Bass Reeves Is on Trial for Murder in Latest Lawmen — Read Episode 7 Recap
You know that saying about something living in one’s head, rent-free? It applies to Esau Pierce in Bass’ mind in Lawmen: Bass Reeves Episode 7 — and the costs of that residence prove deadly.
Which is why we see Bass himself on trial in the episode’s cold open… though we don’t find out exactly why for a while. Read on for the highlights of “Part VII.”
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Bass nuzzles his horse and bids her goodbye. “You was good to me,” he says. “Be good to them now.” The other Black deputy marshal rides up and asks, “You know why I’m here?” Bass nods. “You want to say your goodbyes?” Bass shakes his head. Next thing we know, Bass is a prisoner in the courthouse’s jail.
He has flashbacks to watching Esau Pierce and his fellow Confederate soldiers lay siege to Turkey Creek Trading Post: killing, scalping, etc. Then he’s in court, with Judge Parker reading the jury’s decision in his case. But what case?
Before we find out, the action flips to six weeks earlier. Jennie and Bass are hosting the judge and his wife for dinner, but Bass’ mind is elsewhere: He can’t stop thinking about his last interaction with Esau Pierce. The judge notices, and gives the deputy marshal some lighter assignments for his next trip. Still, Bass is not doing well; for instance, he mistakenly thinks the new cook whom Billy hired to travel with them calls him a “monster.”
On a hot afternoon, Bass and Billy are surprised to learn that Moody O’Neill, the alleged criminal they’re looking for, is a woman who’s calmly polishing a silver candelabra on her porch when they ride up. She goes with them without a fight, telling them that they probably want to take the ornate piece: “It’s what I killed him with.” As Billy handcuffs her, Bass has a flashback to putting shackles on Jackson Cole.
Bass speaks with the prisoner later that night, when she refuses dinner on the grounds that she’s probably going to die soon. He points out that the court might find in her favor. “I deserve hanging,” she says matter-of-factly, “but I don’t regret nothing.”
The next morning, Bass is alarmed when he realizes that she’s gone: Their new cook, Willy, turned her loose. Bass doesn’t let go of his gun as he calls the man a coward. “You set out to hang an old Black woman in a white man’s noose,” Willy replies, moving toward him, “but I’m cowardly.” He throws some shoes at Bass and goads him to “collect your blood bounty,” calling him an “up-jumped slave catcher” as Bass points his gun at the man’s head. And as Bass has flashes of Pierce, and Willy makes a move to grab something at his waist, he shoots Willy in the neck.
“What’d you do?” Billy wonders, horrified, as Willy bleeds out. Bass comes to his senses and applies pressure to the wound, but it’s too bad and too late: Willy dies. Billy tells him that they’ve got to lie and say it was an accident, or Parker won’t have any mercy on his deputy marshal.
At home, Bass drinks and stews in his guilt. Then we’re back where we began the episode, with Bass being brought to the courthouse. Judge Parker tells a story about how, as child, his dreams of helping his financially strapped parents were dashed when he realized the gold he thought he’d found in a creek was nothing more than pyrite, or fool’s gold. “So why don’t I just ask you, Bass. What are you? Are you gold or pyrite?” Bass responds with a story about how his upbringing, as well, about how it’s not as simple as “gold” or “pyrite” when it comes to knowing what people are. “But justice, ain’t nothing more costly. And I’m ready to pay mine in Hell on the border. You paid yours, Judge Parker? ‘Cause I reckon you about to, ‘cause I ain’t gonna be down there alone, am I? You gonna be sitting right next to me.” As Bass gets up to leave, it’s clear that Parker is deeply affected by what he said.
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Then we’re back at the trial, where Judge Parker finds Bass… not guilty. Jennie, sitting in the gallery, is visibly relieved. Bass looks confused. He’s released, and the Reeves embrace and go home. But later that night, while Jennie sleeps, Bass can’t stop thinking about Esau casually saying he “had no desire” to shoot Curtis. And when Jennie stirs, Bass starts talking. “When I was gone from you, there was a boy I loved like a son,” he says. “His name was Curtis. He was murdered. I’m going after the man who killed him.” As Bass leaves, Jennie cries… but doesn’t try to stop him.
ELSEWHERE IN THE EPISODE… | A knock at the Reeves’ cabin one night reveals Esme, who had a more-than-platonic relationship with Edwin but who decided to end it after their previous visit. “I always knew his dreams were pure, but his heart couldn’t follow,” she laments to Jennie, who hugs her and ushers her and her bags inside.
The next day, they talk about how much of a toll Bass’ job is taking on their family. He’s so devoted to being a deputy marshal, Jennie remarks, “seems sometimes there’s hardly enough room for anything or anyone else.” Their conversation is interrupted by a knock: It’s the little girl Sally told off at the carnival a few episodes back. She asks if Bass is home, then Sally; Jennie, unaware of what the girl’s brother and his friends did to Arthur and Sally, pleasantly answers with the truth. When the girl abruptly turns to leave, though, Mama Reeves’ hackles are raised.
She calls Sally downstairs, where the teen says she just did what her father would’ve done at the carnival. “She ain’t wrong,” Esme chimes in. (Ha!) That night at dinner, though, no one is laughing when someone lights the family’s scarecrow on fire just feet from the front door.
Now it’s your turn. Are you ready for the season finale next week? Hit the comments and let us know!
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