By Holly K. Jones, J.D.
The AMC original series Hell on Wheels chronicles the construction of the nation’s First Transcontinental Railroad.
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The series thrives on conflict. The characters fight with each other (racial tension abounds as Freedmen work beside former Confederates, all the while expanding, in a most unwelcome nature, across native Sioux and Cheyenne lands). They also fight with nature (smallpox and snowfall and bears, oh my), with society (sociopolitical changes of the Reconstruction Era), and with themselves (crises of religious faith, haunting flashbacks to the Civil War, and blind revenge sought for lost loved ones).
But in the current, fifth season of the show, we find protagonist Cullen Bohannon, a former Confederate cavalry captain turned railroad chief, fighting a more familiar battle—that of employee retention and morale.