That Dirty Black Bag Ending Explained

The Great Duel

A brief flashback to start the story kicks off episode 8 of That Dirty Black Bag. Anderson and Billy’s adventures reveal the birth of “that dirty black bag”. While passing through to New Orleans and a fresh stack of men in the back of their cart, they’re attacked. Anderson and the horse are dead but Billy kills the man just in time. He severs the heads of all the men and carries them in the bag.

Does Thompson find the gold?

Thompson, having finally found the gold he has been after for all his life, promises on his father’s grave to realize their shared dream. His madness spills into him forcing Steve to sign over the land to him by taking Dorian, hostage. He threatens to kill him if he doesn’t do it. Another flashback shows the story of the two brothers, Carlo and Marco (Bronson and McCoy) in Rome. As small-time thugs, they dream of going to America and creating a better life. McCoy is the calmer one, Bronson, the hot-head.

Bronson and his party reach Greenvale. They offer $100 to anyone who takes them to Candor. No one comes forward out of fear. Symone, who is at the bar and looking to reinvent herself and take charge of the city like Eve, offers to take them but for double the money. Bronson agrees. Steve takes Thompson to the gold mine. While the latter is busy admiring the mesmerizing sight, Steve picks up a lump and kills him. Dorian witnesses the incident and runs off, scared.

Who is killed in the standoff?

McCoy and Billy, in the present, come across the remaining of Bronson’s men. They have a Mexican standoff. McCoy and Billy are able to survive but both sustain injuries. Suddenly, McCoy demands that Billy leave the bag for the bounty money. He is fed up with his situation and wants to start afresh.

When Bolly refuses, the two have a standoff between them and McCoy is killed. Billy is injured and falls unconscious. Dorian and Steve stumble upon the scene and discover that Billy is breathing. They take him back to the house.

How does That Dirty Black Bag Season 1 end?

Bronson finds McCoy’s body and carries it around with him. Back at his house, the girl from the previous episode is being prepared for “the ritual”, which still seems like some form of ritual. Billy spots Dorian reading from the same book as Bronson’s wife. The episode ends with a closeup of the dirty black bag, now in possession of Bronson.

The Episode Review

To put it simply, the season one finale is disappointing. For all the build-up of sub-plotlines, none actually come to fruition in the end. Even the central story is left untreated. Lazy writing and lackadaisical direction have really let the viewers and the cast down. “The Great Duel” seems to lack purpose. Just for the sake of including all the main characters, some screen time is given to each.

The love affair with unceremonious deaths continues and the season finale has plenty of them. Creators do not seem to take too much liking to give them enough respect to go. It is probably okay when you consider how brutally they’re killed in the cinematic universe. There is still no clarity on “The Eye”. Its meaning, the rituals, nothing makes sense. ‘That Dirty Black Bag’ has left too much to the viewer’s imagination.

The only relation we can make, logically, is a connection to the black arts. It is not the wisest tactic not to answer pivotal questions for your viewer until the final episode. It is downright maniacal not to do it in the last episode, though. Watching the end did not evoke the slightest of responses from me. The repetition is annoying as well. For things that have been established before in the earlier episodes, why waste more time doing the same things over again?

Nothing comes together as it should. Even the title seems somewhat misleading after having watched the episode. What was supposed to be a grand showdown turns out to be a tepid affair. Given how much the creators have played around with anticipation in season one, watching season two would be a challenge.

• Episode Rating

Episode Guide

Episode 1 -| Review Score – 3.5/5
Episode 2 -| Review Score – 4/5
Episode 3 -| Review Score – 4.5/5
Episode 4 -| Review Score – 4/5
Episode 5 –| Review Score – 3.5/5
Episode 6 -| Review Score – 3.5/5
Episode 7-| Review Score – 3.5/5
Episode 8 -| Review Score – 2/5

It is a fact that the number of Westerns made has achingly decreased over the years. When the movie culture started decades ago, it was the go-to structure to tell a story. Most stories were weaved around the familiar sites of mountain ranges and desert-like terrain. They contemplated the good vs. evil narrative by creating alpha males who couldn’t be tamed. Today, only fleeting memories remain. And ‘That Dirty Black Bag’ is certainly not the way to remember them.

The presentation is almost flawless. Against the haunting backdrop of picturesque Spain, the story unfolds several scores ago post the aftermath of the gold rush.

The small town of Greenvale now suffers from an acute lack of rainfall that has pushed its habitants towards desolation. Amidst the heavy migration, peace in town hangs by a thread courtesy of Sherriff McCoy – a man with dubious principles – and his deputies. It disrupts into violence when a bounty arrives looking for a man with a knife having an eye etched into it.

From there, the story spirals into exploring themes such as savagery, Western lawlessness, and the insatiable well of revenge plunging men into violence and self-destruction.

The most attractive feature of the production is undoubtedly the cinematography. There are so many beautiful shots, my gallery is now swelling with screenshots!

Kudos to the DoP who hits it out of the park with his work. But what we see in terms of this particular facet of the storytelling is not matched by the central narration.

‘That Dirty Black Bag’s season one is filled with moments where the expectations are sky-high. The display of craft is genuinely impressive and promises to lead to better things. But the inconsistency kills any momentum the show might have had.

It instead has to rely on acting performances and action set-pieces to ride the storm. Not that they are bad, but become insufficient to handle the burden after a point of time. For instance, after spending so much time building Aidan Gillan’s character and his mysterious rituals, there is no explanation for his connection to Bronson. Even the ritual, its importance, and the intention of those summoning the demon are not disclosed.

Season one also lacks any cohesion in terms of bringing the various storylines together. The expanse seems so restricted that characters just randomly keep bumping into each other.

The most compelling and motivated study is that of Red. Time allocation to his arc does not do justice to the potential it had to elevate the show. The grotesqueness reaches absurd levels of violence that are hard to turn away from because of how aesthetically they’re pulled off.

One sequence in the final episode shows a dead horse and a man, and seven other decapitated bodies lying in pools of blood. The aerial shot that captures it is just an example of how these gruesome images define an era.

An ingrained sense of desperation follows the vice of greed. The purest of men have faltered to its alluring trap and the men in and outside Greenvale are no exception. Besides Steve, who is the moral compass of the show and is carelessly relegated to the sidelines for much of the middle part of the season, none seem to get their grip on reality. The shining gold blinds them all.

As a cultural representation of the times, ‘That Dirty Black Bag’ does a respectful job. It makes sure the details are as authentic as possible.

With respect to social concerns like the position of women and the hierarchy of men within the social structure, creators mark a special place for themselves. The small positives, however, do not hide the fact that this fails to distinguish itself from other television dramas around. This is merely one among a crowd of many.

The mixed bag of results does not tempt me to pursue the second season with the enthusiasm I started the first season. If you are a sucker for the genre itself or want to see beautiful camerawork, catch glimpses of the show. Otherwise, this does not come very highly recommended.

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