Hell on Wheels (TV Series) Thirteen Steps (2014) User Reviews

Heart wrenching truth for Ruth

[writerwren_2 · 10/10 · 30 August 2015]

This episode will bring out the tears in the most hardened soul, I'm guessing.

The back story of Ruth, her free admission of guilt, the courts unwavering answer and the result tears your (or mine, at least!) heart out.

I found Cullens meeting with her in the jail house breathtaking. Together they are contemplating life and death and friendship and all the "what ifs" that many of us probably contemplate every day. I can see the sexual tension put on hold, the words that never were said, the endless turmoil over what is right and what is wrong and justice can be a fragile thing

Incredibly well filmed and finessed. Best show of the year.

Ruth's decision makes no sense

[charlotteb1296 · 5/10 · 20 August 2019]

Ruth decides to die. Maybe I'm alone but the way I see it, going by the laws of the old west and the laws of this series up until now, she didn't do much wrong. Bohannon, the beloved protagonist, has killed many people with less justification and faced nothing like this. And yet we the viewers still want him to come out on top. Ruth, up until now, has been one of the good guys. Suddenly she's set to hang and all she can do is blame Bohannon. And for what? What is she accomplishing? She's not dying for any righteous cause. And she basically tells Cullen it's his fault because he asked her to stay in Cheyenne. After she killed a man that the show set up as nothing but evil, a man who killed her adopted son and burned her church, it's hard for me to imagine how the writers thought the audience would find her decision to be the right one. She could've at least taken the pardon but still pled guilty but no, she has to let herself be executed after telling Bohannon to his face that she blames him. It makes no sense to me. The only thing I can think of is the actress didn't want to be in the show any longer and the writers had to find a way to get rid of her. But her death stands for nothing. If she had killed a half decent man perhaps the story would be different, but all she did was kill a character set up as evil who we all fully expected Bohannon to kill at some point.

I spent the whole episode wondering what the hell she thinks she's accomplishing with this, and so far I have no answers. Maybe someone with a Bible can tell me the point to her execution, because I don't see it.

A tedious episode in an ever slowing series

[xhidden99 · 3/10 · 26 August 2018]

Nothing happens in this ep and the entire season is grinding to a halt. If it gets any slower they'll have to end the series without the railroad ever going another 30 yards let alone get completed.