Episode 4 finds Bass and Dana seeking the quickest way to Tuskaheegee for the science fair. Opting to ride the train, the duo face a multiple blockades from society’s racial hierarchy.

The episode opens with a flashback retelling the day Bass lost Nanye. White soldiers raided the reservation, forcing everyone to flee. A pregnant Nanye fights back, unleashing her Holy People power, setting the enemy and the surrounding area ablaze. She is shot in battle, leaving Reeves to be saved by his horse, Rio. As the smoke settles, Etta finds Nanye has given birth. In her dying breath, she names the child Anhi.

A second flashback occurs at the train station, when Bass tells Dana to purchase their tickets. We see her as a young girl boarding the train with her mother and Black servant. Dana and her mom part ways to board the front car, while the man boards the rear. Confused, Dana blurts out she wants to ride with Daddy, revealing herself as biracial. In the present, she faces the same dilemma as Bass boards the colored car. Ashamed, she sits in the whites-only car in worried silence.

Once on the train, Bass runs into a group of Black bounty hunters led by a war comrade, Joe Warrant. Bass tells them about his last hunt to become a U.S. marshal, and the group laughs in his face. They reveal the promise is an old trick the army pulls on Black soldiers; suicide missions. In retaliation, Warrant and the men have plotted to rob the train of what they’re owed. Meanwhile, Reeves spots Anhi amongst the crowded car.

As Reeves contemplates stopping the heist, Dana is clocked by a woman passing for white. She understands her plight of existing in both worlds, but warns society will force her to choose. As masked men swarm the car, Dana makes her decision sneaks her away to the caboose.

Dana finds Bass under surrender as Joe holds Anhi at gunpoint. He signals for her to climb atop the train, but Joe catches their covert attack. Suddenly, Anhi’s eyes glow blue and lightning subdues Joe. Bass and Anhi realize who each other are. Anhi views him as a weapon of the white man, but Dana defends Bass as a helper of all people. Anhi agrees to help, but is not on his side.

Bass and the robbers exchange gunfire as Dana leads the white people to safety. Suddenly, train guards arrive ordering all Blacks back to the colored car. Despite his protest. Bass is rounded up with the rest of the criminals. Warrant reminds Bass that following the white man’s rules led him right to the back of the train. Disappointed, he spots Anhi atop of the train car.

“This Train’s Being Integrated” tackles Bass and Dana’s longstanding moral dilemmas due to society’s racism. One one hand, Bass Reeves and Joe Warrant represent a double consciousness of the Black American. They lead exemplary, patriotic lives as described by the American Dream, only to be met with the cold hand of oppression. While Bass is right to object the violent revenge, Warrant is not wrong, leaving both men in an unfortunate cycle.

Dana being mixed race is a slightly different problem, but rooted in the same oppression. Her biracial heritage allows her to exist as a white woman, offering a level of comfort that many fair-skinned Blacks chose. But, we see that game brings a different anxiety. And with her longing to join the Black community puts their safety at risk, she’s left alone in the middle waring with herself.

Separate from the themes, the Anhi reveal was excellent, and brings a different perspective of the alliance with Rivenbark. Perhaps as a former Confederate soldier, he and Lighthorse share the same animosity against the government. An “enemy of my enemy is my friend” arrangement.

An exceptional episode of the series.

Rating: 10/10