The Los Angeles Times said the show "gathers steam as it goes on," The Wall Street Journal called it "a bag of unpolished stones," and Variety pegged it as "a diluted, herky-jerky ride.

Meanwhile, Thomas "Doc" Durant gives an inspiring speech about building the Transcontinental Railroad to a group of prominent Americans, including Senator Jordan Crane (James D. Hopkin).

Johnson introduces Bohannon to the "cut crew" - the men who dig the trail for the rails to be laid in - which is predominantly black.

In a nearby river, the idealistic Reverend Cole (Tom Noonan) baptizes a young Native American, Joseph Black Moon (Eddie Spears).

Robert urges Lily to return to Chicago, as they are entering hostile Cheyenne territory, but he is ill, and she refuses to leave him.

The following day, they are attacked by a small group of Cheyenne, which slaughters all the surveyors (most of whom are unarmed) except Robert and Lily, who manage to escape.

She kills the brave, in self-defense, and takes Robert's maps, which show the route through the Rocky Mountains discovered by the team, and flees into the woods.

Elam appears and slits Johnson's throat, saving Bohannon but killing his chances learning the sergeant's identity.

Plenty of guns, knives, arrows, scalpings — mixed with the incendiary socio-psychological wounds left in the Civil War’s wake.

Never, in the episodes I watched, did I feel as if I were actually seeing how a railroad got built, and sometimes it took a bit of squinting not to see the characters as actors in a field, reading lines.

"[3] Brian Lowry of Variety thinks: "while the diverse mix of characters could work to the program's advantage over the long haul, jumping to and fro among them creates a diluted, herky-jerky ride in the early going.