‘Hell on Wheels’ season 5, episode 5 preview: Cullen, The Swede face off in ‘Elixir of Life’

If you have been wondering just when there will be an inevitable showdown between Cullen Bohannon and The Swede on AMC’s “Hell on Wheels,” we have a suited answer for you: Next week during the installment “Elixir of Life” (which sounds very much like something that would be sold in the Old West).

It is not entirely clear after reading the synopsis below if the showdown between Anson Mount and Christopher Heyerdahl’s characters will be the main story for this episode, but at least there is something in there for you to be excited over:

“Unexpected violence erupts in Chinatown during the festival of Tin Hau Don; Cullen confronts the Swede; and Durant involves Maggie in his latest scheme.”

Obviously, it cannot come as much of a surprise to see that there are further struggles coming within the town of Truckee, as tensions have been high between the Chinese and the white railroad workers ever since “White Justice.” The problem is that there seems to be no easy solution to how deal with these problems, given the prevalence of racism among many and also the rush to get the railroad done. There was some negotiation tonight, at least enough to get some of the workers back on the railroad. However, we imagine still that Chang is unhappy.

One other thing about this synopsis? You can take the portion of this synopsis about Durant and Maggie as proof that the Union Pacific storyline is staying put now. We’d spent a few episodes away from them before their triumphant return tonight, where we had a further chance to see just how much tension there is between them and the Central Pacific over completing the railroad and snagging the bragging rights.