‪When you see ol' Mr. Sundown,
‪you will never see the sun come up again.
‪[grunting]
‪[Tate] He done Gurney in the worst way.
‪You gonna tell me you locked him up tight
‪like I told you?
‪Aren't we something now?
‪Tell Jennie about our plans ‪for Indian Territory.
‪The townships.
‪Paradise?
‪A poetic turn of phrase.
‪Your mama would tan your hide ‪if she caught you.
‪-She'd likely whup us both. ‪-[scoffs]
‪Silas Cobb.
‪Fancy hisself a horse trader.
‪Think I'm gonna marry you.
‪Don't get yourself killed.
‪Maybe we'll talk again.
‪Easy, Cobb.
‪But how about I trade you that ‪dark-hearted bastard Jim Webb?
‪[grunting]
‪-No. ‪-Look out!
‪Should've aimed high, Billy.
‪Finally got blood on your hand.
‪[crow cawing]
‪[grim music]
‪Want me to read the message to you?
‪It's clear enough.
‪[indistinct chatter]
‪[barking, growling]
‪Five men, armed,
‪including Webb.
‪Don't think you'll be ‪talking him out today, Bass.
‪Maybe not.
‪Or maybe Webb's got more sense ‪than hate for me.
‪[quiet, intense music]
‪-[gunfire] ‪-[people screaming]
‪[dog barking]
‪[gunfire]
‪Come on out, Webb!
‪Me or somebody else, law won't ever stop.
‪[Webb] My wrath is the mightiest ‪of storms, Bass Reeves.
‪The Lord is my shelter.
‪Tell your men to lay them irons down.
‪[woman screams]
‪[groans]
‪[grunts]
‪[groans]
‪[woman screams]
‪[grunts]
‪[Billy groaning]
‪Oh.
‪Keep your hand on it.
‪[dog barking]
‪[cattle mooing]
‪[panting]
‪[mooing]
‪[gunshot]
‪Come on out, Webb!
‪You can drown in your own blood
‪or have that day in court.
‪Choice is yours.
‪[cattle mooing]
‪[grunts]
‪[tense, suspenseful music]
‪[wheezing]
‪I'll fetch a doctor.
‪From where?
‪[gasping softly]
‪He keeps looking at me.
‪It's not gonna get any easier.
‪End the man's pain.
‪Take his boots.
‪[gunshot]
‪Go on.
‪Take your shot.
‪[barks]
‪[soaring, dramatic music]
‪Dundy Carnival.
‪Saturday and Sunday.
‪Dundy Carnival. Saturday and Sunday.
‪[bystander] Sugar…
‪you catch all those bad men ‪by your pretty little self?
‪You got finer clothes than me.
‪Maybe I ought to get deputized.
‪♪ He ride by night ♪
‪♪ Drawn fast to the firelight ♪
‪♪ Ain't no peace to be found ♪
‪♪ When the sun go down ♪
‪[laughing]
‪Why can't we hire a hand to do all this?
‪So you don't get spoiled.
‪Mama, I'm serious.
‪I reckon Daddy makes enough now.
‪I don't mind the time ‪with you, it's just--
‪How was your time with Delcia?
‪-Fine. ‪-Don't lie to me.
‪You've been meeting that Arthur boy.
‪Why don't you like him?
‪Doesn't matter. What matters is ‪you do what I tell you.
‪That's what you always say ‪when you don't want to answer.
‪You better fix that lip
‪if you want your daddy ‪to take you to the carnival.
‪Better behave when he's here, ‪better behave when he's gone.
‪When will I be old enough ‪to just be, Mama?
‪[slow, dramatic music]
‪For the murder of William Hicks, ‪we find the defendant guilty.
‪[excited chatter]
‪[chatter stops]
‪[Parker] After a patient
‪and deliberate investigation of your case
‪by the petit jury which tried you,
‪they have been constrained ‪by their conscience
‪and their oaths as honest men
‪and good citizens
‪to pronounce you guilty ‪of the murder of William Hicks
‪in Indian Territory.
‪You forgot that the eye of God ‪was fixed upon you.
‪When you return to the solitude ‪of your prison,
‪let me entreat you
‪to seriously reflect on your offenses.
‪Bring to mind all the aggravated horrors,
‪the mortal struggles
‪and the dying prayers ‪of your murdered victim.
‪And may God
‪have mercy on you.
‪Bass, I asked nice ‪for you to save some outlaws
‪for the rest of us.
‪Good to see you, Ike.
‪How's that former outlaw turned ‪peacock working out for you?
‪I wish every posse man was as good as you.
‪I had my moments.
‪Seven hundred and fifty-two dollars
‪and seventy-five cents, Mr. Reeves.
‪It'll be square, Florence, like always.
‪[Sherrill] Bass!
‪Bass!
‪I got a prisoner here
‪named Jackson Cole.
‪Arrested in Atoka for horse thieving,
‪but before the thieving,
‪seems he put a mess of lead ‪into a fine gentleman
‪running for State Senate down in Texas.
‪The family is demanding ‪he swing down there,
‪and they got the sway ‪to move mountains up here.
‪Should've stuck to thieving.
‪Likely so.
‪But this order comes from on-high,
‪you are to deliver the prisoner ‪Jackson Cole to the Red River,
‪and turn him over to the Rangers.
‪I ain't been home for 41 days.
‪This comes from Judge Parker himself.
‪You take him.
‪[chuckling] Ain't you heard?
‪I have been relegated to pushing papers.
‪You might as well put me in skirts
‪and call me Florence.
‪You insult her with the suggestion.
‪I'd give anything to marshal again.
‪You want to take that up ‪with Judge Parker?
‪Be my guest.
‪You ride out tomorrow.
‪Your letter is "N."
‪Hey there, stranger.
‪You're home.
‪Who are these heathens at my table?
‪Hey, Bennie. [chuckles]
‪Oh! [laughs, groans]
‪[giggling]
‪I picked out the dress ‪I'm gonna wear to the carnival.
‪You want to see it?
‪Come on, Daddy.
‪Oh-oh-oh. All right. [grunting]
‪I'm coming.
‪[door opens]
‪They're all asleep.
‪'Cept us.
‪We got some catching up to do.
‪Yes, ma'am.
‪That we do.
‪How's it feel not to be ‪pregnant for a change?
‪Who says I'm not?
‪[chuckling]
‪Just what I need…
‪another child paying me no mind.
‪[chuckles]
‪Know what I missed the most?
‪What?
‪This.
‪[gentle, dramatic music]
‪[knocking]
‪[Billy] Morning, Mrs. Reeves.
‪Why is he here?
‪I'll be gone a week.
‪What about the carnival?
‪Sweetheart, I'll take you twice next year,
‪twice the year after.
‪Upstairs.
‪[slow, tense music]
‪You knew all last night ‪and didn't breathe a word.
‪What do you want from me?
‪You wonder why your children ‪don't recognize you anymore?
‪I have a duty, swore an oath…
‪Like the one you swore to me ‪when we married?
‪You may live out there ‪beyond that Dead Line,
‪but we live right here.
‪You know I love you and them kids
‪-like nothing else. ‪-Telling us you love us
‪ain't the same as showing us.
‪Billy's waiting.
‪How many pianos could you buy ‪if I was still trying to farm?
‪Buy me a whole orchestra ‪and a church choir too, Bass.
‪All that pretty music
‪couldn't mend the hearts you're breaking.
‪See you in a week.
‪I can ride in circles ‪for a bit if it'd help.
‪Only thing is to get it done.
‪Sooner we get going,
‪the sooner I get back.
‪[clucking]
‪Miss Ann.
‪You wish you could quit ‪laying eggs all day
‪and do something fun, huh?
‪[sighs] Me, too.
‪[door opens]
‪Still want to go to the carnival?
‪Why don't you ask Arthur to take you?
‪I thought you didn't like him.
‪Let's give someone else ‪a chance to be a gentleman.
‪[gentle, optimistic music]
‪So, why'd you do it?
‪So I could sleep.
‪What kind of heart do you carry ‪to take a man's life and sleep?
‪A peaceful one.
‪That supposed to be funny?
‪Not particularly.
‪So, you're just crazy?
‪Billy…
‪go scout the pass up yonder.
‪That boy gonna talk ‪all the way to the river?
‪Safe bet.
‪♪ Oh, Captain, Captain ♪
‪♪ Don't you know my name? ♪
‪♪ Oh, Captain, Captain ♪
‪♪ Don't you know my name ♪
‪♪ Well, I used to be the porter rode ♪
‪♪ Well-a ♪
‪♪ On the southbound train ♪
‪♪ Well, I used to be the porter rode ♪
‪♪ Well-a ♪
‪♪ On the southbound train ♪
‪[indistinct chatter]
‪[playing jaunty music]
‪What you smiling about?
‪All these things in the world ‪we never known about.
‪Ever think about them?
‪How you gonna think about ‪things you don't know about?
‪[chuckles] That's the whole point.
‪If we not wondering about what we missing,
‪we'll miss it all.
‪Sally Reeves, you about ‪the strangest girl I ever met.
‪And that's why you sweet on me.
‪[man] Come on over. Welcome.
‪-Let's go see the elephant. ‪-[man] Gather round.
‪-[elephant trumpets] ‪-Don't be shy.
‪Can you feel the growing darkness?
‪The light of Reconstruction quickly sets,
‪and the forces of oppression ‪gather to put us back in chains.
‪I ain't never been arrested ‪by a Negro before.
‪Didn't arrest you.
‪Just seeing you from here to there.
‪Fair enough.
‪-[thunder rolls] ‪-Still…
‪they ain't giving us no badges in Texas.
‪What do you think, Bass?
‪Can we make it to Limestone Gap ‪before the storm hits?
‪Not likely.
‪Looks like someone will be ‪strung up soggy.
‪Soggy or not, ‪I ain't ashamed of what I done.
‪Spoken like a dead man. [laughs]
‪And you speaking like a fool, Billy Crow.
‪You know, you've been ‪treating me like a rented mule
‪since before we returned to Fort Smith.
‪Now, if there's something ‪you want to say to me,
‪-then say it. ‪-When you started riding for me,
‪you asked if you had the grit ‪to be a deputy marshal.
‪[slow, somber music]
‪-Yeah? ‪-You don't.
‪Figured you would by now.
‪Now, if I missed the mark ‪in learning you more,
‪I'm sorry.
‪But every day is a lesson.
‪And each one of them is hard.
‪Come on.
‪Are you giving up on me?
‪I never give up, Billy.
‪[carnival music playing]
‪[man] Take a shot right here.
‪I'm gonna see an elephant ‪in the wild someday.
‪You dream big. Big as any elephant.
‪Excuse me, you need to get ‪to the back of the line.
‪Sally. Just a little girl.
‪A little girl with no manners.
‪The back of the line is for you.
‪You got some nerve, toad.
‪Now get to the back or I might
‪just pull that hateful ‪tongue right out your mouth.
‪Show you what happens when ‪little girls speak out of turn.
‪Clementine, there you are.
‪[tense music]
‪Mighty strange, this feeling.
‪-Riding to my death. ‪-[thunder rolls]
‪But if anyone delivers me,
‪it might as well be you.
‪Why?
‪Suppose when a man see the reaper coming,
‪he look for the things in life
‪that give him a little bit of comfort.
‪We both Negroes,
‪we know the world in the same ways.
‪You take a life with no regret,
‪we ain't close to the same.
‪Oh, you must have killed folks.
‪Ain't none of them had it coming?
‪Ain't for me to decide.
‪Yeah. That's our problem.
‪We always having somebody else ‪decide for us.
‪Only, I don't trust none of them ‪deciders to do us right.
‪-You sound like Sugar. ‪-Who?
‪My grandpappy.
‪Felt the same way, and never ‪got the taste of freedom.
‪[slow, dramatic music]
‪You know, I was there, in Galveston,
‪when Granger read the emancipation papers.
‪I reckoned you served.
‪Yeah, back then… [chuckles]
‪…thought I was a part of ‪history right when it happened.
‪But history, see, ‪that's when somebody wins.
‪Like when David slayed Goliath.
‪Yeah, I figured out pretty quick ‪that day in Galveston,
‪wasn't no history being made.
‪[thunder crashes]
‪Just a white man reading words.
‪They always just reading words.
‪[piano playing]
‪[carriage approaching]
‪Kids, come say hello to your Aunt Esme.
‪-[kids] Aunt Esme! ‪-[laughs]
‪I apologize for calling without notice.
‪Then again, I was hoping ‪to be invited over by now.
‪[stifled laugh]
‪[chuckles]
‪[thunder crashing]
‪I was at that carnival today.
‪Saw Sally.
‪-With a boy. ‪-Arthur.
‪Think it's okay to let them ‪wander on their own?
‪You think it's okay to ask me ‪how I'm raising my daughter?
‪That's rich.
‪You so sheltered here in Van Buren,
‪you forgot about the world we live in?
‪Sally can take care of herself.
‪She got spirit, no doubt,
‪but Black folks have been disappearing
‪up and down the Territory.
‪You've been listening ‪to too many campfire tales.
‪That's what you think.
‪You really haven't changed.
‪Not nearly as much as you.
‪You got anything stronger than water?
‪-[thunder crashing] ‪-This cover ain't gonna hold!
‪[dark, suspenseful music]
‪To the light!
‪[Esme] ‪Our friend Samson Flowers ‪from Chattanooga
‪up and vanished in Red Fork.
‪He started working a deal ‪that would allow us
‪to lease land from former Cherokee slaves.
‪Samson took the train
‪to Indian Territory to broker the terms.
‪Months go by, and we don't hear a word.
‪Then, one day,
‪a letter arrived from Buck Thorne,
‪the Freedman he was supposed to meet.
‪When Thorne arrived at Red Fork, ‪Samson's bag and clothes
‪were still in the room ‪he'd rented for the night,
‪but he was nowhere to be found.
‪The other hotel guests, they told Thorne
‪about hearing thundering hooves ‪in the night.
‪One man claimed he saw a rider ‪with the eyes of the beast.
‪We never saw or heard ‪from Samson ever again.
‪Even traveled to Red Fork ourselves
‪to retrieve his effects.
‪[dark, ominous music]
‪Y'all smelled sulfur in his room?
‪[chuckles]
‪Wasn't a campfire tale, Jennie.
‪It wasn't some story I just heard.
‪Samson was flesh and blood.
‪A man I knew, like I know you.
‪Now, sure, it wasn't a haint ‪or a duppy that snatched him up,
‪but…
‪seem to me…
‪Black folk are facing things ‪scarier than that.
‪Let's get to that carnival.
‪[thunder crashes]
‪Wait, wait.
‪Go on.
‪Deputy Marshal Bass Reeves.
‪Much obliged if we could take shelter.
‪No English.
‪Choctaw?
‪Español.
‪Oh.
‪We need a roof.
‪-Tell them we're lawmen. ‪-Yeah.
‪We're the law.
‪We bring no trouble.
‪Where we come from,
‪the law is trouble.[
‪[thunder crashes]
‪But everyone needs shelter from the storm.
‪-She's a wise woman. ‪-Pásale.
‪[teapot whistling]
‪[fire crackling]
‪[whistling stops]
‪[distant thunder rumbles]
‪[liquid pouring]
‪Gracias.
‪[in Spanish] I see death.
‪It follows you.
‪[in English] Oh, she's, uh, she's talking ‪about death. It's…
‪It's close now.
‪[laughs softly]
‪She's prognosticated your future.
‪[tense music]
‪[laughs] You remember when Sug ‪got caught pissing
‪-in Mrs. Reeves' flower garden? ‪-[both chuckle]
‪I thought for certain ‪she'd chop his johnson off.
‪Oh, Lord, I remember her face.
‪"Get your vile wretchedness ‪out of my sight this instant."
‪[both laugh]
‪Now, when are you gonna introduce Edwin
‪to that husband of yours?
‪Bass would have to stay home ‪longer than a few hours.
‪Word already floating around Fort Smith
‪about how your husband ‪dressed as a tramp to snatch
‪the Dolliver boys right out ‪from under their own mother.
‪Sound like you hear more about ‪Bass's dealings than I do.
‪All I hear is Edwin chattering about him.
‪[slow, contemplative music]
‪[indistinct overlapping voices]
‪[Billy] ‪Digame.
‪[in Spanish] Can you make magic
‪for me to be with the woman I love?
‪Who needs magic when you are this lucky?
‪Another inch…
‪and the bullet would've killed you.
‪Tell your friend
‪I can cleanse his troubled thoughts.
‪[in English] Hey, Bass.
‪She says she wants to clean your thoughts.
‪Tell her thank you,
‪-but no. ‪-[distant howling]
‪[indistinct overlapping voices]
‪After Granger rolled through Galveston,
‪my regiment started going ‪to plantations throughout Texas,
‪carrying the word that we was free.
‪That's when we came across
‪the Rockrose Plantation.
‪James Neblett, the owner.
‪Sheriff was there, the posse men.
‪[somber, dramatic music]
‪Neblett said his slaves had taken up arms.
‪They didn't even check for weapons,
‪they just took his word.
‪We thought he was burning his cane field.
‪But he was burning his slaves.
‪And they wouldn't even let us ‪close enough to bury the bodies.
‪[grunts softly]
‪Ten years later, I'm out the service,
‪I move back to Texas,
‪and Neblett is running ‪for state legislature.
‪Promising to pass laws to set things back
‪to the way they was before the war.
‪And I already seen what that ‪evil man done to one plantation.
‪Not again.
‪[insects chirping]
‪You have fun?
‪Best night of my life.
‪Hello again.
‪[dark, suspenseful music]
‪What's this?
‪Shouldn't talk to my sister like that.
‪-Says who? ‪-Me.
‪Sally.
‪You're awfully tough ‪when it's four of y'all
‪-and two of us. ‪-Back your monkey face up.
‪[all grunting]
‪[tense music]
‪[insects chirping]
‪We're in it now. In it bad.
‪We're fine.
‪We have to tell somebody.
‪It's over.
‪Sally?
‪That's your mama?
‪[slow, dramatic music]
‪Sure you had a good time?
‪Seem mighty quiet.
‪I'm just tired.
‪Saw an elephant and a fire breather.
‪Yes, ma'am. It-it was something.
‪You took Sally out in public ‪wearing those pants?
‪That just happened when he fell ‪in the House of Terrors.
‪Mm-hmm.
‪[birds chirping]
‪[coins jingle]
‪[slow, somber music]
‪[shackles clicking]
‪Billy, saddle up.
‪We're riding out.
‪[shackles click]
‪[suspenseful music]
‪[scraping]
‪♪ Wake up in the morning ♪
‪♪ Well-a ♪
‪-♪ With a cup and a pan ♪ ‪-♪ With a cup and a pan ♪
‪♪ Well, I wake up in the morning ♪
‪♪ Well-a ♪
‪-♪ With a cup and pan ♪ ‪-♪ With a cup and pan ♪
‪♪ Well, you say anything ‪about it, well-a ♪
‪-♪ Got trouble out the man ♪ ‪-♪ Got trouble out the man ♪
‪♪ Well, you say anything ‪about it, well-a ♪
‪Every time you come back, ‪you bring less and less of you.
‪Oh, you must have heard the stories ‪about Black men disappearing?
‪Let there be no doubt ‪that we still need to fight.
‪[dramatic music]
‪[Esau] ‪You have a family?
‪What would you do now to protect it?
‪This thing weighs just as much ‪as the chain.
‪That bounty on you? Pays the same,
‪dead or alive.
‪[atmospheric music]