1 Deleted Scene From Lawmen Bass Reeves’ Finale Failed A Crucial Character’s Ending
An intense confrontation between Jennie & the Ku Klux Klan in the Lawmen: Bass Reeves trailer never came to fruition in the season 1 finale.
One deleted scene left out of the Lawmen: Bass Reeves finale would have completely changed the ending for a crucial character in the series. The eight-part miniseries concluded with Bass Reeves (David Oyelowo) facing off against the recently discovered Mr. Sundown (Barry Pepper) in an intense Old West shootout. While Bass’ fictionalized moral and religious dilemmas were able to come full circle by the end of Lawmen: Bass Reeves, the matter of his wife Jennie’s safety against several racially charged threats on their family ranch in Van Buren, Arkansas doesn’t feel quite as complete.
The Lawmen: Bass Reeves ending featured heroic performances by Bass Reeves, Billy Crow (Forrest Goodluck), and Sherill Lynn (Dennis Quaid) as they rescued Jackson Cole from the treacherous captivity of Mr. Sundown, also known as Esua Pierce. Back at home, Jennie Reeves (Lauren E. Banks) had reconciled with her old friend Esme who had used her to connect her business associate Edwin Jones with Bass. In the Lawmen: Bass Reeves finale, Jennie is stunned to be visited by the wife of her former slave owner Rachel Reeves (Jessica Oyelowo) who returns with a sinister intention of bringing the Reeves family back to Texas in chains.
Jennie’s Deleted KKK Confrontation Scene Undermines The Series’ Climatic Build-Up
The scene was completely left out of the Lawmen: Bass Reeves finale
The Lawmen: Bass Reeves season 1 trailer features Jennie Reeves holding a gun outside her Van Buren home to a mob of apparent Ku Klux Klan members. Jennie tells the mob, “You got til the count of five to get off my land.” One of the KKK members makes a comment about her gun, saying “Lady, you got two shells in that bird-killer.” Jennie steps closer and responds, “Then I’ll just shoot you twice. Just to be safe.” It’s one of the most intense and memorable scenes in the Lawmen: Bass Reeves trailer but doesn’t end up making the final cut of the Lawmen: Bass Reeves series finale.
Throughout the later episodes of Lawmen: Bass Reeves, there had been a climatic build-up toward the climatic confrontation between the KKK and Jennie Reeves that was depicted in the trailer. After Sally Reeves tells off a racist young girl in Lawmen: Bass Reeves episode 5, who later shows up on Jennie’s doorstep in Lawmen: Bass Reeves episode 7, she finds the girl’s older brother staring at her from the edge of her property in Lawmen: Bass Reeves episode 6. This dramatic action was all building up to the KKK vs. Jennie Reeves scene from the trailer that ultimately didn’t happen in the Lawmen: Bass Reeves finale.
Why Lawmen: Bass Reeves Creator Chad Feehan Decided To Remove The Scene
Chad Feehan said the scene was removed to have a more “impactful” ending
The showrunner and creator of Lawmen: Bass Reeves, Chad Feehan, recently explained why the scene was deleted from the series altogether. According to TVLine, Feehan explained that “we decided that having Jennie and Bass both be revisited by ghosts of Christmas past, to use a very timely analogy, was more of an impactful and more of a mirrored image experience for the two of them.” Feehan also added, “Having Rachel revisit Jennie in the finale and having Bass visit Esau, it felt harmonious to end the show in that manner.” According to these comments, Feehan and crew didn’t envision the finale having the conflict with the KKK in addiction to the reappearance of Rachel Reeves.
How Jennie’s Confrontation Scene Would Have Made Lawmen: Bass Reeves Finale Better
The deleted scene could have tied up some loose ends & character arcs
Feehan’s explanation doesn’t exactly sum up or justify removing the scene from the Lawmen: Bass Reeves finale, since doing so left a major gap in the series altogether. The omission actually raises more questions, such as what is the connection between the racist girl Clementine, her older brother Brent, and Rachel Reeves? There is also the scene with the burning effigy outside the Reeves family home in Lawmen: Bass Reeves episode 7. All the previous signs in the series point to the confrontation between Jennie and the KKK as shown in the trailer, but instead the audience is given an anticlimactic and random appearance from Rachel that feels less impactful.
Based on the context alone, it appears that removing the Jennie vs. KKK confrontation may have been a last-minute edit by the creators of Lawmen: Bass Reeves. There is also the question of what happened to Arthur Mayberry, Sally’s love interest throughout the series, which may have something to do with the deleted scene. Arthur had told Sally he planned to leave Fort Smith, but his affection for Sally and his involvement in the earlier confrontations with Clementine and Brent make it seem like he would have some involvement in Lawmen: Bass Reeves which may have been a part of the deleted scene.