Debating whether you want to watch Lawmen: Bass Reeves? Well, you can try before you buy (a Paramount Plus subscription), as the entire first episode is available to watch right now on YouTube for free.
The Taylor Sheridan-created Lawmen: Bass Reeves, which debuted on Sunday, November 5, with its first two episodes, is the latest Paramount Plus original series from the prolific writer. It joins the likes of 1883, 1923, Mayor of Kingstown, Tulsa King and Special Ops: Lioness. Lawmen is intended to be an anthology series, which will focus on real-life figures. In this first iteration, it is based on the old west US Marshal Bass Reeves, who in the series is played by David Oyelowo (Selma). Also starring in the series are Dennis Quaid, Donald Sutherland, Lauren E. Banks, Demi Singleton, Forrest Goodluck, Barry Pepper and Shea Whigham.
The first episode that is available to watch on YouTube is simply titled "Part I," and has the official synopsis of: "Bass rides into hell. Esau makes a violent impression on Bass. Bass escapes his chains, but has to make a hard sacrifice."
As a Paramount Plus series, Lawmen: Bass Reeves is streaming exclusively on the platform, which does have a one-week free trial, but after which you are automatically signed up for a monthly subscription. So having the first episode of the series available to watch on YouTube is a great way for potentially interested viewers to try out the series before having to commit to another streaming subscription service.
Making an original series available for non-subscribers is not uncommon for Paramount Plus. They've often aired Taylor Sheridan-created series' first episode (or even first couple) on the Paramount Network cable channel (or in one case after its initial run, all 1883 episodes) but that didn't happen with Lawmen: Bass Reeves. However, sharing them on YouTube hasn't been uncommon in the past.
The practice has also been done by other networks/streaming platforms, most recently Max, which has The Gilded Age season 1 episode 1 currently available or free on YouTube.
But if you want to watch Lawmen: Bass Reeves episode 2 or any of the other episodes that are going to be airing in the coming weeks, you are going to need to sign up for Paramount Plus, as they are going to stream there exclusively.
