One of the major ideas addressed this season is that anyone who gets close to Cullen will die. To be fair, his track record in love and friendship is covered in blood, but in this episode Cullen comes to the realization that he was the one who let those close to him go.
“Any Sum Within Reason” gives us several wonderful moments between Cullen and Mei alone, together. Cullen figures out the main problem with the relationships in his life, but both of them also admit to the other that they love each other.
But these moments between Cullen and Mei also seem to explain his actions in this episode and other recent installments too. Mei tells Cullen that he is good, something he’s clearly been struggling with for years. He’s still worried about letting Mei know that he once owned slaves, even though he’s apologized and felt terrible about this for years. Even when he’s kind to a person, he feels the need to come clean to that person in every way, almost like he’s giving them any information they might be able to use to dislike him and make him feel like the bad guy.
These scenes also slightly explain Cullen’s more straightforward way of dealing with problems. In the past, his actions have been informed by hatred, anger or a sense of protection. As he’s protected Mei from Chang this episode, it’s out of love and caring for someone that he wants close to him.
After realizing that he’s the one who lets the people in his life leave him, Mei leaves Cullen behind, sailing on a boat back to China. The tragedy of this moment is that Cullen had just dealt with the Sze Yup (who Chang worked for) and smoothed things out as much as he could, in regards to Mei and Chang’s murder. His problems involving his latest love were over, but then Mei protected Cullen and herself the only way she thought she could.
Now that Cullen has found someone he admits he loves and knows that Mei leaving was not his fault, it will be interesting to see how this relationship continues in the final two episodes. Will Cullen go after Mei once the railroad is finished, or will he go before that and actually put their love ahead of the railroad? Or, will he do what he’s done in the past and just let her go? I’d imagine since he’s apparently learned from his mistakes, it’s only a matter of time before Cullen is on his own boat to China.
