Paramount+’s Lawmen: Bass Reeves episode two opens with a time jump forward of 10 years. The Civil War’s over, and Bass has settled into the life of a farmer alongside his beloved wife, Jennie.
(Spoilers ahead – you’ve been warned!)
Bass (David Oyelowo) and Jennie’s (Lauren E. Banks) farm is infested with locusts, and the crop is destroyed. The only option is to burn the field and hope for better luck next season. But in the meantime, the Reeves need to figure out how to make some money.
A possible answer to their financial worries arrives in the form of Deputy US Marshal Sherrill Lynn (Dennis Quaid). Sherrill explains that he and another deputy went to arrest a man named One Charlie on Choctaw land. One Charlie got the jump on them and killed the deputy, and Sherrill needs Bass’ help speaking to One Charlie’s wife since Bass knows Choctaw. An added bonus is that Bass is a better shot than the deceased deputy.
Judge Parker has approved Sherrill’s request to sign Bass up as a posse man. Bass turns him down, insisting he’s just a farmer now.
After Sherrill leaves, Jennie wonders why he turned the job down, given their precarious financial situation. Bass believes that she and their four – soon-to-be five – children are enough of a reason not to get involved. Jennie knows her husband’s good with a gun, never wasting a bullet when he shoots their food. Still, Bass prefers to stay on the farm, insisting he’s content.
Jennie questions whether that’s the truth.
Apparently, Bass decided to take the payday as the next scene shows him riding off with Deputy Sherrill Lynn. They’re miles from town when Sherrill welcomes Bass to an area known as the Dead Line, home to a wide variety of outlaws.
While Bass is away, Jennie visits town and admires a piano through a shop’s window. Her window shopping is disturbed by a man who wants to talk about Reconstruction, Black paradise, and the formation of an entire state to call their own.
Jennie doesn’t have any desire to continue this conversation and quickly puts an end to it.
Back on the road, Bass and Sherrill spot a covered wagon with its contents spewed around and horses missing. It belongs to the Commonwealth Bible Society, and inside is a gravely injured man who manages to say, “Run,” before outlaws on horseback appear over the horizon. Bass and Sherrill quickly dispatch them, and Sherrill helps himself to anything of value on the dead bodies – much to Bass’ disgust.
The only occupant of the wagon is dead, and Bass says a prayer as Sherrill expresses his opinion that prayers don’t help. Sherrill’s stunned that Bass can still believe in a God who allowed him to be put in chains.
They make camp for the night and discuss the war, with Sherrill of the opinion that all Indians are savages and no better than animals. He shows off the scar on his forehead where one attempted to scalp him while holding him down with a knee on his throat.
“Black, white, or red, we all just men,” says Bass. Sherrill disagrees.
The following morning, they head out to locate One Charlie, whose name comes from the fact that there isn’t another Charlie like him. Their arrival at the settlement is barely acknowledged, and before they knock on One Charlie’s door, Sherrill assigns them roles: he’ll handle the rough stuff while Bass will do the talking since he speaks the language.
When no one answers the door, Sherrill attempts to kick it open without any success. Instead, he shoots the lock and is greeted by One Charlie’s wife pointing a loaded shotgun at his face. Bass manages to calm the situation down before anyone is injured and forces Sherrill from the house so he can speak with the woman alone.
Bass apologizes for the door and compliments the woman on keeping a neat house. It’s obvious Charlie doesn’t live there, and the woman, Nita (Crystle Lightning), reveals Charlie is her cousin – not her husband. She’s been forced to pay his debts, and she’s tired of the trouble he’s caused in her life.
As he’s leaving, Bass places money on the table to repair the door. Nita asks that he return with news of Charlie if something happens.
Using Nita’s information, Bass and Sherrill locate Old Charlie and pin him down in a house. Gunfire is exchanged and Sherrill is hit in the arm, but the wound’s not serious enough to take him out of the action. He provides cover fire as Bass makes it around the back of the house. Bass attempts to talk Old Charlie out of the house, assuring Charlie he’ll bring him in alive if he surrenders.
Sherrill has other plans and tosses in a bottle bomb (now referred to as a Molotov cocktail), setting Charlie and the house on fire. Charlie emerges from the house engulfed in fire, and Bass does the humane thing and kills him as he screams in agony.
Back at the Reeves’ farm, Jennie’s face is lit up with a smile as men arrive with the piano she purchased. Her mood shifts a bit when she notices a young man (Arthur Mayberry, played by Lonnie Chavis) is making eyes at her oldest daughter, Sally.
Night falls and Jennie checks on the children, making sure they’re sound asleep in their beds. Her due date is near and she’s restless. A noise outside draws her attention, and she steps out with a rifle to discover wolves have killed one of her calves. A shot fired into the air scares them away, and she puts the calf out of its pain after comforting the poor animal.
Meanwhile, Bass cauterizes Sherrill’s wound as Sherrill attempts to justify killing Old Charlie by reminding Bass that Charlie shot first. Their disagreement ends with Bass punching Sherrill in the face and leaving the campsite in the dead of night, even though it means he won’t get paid.
Bass respects Charlie’s cousin’s wishes and stops by her house on the way home to tell her Charlie’s dead. Nita’s not surprised and says he flirted with death every day.
Morning arrives, and Jennie finds the opening the wolves made in the fence that allowed them to grab a calf. Arthur walks up as Jennie’s inspecting the broken wood, and Jennie nicely yet firmly warns him not to come around until Sally’s older.
That evening, Bass is greeted with hugs and kisses as he steps through the door. He soaks up the love before noticing there’s a piano in the living room. Jennie reveals she paid for it by promising the store her husband was about to get a decent payday. Bass is forced to break the news that his payday went up in smoke.
“I hit another white man,” says Bass. He apologizes and promises to figure out a way to pay for the piano.
Days pass and Bass is busy tilling the field while his children sit on the porch and Jennie tends to the chickens when Sherrill and two other deputies ride up. Neither Sherrill nor Bass will apologize for what was said or done, but Sherrill admits that Bass is meant to be a lawman.
Sherrill spoke with Judge Parker about Bass, and Parker wants to make Bass a Deputy US Marshal.
“You think you can handle the weight of the badge?” asks Sherrill Lynn.
“I know I can,” replies Bass Reeves.
In a quiet moment together later that night, Bass and Jennie have an opportunity to talk about their family. They know Sally’s a dreamer and she’ll eventually leave home. They also know she won’t be the same when she returns. However, Bass believes love will keep the family bonds strong – no matter what Sally does in the future.
Bass thinks God has shown them the way, and he’ll do his will by dispensing justice.
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New episodes premiere on Paramount+ on Sundays at 12am PT/3am ET.
- Season 1 Episode 1 Recap
- Season 1 Episode 3 Recap
- Season 1 Episode 4 Recap
- Lawmen: Bass Reeves Episode 5 Recap
- Lawmen: Bass Reeves Episode 6 Recap
- Lawmen: Bass Reeves Episode 7 Recap
- Lawmen: Bass Reeves Episode 8 Season Finale Recap
