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Journey's end: The final season of AMC's 'Hell on Wheels' is packed with drama

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Author: 
Shona Dustan / TV Media
Anson Mount and MacKenzie Porter as seen in "Hell on Wheels"

Anson Mount and MacKenzie Porter as seen in "Hell on Wheels"

The old American West has gripped the imaginations of the masses for generations. The men and women who ventured out to tame it became instant folk heroes whose stories, even 150 years later, continue to draw huge audiences. In the late 1860s -- the years immediately following the Civil War and President Lincoln's assassination -- America was in a state of flux; westward expansion was imminent, and with hordes of former soldiers and the downtrodden poor desperate for work, the country's major railroads had plenty of laborers to exploit as they began a race to the western edge of the growing nation.

This is where AMC's "Hell on Wheels" begins, and throughout its run, its characters have lived through and participated in most of that industrial race westward. Now in the second half of its fifth and final season, the dash to the finish line has become even more desperate and deadly. A new episode of "Hell on Wheels" airs Saturday, July 2, on AMC.

It's been a rocky road for the show's central figure. Played by Anson Mount ("Crossroads," 2002), Cullen Bohannon is an ex-Confederate soldier who began the series in search of revenge for the murder of his wife and son. He's hard and determined, but throughout the seasons, Bohannon has been faced with many moral dilemmas, life-and-death situations and personal crises. He has evolved significantly, and the Bohannon of season 5 is not the Bohannon we met five years ago. In a season 5 featurette, Mount says:

"My goal the whole journey, and [especially] the last 14 episodes, has been to create a more brittle Bohannon. I wanted to break him down instead of build him up. I'm more interested in the weaknesses of characters than I am in their strengths, and the weakening of Bohannon is something that I've never really seen in a western."

He has certainly been beaten down. Season 5 opened with a brief but heartwarming look at the protagonist with his new wife, Naomi (MacKenzie Porter, "Christmas Rescue," 2012) and their young son -- then cut brutally to Bohannon on a rugged mountain face doing dangerous railroad work, wistfully imagining that his family is before him.

As the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads race each other west, Bohannon must wrangle Chinese workers, corrupt railroad officials, the Sierra Nevada mountains and the general lawlessness of uncharted territory if he's to make it to the finish line. It's the Central Pacific Railroad that Bohannon labors for these days, which puts him in direct competition with his former boss, Thomas Durant (Colm Meaney, "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine"), overseer of the Union Pacific Railroad's westward efforts.

Durant has had a rough go of things himself, and, as Meaney puts it, "... is basically staggering from one catastrophe to another at the present, and he seems to be beaten by everybody. It's interesting that he survives at all." But Durant is nothing if not persistent, and there are few lines he won't cross to get his railroad to the finish line first. Still steaming over what he sees as Bohannon's betrayal, Durant is clawing his way back towards the top.

Colm Meaney stars in "Hell on Wheels"

Colm Meaney stars in "Hell on Wheels"

The cast of "Hell on Wheels" is exceptional, each character flawed and compelling in a unique way. Robin McLeavy ("The Elegant Gentleman's Guide to Knife Fighting"), Phil Burke ("Billy & Billie"), Angela Zhou ("Stitchers"), Tim Guinee ("The Good Wife") and Jennifer Ferrin ("The Knick") round out this season's leading cast, along with Christopher Heyerdahl ("Sanctuary") as the ever-intimidating Swede.

As the show nears its end, each character must come to terms with where they are in life, what they've done and whether it was worth the sacrifices they've made along the way. Producer Tom Brady explains that the series has always been about character duality, about whether making peace with the light and the dark in one's own soul is possible. The end of the final season, in particular, deals with the question of redemption:

"One of the broader themes we're dealing with in the last half of the season is the question of whether a country and a man can be redeemed from their sins, and whether asking for forgiveness and seeking redemption is enough to escape that."

Redemption stories wrapped up in a western starring a gaggle of phenomenal actors playing delectable roles -- it's no wonder "Hell on Wheels" has amassed such a loyal following.

'We've learned that the West may have been won over 150 years ago," AMC executive Joel Stillerman said in a press release, "but it continues to win with old and new fans alike. ... It has been a pleasure working with the entire 'Hell on Wheels' cast and crew over the last five seasons."

Fans are equally bummed by the show's end, but there's plenty of action-packed drama to be had before the finale airs later this summer. Catch a new episode of "Hell on Wheels," airing Saturday, July 2, on AMC.