Mei’s past catches up with her — thanks to Chang.
We’re offering a weekly account of every episode aired during the final summer run of Hell on Wheels. Be forewarned: There will be spoilers a-plenty in each of these overviews. Here are five takeaways from Episode 512, “Any Sum Within Reason.”
The Plot
Upon finding that Wai-Ling has revealed Mei’s true identity to Chang, Cullen insists that Mei take the next stage out of town. “You need to run from this place as fast as you can,” he tells her, “before death catches up with you. It will. It always does.”
So Mei gets on board with Stagecoach Marry, for a trip to Cheyenne. At an unscheduled stop along the way, however, Stagecoach Mary betrays Mei: She pockets a tidy sum for ratting out her passenger to Chang’s confederates, forcing Mei to flee on foot to a gone-to-seed mining town. She telegraphs Cullen for help, then tries to lay low by joining the mine’s work crew. But Chang himself shows up, and expresses his displeasure nonverbally when the mine foreman and a few of his underlings get in his way. Mei seeks refuge in a near-deserted saloon, where she gets the drop on Chang and holds him at gunpoint until — tah-dah! — Cullen shows up just in time to shoot Chang at point-blank range, then methodically eliminate Chang’s goons.
As they journey back to Truckee, Cullen expresses regret that Mei had to see him in full badass mode. (“You’ve seen me now. The man that I am.”) Mei, not surprisingly, responds by telling Cullen he shouldn’t feel bad. After all, she notes, he saw her “a long time ago.” Unfortunately, they don’t get to enjoy much quality time together after they return to Truckee. Well, OK, they do take a break for an extended close encounter. But Mei fears their happily-ever-aftering will be cut short when General Lee Yong and his men arrive to inquire into Chang’s demise. Cullen tries to convince her not to take flight — and finally tells her that, yes, he loves her. And he even manages to smooth-talk General Lee Yong into agreeing that, while Chang’s murder by person or persons unknown might be, ahem, regrettable, it shouldn’t have any lasting effects on the business arrangement between the general and the Central Pacific Railroad.
But when he returns to his room, Cullen finds that Mei is gone, leaving behind only a small box containing a parchment — the same box, which had belonged to her father, that she showed Cullen back in Episode 510.
Takeaway No. 1
It’s no big surprise that Chang was added to the show’s ever-mounting body count. Still, Byron Mann will be missed, if only for his invaluable input into scenes where Chang has deftly balanced cordially and cold-bloodedness while conversing with Huntington or Cullen — two men he obvious views as his inferiors. (Note the barely concealed contempt in his tone here when he tells Cullen: “One day, we’ll have to do this over tea, like respectable businessmen.”) And wow! Dig those martial arts moves! We haven’t seen Mann doing that kind of kung-fu since he co-stars in The Man with the Iron Fists. (Mann told us all about his horse-riding experiences when we chatted with him last year.)
Takeaway No. 2
Stagecoach Mary! How could you? We take back everything we said about wanting to see you in a spin-off series.
Takeaway No. 3
On the other hand, it might have been neat to see Stagecoach Mary in that dress she and Mei were bargaining over.
Takeaway No. 4
It’s hard to pick a best moment in an episode filled with so many great moments. If pressed, though, we’d have to choose the affecting scene where Cullen tells Mei: “I told you I lost everybody I ever had. That was a lie. People I loved, I didn’t lose them. I let ‘em go. As soon as I got that telegraph from you…” Then, after looking here, there and everywhere to find the courage he needs to get the words out: “Hey, I love you.”
Takeaway No. 5
Ever notice that whenever the bullets start flying, Cullen doesn’t duck or run, but simply keeps moving forward relentlessly, unstoppably? Maybe that’s a holdover from his days as a solider. Or maybe… well, maybe he’s just a natural-born badass. By the way: Didn’t you notice his reference to Maggie Palmer as “a friend” early in the episode? Guess bad news traveled slow back in those days.
