I missed Hell on Wheels when it first aired on AMC last November, so I was excited to see it for the first time on Blu-ray.

The titular “Hell on Wheels” refers to a mobile town that moves along with the construction of the first trans-continental railroad. The president of the Union Pacific, Thomas Durant (Colm Meaney), always seems to have some scam going to make an extra buck. He wants to take full advantage of the $16K/mile in government subsidy he will receive for building the railroad, but he must complete 40 miles of track before his competitors in order to secure the contract.

In the pilot, former Confederate soldier Cullen Bohannon (Anson Mount) arrives in town looking for a job, but he’s really been led there by his quest for vengeance for some event in his past. He is put in charge of the men digging the trenches for the railroad tracks, but soon finds himself butting heads with one of his crew, former slave Elam Ferguson (Common). He also attracts the attention of The Swede (Christopher Heyerdahl), who has appointed himself the judge, jury and executioner of Hell on Wheels, and suspects Bohannon is hiding something.

Rounding out the main cast are the McGinnes brothers, entrepreneurs who came from Ireland to America seeking fortune; Lily Bell (Dominique McElligott), an English woman married to an American surveyor who works for Durant; and Reverend Nathaniel Cole (Tom Noonan), who runs the church in Hell on Wheels along with his protoge and converted Christian Joseph Black Moon (Eddie Spears).

I really enjoyed this first season of Hell on Wheels, and it was great to be able to marathon the entire season. It is a very serialized show, and I can’t imagine having to wait a week in-between episodes. Each episode brought new drama, action, suspense and mystery.

The Civil War may be over, and the slaves may have been freed, but everything is far from peaceful. Hell on Wheels uses the latent hostilities between the Northerners/Southerners, Whites/Blacks and Americans/Indians as a catalyst for drama. The series doesn’t fall victim to the pressure of political correctness, and this results in interactions that feel very authentic to the period. I found the ever-changing allegiances between/across nationalities and fluidity of morality very interesting.

At its heart, Hell on Wheels is really a character-driven show. Through the course of the season, the characters are well-developed and grow. Everyone seems to have his or her own dark past or hidden secrets. Bohannon kind of reminds me of Raylan Givens–he’s resourceful, cool, calm and collected, and really only kills when there’s justification to do so (though, that justification may be revenge). Durant is complex, and you can see the good guy mixed in with the greedy, scheming businessman. Lily Bell is a strong female, who defies the stereotype of her high society upbringing, and really holds her own against the men. I could go on about all of the other characters as well–they are all multi-dimensional and interesting.

The setting of the series also adds to the drama. The atmosphere, community and issues of the mobile town of Hell on Wheels is really captured well. The series is well acted and well written, and I really enjoyed this first season of Hell on Wheels.

What’s Included on the Blu-ray:

Episodes:

• All 10 episodes of Season 1
• Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio, English 5.1 DD
• English SDH subtitles
• No Play All option on Disc or Set

Extras:

• Recreating the Past: The Making of Hell on Wheels (16:54)
  Crew members from each department of the production talk about their duties and what it was like working on the series. Overall, this was a bit slow and dull as the crew members are interviewed sitting down, talking to the camera.
• Crashing a Train: From Concept to Camera (3:25)
  Production Designer John Blackie talks about the train crash scene. Another dull featurette.
• Inside Hell on Wheels Featurettes
• Making-Of Featurettes (33:26)
  Seven Featurettes originally produced for AMCTV.com are included here: “About Hell On Wheels”, “The Guns”, “The Wardrobe”, “The Meaning of the Railroad”, “Building the Train” ,”Locations and Sets”, “Dirty Medicine”. These are far more interesting than the first two featurettes. In these extras, the cast and crew are interviewed on the set, and there’s a lot of behind the scenes footage. There is a Play All option.
• Character Featurettes (12:56)
  Seven Featurettes originally produced for AMCTV.com are included here for the characters of Cullen Bohannon, Elam Ferguson, Thomas Durant, Lily Bell, The McGinnes Brothers, Pawnee Killer and Joseph Black Moon. The actors talk about their characters and what drew them to the project. There is a Play All option.
• Episode Featurettes (52:41)
  Ten Featurettes originally produced for AMCTV.com are included here. Each one covers one of the ten episodes of season 1. There is a Play All option.
• Behind-the-Scenes Footage (24:36)
  Raw behind the scenes footage of filming various scenes and episodes.
• Trailer (1:28)
  Trailer for the first season of the series.

Final Thoughts:

The picture looks amazing–I didn’t notice any grain, which one might expect for this genre of show–and the sound was equally impressive. This release has a solid set of extras–though most of the them are already available on the AMC web site. It would have been nice to maybe get a blooper reel or deleted scenes, or some sort of commentary track. I was also shocked that there was no Play All option on the discs–everyone is marathoning TV shows these days and this just seems like it should be standard!

That said, I recommend this set, and I’m really looking forward to seeing the second season!