'Billy The Kid' Season 3 Episode 7 Recap: Did Billy Kill Pat Garrett?

In Billy the Kid Season 3, Episode 6, we got to know that the outlaw with a $50,000 bounty on his head, the man who was hated by many and admired by a few, had survived. William H. Bonney, aka Billy the Kid, wasn’t just a fugitive; he was a personification of the voice of the common man standing up against a corrupt system. He was a victim of his circumstances, someone who had endured a lot of pain in his childhood yet refused to get bogged down by the adversities life threw at him. People weren’t naive to support him or follow him blindly. They saw something in the Kid, something that inspired confidence and that made them feel more assured than the government ever could. It was a miracle that Billy was still alive. Garrett’s bullet had missed his heart by just a few inches. Garrett knew deep down that the Kid was alive, but his pride and his arrogance didn’t let him accept reality. Garrett, in the previous episode, had been fired from his post as the sheriff of Lincoln County. He decided to write a book about his quest to hunt down Billy the Kid. He stated in his book how he had killed the Kid, but people’s fear just didn’t let them accept the truth. Garrett knew that he had lost and probably he wouldn’t be able to achieve what he had set out to. So let’s find out what Billy’s grand plan for which he needed Jesse by his side was, and if he is able to accomplish it.

Spoiler Alert

What was the reason behind Catron’s paranoia? 

Just like Garrett drowned himself in his misery and started drinking in order to come to terms with his defeat, Catron did pretty much the same thing to deal with his fears. But he knew that his single malts weren’t going to help his cause. I wouldn’t deny that I enjoyed watching Catron in that state of paranoia. The man was literally scared for his life even though he had the entire system in his grasp. He had tightened his security; his house had become a heavily guarded fortress, but still he felt that Billy would arrive and just kill him one day. He increased the reward on Billy’s head to 75,000 dollars, and that showed the kind of helplessness he was feeling. Catron made a public announcement that though Garrett had shot Billy the Kid, there was no evidence to prove that he had actually died. The worst thing was that Catron didn’t have anybody around him who loved him unconditionally. There was Emily, but she, too, never really appreciated her father for who he was. In fact, she had not talked to him for the longest time but then she had decided to go back to him after her husband passed away, maybe in the hope that she would be able to mend her relationship. She knew that her father had a role to play in her husband’s death, which made her even more aloof. That was the problem with Catron: he felt that money could buy anything, but he was wrong. Catron didn’t know how to buy loyalty, which was the reason why he felt so scattered; he couldn’t depend on anybody. There were people who followed his orders because they were on his payroll, but nobody was going to put their lives on the line for him. That was the difference between Billy and Catron. Billy had earned the loyalty of his men, and there were people who could do anything for him. Catron got to know about the robberies that happened in the banks owned by him. He presumed that it was the work of Billy and that the dreaded fugitive was gearing up for the final showdown. 

Did Billy kill Pat Garrett?

Pat did all sorts of odd jobs to earn his livelihood after he got fired by Catron. From working with a blacksmith to being a prison guard, he did everything, and it felt like the man had lost his sense of purpose, his identity. He had made certain decisions in his life, and he knew that he had to live with them. Garrett desperately wanted to become famous. That was the reason he had decided to hunt down Billy. He pretended that he had taken up the quest just because he wanted to clean the streets and make sure nobody broke the fabric of civil society. But that was just a pretense he put up for the people. Garrett was working at a blacksmith’s workshop when the daughter of the man who owned the business expressed her desire to get intimate with him. She was 16 years old, and so Garrett didn’t want anything to do with her. But the girl was persistent, and Garrett finally gave in. The next day that wicked girl went and told her father that his employee had forced himself upon her. Garret was fired from the job, and after that he was employed at the penitentiary, where his job was to travel with the prisoners who were being transferred to other facilities. Billy and Jesse were on the move, and finally they were able to catch their man. There was fear in Garrett’s eyes. He couldn’t believe that Billy was still alive. It felt to him that he was seeing a dream, and he just couldn’t make sense of what he saw. He knew that Billy had come there with the intention of killing him. Garrett tried making Billy understand that whatever had happened between them was in the past and that they needed to put an end to it. But Billy knew that a man like Garrett didn’t deserve to live. Garrett was going to say something when Billy shot him in his chest and killed him. 

Why did Jesse and Billy part ways? 

Billy’s grand plan was to not only kill Pat Garrett but also kill the man who he felt was the ringmaster, the mastermind behind this whole mess. Catron was the one who was leader of the Santa Fe ring, and Billy felt that his revenge wouldn’t be complete till he killed the man. Jesse, on the other hand, was totally against the plan. Jesse was not wrong, as Catron, at the end of the day, was a politician and a very powerful man. Jesse felt that Billy had gotten a chance to change his life. He had come back from the dead, and people didn’t know if he was actually alive or not. Jesse wanted Billy to seize the opportunity and start a new life with Dulcinea. But Billy didn’t agree with Jesse. He felt that it was his duty to fight the corrupt setup. Billy’s stubbornness at that moment felt like that of a revolutionary who always held his people and the welfare of his country above anybody else. Billy stood for a cause, and it was not merely about killing the man who had hurt his people. Billy and hundreds of families had come to the country hoping that they would get an opportunity to make their lives better. Nothing of that sort happened for them, and they all were let down by the system. The entire economy of the nation was controlled by a handful of people who didn’t care if a common man lived or died. So, at the end of episode 7, Billy and Jesse parted ways. Billy took it upon his ego, and he rode the other way, but deep down he knew that he wouldn’t be able to accomplish what he had set out for if he didn’t have Jesse by his side. It will be interesting to see what happens next and if Billy is able to get the better of Catron. 

...