Lawmen: Bass Reeves Season 1 Ending Explained – Does Bass kill Esau?

By Ricky Valero
Published: December 17, 2023 (Last updated: 4 weeks ago)
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Lawmen: Bass Reeves Season 1 Ending Explained
Lawmen: Bass Reeves | Image via Paramount+
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Summary

David Oyelowo and Barry Pepper deliver a battle for the ages, leaving Lawmen: Bass Reeves to end on a high note.

Bass Reeves is set to come face to face with Esau Pierce during the ending of Lawmen: Bass Reeves Season 1. Bass’s hunt for Esau comes to a head in Episode 8, and things don’t go exactly as expected. While he tries to settle his differences with Esau, Jennie fends off an old foe, trying to make an offer for her and the family. 

Despite a run of slightly unsatisfying episodes, the finale delivers a battle for the ages and manages to end the Paramount+ series on a high note.

In Fort Worth, Texas, Bass is hunting Esau Pierce. Bass, U.S. Marshal Lynn, and Billy Crow see a man who might be able to provide some information, so they wait until he is behind a building, hit him over the head, and put him in a carriage. Although reluctant, the man finally gives Bass the information after some interrogation.

Bass arrives at Pierce’s land where a bunch of guards greet him. The men tell Bass there is no entry with his guns and take them away from him. Bass confronts Esau, stating that he owes him fifty dollars for not returning his bounty in one piece. Shocked that he came this way for pocket change, Esau invites him into the house to collect the money.

What does Rachel Reeves offer Jennie and her kids?

Early in the season, we met Rachel and her husband George, as they were who Bass and Jennie were enslaved by. Rachel arrived at the Reeves household to share details about the laws being changed with people like them. As a result, she is offering Jennie and her kids to return to her house and for them to work for her. Jennie doesn’t take kindly to her words and smacks her.

Who does Bass see still alive at Esau’s ranch?

Esau breaks down what he is building on the ranch with his farming and how he is set to become the biggest beef supplier from the Atlantic to the Pacific. He is delivering only the boots of his bounties and keeping the men alive to work for him on the ranch. When Bass looks up, he sees that Jackson Cole is hanging by chains and is still alive.

The pair head back to see Jackson, where Esau tells him to take Jackson’s chains off, which Bass does. But Esau tells Bass to put the chains on himself. Before things take a turn, Billy Crow shoots and kills one of the guards leading to a shootout.

Does Bass kill Esau?

Amid the battle, U.S. Marshal Lynn takes his fair share of guys out but takes one step wrong, landing in a trap on his leg. Lynn tells Billy to leave him be and go save Bass.

After exchanging shots at one another, Esau escaped on a horse. However, Bass wasn’t too far behind on one of his own, and before Esau could make it too far, Bass shot him in the back, causing him to fall off the horse. Bass doesn’t let Esau say much before shooting and killing him.

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How does Lawmen: Bass Reeves Season 1 end?

Bass frees the men, including Jackson Cole, and provides them with the tools and weapons to find some freedom elsewhere. Lynn gave Billy Crow his badge before passing, and Bass told him to keep it as he had earned it. He also gives him a ring and tells him to stop in Checotah and marry the pretty girl.

Bass returns home to Jennie, where he says he is home forever.

What did you think of Lawmen: Bass Reeves Season 1 Episode 8 and the ending? Comment below.


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