S1:e21 - Company Man

s1:e21 - Company Man

Y'all, this is the episode for angsty Jess expressions. And Slim looks so beautiful in these shots, too. ❤️💙

Long story short, a new stage line superintendent, Jack Slade (excellent character name, btw) shows up to fire Jess due to his "history". Slim of course jumps in to defend him, which leads to this hilarious exchange:

JH - "Thanks, Slim." SS - "Don't thank me. The privilege of firing you belongs to me, and nobody else."

Unfortunately, Slade won't be deterred, and hangs around for the entire episode, assisting with getting back their stage line horses from thieves who struck the night before.

One of my favorite conversations between Slim and Jess happens in this episode. Jess is brooding in their bedroom and Slim comes in to see what's going on. Slim gets straight to the root of the issue: Jess isn't worried about being killed by Slade, despite Slade's reputation. He's worried about killing Slade and bringing the ire of the stage line down on Slim.

SS - "This place wouldn't be the same without you and your troubles." JH - "You really mean that?" SS - "Yes, I really mean that."

At the end of the episode, Slade endangers the entire household in a standoff with the horse thieves, but fortunately everyone is OK except for Slade. He thanks Jess for his service to the stage line before dying, so we get kind of a mini-redemption thing and almost feel sorry for the guy. Almost.

P.S.: It's worth noting that a fictionalized Samuel Clemens (yes, Mark Twain) is a stage passenger in this episode, and gets some fun snarky dialogue, especially with Slade.