‘Lawmen: Bass Reeves’ Part 4 Delivers a Chilling Legend + a Violent Death [Spoilers Alert]

Lawmen: Bass Reeves returned on Paramount+ on Sunday (Nov. 19), and Part 4 brought more of the show's trademark mix of action and moralism, as well as a violent death that Reeves seems to regret.

Part 4 opens after another flash forward in time, with Reeves (David Oyelowo) now a more experienced lawman with his own posse. That posse includes Billy Crow (Forrest Goodluck), who Judge Parker (Donald Sutherland) has evidently decided to go easy on after Reeves put in a good word for him. Reeves poses as a friendly visitor when he goes to a woman's house to help her with her chores, but he's actually smoothing the way for himself to apprehend her two sons, who are unapologetically immoral criminals.

When they get into a drunken fight, he volunteers to put them to bed ... after which they wake up in shackles as he prepares to take them in.

Other episode highlights include:

• Jennie (Lauren E. Banks) hears of plans to build what one man envisions as a Black-owned "paradise" in Indian Territory, an idea that draws her skepticism.
• Sally (Demi Singleton) sneaks off to meet Arthur Mayberry (Lonnie Chavis) again, and they are clearly growing closer, though her mother still doesn't know they've been seeing each other.
• One of the outlaws Reeves has rounded up warns him of the legend of "Ol' Mr. Sundown," who allegedly roams the night, looking for slaves to kill. He takes matters into his own hands when he gets free of his shackles in the night, killing one of the other men and attacking Reeves, who reacts by nearly killing him.
• Reeves learns that there's a big bounty on him in the Dead Line, where he apprehends all of his criminals.
• A confrontation with a horse rustler at a saloon and brothel ends with him trading information on another outlaw to Reeves in exchange for some leniency, but Billy Crow — who has been flirting with one of the working girls in the alley instead of watching the back of the building as he's supposed to — ends up shooting and killing him when he tries to escape on horseback, drawing a stern rebuke from Reeves.
• Reeves delivers the man's final letter to his wife, who doesn't seem terribly distressed at the news of his death. He comes to realize that her life is not that different from his wife's, waiting all alone on an absent man to return home.

The episode ends with some dark foreshadowing as Reeves sees a dark figure on horseback on the ridge, bringing to mind the earlier warnings about Mr. Sundown.

Lawmen: Bass Reeves will continue to air on Paramount+ every Sunday for a run of eight episodes. The show is the latest offering from Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan.

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