Lawmen: Bass Reeves (2023) s01e03 Episode Script

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MTV ♪
[BASS] You suppose
I did something to make
the Almighty angry?
He's just teaching you that
it's hard and takes patience.
Patience ain't gonna
put money in our pocket.
How many mouths you got to feed
with no harvest?
What's your offer?
Sign you up as a posse man.
Welcome to the Dead Line.
Out here, there ain't no laws,
only outlaws.
[GRUNTS]
Watch the legs now.
She a precious thing.
What's your name?
Arthur Mayberry, ma'am.
Come on out with your hands up.
[SCREAMS]
What the hell did you do?
- [SCREAMING]
- [GUNSHOT]
- I hit another white man.
- Not that deputy?
I took some of your earnestness
to Judge Parker.
And he wants to make you
a goddamn Deputy U.S. Marshal.
slow, wistful music ♪
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Mm.
Don't you go meeting everybody
without me now.
Make us proud, you hear?
♪♪♪
[CHAINS JINGLING]
[DISTANT, INDISTINCT CHATTER]
You help me?
I was just hungry.
Mr. Yeager came after me.
[CRYING] I tried to push him
away, but then he
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There was so much blood.
[DOOR OPENS]
[PARKER] Bass.
Sit, please.
I suppose today is momentous.
You'll have to forgive me
if I move faster
than the dignity
of the occasion requires,
but I have a full docket,
and I try to save
what dignity I still possess
for the courtroom.
[LAUGHS SOFTLY]
I was encouraged to hire you
for the color of your skin.
Because the Indians would listen
to someone like you.
May be true,
but that's not why I called you in.
I need a man with a good gun
and a straight spine.
You up for the task?
I wouldn't be sitting here
in my Sunday best if I wasn't.
It's hard work,
it exacts a toll.
Few men survive long enough
to be good at it.
And those that do
end up like Sherrill Lynn.
I ain't ever gonna be Sherrill Lynn.
Well, let's make it official. May I?
[CHUCKLES] Oh.
Your Good Book's
got some stories of its own.
- That it does.
- Well, you'll have to
enlighten me one of these days.
Repeat after me.
I, Bass Reeves,
do solemnly swear
I, Bass Reeves, do solemnly swear
that I will faithfully execute
that I will faithfully execute
all lawful precepts
directed to the Marshal
of the United States
all lawful precepts
directed to the Marshal
of the United States
for the Western District
of Arkansas
for the Western District
of Arkansas
without malice or partiality
and without malice or partiality
perform the duties
of Deputy Marshal
perform the duties of
Deputy Marshal
and take only my lawful fees
take only my lawful fees
so help me God.
so help me God.
slow, plaintive music ♪
♪♪♪
You've got miles to ride.
Godspeed the horses.
Thank you.
Judge Parker, if I may.
The boy waiting outside.
He need help.
That boy needs a lawyer.
Yes, sir.
[PARKER] Winston,
bring the boy in.
[CHAINS JINGLING]
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[GRUNTING]
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♪♪♪
[GROANS SOFTLY]
[WITH GERMAN ACCENT] You needing help?
Don't you know it.
If I had another set of hands
Sir, we ought to
Andreas Wagner. I'm helping you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Fogner.
- Billy Crow, in your debt.
- You're welcome.
[WITH IRISH ACCENT]
Good afternoon, gentlemen.
[HUFF WHISTLES]
Hands up.
Mouths shut.
Nein. Bitte.
Nein, nein, nein.
- [MARTA] No! No!
- [GRUNTS]
- [MARTA GASPS]
- [ANDREAS GRUNTS]
This one just came in.
That ought to be a good one
for your first outing.
Any tips for a first-timer?
[CHUCKLES] Oh, hon.
All you need to know
is that I run this circus.
Listen to Florence,
and you'll do just fine.
Ma'am.
[DISTANT, OVERLAPPING CHATTER]
You mind?
I might.
Depends who's asking.
Garrett Montgomery.
Never heard of him.
Oh, I'm all right.
You just ask Florence in there.
"Billy Crow.
Wanted in connection
with a stagecoach robbery."
I can help you with that, Deputy Reeves.
You got a posse man yet?
Suppose you're a posse man?
Rode with Heck Thomas,
Bud Ledbetter.
Put in my fair share of miles
and know this country
like the back of my hand.
Three dollars there, three dollars back.
Be the best six dollars
you'd ever spend.
Gonna hold you to that.
Yes, sir.
wistful music ♪
♪♪♪
I ain't one to talk a donkey's
hind leg off or anything,
but a little conversation goes
a long way, especially out here.
Got any children, Garrett?
Oh, yes, sir. Boy and a girl,
another on the way.
You?
Got four of my own
and number five due any day.
Planning on doing this for a spell.
All goes well, you got a job with me.
You'll be saving my hide with
this ongoing employment, Deputy.
Like I say,
all goes well.
slow, gentle music ♪
♪♪♪
Fold those nice and even.
All right.
Real soon, I'm gonna need you
to shoulder
a lot more responsibility.
Once the little ones are fed
in the afternoon and napping,
you'll need to start in on supper.
And after they eat,
you'll need to tidy up.
And I don't want no dirty pots
- and pans in my kitchen.
- All right.
Time for you to start teaching
Harriet now, too. [CHUCKLES]
She'll be a good little helper.
Ooh!
Oh.
- Mama.
- Hmm?
[JENNIE] Oh. [LAUGHING]
[SALLY] Oh.
Stop!
slow, plaintive music ♪
♪♪♪
Pay no mind.
Wouldn't be doing our job right
if we didn't rub a few
malefactors the wrong way.
Ask me, hundred to one,
the Underwood Gang's
behind that stagecoach robbery.
You know something I don't?
Female outlaw
the hoopleheads described
in their complaint?
I've come across before.
Woman's pure venom.
Runs with Huff Underwood.
Two hundred to one,
somebody in the hotel know where
they're conducting business.
You know more than you let on.
That ought to scare you.
"H-O
- T"
- I know what it say.
This a-way.
Don't you step another foot
toward them tables, Garrett.
Easy, amigo.
I'm just introducing my friend
here to your fine establishment.
Unless your friend wants
to pony up the tin
that you owe this establishment,
then I want you out.
You have a debt here?
Man's got a debt everywhere.
I love them cards like I love women.
Just the difference is
cards don't love back.
Better off tending horses than hustling.
Barkeep.
[DOOR OPENS]
Sherrill Lynn come by yesterday.
- [DOOR CLOSES]
- Drank up all my whiskey.
Broke three of my chairs.
Tell me you didn't come for my gin.
How 'bout you quench my thirst
another way?
Looking for a Billy Crow.
Ain't nested here,
far as I know.
How about the Underwood Gang?
[MAN] Well, goddamn.
If that don't beat the Dutch.
That's two pair. You can take that one.
Seat taken?
Ain't never seen you around here.
More than happy
to take a lawman's salary.
[CHAIR SLIDES OUT]
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You are crooked as a hare's hind leg.
[POKER CHIP CLATTERS]
[WHISTLES]
Knew you were holding back on me.
I'll call you.
[DEALING CARDS]
I ain't falling
for your fooling no more.
I'm all in.
Call.
Two pair.
You Black son of a bitch!
Didn't come to take your money.
How about I return that pot
in exchange for information.
How about we just kill you instead?
[BASS] Could try.
But you'd be going after
a Deputy U.S. Marshal,
and there's a half a dozen more outside.
[ROLAND] Hell.
He's bluffing again, Big Al.
Want to wager on that?
[INDISTINCT CROWD CHATTER]
In that rig past the corral.
slow, dramatic music ♪
♪♪♪
Go around the other side.
You Billy Crow?
Well, uh, sorry to disappoint you, sir.
I was told I'd find
a Billy Crow around here.
Beautiful coach you got here.
Are you under obligation
to keep banking hours
with a rig like this?
Sure as hell got no obligation
to answer to the likes of you.
Minute your boy sings,
we'll have a writ for you.
Your pal Huff, too.
Why don't you bring
that old Judge Parker
around here next time?
I could introduce him
and that noose of his
to the underside of my carriage.
Come to think of it, uh,
name's familiar.
Is a bit of a looker,
this Billy Crow, ain't he?
I think I saw him packing up
a wagon this morning.
Wouldn't be surprised if he was
halfway to Muskogee by now.
Got to admit,
certain likeness, wouldn't you agree?
[BILLY CHUCKLES]
[BILLY GROANS]
[WOMEN GASP]
Mind my hat. Shoot.
dramatic music ♪
Shoot.
gentle, wistful music ♪
♪♪♪
[ARTHUR] Sally.
Piano I delivered,
that was for your mother?
Mm-hmm.
She fell in love with music
when it was all she had.
Looks like y'all got
a nice big family now.
[CHUCKLES] I'd like it better if
I didn't have to be chasing Alice
and Newland all over creation.
And now, with a new one on the way,
I'm really in for it.
What would you rather be doing?
Besides walking with me.
gentle music ♪
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Mrs. Green got me
this new book of poems.
Barely had a chance to crack the spine.
I bet your parents
don't bother you with chores
'cause you a working man already.
I'm an orphan.
It's all right.
You didn't have any way to know.
I'm sorry.
Mama passed when
I was five, and
my daddy died in the war.
You're blessed with a lot
of love in your life.
Keep hold of it.
[BASS] Just tell Parker what you know.
He a fair man.
[SCOFFS]
Fair man?
He hung 12 men
on his first day in court.
Just ain't no winning.
I name names to Parker, they'll kill me.
If I keep my trap shut,
I'll rot in Hell on the Border.
That's if they don't kill me
before y'all get me to Fort Smith.
Oh, I'm getting you to Fort Smith.
I'm a dead man.
Y'all looking at a ghost.
You don't come at Huff Underwood
with nothing.
You don't rat him out.
And you don't force his one-time,
reluctant, low-ranking employee
to rat him out, either.
[ANIMAL HOWLING]
Hey.
How about I get a quick fire going?
And give up our location?
Hadn't thought of that.
[BLOWS AIR]
[GARRETT] Three dollars here
and three dollars back
to freeze my nuts.
Rather be losing my shirt
at a card table.
Least I'd be able
to feel my hands and feet.
Ain't that cold.
[GARRETT] Hell, once,
I had this pot-bellied stove,
forged in Massachusetts
for them northern winters.
Sat right in the heart
of my beautiful home,
just outside Fort Smith.
You get that thing going during
the middle of a cold snap,
practically warmed
the neighbor's house, too.
What happened to it?
Had to sell it.
Along with lots of other things.
You got enough luck
to survive all this, kid,
you stay away from the cards.
I know where they hid the money
they took from that stagecoach.
I hear you clucking, but there
ain't no nest, Billy Crow.
No, there-there's jewelry there, too.
Huff didn't want
to pawn it off too quick.
Avoid suspicion and all.
I'm telling the God's honest truth here.
Not really in a position to lie.
You been sitting on that all night?
We might investigate this, Bass.
No.
Could split the money
and whatever else there is.
Nobody would ever know.
We say Billy Crow flew away.
Oh, oh, oh,
you'll never hear from me again.
I'll bound a rail to California.
You both talk too much.
[GARRETT] You don't understand, Bass.
I got a wife and kids
sleeping in a bed
more suitable for pigs.
Our job is to take this boy
alive to Fort Smith.
That's what we're gonna do.
Took an oath.
I didn't.
I ain't asking.
I'm telling.
tense, dramatic music ♪
♪♪♪
Whoa.
Whoa, fellas.
You think another white posse man's
gonna ride out with you?
Help you like I have?
And now you gonna shoot me?
No.
But they will.
[GUNSHOT]
- [GUNFIRE]
- [GROANING]
[CRIES OUT]
[BILLY WHIMPERING]
Hope your feet as fast as your mouth.
[GUNFIRE CONTINUES]
[HUFF] Billy Crow.
Where you at?
We ain't gonna hurt you.
Give us sign of that lawman
so we can end this.
Mother of God.
- I told you I was gonna die.
- Not today.
Stay here.
energetic, dramatic music ♪
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[CRIES OUT]
slow, tense music ♪
♪♪♪
[BIRDS CAWING]
[FLIES BUZZING]
Keep your current path,
this your fate, Billy Crow.
Empty boots
strung up on a lawman's saddle.
Thank you, Deputy.
[BLEATING]
Oh, oh. Oh
Oh
Sally!
[DOOR OPENS]
I'll go fetch Miss Bennett.
This one coming faster
than lightning in a storm.
Help me to the kitchen.
[LABORED BREATHING]
[SIGHS]
Go fetch some water for
the stove and get the linen.
- We'll make do.
- Yes, Mama.
[EXHALES]
slow, gentle music ♪
♪♪♪
How the hell did you learn
to shoot like that?
You mean for a Black man?
No, I mean,
how the hell did you learn
to shoot like that?
How about you do us both a favor
and never speak on this ever again.
[DOOR CLOSES]
tense music ♪
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[WHIMPERING SOFTLY]
♪♪♪
Billy Crow. Prisoner.
Your prisoner. Your manacles.
Now, keep your head down
and your mouth shut.
Hey,
I make it out of here,
how do I get to do what you do?
[CHUCKLES]
Was you telling the truth
about the money?
Eagle Pass.
There's a pair of sister oaks,
roots entwined.
It's buried at the base.
[CHAIR SCRAPES FLOOR]
[KEYS JINGLING]
[PARKER] Isham Saunders,
after a fair trial and an able defense,
this jury of your countrymen
has found you guilty of a most foul
and aggravated murder.
You are hereby sentenced
to be hanged by the neck
until you are dead.
[GALLERY MURMURING]
slow, somber music ♪
Myson Davis.
I have heard your tale of misfortune.
I understand what hunger and deprivation
can drive a person to do,
but it's no different
from the plight of all the other men
who stand before me on any given day.
In this chamber,
I must serve
as an instrument of the law.
You have taken a human life.
You have sent a human soul
unprepared to its maker
and made agony for his family,
whom you have rendered husbandless
and fatherless.
For the crime of murder,
this court finds you guilty.
[CRYING]
[PARKER] You are hereby sentenced
to be hanged by the neck
until you are dead.
♪♪♪
[GAVEL BANGS]
[DOOR OPENS]
Okay, Deputy, go on in.
Sit down, please.
You had a bit of a time out there?
Well, sir, um
Posse man Montgomery
died heroically in the line of duty.
They ambushed us to free my prisoner.
About that Billy Crow
He not a bad soul, just confused.
Confusion isn't much of a defense.
No, sir,
but he told me
where the German man's money buried.
Noted.
gentle music ♪
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♪♪♪
[SIGHS]
You all right?
Are you?
I am now.
♪♪♪
[BABY FUSSING]
♪♪♪
♪♪♪
Ole Mister Sundown.
Now he was a slave catcher.
Some say
he roam the dark even now.
Finding fresh slaves.
When you see ole Mister Sundown,
you never see the sun come up again.
[RAMSEY] You ain't no law here.
This here's Hell.
Until God say otherwise,
I'm the only law there is.
♪♪♪