“Billy the Kid” Episode 4 begins with Billy wandering in a desert. He has lost his way and the desert has taken its toll on him. Ultimately, he falls unconscious. Episode 3 had Billy lose his younger brother and mother, leaving all by himself. When he and his new friend Jesse try to carry out a robbery, it gets foiled. Jesse manages to escape but Billy is caught and tried for armed robbery. He is sentenced to 3 years in jail. But he manages to escape on the same night. Episode 4 shows Billy’s experiences after he has escaped Silver City.
Episode 4 moves at a steady pace without much action. It is like a stepping stone that will move on to Billy the Kid’s experiences as an outlaw. It establishes him as an outlaw, a word that the world will associate him with forever.
Billy Becomes An Outlaw
Time rewinds 4 weeks and we see Billy on horseback, crossing a river somewhere in Arizona. He has escaped from jail in Silver City, so there’s no going back there. This is when an outlaw named Alias holds him at gunpoint out of suspicion. However, on realizing that he isn’t really a threat, he asks him if he will join him on his journey to Texas. This is when Alias addresses him as an outlaw, a moniker that the world will remember him as.
Both of them arrive at Texas, a bar where Alias introduces Billy to Mr. Hooker, saying that both are looking for “daily sustenance”. However, Billy isn’t Billy Antrim anymore but William H. Bonney, a name he takes up to avoid any more suspicion in case news of his escape makes rounds in Texas too (and we too shall address him as William from now on). On being asked by Mr. Brooks, William reveals that his family came from Ireland. He offers him and Alias the job of cowboys to guard his property against hustlers (whom William was also one of until a while ago). To test if he is really Irish, Brooks tells him to sing an Irish song. William begins singing, and by the time he ends, everyone in the bar has gone silent, absorbed by his voice. It also woos the waitress, Alice, at the counter, whom William, sure enough, wakes up beside the next morning.
One day, Alias tells William how much he hates having to put his life at risk by stealing horses for Mr. Hooker. While William presents his doubts about going against Hooker, Alias is adamant. He mentions a bunch of new horses at Camp Grant (an army camp) that he and his peers are going to steal that night. And William ends up in the group too. They carry out their theft, and William gets himself a new white horse. The next day, he takes his new horse to a blacksmith, Francis P. Cahill, for “new shoes.” Francis notices that the horse is branded. Realizing that the horse belongs to the army, he questions William whether he has stolen the horse from the army. William clearly states that he brought the horse from New Mexico. Despite having doubts, Francis agrees to give the horse its new horseshoes. That night, William wakes up from sleep, shaken, to find Alias staring at him. Alias tells him that he is leaving Texas because he shot Hooker after he found out that Alias was carrying out business under the table.
See More: ‘Billy the Kid’ Episode 1, 2, & 3: Recap And Ending, Explained – Who is William H. Bonney?
Billy Has His First Kill
The next morning, sitting in a saloon, William reads the news and realizes that Alias wasn’t lying and that he did kill Hooker. While reading the newspaper, a drunken Francis approaches him and charges him openly with stealing the horses, calling him a horse thief. A brawl follows that ends with William unknowingly shooting and killing Francis. In shock, with everybody staring, William leaves Texas right then. During a halt at night in the middle of nowhere, he prays to his mother for what he has done and accepts that he cannot run from his deeds. He comes back to Texas and accepts and is arrested for foul murder.
William H. Bonney is arraigned for trial despite trying to offer evidence that it was self-defense. But his guilt has already been established due to his previous armed robbery in Silver City and his unlawful escape from jail. He is kept in a guardhouse under surveillance until his trial. After he is put there, Upson comes to meet him and tells him that from that moment onwards, William is a murderer no matter the truth. Before Upson leaves, William assures him that they will meet again. That night, William was able to pick the lock and escape yet again, thanks to a bobby pin he had inside his mouth. It was probably Alice’s or he picked it up from somewhere else. He takes his horse and rides off without anyone’s notice. That night, during a halt, he is robbed by a group of tribal who spare his life in return for his white horse.
‘Billy the Kid’ Episode 4: Ending Explained – Does Billy Join the Seven River Gang?
With nothing but his revolver, we see William, or rather Billy, since he has dropped his disguise, walking in a desert, lost, thirsty, hallucinating, and bewildered, and ultimately falls unconscious. When he opens his eyes, he finds himself in bed with a woman staring at him. She reveals that her name is Barbara. He finds out that he is in Lincoln County, just outside Fort Stanton, New Mexico. Barbara runs with the Seven River Gang, a group that makes its living out of rustling herds. One of the boys found him, recognized him, and brought him there. Apparently, “Billy the Kid” has earned a name and has “wanted” posters all over the state. Both Billy and Barbara find out that they both escaped from their past in some way and thus belonged to the same tribe, one that wants to “be free.” With the gang not coming back until a week or so, they both spend time with each other and develop a liking that turns physical. Until one day, finally, the Seven River Gang returns. And as fate would have it, one of the members was Billy’s old pal Jesse. And that’s when Barbara tells Billy, “Billy, I’m sorry.” Episode 4 ends with Jesse and Billy staring at each other.
Barbara’s apology is a clear indication that she was told by her gang, probably Jesse, to keep Billy company by whatever means necessary until they returned. Episode 5 will seemingly explore the tension between Billy and Jesse. After all, Jesse ran away without even thinking about helping Billy at the Chinese laundry. On the other hand, Billy has a handsome reward on his head, and Jesse, who knows this, will never let go of the chance to claim it. Also, it is possible that, after realizing the notoriety Billy has earned, Jesse recruits him in his gang since it will make them famous too. Be that as it may, the next episode will be a test for “Billy the Kid”.
