The biggest problem with Hell on Wheels in these four seasons has been a certain need to abandon its own past. When we started, Cullen Bohannan was ready for revenge, but by the end of the first season, his priorities had changed, rarely remembered again. “Reckoning” is thankfully all about learning from past mistakes, taking the knowledge that has been accrued, and trying to make an educated decision from what has come before.
Mickey seems to learn this lesson the hardest way in “Reckoning.” At the beginning of the series, Mickey and his brother came to Hell on Wheels to entertain with their projected pictures. From there, they started a bar and a whorehouse, and with his brother out of the way, Mickey has now opened a casino and become mayor. But with Campbell’s takeover of the town, Mickey has now lost everything he worked so hard to gain, stuck in jail with literally just a pot to piss in. Mickey realizes he has been this low before, and still came up to become one of the most powerful men in the town. If he did it once, he can do it again.
This look back at the past is why “Reckoning” is by far the strongest episode of Hell on Wheels’ fourth season. When this fourth season began, it felt like the show was almost rebooting, presenting Cullen in a new light, rejoining the community that lost old friends and gained new enemies. But “Reckoning” reminds us that this community has a history together. For once, it feels like the people of Hell on Wheels are ready to join together, and fight for their own rights.
Eva and Durant have both struggled under the new arrival of Campbell and his entourage, even though their economic differences are vast. With the casino now closed, Eva is out of a job, and considering going back to her life as a prostitute. Meanwhile Durant is helpless, thinking himself the head of the town, when really he no longer has any power due to Campbell. Seeing how Eva isn’t doing so hot either, Durant offers her some money, which Eva turns down, but later offers her body in exchange for the money.