Lawmen: Bass Reeves (2023): Season 1, Episode 5 - Part V - full transcript

When you see ol' Mr. Sundown,

you never see the
sun come up again.

He done Gurney
in the worst way.

You gonna tell me you
locked him up tight

like I told you?

Aren't we something now?

Tell Jennie about our
plans for Indian Territory.

The townships.

Paradise?

A poetic turn of phrase.

Your mama would tan your
hide if she caught you.



She'd likely whup us both.

Silas Cobb.

Fancy hisself a horse trader.

Think I'm gonna marry you.

Don't get yourself killed.

Maybe we'll talk again.

Easy, Cobb.

But how about I trade you that
dark-hearted bastard Jim Webb?

- No.
- Look out!

Should've aimed high, Billy.

Finally got blood on your hand.

Want me to read
the message to you?

It's clear enough.

Five men, armed,



including Webb.

Don't think you'll be
talking him out today, Bass.

Maybe not.

Or maybe Webb's got more
sense than hate for me.

Come on out, Webb!

Me or somebody else,
law won't ever stop.

My wrath is the mightiest
of storms, Bass Reeves.

The Lord is my shelter.

Tell your men to
lay them irons down.

Oh.

Keep your hand on it.

Come on out, Webb!

You can drown in your own blood

or have that day in court.

Choice is yours.

I'll fetch a doctor.

From where?

He keeps looking at me.

It's not gonna get any easier.

End the man's pain.

Take his boots.

Go on.

Take your shot.

Dundy Carnival.

Saturday and Sunday.

Dundy Carnival.
Saturday and Sunday.

Sugar...

you catch all those bad men
by your pretty little self?

You got finer clothes than me.

Maybe I ought to get deputized.

♪ He ride by night ♪

♪ Drawn fast to the firelight ♪

♪ Ain't no peace to be found ♪

♪ When the sun go down ♪

Why can't we hire a
hand to do all this?

So you don't get spoiled.

Mama, I'm serious.

I reckon Daddy makes enough now.

I don't mind the time
with you, it's just...

How was your time with Delcia?

- Fine.
- Don't lie to me.

You've been meeting
that Arthur boy.

Why don't you like him?

Doesn't matter. What matters
is you do what I tell you.

That's what you always say
when you don't want to answer.

You better fix that lip

if you want your daddy to
take you to the carnival.

Better behave when he's here,
better behave when he's gone.

When will I be old
enough to just be, Mama?

♪ Slow, dramatic music ♪

For the murder of William Hicks,
we find the defendant guilty.

After a patient

and deliberate
investigation of your case

by the petit jury
which tried you,

they have been constrained
by their conscience

and their oaths as honest men

and good citizens

to pronounce you guilty of
the murder of William Hicks

in Indian Territory.

You forgot that the eye
of God was fixed upon you.

When you return to the
solitude of your prison,

let me entreat you

to seriously reflect
on your offenses.

Bring to mind all the
aggravated horrors,

the mortal struggles

and the dying prayers
of your murdered victim.

And may God

have mercy on you.

Bass, I asked nice for
you to save some outlaws

for the rest of us.

Good to see you, Ike.

How's that former outlaw turned
peacock working out for you?

I wish every posse man
was as good as you.

I had my moments.

Seven hundred and
fifty-two dollars

and seventy-five
cents, Mr. Reeves.

It'll be square,
Florence, like always.

Bass!

Bass!

I got a prisoner here

named Jackson Cole.

Arrested in Atoka
for horse thieving,

but before the thieving,

seems he put a mess of
lead into a fine gentleman

running for State
Senate down in Texas.

The family is demanding
he swing down there,

and they got the sway to
move mountains up here.

Should've stuck to thieving.

Likely so.

But this order
comes from on-high,

you are to deliver the prisoner
Jackson Cole to the Red River,

and turn him over
to the Rangers.

I ain't been home for 41 days.

This comes from
Judge Parker himself.

You take him.

Ain't you heard?

I have been relegated
to pushing papers.

You might as well
put me in skirts

and call me Florence.

You insult her with
the suggestion.

I'd give anything
to marshal again.

You want to take that
up with Judge Parker?

Be my guest.

You ride out tomorrow.

Your letter is "N."

Hey there, stranger.

You're home.

Who are these
heathens at my table?

Hey, Bennie.

Oh!

I picked out the dress I'm
gonna wear to the carnival.

You want to see it?

Come on, Daddy.

Oh-oh-oh. All
right.

I'm coming.

They're all asleep.

'Cept us.

'Cept us.

We got some catching up to do.

Yes, ma'am.

That we do.

How's it feel not to be
pregnant for a change?

Who says I'm not?

Just what I need...

another child paying me no mind.

Know what I missed the most?

What?

This.

Morning, Mrs. Reeves.

Why is he here?

I'll be gone a week.

What about the carnival?

Sweetheart, I'll take
you twice next year,

twice the year after.

Upstairs.

You knew all last night
and didn't breathe a word.

What do you want from me?

You wonder why your children
don't recognize you anymore?

I have a duty, swore an oath...

Like the one you swore
to me when we married?

You may live out there
beyond that Dead Line,

but we live right here.

You know I love
you and them kids

- like nothing else.
- Telling us you love us

ain't the same as showing us.

Billy's waiting.

How many pianos could you buy
if I was still trying to farm?

Buy me a whole orchestra and
a church choir too, Bass.

All that pretty music

couldn't mend the
hearts you're breaking.

See you in a week.

I can ride in circles
for a bit if it'd help.

Only thing is to get it done.

Sooner we get going,

the sooner I get back.

Miss Ann.

You wish you could quit
laying eggs all day

and do something fun, huh?

Me, too.

Still want to go
to the carnival?

Why don't you ask
Arthur to take you?

I thought you didn't like him.

Let's give someone else a
chance to be a gentleman.

So, why'd you do it?

So I could sleep.

What kind of heart do you carry
to take a man's life and sleep?

A peaceful one.

That supposed to be funny?

Not particularly.

So, you're just crazy?

Billy...

go scout the pass up yonder.

That boy gonna talk all
the way to the river?

Safe bet.

♪ Oh, Captain, Captain ♪

♪ Don't you know my name? ♪

♪ Oh, Captain, Captain ♪

♪ Don't you know my name ♪

♪ Well, I used to
be the porter rode ♪

♪ Well-a ♪

♪ On the southbound train ♪

♪ On the southbound train ♪

♪ Well, I used to
be the porter rode ♪

♪ Well-a ♪

♪ On the southbound train ♪

What you smiling about?

All these things in the
world we never known about.

Ever think about them?

How you gonna think about
things you don't know about?

That's
the whole point.

If we not wondering
about what we missing,

we'll miss it all.

Sally Reeves, you about the
strangest girl I ever met.

And that's why you sweet on me.

Come on over. Welcome.

- Let's go see the elephant.
- Gather round.

Don't be shy.

Can you feel the
growing darkness?

The light of Reconstruction
quickly sets,

and the forces of oppression
gather to put us back in chains.

I ain't never been
arrested by a Negro before.

Didn't arrest you.

Just seeing you
from here to there.

Fair enough.

Still...

they ain't giving us
no badges in Texas.

What do you think, Bass?

Can we make it to Limestone
Gap before the storm hits?

Not likely.

Looks like someone will
be strung up soggy.

Soggy or not, I ain't
ashamed of what I done.

Spoken like a
dead man.

And you speaking like
a fool, Billy Crow.

You know, you've been
treating me like a rented mule

since before we
returned to Fort Smith.

Now, if there's something
you want to say to me,

- then say it.
- When you started riding for me,

you asked if you had the
grit to be a deputy marshal.

- Yeah?
- You don't.

Figured you would by now.

Now, if I missed the mark
in learning you more,

I'm sorry.

But every day is a lesson.

And each one of them is hard.

Come on.

Are you giving up on me?

I never give up, Billy.

Take a shot right here.

I'm gonna see an elephant
in the wild someday.

You dream big. Big
as any elephant.

Excuse me, you need to get
to the back of the line.

Sally. Just a little girl.

A little girl with no manners.

The back of the line is for you.

You got some nerve, toad.

Now get to the back or I might

just pull that hateful
tongue right out your mouth.

Show you what happens when
little girls speak out of turn.

Clementine, there you are.

Mighty strange, this feeling.

Riding to my death.

But if anyone delivers me,

it might as well be you.

Why?

Suppose when a man
see the reaper coming,

he look for the things in life

that give him a
little bit of comfort.

We both Negroes,

we know the world
in the same ways.

You take a life with no regret,

we ain't close to the same.

Oh, you must have killed folks.

Ain't none of them
had it coming?

Ain't for me to decide.

Yeah. That's our problem.

We always having somebody
else decide for us.

Only, I don't trust none of
them deciders to do us right.

- You sound like Sugar.
- Who?

My grandpappy.

Felt the same way, and never
got the taste of freedom.

You know, I was
there, in Galveston,

when Granger read the
emancipation papers.

I reckoned you served.

Yeah, back then...

thought I was a part of
history right when it happened.

But history, see, that's
when somebody wins.

Like when David slayed Goliath.

Yeah, I figured out pretty
quick that day in Galveston,

wasn't no history being made.

Just a white man reading words.

They always just reading words.

Kids, come say hello
to your Aunt Esme.

Aunt Esme!

I apologize for
calling without notice.

Then again, I was hoping
to be invited over by now.

I was at that carnival today.

Saw Sally.

- With a boy.
- Arthur.

Think it's okay to let
them wander on their own?

You think it's okay to ask me
how I'm raising my daughter?

That's rich.

You so sheltered
here in Van Buren,

you forgot about the
world we live in?

Sally can take care of herself.

She got spirit, no doubt,

but Black folks have
been disappearing

up and down the Territory.

You've been listening to
too many campfire tales.

That's what you think.

You really haven't changed.

Not nearly as much as you.

You got anything
stronger than water?

This cover ain't gonna hold!

To the light!

Our friend Samson
Flowers from Chattanooga

up and vanished in Red Fork.

He started working a
deal that would allow us

to lease land from
former Cherokee slaves.

Samson took the train

to Indian Territory
to broker the terms.

Months go by, and we
don't hear a word.

Then, one day,

a letter arrived
from Buck Thorne,

the Freedman he was
supposed to meet.

When Thorne arrived at Red
Fork, Samson's bag and clothes

were still in the room
he'd rented for the night,

but he was nowhere to be found.

The other hotel guests,
they told Thorne

about hearing thundering
hooves in the night.

One man claimed he saw a rider
with the eyes of the beast.

We never saw or heard
from Samson ever again.

Even traveled to
Red Fork ourselves

to retrieve his effects.

Y'all smelled
sulfur in his room?

Wasn't a campfire tale, Jennie.

It wasn't some
story I just heard.

Samson was flesh and blood.

A man I knew, like I know you.

Now, sure, it wasn't a haint or
a duppy that snatched him up,

but...

seem to me...

Black folk are facing
things scarier than that.

Let's get to that carnival.

Wait, wait.

Go on.

Deputy Marshal Bass Reeves.

Much obliged if we
could take shelter.

No English.

Choctaw?

Español.

Oh.

- Tell them we're lawmen.
- Yeah.

- She's a wise woman.
- Pásale.

Gracias.

Oh, she's, uh, she's
talking about death. It's...

It's close now.

She's prognosticated
your future.

You remember when Sug
got caught pissing

in Mrs. Reeves' flower garden?

I thought for certain
she'd chop his johnson off.

Oh, Lord, I remember her face.

"Get your vile wretchedness
out of my sight this instant."

Now, when are you
gonna introduce Edwin

to that husband of yours?

Bass would have to stay home
longer than a few hours.

Word already floating
around Fort Smith

about how your husband
dressed as a tramp to snatch

the Dolliver boys right out
from under their own mother.

Sound like you hear more about
Bass's dealings than I do.

All I hear is Edwin
chattering about him.

Digame.

Hey, Bass.

She says she wants to
clean your thoughts.

Tell her thank you,

but no.

After Granger rolled
through Galveston,

my regiment started going to
plantations throughout Texas,

carrying the word
that we was free.

That's when we came across

the Rockrose Plantation.

James Neblett, the owner.

Sheriff was there,
the posse men.

Neblett said his slaves
had taken up arms.

They didn't even
check for weapons,

they just took his word.

We thought he was
burning his cane field.

But he was burning his slaves.

And they wouldn't even let us
close enough to bury the bodies.

Ten years later,
I'm out the service,

I move back to Texas,

and Neblett is running
for state legislature.

Promising to pass laws
to set things back

to the way they
was before the war.

And I already seen what that
evil man done to one plantation.

Not again.

You have fun?

Best night of my life.

Hello again.

What's this?

Shouldn't talk to
my sister like that.

- Says who?
- Me.

Sally.

You're awfully tough
when it's four of y'all

- and two of us.
- Back your monkey face up.

We're in it now. In it bad.

We're fine.

We have to tell somebody.

It's over.

Sally?

That's your mama?

Sure you had a good time?

Seem mighty quiet.

I'm just tired.

Saw an elephant and
a fire breather.

Yes, ma'am. It-it was something.

You took Sally out in
public wearing those pants?

That just happened when he
fell in the House of Terrors.

Mm-hmm.

Billy, saddle up.

We're riding out.

♪ Wake up in the morning ♪

♪ Well-a ♪

- ♪ With a cup and a pan ♪
- ♪ With a cup and a pan ♪

♪ Well, I wake up
in the morning ♪

♪ Well-a ♪

- ♪ With a cup and pan ♪
- ♪ With a cup and pan ♪

♪ Well, you say anything
about it, well-a ♪

- ♪ Got trouble out the man ♪
- ♪ Got trouble out the man ♪

♪ Well, you say anything
about it, well-a ♪

Every time you come back, you
bring less and less of you.

Oh, you must have heard
the stories about Black men

disappearing? Let there
be no doubt that we still

need to fight.

You have a family?

What would you do
now to protect it?

This thing weighs just
as much as the chain.

That bounty on
you? Pays the same,

dead or alive.