I’m still reeling from the finale (season? series?) of Hell on Wheels Sunday night. If you haven’t seen it, and mean to, you may not want to read this. There Will Be Spoilers.
The writers of Hell on Wheels have never pulled their punches, and they certainly didn’t start doing so in Blood Moon Rising, the last episode of the second season. They burned the town to the ground, and they killed people. Important people.
When Mr. Toole, Eva’s husband, trailed her to Elam’s cabin (where she was in fact telling Elam that she had decided once and for all to stay with Toole) and waved his gun around, I fully expected him to take a shot at Eva or Elam. I didn’t expect him to blow his own head off, but that’s what he did.
When Cullen marched Gundersen out to the middle of the bridge to hang him, I expected Gundersen to make one last insane speech. I didn’t expect him to jump off the bridge, robbing Cullen of his personal vengeance, but that’s what he did.
The real shock, though, was the murder of Lily Bell. I watched in disbelief as the odious, mad Gundersen strangled her. I held my breath, waiting for Cullen to burst through the door of the railroad car and save her. But he didn’t. My first reaction, after the disbelief, was that I’d never be able to watch the show again. But the more I thought about it, the more sense it made. I still don’t like it, but I understand.
As a viewer who always enjoys a good love story, I was crushed by Lily’s death. She and Cullen were just discovering each other. Did they have a chance at happiness together? We’ll never know.
As a viewer of the female persuasion, I was angry. We don’t have enough strong, competent, complex female characters on TV to throw one away lightly.
But as a writer, I gradually had to admit to myself that Lily’s death was a logical step in the story. Hell on Wheels was never Lily’s story, or Eva’s, or Ruth’s, as much as the women fascinate me. It’s a story of power, corruption and redemption, honor, treachery and vengeance, and its central focus is Cullen Bohannon. It’s certainly not a romance, and Cullen is not a hero.
But he is the protagonist, and the story has followed his choices, many of which have been dreadful. Is he seeking redemption, or running from it? Hard to tell. He’s badly flawed, deeply damaged, and he knows it. He’s afraid, he tells Mr. Toole, that Lily won’t even like him once she really gets to know him. In a romance novel, the love of a good woman would redeem a man like Cullen, but not in a story like Hell on Wheels. This is not a story about happy endings.
I don’t know if Hell on Wheels will be back next summer for a third season. As I watched the end of Blood Moon Rising, I wasn’t even sure I wanted it to. But after thinking about it for a couple of days, I’m hoping it returns. I want to know what happens next to the Durants, Eva and Elam, Ruth and her church, Sean and Mickey and the rest. I’m not entirely convinced that Gundersen is dead. And I want to watch Cullen Bohannon drive the railroad west.
Kay Hudson 
Oct 10, 2012 @ 00:58:10
I love this show too. I have every belief that the show will continue for another season. I can’t wait to see what will happen next summer.
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Oct 10, 2012 @ 06:47:01
I seldom understand how decisions about series renewals are made, but I do hope we’ll see Hell on Wheels again, even without Lily. I wouldn’t be all that surprised to see Gundersen come crawling out of the river, either.
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Aug 06, 2013 @ 03:44:14
I identified with Cullen and fell in love with Lily. I’m mad as hell that they killed her off and disgusted that they let that sickening Mr. Swede do it. The dialogue around enjoying murder is very off to me, as well. I doubt I’ll be able to come back to Season 3. I’m too disheartened.
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Aug 06, 2013 @ 09:39:09
AMC has some publicity pictures on their site. The Swede will be back, and there’s a new female character, a young woman reporter from a New York newspaper. I’m looking forward to the new season–starting with the two episodes on Saturday evening.
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Aug 30, 2013 @ 18:44:30
I stopped watching after they killed Lilly. It kind of reminded me of the old Beauty and the Beast series with Linda Hamilton and Ron Perlman. At the end of season 2, they killed Beauty (Linda Hamilton), yet continued with season 3. Season 3 was all she wrote because fans revolted. The simple fact is that the show needs Lilly Bell going forward. No, it’s not her story, but she is vital in the telling of his story and in the ability to extract certain emotions and mannerisms from him that no one else can. She was vital in showing his struggle. Without her the show isn’t worth watching, which is why I haven’t seen a single episode of season 3 and never will.
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Aug 30, 2013 @ 20:26:07
I felt the much the same when I saw the season two finale, but honestly, I think the writers got it right. Season three is offering Cullen a host of new challenges, and the Swede is headed back (with a full head of hair!). I’m actually quite pleased with season three so far (although I’m rather worried about that family the Swede is traveling with).
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Oct 09, 2013 @ 23:20:08
I will never watch Season 3 because of Lilly’s death. The writers didn’t get anything right, the way Swede gets away with everything is just absurd and unreal. Lilly has proven herself to be a tough woman throughout the series that is a lot stronger than her delicate exterior would lead everyone to believe. This is all shattered by Swede just strangling her to death without putting a fight at all. The love interest between Lilly and Cullen wasn’t even developed that far to the point where her death would be emotional because it really wasn’t emotional at all. I just thought to my self “isn’t this a bit early?” seriously I can understand maybe at the end of Season 3 or possibly 4 that she dies after her relationship with Cullen develops into something we truly cherish. Cullen’s wife was already killed, it’s a bit far fetched to believe that his next love is killed as well. That’s just bad luck, and bad luck is bad writing. The odds of losing 2 women you fall in love with to death in a single lifetime, even in real life is just unlikely.
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Oct 09, 2013 @ 23:34:29
The end of season 2 was certainly shocking, but it worked in the overall story the series is giving us. There were just as many ups and downs in season 3, but it was well worth watching. I’m hoping we’ll hear soon that there will be a fourth season.
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Feb 28, 2019 @ 12:54:54
I just started binge watching H on W and came to your exact same conclusions about Lily. Talk about ruining much more intriguing scenarios on the series with her alive than dead ! She was the one bright spot that offered hope and redemption for both of them that we were sold on caring for by the writers up until then.
Her and Cullen teaming up (as any successful marriage would be) to conquer the tremendous challenges each generation experiences against the power brokers and odds would have been much more realistic than a 2nd murdered love interest, especially by The Swede who really belongs on the Nightmare on Elm St. ilk for all his otherworldliness and death-defying timing at all times.
Talk about contrived.
I’ll continue to watch series 3, etc. but could easily “abort the mission” if this nonsense keeps up.
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Nov 28, 2014 @ 12:03:07
Lily Bell was the only decent character on the show and the main reason for enduring the awful unnecessary violence with the scarring visuals… Let’s not leave anything to the imagination here ok! The writers are obviously more interested in coming up with more ways to show blood and gore than keeping a strong woman with decent enduring qualities around to balance the awfulness of that time period. She alone made the show worth watching and it’s too bad she is gone. I personally have no desire to watch the show again without the alluring miss lily bell 🙂 Ruth, Eva or Mrs. Durante would have been a much better choice if you are so inclined to kill the women off IMHO.
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Jun 21, 2016 @ 06:09:39
And here we are, 2016! I hated the loss of Lilly, too. And there have been others since then. I think it’s been a great western series.
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Jul 24, 2016 @ 04:35:28
I’m just now watching the show. I just got through with season 2 and I’m pretty bummed about her getting killed. Oh well…
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Aug 21, 2016 @ 02:08:51
Love this show. Binge watching it for the 2nd time and I’m already on season 5! I’ll be sad to see it end, until I watch it again!
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Aug 21, 2016 @ 08:37:35
It says something about the show that this is still my most popular post!
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Aug 11, 2017 @ 11:50:02
I need to start watching this again, I quit after season 2.
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Jan 16, 2017 @ 20:33:26
Well as much as i tried to understand i just could’nt… so i sorrowfully slapped shut my laptop on this episode and do not intend to return.
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Jan 16, 2017 @ 21:14:42
I felt the same way for a while, but I’m glad I watched the rest of the series.
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Jan 18, 2017 @ 06:06:04
Just now getting to this show on Netflix. I didn’t like her dying, and I hated the Swede doing it. I have stopped watching many shows before after a favorite character is killed off. I’ll stay with this, for now, just because so few good Westerns are available, albeit without much gusto or commitment.
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Jan 18, 2017 @ 06:47:47
Stick with it–the rest of the series is well worth the effort.
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Aug 11, 2017 @ 10:14:42
I am watching HELL ON WHEELS on Netflix and just finished up with Season 2. The death of Lily was shocking. She appeared to be becoming quite instrumental in the railroad endeavor and her loss leaves a big hole. That said, a loss like this just focuses an even tighter laser beam on our protagonist, Cullen Bohannon.
I am really, really going to miss Lily as a character. She was intelligent, gritty, strong-willed and beautiful — an excellent role model for young viewers. But bad things happen to good people. Through the horrors, resourcefulness and strength must carry us on. I guess that is the whole thread that is running through this epic on the building of the Union Pacific Railroad.
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Aug 11, 2017 @ 10:24:01
Stick with it, Debra. It’s a great show–and there are lots more surprises to come.
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Oct 14, 2017 @ 11:48:27
Returning to Hell on Wheels to binge watch thru to the end. Started the series a year or so ago, but got sidetracked. But geez, Anson Mount . . . who could resist him in a western. Custom made for the part 🙂 As for Lily, I have not gotten to that episode yet, but was aware she was killed at some point. I’m sorry that she was killed off, but as much as I admired her character in the beginning, midway through S2 the character had “wilted.” Once Durant left, then returned with his b***h of a wife, Lily had become a whimpering shell of what she had been, and showed some very poor judgement. She should have earned enough respect from those men to keep that railroad running in Durant’s absence, and should have had enough brains to never involve that nasty Swede in any railroad business, most especially intimate financial records. And when the wife returned, kicked her out of her railroad car, and reduced her to a freight clerk – well, again, Lily should have had enough spunk, backbone and wits to hold her head high and never ever let that wife reduce her to tears.
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Jan 25, 2019 @ 09:41:19
I completely agree. Just finished season 2 last night and I have been over Lily for a while now. How a courageous spunky woman like that who kills an Indian with his own arrow and then resists Durant’s advances and camps out in the mud suddenly shows up in his bed the next one was a disappointment and out of character. The writers just expected us to be ok with that. Then she is a big baby when Durant’s wife shows up, makes many many bad decisions and when Durant dumps her, she decides to go over Cullen. What?? She and Cullen were in the beginning being set up to be a great romance, but now it’s just sloppy seconds. And suddenly they are so in love and he says he is better with her? I think the writers missed the mark here big time. When she died, I didn’t even care because how broken can he be, they’ve been dating for like two days or something. I’ll watcch season 3 out of pure curiosity, but that Lily storyline was a disaster.
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Dec 22, 2017 @ 21:42:16
I enjoyed the first two seasons of “Hell on Wheels”, of which I didn’t think season 2 would end as it did. I was hoping it would continue with Lily. As it did not, I could not continue with the subsequent seaons. Thanks for your “explanation”. Regard’s Bruce
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Jan 16, 2018 @ 13:33:11
We just got Netflix for Christmas 2017. We have been binge watching Hell on Wheels…..I have made myself tolerate the bloody gore and overdrama in hopes to see Cullen and Lilly get to build a real relationship. The end of Season 2 ruined that!…..Stupid mistake on producers part. Cullen is such a confident, quiet, complex character that the suspense of Cullen and Lilly’s connection caused my return in hopes of witnessing Lilly peal away layers of his cold, rough edges ….they could have peeled that onion for years… It would have kept me paying for netlfix ! And I hate spending money
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Jan 16, 2018 @ 18:50:00
Lily’s death broke my heart, but in the long run that too played its part in Cullen’s story, which would have been very different had Lily lived. Hell On Wheels was never meant to be a romance–but if you hang on to the end, everyone, including Cullen, finds their way to a satisfying ending.
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Jun 09, 2019 @ 10:12:19
Just finished binge-watching HoW seasons 1 & 2. What a let-down when Lily was murdered by that slug Swede. It really stretches the limits of credibility that he survives “little fires on his chest,” the pent-up hatred of an entire town, and possibly survives a 100+ foot fall hand-bound into a cold river (hmmmm)….. on top of that, the scene of her murder follows a bloody, protracted battle….. so then what smart, strong, resourceful woman retires to her car for the night after the battle with an empty gun? The derringer wasn’t supposedly unloaded when Elam came to off her! IMO, the story writers needed to look for another line of work after that disaster of a segment. I was hoping to see two people who suffered so much heart-break in the past find some measure of continuing connection.
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Jun 09, 2019 @ 10:22:33
Oh, and by the way, how Bohannon allows the Swede to live after the steam engine sabotage at the gorge, having seen him from a distance at the scene, having recovered the Norwegian penny from the steam engine wreckage, and after men undoubtedly die in the incident, is beyond me. We never see Bohannon follow that bread crumb afterwards. Poor story-writing. I’m having a real hard time deciding if I should continue watching (and yes, Miss Kay, I did read your Jan16, 2018 post)!
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Jun 09, 2019 @ 10:56:05
Any number of happenings during the run of the show just about broke my heart, but I stuck it out, loved the ending, and still think the series as a whole was brilliant. Trust me, the Swede gets what he deserves in the end, and it doesn’t cost Bohannon his soul.
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Jun 28, 2019 @ 20:30:37
Kay – you were right! The series did turn a corner starting with Season 3, and I’m glad I watched it to the end! Best regards, Richard
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Dec 28, 2019 @ 20:47:59
I am devastated that Lilly was killed by that wacko who will be back I’m sure. What kind of writers would take her character off?. I will never watch this show again and Kay please let people give their opinions without you telling everyone to hang in there. Even if we did watch till the end we would always be lookin for Lilly. Her and Cullen has such a connection. I just want to cry.!
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Dec 29, 2019 @ 12:05:33
Sue, you’re welcome to give your opinion, but this is my blog, and I’ll continue to give mine. I’m a writer, so perhaps I see this a little differently than you do. Hell on Wheels is an American epic about Cullen and the building of the railroad, about revenge and redemption, not a romance. There were a number of heartbreaking deaths (as well as a few characters who got exactly what they deserved) along the way, but in the end they all served the story and played a part in Cullen’s journey. I am glad that people are still watching and still reacting so strongly to the show.
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Jul 26, 2020 @ 20:09:12
I’m watching the Hell On Wheels series for the first time and The Negative Noir of Lily Bell’s death Astounds me !
She was killed off for
All the wrong reasons….a True Co-Lead with Strength & Dignity and Awareness
Yet, it all ends in a lesson
of pointless Futility…
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Jul 26, 2020 @ 21:35:00
I understand–I felt the same way. But in the long run, it’s Cullen’s story, not Lily’s, and he has a lot more bad decisions to make (which Lily might have prevented) before he finds redemption.
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Aug 16, 2020 @ 11:00:59
I was devastated when Lily was killed as well. Almost gave up watching but luckily continued on and stuck with It through to its epic conclusion. That was a few years ago and now am rewatching and actually getting more out of it the second time through. Everyone hates the Swede but he is one of the most fascinating and layered villains I have seen in a television series. Complete chameleon and also Provides some humorous moments. He is The Joker to Bohanen’s Batman. Anson Mount also completely nails the role of Cullen Bohanen. Very complex character who grows from a shell shocked ex-soldier into a savvy businessman over the course of the series. Likely his personal story would have been happier if Lily had lived but his impact on this version of history was greater because she was taken from him.
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Aug 16, 2020 @ 11:09:28
I agree on all counts. I really thought Christopher Heyerdahl was amazing as the Swede and would have loved to see him win awards for the role.
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Sep 26, 2020 @ 20:22:12
I was really ticked when they had her killed!! I’m not watching the rest of it. It may not have been about her. But there was so much they could have written of them trying to finish the Rail Road. Don’t have any interest in it now. Such a shame.
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Nov 15, 2020 @ 15:36:19
Death of lily is it for me. No more Hell on wheels
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