Lawmen: Bass Reeves Part IV Recap

Here are some observations prompted by watching Part IV of Lawmen: Bass Reeves, which premiered Sunday on Paramount+. Please keep in mind: There will be scads of spoilers here, so proceed at your own risk.

• • Remember when we wondered last week about the long-term prospects for Billy Crow (Forrest Goodluck)? Well, evidently enough time has passed since Act III for the not-so-bad guy to have paid his debt to society, and landed honest work as posse man for lawman Bass Reeves (David Oyelowo). Act IV didn’t indicate just how long he’s had the gig, but it’s obvious that he’s still getting used to the job — and not yet so hardened that he isn’t shaken when he actually has to kill a fleeing malefactor.

• • On the other hand,  Bass himself, while remaining for the most part a decent and honorable man, has reached a point that he might occasionally lose control. To be fair, however, when he laid the smackdown on a crazy miscreant in Part IV, the creep had it coming. It was bad enough when, right before he and other prisoners Bass and Billy were taking back to Arkansas settled down for the night, the guy tried to ensure everyone would have nightmares by ranting about Mr. Sundown, a spectral slave-catcher who, all these years after Emancipation, is still “building a plantation out of skin and bone—a dark, dark church full of hell’s music.” Bass dismissed such talk as superstitious raving, but had a rude awakening when the crazy dude tried to strangle him — after ripping the face off another prisoner. “You ain’t no law here," the wacko claimed. “This here’s hell.” Bass almost beat him to death until Billy interceded. But Bass still had the last word: "Until God say otherwise, I’m the only law there it is.” So there.

• • Earlier in the episode, we got a glimpse of how Bass usually was a mighty cool customer while  detecting and capturing. (The real-life Reeves is reputed to have made over 3,000 arrests during his decades-long career in law enforcement, but killed only a relative handful in self-defense.)  He sweet-talked his way into the secluded home of Widow Tolliver (the great Dale Dickey), and even joked with her as her two ne’er-do-well sons — who were, of course, wanted men on Bass’ chore list — got into a fistfight. Come morning, however, the quarrelsome siblings awakened to find themselves in chains, and ready to be led off at gunpoint by the deputy marshal.

• • Things did not go quite so smoothly when, later in Part IV, Bass’ Native buddy Minco Dodge — hey, look, it’s Mo Brings Plenty! — directed the deputy marshal to horse thief Silas Cobb (Anthony Traina), who was enjoying some R&R at a one-stop saloon/gambling den/whorehouse. Bass got the drop on Silas while the latter was, ahem, in the saddle, but was unable to keep him from jumping out a window and, well, getting into a different kind of saddle. But before he could ride off, Billy fired at the fugitive, fatally wounding him. With his dying breath, Silas asked Billy to help him write a letter to his wife, wishing her love and apologizing for his crimes. But when Reeves arrived at the newly widowed woman’s house to deliver the letter, he discovered she was blind (and, truth to tell, not entirely surprised by the bad news). The real-life Reeves could neither read nor write, and the series adhered to that by having Reeves more or less improvise a final message to the woman. It was a powerful moment, one of the most affecting in the series so far. And we’re doubtless meant to think Bass thought that, if he ever makes a wrong move, someone some day might have to deliver a similar farewell note to his own wife, Jennie (Lauren E. Banks).

• • Back home, Jennie was intrigued — but not completely convinced — by the sales pitch of  Edwin Jones (Grantham Coleman), a touring proselytizer encouraging the establishment of a community where Black folks can own their own property and live in peace. While she was distracted by that, young Arthur Mayberry (Lonnie Chavis) continued his furtive courtship of her daughter Sally (Demi Singleton) by reciting a poem he had written for the girl: “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways?” But Sally interrupted him by noting that particular poem was the work of Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Still, Arthur made no apologies: “I would have written it if she hadn’t gone and done it first.”

• • There are only four more episodes coming up for this limited-run series. How much more of Bass Reeves’ real-life story will we get to see dramatized?  And  will we be seeing Sherrill Lynn (Dennis Quaid), Judge Parker (Donald Sutherland), and/or Minco Dodge again? Tune in next week for further developments.

Photos: Lauren Smith/Paramount+