Hell on Wheels: Season 1, Episode 4 “Jamais je ne t’oublierai” (B+)
It’s interesting what happens when a character that was previously unconscious or mostly silent finally elects to open his or her mouth and contribute to the show. Lily has almost immediately become one of the show’s most intriguing personalities through her interactions with several of the other characters. Giving the reward money to Joseph is noble and helps her to forge a connection with someone who is essentially friendless. He’s clearly so unused to kindness that he isn’t even interested in the reward money, though Reverend Cole was quick to suggest that it could help buy a lot of bibles. His concern about Indians dying as a result of newspaper account of Robert’s slaughter managed to irk Lily considerably, and I suspect their subsequent interactions won’t be too positive. Lily’s most enticing interaction, however, was definitely with Durant, whose unsubtle attempts to get his hands on Robert’s maps were highly obvious to Lily, who was well aware that Robert and Durant did not see eye to eye. Elam’s bonding with Eva over their similar circumstances provides a terrific spotlight on two standout supporting characters that refuse to be relegated to the statuses and roles assigned to them by society. The Swede saving Cullen’s life led to another enormously interesting conversation in which he swore that he would figure out why he killed Johnson, marked with that terrifyingly loud laugh that he gave in response to Cullen’s request to let him know when he did so. The explosion at the end of the episode was decently alarming, but, as seems to be the case with trailblazers, work just has to keep going.
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