Tonight on CBS their hit drama Lawmen: Bass Reeves starring David Oyelowo premieres with an all-new Sunday, November 12, 2023, episode and we have your Lawmen: Bass Reeves recap below. On tonight’s Lawmen: Bass Reeves Season 1, episode 1 called, “Part I” as per the CBS synopsis,
“Bass rides into hell. Esau makes a violent impression on Bass. Bass escapes his chains, but has to make a hard sacrifice.”
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In tonight’s Lawmen: Bass Reeves premiere the year was 1862. The Confederate Army marched into a slaughter. One of the few survivors of the battle happens to be a slave. A slave named Bass. He was a young man at the time. He was told to fight their losing war or die. He made the decision to fight.
He watched as many died. He even considering escaping to the Union army only he never did. It was a lucky thing too because at that particular battle the Confederates managed to pull off a surprising victory at the last hour with reinforcements from the Native Americans. Reeves would never have made it to freedom if he switched sides.
Although, the other slaves back at the Confederate Army base had disagreed with his decision. He was told that he killed the wrong side and he said he’d rather be shot in the face than the back.
He didn’t get his freedom then. He still got to live to fight another day. Something that couldn’t be said for many slaves trapped under Confederate rule. They had to watch as their masters talk about their rights or what they deserve. They had to watch as these men proclaimed their victory as being part of a worthy cause.
Bass’s master was given special leave after the battle to return home. Lt. Reeves brought with him his slave and, while the master didn’t get a family reunion with his own family, Bass at least got to see his woman. The master’s wife had left for safer pastures with the children.
She left behind a note saying she was just visiting her family out of town. Her husband didn’t believe it when he saw it. He got to drinking after that. He called for Bass all hours of the night. Bass barely got to spend time with his Jenny.
When Bass returned to his master’s side, he found him a mean drunk. The man wanted to play a game of cards. He claimed that he’d free Bass if Bass won the game.
Bass was forced to play him and he thought for a minute that he might win. Only the master cheated. He cheated and he won. Bass knew he cheated. He confronted his master. His master taunted him with God being on his side. He said that even as he had earlier mocked Bass for believing in God. And so Bass beat his master for mocking his faith.
Bass knew he couldn’t stay after that. He took one of his master’s guns. He went to his woman and he told her what happened. Jenny told him to flee. She couldn’t go with him because she’d slow him down. She told Bass to escape to freedom without her and so in for a penny in for a pound.
Bass stole his master’s horse. He used it to carry him as close to Indian territory as possible when he ran into two white men. They didn’t think a slave owner would let a slave use a horse without him. They were going to capture Bass until Bass was forced to kill them.
Bass rode on after that. He had to ditch his horse when he saw a search party that was most likely searching for him. Bass ditched the horse and swam over to Native American territory.
From then on, he walked for miles. He did his best to scavenger for food. He ate what the crows didn’t. He went on to pass out from starvation when a freed woman found him. She saw his Confederate uniform. She asked him what he was and he told her he was a runaway. And only once she knew that did she help him.
Her name was Sarah. She was never enslaved. She lived in Native American territory with her family. Her late husband fought in the war to keep their family free and sadly he died because of it. It was just Sarah and her son Curtis. They took in Bass. They taught him Creek.
They helped him find a community. He was doing well for himself until one day Union soldiers came to town with their prisoners of war. Bass had even recognized one of the prisoners. The prisoner was Major Pierce. He was the one that told Bass that the Union was winning the war. He also told him to run while he could because he had walked into hell. Pierce was one of the few that had weaponized one tribe of Native Americans into fighting for the Confederate cause.
Pierce also warned him because that town was apparently the meet up to free the Confederate soldiers. His allies came running in and they shot and killed every Union soldier they could find.
Curtis grabbed a gun to protect Bass, but that just got him a bullet from Pierce and so Bass later had to bring Curtis back home to die with his mother at his side. After Curtis passed away, Sarah told Bass to hold onto what was worth fighting for. Bass returned to the plantation to look for Jenny. He found her gone.
THE END!