'Billy the Kid' Episode 4 Review: Is Jesse alive? Billy's journey continues as known face returns
The journey from being an innocent young man to an outlaw has begun for William H. Bonney, aka ‘Billy the Kid’, and it has been filled with heartbreaks, tragic deaths, and betrayals. In the previous episode of the EPIX series, we saw Billy losing the last two living members of his family. He lost his father when he was very young and now, he lost his mother and younger brother due to an unknown disease.
As a young guy, he took another route and started earning money. However, the mission doesn’t go as expected and he is sent to prison. But he stages a fake suicide attempt to get out of the prison and starts his journey as an outlaw. If episode 3 was about making hard choices, then the latest episode is all about living with those choices and not looking back. Billy (Tom Blyth) has reached an unknown territory and encounters a man named Alias. They developed a good friendship with each other as they both were outlaws. Billy takes the journey with him to Texas, where they meet Mr. Hooker who is a wealthy businessman.
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They start working for him and earn some money. A few days later, Alias kills Hooker so that he can take all the money that he has earned and leaves Billy. In one scene, Billy, Alias, and more of Hooker’s men steal some horses from one of the ranches and it has been shot really magnificently. On the other hand, you feel for Billy because as soon as he starts trusting anyone, he gets backstabbed by them.
In the process, he accidentally kills a man named Mr. Cahill after he attacks Billy. That scene showed how he actually didn’t want to kill someone in his life. I mean, if someone attacks you with a gun, you will try to save yourself and Billy was just doing that. This is when the trigger got pressed and Cahill got killed.
Apart from being an outlaw, Billy has started to become a ladies' man as well. During Texas, he met a girl named Alice and she got really fond of him. They both had sex with each other and when we thought that we might see a love story, Billy had to leave because he had a bounty on his head.
However, it’s the ending that would surprise everyone. So, after escaping jail for the second time, he gets captured by the Indians who don't kill him but take out his horse. He gets really tired after walking in scorching heat and falls down. When he opens his eyes, he is in New Mexico, getting treated by a girl named Barbara. They spend some time with each other and fall in love. Barbara is a member of a gang and one of the boys got Billy to a safe haven.
But it turns out that it was someone he already knew from the past. Yes, we are talking about Jesse, the man who was shot during the robbery at the laundry. Jesse (Daniel Webber) is still alive and has brought him to New Mexico. So, the show is undoubtedly following the facts because Billy’s life journey shows that it was Jesse who comes to visit him after Billy becomes an outlaw.
The direction in this episode was absolutely perfect and Rachel Leiterman has done a phenomenal job. Meanwhile, Tom Blyth is literally a treat to watch as Billy. He is fierce and vulnerable at the same time. Perfect casting.
Of course, there’s still a lot to unravel from Billy’s journey, but the show has literally shown the world why so many people supported Billy even though he killed people. He didn’t become an outlaw by choice, he became an outlaw due to circumstances.
'Billy the Kid' returns to EPIX with a new episode every Sunday at 9 pm EST.
