1923, Taylor Sheridan’s second prequel series telling the story of the Dutton family’s origins, wrapped up its first season on February 26 with a doozy of a cliffhanger in true Sheridan fashion. The season was full of suspense, cliffhanger endings, and moments to shock and delight superfans of the Yellowstone franchise.
Yellowstone, available on the Paramount Network, recently finished its fifth season. Fans are eagerly awaiting the announcement of Season Six dates. The series follows the modern-day Dutton family navigating life on their Montana Ranch. 1883 provided backstory on the first generation of the Dutton family in Montana, and 1923 continues the family’s story. 1923 and 1883 are available to stream on Paramount+.
Spoiler alerts follow, so if you haven’t finished the season, bookmark this and come back later.
The biggest disappointment in Season 1 was that Spencer Dutton never does make it back to his family’s Montana ranch. The overarching plot line of the series is that Spencer needs to come home to save the family ranch and legacy, and just when we think he’s making progress, something happens.
Even though we never quite grasp that carrot Sheridan dangles in front of us, the series did have its edge-of-the-chair moments. While we’re waiting for more information on 1923’s second season (because we all want to know if Spencer makes it home to Montana), let’s take a look back at some of the most jaw-dropping moments of Season 1.
1. Eaten by a Leopard (Episode 1)
The series premiere introduces us to a new character, Spencer Dutton, played by Brandon Sklenar. This Dutton is about as far away from the family’s Montana ranch as it’s possible to get. He’s in Africa, hunting lions and leopards and running from his World War I demons.
Spencer catches the attention of a British woman on a luxury safari holiday (because he’s easy on the eyes), but unfortunately, her interest is her downfall. We see her slip from her tent in her nightgown and assume she will seek out Spencer, but something else seeks her out first.
The leopard Spencer has been hunting flies out of the grass and locks its fangs on her neck. Spencer, who has been waiting for the leopard, hears the commotion, but it’s too late. The big cat is already dragging her body up into a tree.
Spencer shoots the leopard, we see the shadow of another leopard on the tent, and his companions yell, “Spencer, there’s two of them!” and that adrenaline-charged moment is the end of Episode 1.
The woman is obviously dead, which is unfortunate in many ways. Being mauled by a leopard is surely a terrible way to go, which is compounded by the fact that we can tell Spencer wasn’t into her in the first place.
2. Teonna Rainwater Puts the Smackdown on Sister Mary (Episode 1)
While it’s a rare viewer that wouldn’t agree that the ruthless nun didn’t deserve what she got, this is the first of many violent scenes between these two, played by Aminah Nieves and Jennifer Ehle, but it jumps right in and addresses the often brutal treatment of Native Americans by Catholic priests and nuns and society in general.
Teonna Rainwater is a teenager girl being held in a Catholic boarding school against her will. The first few episodes of 1923 tell the story of her abuse and of how her family is trying to rescue her. The way Native Americans are treated by white society and white landowners is a central and important theme of 1923.
3. Alexandra Runs After Spencer (Episode 2)
Even though Alexandra, played by Julia Schlaepfer (whom we’ll later learn is the Countess of Sussex), has had but two brief encounters with the brooding lion hunter Spencer Dutton, there’s some serious smolder going on between these two, which gives us clues that the posh but down to earth Alexandra will be an essential part of the 1923 storyline.
By the way, if Alexandra and Spencer aren’t giving you some major Jack and Rose Titanic vibes, just wait for it.
As Spencer heads off on his next adventure, he tips his hat to Alexandra, who is standing with a group of her fancy friends, and starts driving away. We see Alexandra’s internal struggle, and then she quickly has an “Oh, what the heck” moment, collects her bag, and sprints after Spencer’s car. Her parting shot to her stupefied fiancée is to encourage him to find someone who loves him, and then she rides into the sunset with her true love.
4. The Near-Miss Hanging of Banner Creighton (Episode 2)
Banner Creighton, played by Jerome Flynn, is one of the show’s antagonists. Creighton is a sheep farmer at odds with the current Dutton patriarch, Jacob Dutton, played by Harrison Ford. Creighton’s sheep are grazing on Dutton’s grasslands, and there’s not enough grass to go around. Dutton asserts that his family was the first to claim the land and that Creighton’s lack of pastures for his sheep isn’t a good reason for sneaking onto Dutton’s property.
When one of Creighton’s trespassing sheep herders shoots at Jack Dutton (Jacob’s nephew), played by Darren Mann, Jacob and his men confiscate the sheep and gift them to the local reservation. But the Duttons aren’t content to leave it there. They place nooses around the necks of Creighton and some of his men, sit them atop their horses, and ride away, leaving them for dead.
The next scene shows Creighton still alive, seated atop his horse, and still with the noose around his neck. His compadres didn’t fare as well. Their horses are absent, and their bodies swing lifelessly from their nooses.
Fortunately for Creighton, he has a loyal horse, manages to cut himself down, and lives to see another day. Even though we’re programmed to see any character played by Harrison Ford as a good guy, we realize this one is kind of complicated, and we find ourselves rooting for Creighton, even if just for a minute.
5. Spencer and Alexandra Spend the Night in a Tree (episode 3)
Spencer and Alexandra are on an African adventure and unexpectedly startle a bull elephant, which makes mincemeat of their jeep. The night is falling, and the couple seeks shelter in a tree where they watch a pride of lions feasting on the unfortunate elephant who happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Unfortunately for our lovebirds, the lions get a whiff of the humans up in the tree and begin to circle. Despite being told to be quiet (which I don’t entirely get because the lions’ sense of smell would overrule the quiet game), Alexandra screams, and it borders on annoying. It was the first time I experienced a dislike for Alexandra, but fortunately, that was short-lived.
Just as it looks like Spencer and Alexandra are lion chow, help arrives, and the couple is rescued.
6. The Ambush and Banner Creighton’s Revenge (Episode 3)
Meanwhile, back in Montana, the Dutton family is traveling home from a trip to the bustling metropolis of Bozeman. Everyone’s happy, relaxed, and not expecting to be ambushed by Banner Creighton and his band of merry men because everyone assumed Creighton was swinging from a tree.
Creighton’s gang opens fires on the Dutton party, wounding Jacob, Jack, and Jack’s finance Elizabeth, played by Michelle Randolph. Jack’s father, John, played by James Badge Dale, whom the internet assumes is the grandfather of Kevin Costner’s character in Yellowstone, is shot in the eye and dies.
This is the fan reminder that Taylor Sheridan has no qualms about killing off the good guys, and the episode ends without us knowing whether or not Jake and the fiancée will make it.
7. Teonna Beats Sister Mary with a Bag of Bibles (Episode 4)
Teonna Rainwater continues to endure abuse from sadistic Sister Mary throughout the first few episodes. By the time Episode 4 rolls around, she’s had enough and decides to run away from the school.
Good call, Teonna. She goes out with a bang, filling a pillowcase with Bibles and beating Sister Mary with them before suffocating her. Whether we want to call that poetic justice or irony, we’re not shedding any tears over the nun’s passing.
8. Emma Dutton’s Suicide (Episode 4)
John Dutton’s wife, played by Marley Shelton, is still reeling from losing her husband in the ambush. Episode three shows her digging a grave in the family plot, and early in Episode four, we see why.
Emma takes her own life by shooting herself, and while we only see the outside of the house and hear the gunshot, it’s a powerful moment and drives home the point of how hard life has gotten for the Dutton family in Montana.
9. The (Predictable) Sinking of the Tugboat (Episode 5)
When Alex and Spencer board a rickety-looking tugboat in Mombasa piloted by a captain who appears to have consumption, emphysema, or maybe both, we see the writing on the wall. The previews leading up to Episode 5 show Alex being tossed around on a boat at sea, so we’re primed for some shipwreck-y mishap, but that doesn’t make it any less of a moment when it happens.
The end of the episode is a cliffhanger where Aunt Cara, played by Helen Mirren, back home on the ranch, reads Spencer’s telegram announcing his homecoming with tears of relief. The camera pans to a shot of the overturned tugboat with no survivors in sight. Even though the rickety tugboat and the rickety captain didn’t survive the voyage was unsurprising that the end-of-episode visual manages to be a gut-puncher.
10. Comeuppance for the Evil Priests (Episode 7)
Although the scenes of the Catholic clergy abusing the young Native Americans are hard to watch, seeing them get what they deserve is satisfying. When Teonna runs away from school after punching the cruel Sister Mary with a pillowcase full of Bibles, the priest in charge of the school, Father Renaud, played by Sebastian Roché, sends three of his priests after her on horseback. Mind you, they don’t appear to be carrying the necessary supplies for an open-ended excursion out into the badlands, but I guess we’re not supposed to notice that.
The priests eventually catch up to Teonna, who is now disguised as a boy, and traveling with her father, Runs His Horse, played by Michael Greyeyes, and a young Native American boy, Pete, played by Cole Brings Plenty.
Fun fact: Brings Plenty is the nephew of Yellowstone actor and 1923 consultant Mo Brings Plenty, who plays Thomas Rainwater’s right-hand man, Mo, in Yellowstone.
The priests initially capture Pete to take him to their school, but Teonna and her father fight back, eventually killing all the priests. Runs His Horse shows he means business by scalping one of them and announcing that he’s “eaten the man’s soul.” We don’t see what he did, but his blood-smeared mouth gives us a clue that he took a literal bite out of the guy.
Before heading toward Wyoming, Runs His Horse writes “Child Killer” on the priest’s bare chests in blood so whoever happens upon the bodies knows exactly what’s up at that Catholic school in Bozeman. That is if the wolves and cougars don’t get to them first.
11. Prohibition-Era BSDM (Episode 7)
While I didn’t find this moment jaw-dropping, the internet clutches its collective pearls over two scenes where villanous Donald Whitfield, played by Timothy Dalton, whips two prostitutes and forces them to whip each other. Both drawn-out scenes involve nudity and abuse of power. Whitfield is Jacob Dutton’s archnemisis and joins forces with Banner Creighton with the goal of taking over the Dutton’s land to mine it. It was hard for me to see the former James Bond as such a bad guy but Whitfield has zero redeeming characteristics.
Even though the Yellowstone franchise has showcased powerful female characters, like Cara, Margaret, and Beth Dutton, the scenes showing the prostitutes being whipped were a sobering reminder that women’s options were limited in the 1920s and that these women were victims. The extended nudity had some shock value, but it’s definitely got the internet having conversations about the show, which is likely what Sheridan intended all along.
12. Spencer Yeets Arthur (Episode 8)
Newlyweds Spencer and Alex (we’ve been calling her Alex since the tree incident) finally start heading back to civilization. Still, they have the misfortune of traveling on the same ocean liner as the Earl of Sussex (AKA Alex’s former fiancée, Arthur, whom she jilted in Episode 2.) Apparently he’s still too brokenhearted to go find someone who really loves him, so things are awkward.
Alex initially decides they’ll hole up in their stateroom to avoid Arthur, played by Rafe Soule, and his posse, but then changes her tune and decides to flaunt her happiness (and her hunky new husband) in the fancy people’s dining area.
We can understand Arthur’s jealousy and bitterness, but he’s a snot that doesn’t know when to quit, which turns out to be his downfall. He challenges Spencer to a duel with swords up on deck and ends up pushing Arthur overboard to defend himself (after Arthur loses the duel, he picks up a revolver and charges at Spencer, which turns out to be a fatal mistake.) A dumb way to die, but no one was all that sorry to see this guy go.
And yes, I know some consider “yeet” an annoying slang term, but after watching Arthur whiz through the air into the ocean blue, I decided “yeet” was the best word to describe it.
What Will Season 2 Bring?
Although we know there will be a second season of 1923, we don’t yet have a timetable for when that will be released.
The biggest fan speculation involves wondering whether Spencer will make it back to Montana to save the ranch, which is silly because the ranch is still in the family in the present-day Yellowstone series, and the current patriarch, John Dutton III, played by Kevin Costner, has made several references to the ranch always being in his family.
Whether Spencer makes it back or not, we know the Duttons don’t lose their land, at least not permanently. But we’re all rooting for Spencer and Alex, who were separated at the end of the season finale.
There’s also a plethora of internet speculation on the Dutton family tree and which yet-to-be-born baby will turn out to be John Dutton, Jr., played by Dabney Coleman in a brief cameo in Yellowstone’s Season Two finale.
Only the show’s creator, Taylor Sheridan knows, and he’s not telling. The rest of us will just have to wait…and guess!
This article was produced and syndicated by Wealth of Geeks.
Jill is a Wealth of Geeks travel editor and an expert writer focusing on family and adventure travel as well as practical tips to help travelers get the most value out of their vacation experiences. In addition to Wealth of Geeks, Jill has written for Business Insider, MSN, Tripsavvy, Matador Network, Canadian Traveller, and Travel Awaits. She lives in San Antonio with her husband and sons but she’s usually somewhere else.
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