Warning, spoilers ahead for Billy the Kid.
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Try as he might to clean up his act, Billy the Kid just keeps getting dragged into a life of crime. In episode 5, "The Little Bit of Paradise," Billy makes his way down to Mexico, where he finds himself in difficult and life-changing situations. Though initially crossing paths with his old outlaw partner Jesse Evans at the beginning of the episode, Billy really is determined to turn things around for himself. Unfortunately, everything in Mexico just leads him down a darker path.
Here are the 7 biggest takeaways from Billy the Kid episode 5.
Jesse wants Billy to join his gang
Last we saw, Billy was at Jesse's hideout, where he had been nursed back to health by Barbara, Jesse's girl. It's an unpleasant surprise upon Jesse's return that Barbara is in a relationship with his old friend. Last Billy saw the outlaw, he left him high and dry to take the blame for robbing the Chinese laundry, but it seems Billy is moving on from that incident. Jesse invites Billy to formally join his gang, saying that they would ride down to El Paso. Billy isn't sure...despite his current record, he really doesn't feel like a criminal. He wants to go straight and try to make an honest living.
There's some tension in the Billy, Jesse and Barbara love triangle
Jesse figures out something is going on between Barbara and Billy and calls her out on it. She admits that she has feelings for him and wants to feel how she wants about each of them, not getting tied down to just one person. Billy tells Barbara that he's in love with her but isn't willing to share her with Jesse. She doesn't want to "belong" to either of them, so the whole situation creates an awkward tension around the house.
Billy borrows a horse from Jesse and decides to leave. He gives Barbara an affectionate goodbye as Jesse watches angrily. He pulls out his rifle to shoot Billy as he rides off but can't bring himself to pull the trigger. Barbara tells him it's because he loves Billy, and he doesn't say anything.
Billy makes it down to Mexico
The Kid's fresh start in Mexico doesn't start out so great. A little boy offers to clean his boots for him and steals them from him. Then he almost gets killed by bandits in an alley. Luckily, a Mexican man named Segura breaks up the fight and saves his life. He explains that white men aren't too popular in Chihuahua because they keep coming down to try and take their land. Striking up a friendship with Billy, he tells him that if he's going to make it, he needs to buy a new gun.
Billy impresses Segura with his shooting skills, and as a result, Segura begs him to join in a dangerous poker game. He lost all of his money to a man who cheated him, and he wants to win it back.
Billy and Segura hit it big in poker
Billy and Segura enter the dangerous game, run by a man named Don Ortiz. It's very clear that Ortiz isn't running a clean game, and his men don't look pleased when Billy wins big. He allows Billy and Segura to leave with their winnings though, because he feels confident that they will come back to the game. Billy says he has no intention of ever going back to that game, feeling like he almost lost his life.
Excited about their winnings, the two men go to celebrate with a night on the town, where they meet two beautiful women.
Billy and Segura lose everything
The two women introduce themselves as the daughters of the most prominent family in town. They invite Billy and Segura to their home to share a meal, where they meet their mother, the woman of the house. Something seems off, though, because the girls said that their father was dead, and the woman feels confident throughout the meal that her husband will be returning soon. After drinking way too much tequila, Billy and Segura wake up in the guest room to discover that they have been robbed blind. The two women took everything they had.
They discover that they weren't actually the daughters of the woman of the house but her nieces. She tells them that they left that morning for Sacramento, and Billy and Segura are devastated. They head to the local bank intending to rob it, but Billy can't follow through. He just can't bring himself to rob all of the local families in the town of their savings even though he clearly needs the cash.
Back to the Don Ortiz poker game
With no money, it's no surprise where they end up. As Don Ortiz predicted, Billy and Segura head back to the poker game to try and make back what they lost. Billy only has a few bullets and his gun as collateral to enter the game but feels confident that he will be successful. He catches Ortiz cheating as he distributes the cards and makes him fix the mistake, resulting in a straight flush for Segura. The two men leave the game successful, happy to be leaving with much more than they came in with. Don Ortiz nods at his men as they leave, clearly giving them a go-ahead to do something.
Billy and Segura ride off down the road singing together, excited that they improved their predicament. Segura says he's headed to New Mexico to deal with some family business, and Billy muses that he'll probably check out Texas, having heard good things about El Paso. They head their separate ways.
Billy makes his first intentional kill
Billy is asleep by his campfire when he's woken by gunshots shooting in his direction. It's Don Ortiz and his men coming to get the money he won playing poker. Billy manages to shoot everyone and holds a gun to Don Ortiz, the last man standing, as he attempts to flee into the night. Ortiz offers to go into business with Billy since he's a smart kid, begging him for his life. He promises to spare Segura if Billy lets him go, and Billy pulls the trigger. It's his first intentional kill, and you can see all of the conflicting emotions on his face as he processes what just happened.
READ MORE: Tom Blyth Brings a Youthful Authenticity to Billy the Kid in New Epix Series [Interview]
