Summary
The pilot of Lawmen: Bass Reeves is filled with many stories that play out over a short time. It’s a solid start, but the pacing needs to slow down.
The pilot of Lawmen: Bass Reeves gives audiences the lay of the land in what might quickly become their new favorite Western — not that there’s a great deal of competition these days. But Episode 1 of the Paramount+ series is also a little too overcrowded for its own good. While it follows the titular Bass Reeves as he tries to get his life on track as a free man, he encounters many obstacles, including his master trying to prevent his promised freedom.
Bass trying to secure his freedom forms a major impetus for the character in this premiere, which also doesn’t skimp on gunfights and the usual genre trappings, but subsequent episodes will need to slow down and breathe a little to allow David Oyelowo to really inhabit this character — and for the show to do the name justice.
Lawmen: Bass Reeves Season 1 Episode 1 Recap
The season begins with Bass and George Reeves in the middle of a war. As we see a massive exchange of gunfire between the two armies, a new wave of soldiers led by Esau Pierce comes in to take out the soldiers that Bass and George’s team were fighting.
We move to Elkhorn Tavern, Arkansas, where the crew discusses everything they got from the war with his troops. The following day, George confronts Bass about his actions. He tells him not to get any ideas about being anything other than a helper after aiding him in the war.
Why does Bass flee his master?
After displaying his strong fight on the battlefield, George (Bass’s master) offers Bass his freedom. However, to gain this freedom, Bass must beat him in a game of cards first. Although Bass has a flush, George beats him with a Four of a Kind.
Bass realizes that George’s four-of-a-kind had a queen in it, and it was the same queen that was in his hand. He calls George out for cheating, and George tells him that he must honor his master. Bass is visibly frustrated as his freedom was on the line and he was cheated.
Bass has no choice but to head out on the run. Along the way, he encounters a man who questions why he is away from his master, and Bass kills him. On a subsequent night, a strange man stumbles across his horse, and that man takes all of his stuff.
We are in the Seminole nation in 1862, where a woman named Sara Jumper rescued Bass. Sara asks Bass if he is capable with his hands, and he says he is. She tells him he has a place with her. Bass and Sara’s son, Curtis, head into the city for some supplies, where they run into Esau Pierce.
After a verbal exchange with Esau Pierce, gunfire ensues, leading to Esau escaping from the carriage he was in. Curtis has a gun pointed at Esau, and Bass tells him to put the gun down. When Curtis looks at Bass, Esau shoots and kills Curtis.
How does Lawmen: Bass Reeves Episode 1 end?
Bass heads back to his old stomping ground to find his wife but only stumbles into George’s wife, who tells him her husband isn’t interested in him. He asks her where his wife, Jennie, has gone, and she gives him an idea. So Bass heads to Arkansas to look for her.
He finds her in the city and sees her with a little girl. At first, he thinks she is with someone new, but she tells him she only has one man, Bass Reeves, and introduces him to their daughter.
What did you think of Lawmen: Bass Reeves Season 1 Episode 1? Comment below.
RELATED:
