Comments on: ‘Hell on Wheels’ season 4, episode 7 reaction: Robin McLeavy, Anson Mount on ‘Elam Ferguson’ aftermath

By: bigheadbaby

bigheadbaby — Fri, 19 Sep 2014 00:06:00 +0000

Common’s reference to his women being good baby breeders filled me with dread. Very ominous words, indeed. It harkened back to slavery times, when the slave dealer would say something very like this about black slave women for sale. That this black ex-slave would utter such a thing demonstrates how gone his mind really was.

By: Ric

Ric — Tue, 16 Sep 2014 15:10:00 +0000

In reply to Josie. A very good perspective and one I found very credible from someone who is not a show insider. It was "spot on"!

By: Josie

Josie — Tue, 16 Sep 2014 00:23:00 +0000

Good acting. Interesting metaphor used. Disappointed in the loss of a strong character. To me Elam’s ‘insanity’ represented the internalized pain of the character’s life of living with racism and slavery. His acquiring of his ‘slaves,’ his talking to Psalms about the “big house,’ are all suppressed bad experiences that he has let out in his altered state.

It shows the pain he lived all his life. The anger suppressed from this life. Not being kind to Cullen and Eva but kind to Psalms indicates his disappointment in Cullen and Eva. Cullen, due to his lack of understanding of what Elam went through contributed to Elam’s demise and not just when he killed him and Eva’s misguided decision to let her child go.

Cullen consistently thought he was better than Elam and only in Elam’s death did he realize he was sorely mistaken. Elam made Cullen into a better man but Cullen did not benefit Elam at all.

I think Cullen was crying more for himself than Elam because he let down one of his only true friends; someone who gave him so many gifts while he gave very little.

RIP Elam

By: Clifford Thibodeau

Clifford Thibodeau — Mon, 15 Sep 2014 00:44:00 +0000

In reply to Milton Toran. Common did want it to end this way. As hard as the decision was, he wants to focus on his music career.

By: Milton Toran

Milton Toran — Sun, 14 Sep 2014 16:07:00 +0000

I agree with Keldan. It would’ve been better off to let Elam die after last season’s bear attack. They brought him back just to let him die in such a humiliating way? He was one of the show’s strongest characters. No disrespect to the producers, but this really sucks! Unless Common (Elam) wanted to be killed off due to other future endeavors, this was truly heartbreaking! From now on, my Saturday nights will be spent watching college football!

By: keldan

keldan — Sun, 14 Sep 2014 07:22:00 +0000

I’d rather the bear had won!

By: keldan

keldan — Sun, 14 Sep 2014 07:19:00 +0000

I’m upset…..This was my favorite show on TV. Elam was a fantastic character. Keeping my interest after this will be difficult. Very disappointed!

By: krib

krib — Sun, 14 Sep 2014 04:49:00 +0000

wow I just have to say this episode really upset me. they took one of the stronger main characters and the only black male character who was breaking the stereotypical box that most of the black characters were trapped in, and killed him off in such a humiliating and offensive way. Basically after leaving his story a cliffhanger for several episodes bring him back as a violent raving madman, who then after dragging 3 women into town especially as a former slave tries to sell them in a public market? the whole time crowd of people jeering and laughing at him. to top it off he’s basically put down like a vicious animal by none other than his friend Bohannon ,which that whole scene seemed to reek of an analogy to Old Yeller. i dunno that just really left me with a bitter feeling and i’m not sure i can get over this

By: FL_BigFoot

FL_BigFoot — Sun, 14 Sep 2014 02:44:00 +0000

While I don’t agree with the death of Elam (in general), this had to be one of the most incredible and moving episodes of the entire series. Cullen had to put Elam out of his misery and now will pay a very heavy price for the rest of his life. Cullen took the responsibility, as opposed to letting a stranger do it. When Psalms asked Cullen, “What gave you the right?”, I wish Cullen would have said, “Because he was my friend.”. Excellent show.

By: Diane Mercado

Diane Mercado — Sun, 14 Sep 2014 02:26:00 +0000

Episode was powerful