Hell on Wheels Season 5 Episode 9
“Return To The Garden” could’ve been titled “Return To Where It All Began” for Cullen, Durant, and Eva. The garden is both figurative and literal. Rails and seeds are placed and need tending to progress along a desired path. Untilled soil and cultivated land attract good and bad people with personal motives. As seedlings pushed through the earth, vermin and insects stake their claim. In the Laramie garden, there are several snakes squaring off on opposite corners of town while the mongoose has been away. The conquering hero returning to the farm surprised Naomi and Isaac, who probably expected Cullen to disappear again after having taken care of The Swede. Bohannon is surprised that his one-year search-and-rescue mission has created ambivalence, a broken heart, and marital strain. Isaac stepped up as surrogate husband and father during the hiatus, and is all too eager to send Cullen on his way. He rightly feels territorial and threatened by the more accomplished and masculine former Confederate officer. Bohannon has to reconcile who and what they were as husband and wife, and the estranged people they’ve become. Cullen’s not a homesteader, happy with farm life, raising a child, tending the crops, and regaling William with Civil War stories. He’s a tumbleweed, and needs to be in the thick of conflict, with a higher percentage of success to feel worthwhile. There’s no comparison between tilling soil and building a railroad. It’s best they go their separate ways while William’s young enough to forget Bohannon ever existed and grow up to accept and love Isaac as his father. Naomi is a simple woman of faith who would have accepted death at Thor’s hand as God’s will. Cullen doesn’t share a similar belief. He’s at his best fixing situations and trying to be diplomatic. Naomi’s not much for gallantry and heroes when the horses need watering and the crops stored in the barn and cabinets. Loving someone can be agonizing when faced with a truth that she would be better off with someone else. Walking away in this scenario has to be painful. There are no winners to speak of. Isaac knows he’s second-rate next to Cullen, but that didn’t stop his love for mother and child. Naomi loses because she will always love Cullen for his support and understanding, but knows she can’t have him in ways she desires. Romantic love can empower and destroy. Naomi’s wish for Cullen that he find someone to love in her place might come to fruition with Ah-Fong. She has fallen in love with Cullen, but it won’t be easy with the cultural differences and her cross-dressing. He deserves a woman who sees and accepts him for who and what is he, and will never be. Mei-Mei wants nothing extraordinary from Cullen. What might they plant, cultivate, and grow in the Laramie soil? Stay tuned to see what or who might sprout up in the coming episodes.
