‘Hell on Wheels’ season 4, episode 12 reaction: Kasha Kropinski on Ruth’s fate, scenes with Cullen
We should start this episode of “Hell on Wheels” with a warning: Stop reading right now to avoid any spoilers.
Still with us? Well, we have a lot to unpack even beyond our review of Saturday night’s episode, especially in terms of what happened to Ruth. This was a character described as a “church lady,” and meant to be a beacon of light into Cheyenne. However, through learning about her past in “Bleeding Kansas,” we understand further her decision to shoot Sydney Snow over the death of Ezra. Also, we found out even further just why she refused to accept anything other than full accountability for her committing murder. She hanged near the end of the episode, and her impact stuck with Cullen Bohannon enough for him quit the railroad and opt to track down his wife and child.
In going back to the scenes between him and Ruth at the sheriff’s, there is one important question to wonder: What would’ve happened if Cullen had told her that he felt the same about her as she did about him? Would it have changed anything? Kasha Kropinski, who plays this character, discussed this issue at length to Entertainment Weekly, and made it clear that society would have likely prohibited it, even if those feelings were announced:
“That’s a discussion that Roxann Dawson, the director of the episode, and Anson and myself had. Roxann said to me, “Do you think she would call off the hanging and choose to live if Cullen had given her a different answer?” I thought about that, and ultimately I arrived at the fact that no, she wouldn’t have. Because I think we, today, are looking at this from a modern perspective, and that is if two people love each other, they can be together. But at that particular point in time, that was not feasible. If you were married to somebody, it was incredibly rare that you would leave them to be with another woman. That was not even legal, in some instances. So even if Cullen did tell Ruth that he loved her, it really wouldn’t have made a difference to her life circumstances because he was still married to Naomi, he still had a child with Naomi. Cullen wouldn’t leave his wife for her and probably couldn’t. And given that Ruth’s a woman of the cloth, she probably wouldn’t condone a man leaving his wife for her. So it would be unrealistic to think that they would end up together.”
Will the bloodletting on this show stop soon? We’re worried; we have lost both Elam Ferguson and now Ruth within a single season already, and it is possible that more could happen in “Further West” … especially if the show is looking to shift its setting in a way. John Campbell, Louise, and maybe even Eva (who has been very quiet since Elam’s death) could all be in trouble, depending on if the show wants to take a very different direction as it prepares for the final season.
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