Summary
Billy the Kid pulls off a daring escape in Episode 5 of Season 3, but his freedom is short-lived as we near a violent end.
One of the more intriguing parts of the legend of Billy the Kid — part of the reason, I suspect, why stories about his life have always been so popular — is that his death has a conspiratorial quality to it. History has it that Billy was killed in Pete Maxwell’s house in Fort Sumner by Pat Garrett, but many people believe otherwise. Myths sprang up about his passing, and years down the line, people claimed to be him, all grown up. I raise this since Episode 5 of Season 3, “Breaking the Shackles”, seems to have depicted Billy’s death with three whole episodes still to go.
The details all match. Pat gets the drop on Billy and shoots him in the left breast. They’re in Pete Maxwell’s house. The timeline checks out. But three whole episodes? What are we going to do with that time if Billy has already bought it? Most of the other major characters are dead, several aren’t very interesting, and everyone’s story only really matters in the context of how it relates to Billy’s. Are we going to be indulging the idea that Billy the Kid’s death wasn’t quite as it seemed?
We begin, of course, where we left off, with Pat having arrested Billy after killing Charlie Bowdre. Billy is quickly tried and sentenced to death, and ordered back to Lincoln for the sentence to be carried out, escorted by Pat. When Pat has to ride to Santa Fe to pick up his death warrant, he leaves Billy caged and under the watchful eye of his two remaining deputies, James Bell and Bob Olinger. Naturally, Olinger and Billy hate each other, but Bell is a bit more amenable, fetching Billy his food and sitting in his cell with him to play cards, which honestly seems like a pretty bad idea.
Naturally, it’s Bell that Billy manipulates to facilitate his escape. He uses a trip to the bathroom as an excuse to jump Bell and hold him at gunpoint, but when he refuses to follow instructions, Billy is forced to kill him, albeit reluctantly. Olinger doesn’t get the same courtesy — Billy shoots him quite happily. And just like that, he’s free again. The citizens of Lincoln are more than happy to watch him go, including Emily, who earlier had argued with her father over his prime justification for hating Billy so much being that he’s Irish and thus not fit to breathe the same air as Americans.
Billy heads straight to reunite with Dulcinea, while he gains even more infamy in the press. One of the more popular stories — a complete fabrication, as it happens — is that he’s specifically gunning for Thomas Catron, which terrifies him so much that he starts working on his marksmanship in the back garden. He also gives Pat a month to round up a new posse and hunt Billy down again, or it’ll cost him his badge.
This is where Billy the Kid Season 3, Episode 5 falls down a bit, I feel, since what follows is supposed to be a two-month period condensed into a small handful of scenes. It would perhaps have been better to stretch this out just a little to increase the tension Pat is under, and maybe even Catron’s worsening paranoia as Billy remains free. Doesn’t happen, though. Instead, Pat does a brief tour of all Billy’s known associates, including the heavily pregnant Dulcinea, whom he slaps for refusing to give him any information, and then just waits patiently at Pete Maxwell’s place for the inevitable confrontation.
That’s where “Breaking the Shackles” ends, with Pat getting the drop on Billy and shooting him in the darkness, presumably fatally. But there’s a bit more left unaddressed elsewhere. Jesse and the other Regulators are held in Mesilla, New Mexico, but since there’s no active warrant out for their arrest, they can’t be charged, and all end up being released. They ride back for Lincoln, all except Jesse, who decides to head for Silver City instead since he doesn’t believe they can help Billy and doesn’t want to watch him die. And this is the last we see of them, really. There’s got to be more to come from everyone, especially Jesse, whose fate was never confirmed, than this.
Right?
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