‘That Dirty Black Bag’ Recap – ‘Chapter Five: Justice’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode Five of ‘That Dirty Black Bag’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
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It is definitely safe to say… that last week’s episode of That Dirty Black Bag on AMC+, outright surprised its audience. After all, ‘Chapter Three: Alliances’ ended with some big reveals and some big surprises, the kind that made it seem as though the fallout of Eve’s decision and the pending arrival of Bronson’s brutes was going to be the focus of the next episode, instead of a powerful exploration that dug into the past and showed us how everyone arrived at the points they’re at now. But alas, that was the bold twist that this series took and well, in the end… it was definitely a wise decision on the part of the writer’s room. Since it truly added incredible gravity to the next chapter in this powerful tale. 
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Because a return to the present with backstories in hand, could only mean one thing… that this series was about to kick into overdrive and work toward bringing everything together in a brisk manner and that is precisely what we got in ‘Chapter Five: Justice’. For this is a story that saw Red Bill and Sheriff McCoy begin to properly make their way back to town after spending days in the desert and the mines for that matter as well, and their return will undoubtedly bring about some serious conflict for certain. Since Red Bill saw the marks on McCoy’s back, indicating to him the potential ties that McCoy had to the whole mess involving his mother and that set the stage for grand showdown between these two men. 

Not to mention, there is now incredible trouble waiting for McCoy back in town. Since his big brother’s thugs have arrived and set up shop and were so eager to get their hands on the money that they were ready to do something quite drastic during an important event. But while setup and tension and progress were quite nice, let’s be honest… it is Eve’s fate that had all of us tuning in eagerly to this particular tale. Because we simply had to know if she was going to face charges or not for what she did to Nathan and as it turned out… she was going to pay the piper. For this was murder and she was caught and that pushed Steve to finally decide how he wanted to handle his relationship with Eve. 

Which for him, involved putting his love of Eve above anything else. To the point where he brought gold to the Sheriff’s office in an attempt to buy her freedom. But Eve simply had enough of fighting and running and being alone and regardless of Steve’s romantic overtures, knowing she could never truly have him was enough to just rob her of hope and that eventually brought about the big event in question. Specifically, her hanging. An act that forced Steve and Symone to watch helplessly as someone that meant the world to them died right before their eyes. And this once again hammered home the savage nature of this story and this harrowing time period and outright made it clear that going forward, all bets are off for this story.

Because if someone as important to the story as Eve can die in the blink of an eye, anyone can, and with trouble still looming on the horizon… who knows who the next casualty of the wild west will be. But while we wait to see what troubles come next, we can once again applaud a quality story. Because this episode didn’t waste a singular moment and found unique ways to tie together the past with the present in a manner that added weight to everything, we learned last week and well, all the ending of this episode does is leave us hungry for more. Because we simply have to know what other bold storytelling choices us await us and that is going to make the wait for next week’s tale, an excruciating one for certain. Until next time.

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