1923 Recap: Scream with the Devil

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I’ve frequently pondered over when Taylor Sheridan incorporates Elsa Dutton’s unexpectedly poetic narrations into his 1923 scripts. Is it that he tailors her monologue to the story, or does he initiate an idea – something prophetic that resonates with Isabel May’s deep voice – and craft an episode around it? Despite my liking of May’s rich voice, I’ve generally found these voiceovers to be disruptive, a tolerable excess by a screenwriter hesitant to eliminate his cherished ideas.

In a different phrasing, here’s how the passage could be rewritten: I found the unusual ending of “The Mountain Teeth of Monsters” appealing. Elsa, with her omniscient and undead perspective, affirms that we are hurtling towards a sixth mass extinction, one that humanity itself has caused. Aunt Cara shares this suspicion from her living room couch on a ranch outside Bozeman, Montana, in 1923. Following the departure of the men to confront Spencer, Cara and Elizabeth engage in their characteristic conversations – ones where Lizzie says something seemingly innocent, which triggers Cara to deliver lengthy speeches about moral decline for extended periods. Tonight, Elizabeth points out the peculiarity of armed guards stationed outside the front door. According to Cara, men are inherently greedy and will continue to kill, steal, and destroy each other until a new world is needed without men at all. This is the grim prediction.

Sheriff McDowell turns up ahead of time to announce the eagerly anticipated update: Spencer Dutton – a war hero from the Lost Battalion, a lion hunter for the Queen and royalty, an idol of the Serengeti, and the son who strayed from Yellowstone – is returning. He’s on his way from Amarillo, expected to reach Livingston station at some indeterminate time since even if there were a schedule, it wouldn’t matter which tracks might be covered in snow. Spencer might be switching in Denver or Fargo, McDowell mentions casually, a comment that seemed so absurd to me that I double-checked on a map whether Fargo was still in its correct location.

1923 always finds ways to transform a Dutton into a Luddite, so the knowledge that Spencer is heading towards Livingston isn’t just troubling, it’s additional bad news. The gossipy switchboard operators are notorious for their loose tongues, and whatever they overhear quickly spreads, including to Donald Whitfield’s ears just as swiftly. The telephone may not have made people nosy, but it certainly amplified their curiosity. Consider the potential havoc that could ensue if one could accurately trace a train from its departure station to its destination.

To safeguard Spencer, Jacob along with a few of his comrades team up with the sheriff in Livingston. Similarly, Banner sends some of his troops toward them. Last week, Whitfield’s battle plan was to eliminate all the Duttons and leave their bodies at another train station. Although Spencer’s appearance doesn’t alter the overall strategy significantly, it does clarify to Banner why Jake has been holding back. Meanwhile, at the ranch, Jack and Zane are on guard duty, protecting the women, including Jack’s pregnant wife. However, Jack is reluctant to keep riding his horse back and forth. Instead, he wants to extend a warm welcome to his returning young relative in this ongoing struggle.

As Jack embarks on his journey to Livingston in his adorable sheepskin chaps, it seemed likely that he would either become a grizzly bear’s meal or an unintentional hero with poor timing. However, during his travels, he encounters Clive, one of the dishonest shepherds whom Aunt Cara had hired for the Livestock Commission back in the season one finale in 2023 – a fact I had long forgotten. Despite my doubts about the show 1923, it does pay off loyalty. When Jack reveals his identity as an agent, Clive shoots the expectant father. The incident happens so swiftly and with little attention that I questioned whether Jack Dutton was even a major character in the series at all.

At the start of the episode, both Jacob and Zane’s families gather for dinner, and as they do, Jacob reminisces. “Tonight marks the first time all chairs at this table have been occupied since before the war.” I had always sensed that someone would need to perish to accommodate Spencer, but Jack’s death took me by surprise. I thought it might be Zane, considering his head injury, but instead, it was Jack – a seemingly irrational choice. Though it may not be more tragic, it is sadder given our bond with him. And poor Lizzie, who fought through the harsh winter to survive, now finds herself a widow and expecting a child. As she once told Cara, “This isn’t living, it’s surviving.” Now, it seems she exists merely for existence’s sake.

In a parallel narrative, Elizabeth and Alexandra appear distinct, but Elizabeth shares more traits with Teonna. Similar to Teonna, who now stands solitary on the plains following her lover’s demise, Pete was killed by Marshal Kent for deserting during a Crow pursuit in the previous episode. My hopes have been pinned on Kent meeting an unpleasant end, and I momentarily felt victorious upon witnessing Father Renaud’s treachery. “Go scream with the Devil,” Renaud shouted at the corpse of the man once known as one of the West’s most hateful racists. This series is vibrant, I jotted down in my journal.

Unfortunately, upon a second look, it was just the signs of death – rigor mortis. Although Kent appears to be deceased, Renaud continues his righteous crusade undeterred. Teonna and Runs His Horse discover Pete’s body; however, they can’t bury him among trees as they would back home since there are none in this barren land. Runs His Horse proposes that Kent’s death means they can return to Montana, but things have changed – a new U.S. Marshal will take Kent’s place. Mamie Fossett has displayed Teonna’s face on lampposts from Amarillo to Oklahoma. “Everywhere is America,” as you might recall.

In the dead of night, Renaud encounters the father-daughter duo and slays Runs His Horse as he believes Kent is no more virtuous than Kent himself. He follows a twisted moral compass. Instead of eliminating the native inhabitants by sheer brutality like Kent, Renaud aims to eliminate them under the guise of saving and killing them. Before firing at Teonna, he implores her to receive her final rites. In a dramatic fashion, he gives an extended explanation that provides her with additional time to think of possible escape routes, should there be even the slightest chance.

Seize the narrow chance at hand. Father Renaud, though clothed in holy garb, is malevolent beyond measure and lacks numerical aptitude. When he exhausts his ammunition, Teonna subdues her adversary, scorching his visage and plunging a knife into him. Yet, what follows? She’s merely a youth — an infant — stranded in the barren wasteland with no assistance nearby. “Life has seldom given me reasons to persist in its pursuit,” she laments during the brief respite between uncovering her boyfriend’s lifeless body and her father’s brutal slaying. Runs His Horse advises his daughter that the world will one day require individuals like her — those who can coexist with nature. White men may not endure the sixth extinction, but Native Americans might. If not Teonna, then perhaps her descendants or their offspring. There’s a chilling premonition that Taylor Sheridan may have already conceived this young girl with the next lineage of Rainwaters, one of the missing links between this bleak situation for the Crow Indians and the opulent casinos Thomas Rainwater constructs in Yellowstone.

Regrettably, the heroes’ journey isn’t over just yet. Paul and Hillary, the self-important duo who saved Alexandra, formerly of Sussex, from Union Station’s waiting room, are moved by her heartrending story of love lost and vows declared from a cruise ship to a dinghy. Despite the train possibly failing to reach Montana, these individuals own an automobile. They pledge to drive Alex 1,500 miles to the family of her unborn child’s father, which is a very kind gesture indeed. However, they should consider the harsh terrain and towering snowdrifts that might pose a challenge even for a coal-burning locomotive. Are cars equipped with heating systems in 1923? Do they manage speeds beyond 7 miles per hour (about 11 km/h)? These good-hearted but perhaps not the sharpest individuals might want to keep these factors in mind.

Initially, this story unfolds like a humorous road trip tale, featuring makeshift driving lessons, shared bottles of whiskey to keep cold at bay, and the camaraderie among the three travelers. However, the journey takes an unfortunate turn, resulting in a preventable tragedy.

In Buffalo, Wyoming, they refuel and equip their tires with snow chains, yet disregard a warning about scarce services ahead towards Bozeman. Shortly after, they run out of gas (fuel), and Hillary and Paul perish due to the fatal consequences of recklessness and exposure to cold. The winter season, as we know, can be brutal, but fortunately, pregnancy keeps women warm.

In addition, if Alexandra had heeded the gas station attendant’s advice and hopped on a train in Sheridan, she would have been just two stops away from Spencer, who is nearly at the end of the North Pacific Railroad. I was mentally gearing myself up for Spencer not to return to the Yellowstone ever again, but I never imagined Alex would miss out on seeing Spencer too. The episode ends with her being as cold and isolated as we’ve ever seen her – sitting alone in the back of a car she can’t drive during a snowstorm while wearing velvet pumps. If this vehicle didn’t break down right on the train tracks leading to Billings, I don’t see how she manages to make it back to civilization. However, I have a feeling that the car might have stalled on the tracks or very close to them. It seems like the car is parked against a hill or an elevated part of the railway track, which makes it plausible that a train could easily pass over the same path where roads are usually paved.

For the first time this season, it seems we might be headed for something more substantial than a gradual fading out – an event that still won’t feel like a true ending because we’ve already glimpsed the end of Yellowstone a century from now, and even that didn’t quite feel like an ending. However, significant events with a strong sense of finality are unfolding all the same. Jack has passed on, yet his legacy lives through Lizzie. Runs His Horse and Pete are gone, but the one they fought tirelessly to protect, Teonna, remains alive.

In a seemingly unstoppable manner, Donald Whitfield appears indomitable; however, this is deceptive because there are no longer any ski bunnies in Paradise Valley. As Banner encounters Whitfield and Lindy engaged in heinous acts once more, it becomes evident that things are beginning to unravel. “She’ll be incredibly valuable when I’m done instructing her,” Whitfield remarks about Lindy, who he has so far shown how to penetrate the new girl with her hand and whip. It is uncertain whether this is a bizarre instance of rewriting history – as though Whitfield had always intended to mold Lindy into a tool for sexual spying – or if he’s just an old man speaking inappropriately.

In a harsh tone, Banner says, “She’s someone’s child,” as he departs her, possibly abandoning her to meet the same fate as Lindy’s previous unwilling test subject. This moment is yet another atrocity in this grueling narrative, but it’s more courageous than Banner showed last week when he merely consented to dispose of the body and tidy up Lindy’s mess. When the sixth extinction catches up with him, I imagine Banner Creighton will be joining the devil’s screams alongside Kent and Renaud. However, before that happens, I hope to witness the shepherd take Donald Whitfield’s life with his own brutal hands.

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2025-03-30 17:55