‘Hell on Wheels’ season 3 finale review: Bohannon’s wedding, a pregnancy, and a villain’s return

“Hell on Wheels,” just in its title alone, suggests to us that the worst thing imaginable is working on the railroad. However, we have to say that just within the span of the first half hour of tonight’s season 3 finale, Cullen Bohannon found himself a hell far worse than anything than the trailroad could ever give him; heck, we have a feeling that he would rather be dead then go through living at a Mormon compound with a “Bishop,” a new-found wife, and the baby on the way.

Cullen’s circumstances changed quickly as soon as he realized that it was actually The Swede who was helping to oversee the town. None of them know his past, but they believe him to be a Mormon leader. Not only that, but they would never trust some guy brought in as a prisoner. Were this a normal priest, Bohannon probably would have hanged on a noose without a second’s thought; but, since we’re looking here at the Swede, the man lived. Not only that, but he found himself involved in a wedding ceremony with Naomi the moment he realized that she had a child on the way.

Can we just stop for a second and say that this was the most awful wedding ceremony of all time? Bohannon sat there, as a man that he thought to be dead helped him to become a married man. At least Cullen doesn’t seem to interested in forsaking or abandoning his new bride, though he hardly seems intent on staying in town. He learned that there is also another railroad that is going to be starting up, and this taught us one thing: The battle for the railroad is far from over. The other major story of the week came courtesy of Durant, and the revelation that thanks to Bohannon’s current state, he now has control of the entire railroad.

While all of this happened, we saw Elam try to plot one of the craziest one-man rescue missions imaginable … including wrestling a freakin’ bear. This was by far the worst part of the episode, since it felt like a mixture of cheesy and also a Will Ferrell movie. Did something this silly really kill him? We hope not; Eva claims that she felt his spirit pass, but what a terrible way for him to go out. We’re just going to keep believing for a little while that a bear did not do the man in after he had such ambitions of being a rescue man. (After seeing his body, maybe we’re being a tad delusional.)

Save for this shocker with Elam, this finale was hardly one to end the series. This was more proof that the show is far from over yet, and now that Bohannon is in a completely different set of circumstances, the fight to get out hell will be stronger than ever before. A great end to the season, and the best episode in weeks (bears aside).

Overall, did the “Hell on Wheels” finale deliver everything that you were hoping for and then some? Sound off on it in the comments! If you want to read some more about season 4 prospects, click here, and we’ll have more on the show’s fate when available.

Photo: AMC