Wow, what an episode of 1923! It's only the Yellowstone spinoff's third episode, and already we're losing main characters — well, at least some of them. Warning: There are big spoilers ahead, so if you haven't seen the episode yet, beware.
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While there's a lot of drama in this week's episode — an elephant attack! a marriage proposal! lions! — the real gasp-inducing scene comes as the Dutton clan heads back to the ranch after a nice trip to town. On the way, their wagon is ambushed by angry sheepherders who have them outmanned, outgunned and pretty much over a barrel. As the episode ends, the fates of at least two Duttons (or Duttons-to-be) hang in the balance, with Harrison Ford's Jacob in particularly dire straits after being shot multiple times by a Tommy gun-wielding Banner Creighton. His nephew, John Dutton Sr., met a quicker death at Creighton's hands, having been shot through the eye, while his son, Jack, appears to have been shot through the shoulder. His bride-to-be, Elizabeth, is also doing poorly, having been shot in the abdomen right as the shootout began.
Did we really lose two major Duttons?
Would 1923 kill off Ford's character so soon into the series? His face has been on branding for the series almost since its inception, so it's hard to believe he'd be a goner so soon. Then again, as Jacob says earlier in the episode, he's not a young man, so taking a number of bullets to the chest and abdomen can't be good. It seems pretty pointed that his fate hangs in the balance as the episode ends — will he survive and get revenge on the herders, or will he perish? There's a third option, too, which would find Jacob making it through the immediate aftermath of the shootout but ending up in poor health going forward. We're leaning toward that possibility, especially since Ford is reportedly booked for eight episodes. But honestly, we wouldn't rule out his death, either, in the next episode or later this season. Ford has seemingly always loved a good twist, and this certainly is one.
Regardless of Jacob's fate, his wife, Cara (Helen Mirren), is shaken. (Not quite as much as John's wife, Emma, admittedly, but that's understandable.) She reacts to Jacob's injuries by doing the stalking and killing we saw in the series opener, and the doctor practically has to pry her away from Jacob's body in order to get to work. She sends a quick missive to Spencer — who, conveniently, is looking for a new job — and we have to imagine we'll see him arrive home posthaste (or as fast as someone could get from Africa to Montana in 1923, which is probably a matter of months).
Will Spencer finally head home?
Speaking of Spencer, he had his own run-in with death this episode as he and his brand new fiancee Alex (not Alexandra) went out into the bush in search of adventure and ended up getting chased by an angry bull elephant. The beast totaled their car before Spencer took him down and the two were forced to seek refuge in a tree. There, they were hunted and threatened by a pride of lions and a pack of hyenas, only to be rescued by a phalanx of searchers just as things were getting even more dire than they'd already been — which, frankly, was already very dire.
Alex tells Spencer she never wants to feel that threatened and endangered again, and he agrees, saying he'll look for a new job in the morning. It seems as if that job will be running his family's ranch, which — as we know from this episode and every episode of Yellowstone ever — is just about the most unsafe occupation one can have. (That goes for Alexandra, too. Wives are never safe in Duttonville.)
If you combine this week's action with the trailer for the series that dropped a couple of months ago, it seems clear that Timothy Dalton's character, Donald Whitfield, is going to sweep into the valley after hearing about the Dutton scuffle. He'll look to prey on the family's weakness while they wait for another badass to step up and run things, and he'll try to somehow take their land out from underneath them. He won't succeed, of course — the Duttons' home in 1923 is very much the Duttons' home in Yellowstone — but it'll no doubt be thrilling to watch him try.
Stray observations:
- During Cara and Jacob's bathroom conversation, she says, "Greed will be the thing that kills us all," which is a bit of ominous foreshadowing. Here's hoping she doesn't mean all of them.
- Jack and Elizabeth getting busy for the first time ever doesn't bode well for her survival, if the tired old trope "sex signals death" is to be believed. It's happened in countless horror movies, TV shows, books and everything in between. And while Elizabeth doesn't actually die while in the act, the fact that she gets shot while wearing a pristine and virginal white dress after a night of speakeasy debauchery and premarital sex is a little too on the nose. She and Jack seem great together, so we'll hold out hope she pulls through, although we're not optimistic.
- That scene where the Duttons learn about newfangled electric appliances was cute as well as educational. Maytag only invented a washing machine with an agitator in 1922, so the timing even works out. As a side note: Can you believe, just 100 years ago, that most people didn't have fridges, electricity or washing machines? Some people might want to get back to a simpler era than we're in now, but let's try to at least make it one with appliances.
If you want to drink like Jack and Elizabeth in the speakeasy, here are recipes to make your own Gin Rickey and Bee's Knees cocktails.
READ MORE: 9 Things We Predict Will Absolutely Happen on the 'Yellowstone' Prequel '1923'
