Billy, as he pondered, found himself at the mercy of a script that seemed to make decisions for him. Murphy's desire for Billy and his companions to forcibly evict the poor farmers from his land cast a dark shadow over the proceedings. Mrs. Riley's hatred for her husband reached a boiling point, as she begged Billy to take her away, her terror at the thought of staying with her husband evident in every line of her pleading. Taking matters into her own hands, she planted a kiss on Billy's lips, a gesture witnessed by all. When Riley confronted her about it, she shot him dead, and he returned the favor, wounding her in the process. It would be impossible for any show's protagonist to take the side of these people.
To further drive home the point, Jesse and his associates' attempts at relocating the farmers were nothing short of massacres, their laughter and jokes a chilling reminder of the horror they had wrought. Billy turned to Tunstall at Bowdre's farm, while Jesse and his men continued their gruesome work, their jokes and laughter a mockery of the carnage they had wrought. Tunstall, with his promise to petition the governor for Billy's exoneration, didn't need much of a pitch—there was right and there was wrong.
McSween's efforts to get justice for the farmers were stymied by the sheriff's lack of action and the lack of real evidence against Murphy. Even the idea that Tunstall was responsible for the killings began to surface. With Murphy's connections to the Santa Fe Ring, there was no way this conflict could be resolved in court. But Murphy already had sharpshooters on his side and was hiring more, so Tunstall needed a secret weapon to give his side the upper hand. And at that moment, Billy the Kid walked in, ready to do his job.
To Billy's credit, he rode back to Jesse and his gang to tell them in person that he was switching sides. While Jesse was not happy about it, he told the others to let Billy ride away, claiming their time would come soon enough. And I'm sure it will, though obviously not in this season's final episode, which ended on a whimper.
You can stream Billy the Kid season 1, episode 8, "The Rampage," exclusively on Epix. What are your thoughts on Billy the Kid's ending? Share them in the comments below.
