Lawmen: Bass Reeves – Season 1 Episode 2 Recap & Review

Part II

Lawmen: Bass Reeves Episode 2 takes place ten years after the first episode, and Bass is now a farmer alongside his wife, Jennie. The farm is infested with locusts, and they are forced to burn the field and start over the following year. 

They have to find another way to make a living, and there’s a chance of a solution when Deputy U.S Marshal Sherrill Lynn arrives in town. Turns out, his fellow deputy was killed when they went to arrest a man named One Charlie on Choctaw land, and Lynn requires Bass’s help as he speaks Choctaw. Jude Parker signs off on Bass becoming a posse man, but Bass declines the offer. 

Jennie wonders why Bass has turned the job down, and Bass tells her he shouldn’t get involved, bearing in mind they have a fifth child on the way. He is content to stay on the farm despite being quite handy with a gun. 

However, needs must, and Bass decides to take the job, riding off with Lynn. Bass and Lynn find a covered wagon wrecked. It belongs to the Commonwealth Bible Society. A badly injured man in the wagon tells them both to run. Outlaws on horseback arrive, but Bass and Lynn dispose of them. Bass says a prayer for the dead man, and Lynn scoffs at this, telling him prayers won’t achieve anything. 

At night, Lynn tells Bass that he believes all Indians are no better than animals, and Bass challenges him, and tells him they are all just men. 

Bass and Lynn track down One Charlie’s location, and Lynn says he’ll do the “rough stuff” while Bass does the talking. Good cop, bad cop, right? They knock on the door, but there’s no answer. One Charlie’s wife answers the door and points a gun in their faces. Bass calms the situation down and finds out from the woman, who is called Nita, that Charlie isn’t her husband but is actually her cousin, and she’s been forced to pay off his debts. She asks Bass to return if there’s any news on One Charlie. 

Bass and Lynn do find One Charlie and pin him down in a house. A firefight ensues, and Bass tries to get One Charlie out of the house by telling him he’ll bring him in alive if he surrenders. Lynn isn’t down with this idea, and sets the house on fire instead. Charlie is on fire, and Bass shoots him dead to spare him from further suffering. 

Back at home, Jennie gets a delivery of a new piano and later discovers that wolves have attacked one of her calves, which results in her having to put it out of it’s misery after scaring away the wolves.

Lynn tries to justify killing Charlie, while Bass patches up his wounds. They get into a disagreement, and Bass punches him and leaves in the middle of the night. Bass stops to visit Nita and informs her of her cousin’s death.  Bass returns home, and Jennie tells him she got a piano based on the pay she was expecting from Bass’s job with Lynn. However, Bass will not be paid due to hitting Lynn, but he tells her he’ll find another way to pay for it.

A few days later, Bass is working in the field when Lynn shows up with two deputies. Things are tense between Bass and Lynn, but neither man apologises. Lynn tells him he spoke with the judge, and he wants to make Bass a deputy U.S. Marshal. Bass is asked if he can handle the weight of the badge, and he says he can.

Later that night, Bass and Jennie discuss their family, and he says he thinks love will essentially keep the family strong regardless of what happens. He says God has shown him that the way forward is by dispensing justice. Deputy U.S. Marshal Bass Reeves is born!

The Episode Review

Episode 2 has a time jump of 10 years from the end of the last episode, and this one feels like the official start of the show, with Bass Reeves becoming a lawman like the title suggests.

The backstory of the first episode was very much needed to understand the motivations of David Oyelowo’s Bass Reeves. This episode is much shorter, with a run time of just over 40 minutes, but it covers quite a lot of ground with the introduction of Dennis Quaid’s Lynn adding some quality to the cast. His character creates a potentially problematic relationship with Reeves, which is bound to be the cause of a lot of entertainment moving forward. Great episode.