agony to confusion as he realizes what's happening. She kisses him again. He turns towards her so he can kiss her on the lips. They touch each other's faces and take shaky breaths and kiss some more. It's kind of hot, but mostly sweet. Looks like Ruth has found more than a drop of love.
Cullen's still hanging out at the saloon when Lily walks in and steps up to the bar. She asks the barkeep for champagne. She can't really be that clueless, can she? The barkeep asks like he's never heard of such a thing. Perhaps she should have pronounced it "cham-pag-na." She downgrades her order to a glass of sherry, which the bar also doesn't stock. Finally, he offers her some brandy, which she accepts. Cullen, watching the exchange, kind of rolls his eyes and joins her at the bar. "It's on me," he says. She takes a sip of her brandy and winces comically. Once her throat stops bleeding, she says to Cullen, "Well, you did it. Forty miles. You said you would, and you did." He's just as surprised as anybody. "Failed as a tobacco farmer, lost a war... Now I'm a railroad man. Maybe third time's a charm, huh?" He gives her quite the sparkling look. He appears to have cleaned himself up a bit. When he doesn't look like he's covered in a thick layer of grime, he's really very handsome. Lily seems to have noticed it, as well, and perked up in response.
He gets serious for a moment as he recalls the first time they met. "You told me I had no idea who you was or what you was capable of," he says. Except she used proper grammar. "You was right." He chuckles. "I thought you was some spoiled, limey brat. Guess I got you wrong, right?" She tosses him a sassy little smile. "Well, what do you think of me now, Mr. Bohannon?" Instead of answering, he just gives her a long, hot stare. Her smile falters under all that virile scrutiny. Meanwhile, Doc has been watching them from outside and comes in to dump a bucket of cold water on them before they set the place on fire. He congratulates them both on a job well done and then asks Cullen to join him outside for a chat.
The last scene goes back and forth between two conversations. The first begins when a surprisingly not-dead Lieutenant Griggs stops by the church. "Black Moon," he calls out. It's not Joseph who comes to meet him, but the drunken Reverend.
Back to Doc and Cullen's chat. "You made me a pledge," Doc says, "You told me you could win this war called the Union Pacific." He congratulates Cullen, but then offers him a "bonus" in the form of information. Cullen's Spidey senses start tingling.
In the church, Reverend says he recognizes Griggs. He suspects that Griggs blames Joseph for what happened. "He needs to be made accountable," Griggs says. He starts nosing around the church, looking for Joseph.
Doc tells Cullen, "You know the Swede has been... focused on you for some time." The way the scene is framed, Lily can be seen through the window behind the two men, positioned exactly between them. Doc says that the Swede has wired the Federal Marshals, linking Cullen to murders back East.
The Reverend tries to reason with Griggs. He asks him if he has a wife and children. "What if someone killed your son, and scalped your daughter, and raped your wife? Would you stand idly by?" Griggs looks uncomfortable for a moment, but his resolve is firm.
"They'll be coming for you," Doc says. Cullen looks panicked for once. Then he looks toward Lily and gets an understanding about the true nature of this conversation. "You telling me all this 'cause you want me to run, Mr. Durant?" He looks less scared and more angry now. "I'm giving you a chance to save yourself," Doc says. Cullen glares at him, looks at Lily one last time, and walks away.
The Reverend reaches out to Griggs. "Could you find it in your heart to forgive him?" Griggs scoffs. "Sure, I'll forgive him. Right after I kill him." The Reverend pats him on the shoulder, tells him we're all held accountable one way or the other. As Griggs turns away, the Reverend pulls his ill-gotten saber from its scabbard. Gripping it with both hands, he swings and ohmyholycrap decapitates Griggs where he stands. Blood sprays the Reverend's face and the sides of the tent. Griggs drops to the floor in two discrete pieces. The Reverend licks his lips. Ah, the old familiar taste of murder.
Wow. So, there's where things stand going into the finale. Much like the building of the railroad, the first season started off slow and finally got going in the last mile.