The Ladies of La Belle

The Ladies of La Belle is the 2nd episode in the series.

Synopsis
La Belle wrestles with an all-or-nothing offer. Bill seeks a dangerous way to prove himself, and Frank shares a story with a captive audience.

Plot
“The Ladies of La Belle” opens with the arrival of the Quicksilver Limited Mining Company, led by the smarmy Mr. Valentine, accompanied by a sinister-looking new Head of Security named Ed Logan, played by the excellent Kim Coates of  Sons of Anarchy  fame. Later in the episode, Valentine meets with Mary Agnes over a dinner discussion about what will happen to the La Belle mine. Valentine plays gender politics immediately, using fear (“A town full of ladies — it’s ripe fruit for the wicked”) and bullying to get his way (constantly calling Mary Agnes “Miss McNue” after she tells him she returned to her maiden name). He claims Quicksilver can make the town whole again, but they want 90 percent of the claim as they will be paying 100 percent of the costs of the materials and manpower. Mary Agnes tries to refuse, but the rest of the women in town go along with this shady deal, taking the safety of the Quicksilver men, money and protection.

Before Griffin can get to La Belle, Sheriff Bill McNue is dreaming about his wife. He hears a gunshot, and finds a couple of dummies in the center of town. It’s here we meet Deputy Whitey Winn (Thomas Brodie-Sangster), who shoots one of the troublemakers in the arm and tells ’em to get. We also get a solid scene between Roy, now in a jail cell, and Bill. Roy can tell that Bill is losing his sight, and it’s confirmed that Bill’s wife died in childbirth. They discuss turning the table and trying to track Frank before he gets to La Belle.

While Alice Fletcher struggles to manage her horses with Roy gone, Bill comes looking for his sister, finding an undressed woman in her house. It turns out that Mary Agnes McNue is in a lesbian relationship with the town teacher, which leads Bill to question whether or not his sister can watch her niece and nephew because she’s “not maternal no more.” He tells her that Roy and Whitey are going to meet up with Marshal Cook and go after Frank. And then Bill goes and says good-bye to Alice in a way that suggests he doesn’t think he’s coming back.

Meanwhile, the evil depths of the Griffin Gang sink even deeper after they come across a foreign family around a campfire. As Frank malevolently hugs a child, he tells us a little bit about his background, and, by extension, Roy’s. We learn that a man kidnapped Frank after killing his family, raising him by the “stick and gun and knife.” Frank is so damaged that he considers this a greater form of love, which he also bestowed upon Roy: “He’s my son. I chose him. That is a more powerful bond and a more powerful love than being born into it.” Not only did Roy Goode take Frank’s money and betray his gang, but Frank sees this as a son stabbing his own father in the back. He forces the men to choose which of their wives he will sleep with that night, and wakes the next morning to castigate them for not fighting harder to protect their women and children. He’s a vicious lunatic, the kind of man who will force you into submission and then yell at you for submitting.

As Bill Griffin heads out of town, Alice Fletcher arrives to break Roy Goode out of jail. She holds up Deputy Whitey Winn at gunpoint, making him trade places with his prisoner. Roy is here to stay, Alice says, and he’s going to help her break the horses. She’ll teach him how to read in exchange.

Bill arrives in a café with coffee strong enough to float an egg. A man offers the sheriff some glasses to help with his vision for the rock-bottom price of twenty-five cents. He then tells Bill a story about a man leading a group of men who spoke of going home to a place called Bald Knob. He sends a telegraph to Cook that they have “RG” in custody and will meet up with him soon. Meanwhile, Frank Griffin finds an unusual sight: the nearly biblical vision of a swarm of bees that seem to have infested his dead arm, which is now pointing to a nearby town. Is Mother Nature or something more insidious guiding the Griffin Gang to Roy Goode?

Appearances
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 * Character 1
 * Character 2

Notes & trivia

 * The Griffin Gang is getting even more notorious. A regional newspaper prints a story that Frank doesn’t particularly like, leading him to the home of the reporter who wrote it, A.T. Grigg. He wants the reporter to write a story about Griffin that helps enhance his legend and makes his vengeance clear. As he says, “I want you to write that Roy Goode betrayed me and that I will kill anyone who harbors him.”