EscoLehGo Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 I did a search and couldn't find a topic on this show, I just became privy with it via Netflix last week and it's a pretty damned good show. It's set during the reconstruction era directly after the American civil war and focuses on the railroad companies racing to complete the manifest destiny. The main character is an ex confederate soldier out to avenge his family who were slaughtered and raped by Union soldiers during the end of the war. It comes on right before the masterpiece that is Breaking Bad and I highly recommend it. It has a bunch of morally ambigious characters like Breaking Bad so the lines are really muddy on who exactly is "good" or "bad" which makes for more compelling storytelling in my opinion. There are also cultural observations made about that time like European immigration, the fall of Native Americans, freed slaves trying to find their place in society and women still being pretty much property at the time. Season 2 premiered last night and it held up to the hype. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Typhus Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 The main characters a Confederate soldier? That's pretty ballsy, I'm curious about how they'd portray his role in the war and his beliefs about racial equality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EscoLehGo Posted August 13, 2012 Author Share Posted August 13, 2012 The main characters a Confederate soldier? That's pretty ballsy, I'm curious about how they'd portray his role in the war and his beliefs about racial equality. Yea it is ballsy, he explains his beliefs early on in the show and they evolve throughout the season. He's just one of them good ol boys but not in a Ku Klux Klan kind of way if you get what I'm saying. He was also a former slave owner as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cp1dell Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 The main characters a Confederate soldier? That's pretty ballsy, I'm curious about how they'd portray his role in the war and his beliefs about racial equality. He released his slaves a year before the war. He's not really a racist, one of his former slaves is practically his friend and one of the only people he trusts. It's a love-hate relationship. I like the show, great to see a modern Western TV Show. I love Westerns. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EscoLehGo Posted August 13, 2012 Author Share Posted August 13, 2012 Are you talking about Common's character? Because thats not his former slave, that guy grew up on a plantation and is actually half white, he went to work on the railroad after he gained his freedom but Bohannon never owned him. I like their friendship though, it's not all corny like it could have been, it's actually realistic for the time it's set in and in that time I imagine it would be hard for white and black people to be openly friends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cp1dell Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 Are you sure? It was implied in the first episode when he saw Cullen was their new boss and said "Some things never change." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otter Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 Are you sure? It was implied in the first episode when he saw Cullen was their new boss and said "Some things never change." I think "some things never change" was a general statement; pretty sure Bohannen and Ferguson hadn't met before this. The season 2 opener last night was fantastic - but glad it came before Breaking Bad as the two episodes revolved around train heists and dear Jesus, did Breaking Bad ever blow this one away. Looking forward to another fun season! Cullen's in a hard place right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EscoLehGo Posted August 14, 2012 Author Share Posted August 14, 2012 Yea, I took it as a reference to his very recent slave days back when they used to have an overseer monitor slaves working. Cullen told Ferguson his exact slave situation when they were camped out together, he was practically raised by one of them because his mother died when he was young and his wife later convinced him to release his slaves and pay them proper wages because she felt it was immoral to own people. Yea that was kind of weird how both series were train themed on the same night, for some reason I just now noticed that, I guess because they're set centuries apart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cp1dell Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 Any idea what song that was when Cullen was in the train car with his boss? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EscoLehGo Posted August 20, 2012 Author Share Posted August 20, 2012 (edited) Any idea what song that was when Cullen was in the train car with his boss? Unfortunately no, youtube can probably be a big help with that as I've found a number of different songs from shows and commercials from short youtube vids. I'm going to steal GTA-King's format from his Breaking Bad thread for this thread and list what I thought was awesome about this episode in no particular order. (That's right GTA-King, I stole your blue formula) -I liked when Cullen was being old school water boarded and was asked to list his accomplices in the train robberies but instead he started naming off Confederate War Heroes and I also like that it took until the third or fourth name for the Union soldier to take notice -The showdown between Durant and Cullen in the train was awesome to me, it displayed that they were both pretty much gangsters but in very different ways -The reuniting between Cullen and Ferguson played out very well to me, again, it could have been corny but the scene was realistic for the time period -I noticed when Durant arrived to see his town demolished by the Native Americans he only asked about material damages and then when the only "civilized" Native American (Joseph) present asked about the human loss he was met with hostility, that was ironically funny to me. -The whole scene with Ferguson being pretty much the mayor of the temporary railroad town brings out that twilight zone vibe of time when white and blacks were temporarily equal before Jim Crow came along. -I also liked the scene where "The Swede" looks up at Cullen in his old office as if to say, "enjoy it while you last buddy" - Edited August 20, 2012 by EscoLehGo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cp1dell Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 Why was I not surprised that Swede and the minister were friends? What a couple of screwballs. I loved it when Cullen started naming Civil War heroes. That was great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EscoLehGo Posted August 20, 2012 Author Share Posted August 20, 2012 Why was I not surprised that Swede and the minister were friends? What a couple of screwballs. I loved it when Cullen started naming Civil War heroes. That was great. I don't know that they were friends but rather two men who had fallen from glory, I loved when "the swede" broke out that saber tooth tiger skull though, wtf was that about? I also liked how bewildered the preacher looked when he pulled it out. I loved "the swede's" comparison to that white apocalyptic horse in the bible to American whites migrating toward the west, it was sinister yet foreboding of what would really go down in a few short years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slingaa Posted August 25, 2012 Share Posted August 25, 2012 Watched season one last week, it was brilliant. I literally cheered when Elam shot Mr. Toole after the gunfight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EscoLehGo Posted August 25, 2012 Author Share Posted August 25, 2012 Have you started season 2 yet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EscoLehGo Posted August 27, 2012 Author Share Posted August 27, 2012 I'm giving this thread a bump, I thought last night's episode was pretty awesome: - I like how Ferguson and Bohannon are having their little "rift", it's cute. Like when Bohannon was stopping the Germans from killing the two Irish boys and told Ferguson to tell them who he was and Ferguson was like "You tell them who you are yourself" and Bohannon gave him that look like "Dude, really?" - I'm curious as to what The Swede is up to, he seems to be garnering support for some kind of insurrection against Bohannon and Durant - The Irish boys killing the German with the pig squealing in the background was pretty epic and them feeding his remains to the pigs shows you how easy it was to kill someone and get away with it back then - I was surprised by how willing Bohannon was to let the the Irish boys hang, I though he'd have a little more sympathy although maybe he was just putting on the whole time. - The drunken preacher was pretty entertaining, I laughed when he stumbled out of the back the church yelling "FORNICATOR!" during the middle of a funeral Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fnorg Posted September 3, 2012 Share Posted September 3, 2012 So, thanks to this thread I decided to give this show another chance and as turns out, it gets a lot less sucky after the pilot. Most of what I hated about the pilot was rectified by the second episode, and it's just gotten better and better since the Swede was introduced. Not too crazy about the role reversal the Swede and the Irish went through but it's still a fun little show. Almost caught up now. I tend to compare it to the two AMC greats and (my favorite show) Deadwood and it kind of pales in comparison, but disregarding that it's a very capable show. thanks, thread dwellers, I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EscoLehGo Posted September 3, 2012 Author Share Posted September 3, 2012 I liked last nights episode except for a couple of corny moments. Like when Ferguson knocked down the de facto freed man leader and said "You still my nigga.". Also that moment where the de facto freed man leader guy and Toole hooked up to beat the new workers up was a bit corny to me as well. Aside from those two moments it was good. I was surprised at what a tool Toole was to be willing to apparently take care of his wife's illegitimate seed that was planted there by his arch enemy, that's some real sucker sh*t in my book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cp1dell Posted September 10, 2012 Share Posted September 10, 2012 I could not understand what was being said at the end of tonight's episode, or what the letter read. Anyone catch that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EscoLehGo Posted September 10, 2012 Author Share Posted September 10, 2012 I could not understand what was being said at the end of tonight's episode, or what the letter read. Anyone catch that? Me either, I made something out about a doctor and horses, I'm clueless as to what that interaction was about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EscoLehGo Posted October 8, 2012 Author Share Posted October 8, 2012 I know this thread has been dead for like 3 years but did anyone catch the 2 hour finale tonight? Jesus Christ, what the f*ck, I didn't expect any of that. How many people are they going to end up killing off? I really liked the song choice towards the end though, it fit the situations and moods perfectly. I guess next season we should expect a new host of characters similar to what happened with Sons of Anarchy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cp1dell Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 f*cking Swede holy f*ck god damn that motherf*cking creep. Bohannen just can't get a f*cking break. Now he just has the stupid railroad. God damn. I'm willing to bet Swede is still a-f*cking-live. God dammit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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