‘1923’ Episode 1: Recap & Ending Explained
Welcome to the Recap and Ending Explained for Episode 1 of 1923. The series is the second spin-off and second prequel to the popular Paramount show Yellowstone, starring Kevin Costner. This time, the creator, Taylor Sheridan, puts us exactly 100 years in the past to see how the Dutton family hasn’t really changed from the moment they put their feet on for the first time in the state of Montana. 1923 introduces us to new characters and some very familiar issues.
Episode 1 serves as an introduction to these new characters and to each of the storylines that we will be following throughout the season. One involves the ranch and the lease of land so that shepherds can put their animals to pasture. Another one involves a Native American girl trapped in a Catholic school. Another one involves a wedding, and another major one deals with a lost son in Africa. It seems 1923 is going to be a very interesting show. Let’s see what these stories have for us in detail.
The Land Has Been Ravaged By Locust
The show begins by introducing us to the character of Cara Dutton, the matriarch of the show. We see her pursuing a thief and killing him herself with a powerful double shotgun. The narration tells us just how hard life is in this land and that protecting yourself is mandatory if you want to survive. No one is going to protect you otherwise. From there, we are also introduced to Jacob Dutton, the patriarch of the family. He and his cowboys are taking the cattle to pasture, but there is an issue, locusts have eaten all the grass, and there is no place they can take the cattle to eat their share.
Jacob, like many of the Dutton in the future, holds the office of the livestock commissioner, so he is always dealing with people’s issues regarding livestock. A group of Irish shepherds has found themselves in trouble as they are trying to take their sheep to pasture and have trespassed into other men’s lands to give food to their animals. This, of course, is illegal, but the shepherds believe their necessity overrules the law. They put themselves under God’s law, not man’s. Jacob informs him that this doesn’t matter and that if he does it again, he will be in jail.
Jacob doesn’t really have the time to deal with other people’s problems, even when it is his duty. His own cattle are struggling, which means that he and his cowboys must find new pastures on high land. This means they will spend a lot more time away from the ranch as they guide the herds deeper and deeper into the valley. The dry soil and the locust pest seem to herald the time of the dust bowl that will plague the entire region in future years.
The Herd Always Comes First
In relationship to this storyline surrounding the cattle and the land, we have another storyline dealing with Jack Dutton’s wedding to a beautiful girl named Elizabeth Strafford. Jack’s wedding with Elizabeth was supposed to be this week, but because they need to take the cattle deeper into the valley, they need Jack’s help. It seems the wedding will be postponed until he can come back from the cattle trip. This is an issue, especially when Jack informs Elizabeth of it.
Cara and Jacob have a conversation about it, and Cara explains that at this time, the wedding day is the only day that is solely focused on the woman. It is the most important day of her life, and it will be a disappointment when she hears that she will have to wait for more to get married. Jack informs Liz about postponing the wedding, and she gets angry at him. Cara then makes her understand that this is life, and the herd and the ranch will always come first. If she really wants to marry Jack, she will understand this fact.
Liz understands it, and soon after, she makes peace with Jack. They kiss passionately in front of everyone, even if they are not married yet. Jack goes with Jacob and the rest of the cowboys on the pasture trip, but then, when he looks over one hill, he sees the entire place covered with sheep. The shepherds did it again, this time trespassing on Dutton’s land. A man is with the sheep and decides to shoot Jack. We don’t see if Jack is hit or not.
The Church Is Trying To Destroy The Native’s Way Of Life
In another separate storyline, we meet Teonna, a young native living in a boarding school run by the Catholic Church. There, the church tries to purge the traditions and way of life out of these native girls and transform them into good Catholic women. Teonna is seen being questioned by Sister Mary, the stereotype of the strict nun. She is also an abusive nun, as she hits Teonna’s hands with a rule until she gives her the answer she wants to hear and how she wants to hear it.
Teonna might be under the control of these people, but there is still a lot of fight in her. After Sister Marry continues to hit her with the rule, Teonna snaps and beats down the nun. They are both taken to Father Renaud’s office, and there Sister Mary receives a beat down on her hands for lacking compassion and Teonna another one on the back of her legs for having lashed out against the nun. Her legs are heavily marked, and they will probably end up scarred by the beatdown.
Later in the day, Teonna and Sister Mary seems to have come to an understanding, as neither of them wants to go back to the Father’s office.
1923 Episode 1 Ending Explained
The last storyline and the one that closes the episode have to do with Spencer. We learn that Spencer Dutton fought in World War I, but since the war finished, he hasn’t returned to Montana. Now he lives as a hunter in Africa, hunting dangerous animals. We see him killing a huge lion and then being hired by a safari to hunt a possible leopard who has been tracking the safari for some time.
The episode ends with Spencer waking up in the middle of the night. He finally gets a glimpse of the animal who seems to have killed a member of the safari, a beautiful woman Spencer had met earlier in the day. Spencer kills the animal, understanding that the woman is the perfect bait, but then one of his assistants warns him that there is a second leopard. The episode ends as Spencer gets caught by surprise and attacked by the second leopard. He will not die, as he is one of the main characters in the show, but we can’t wait to see how he will get out of this troublesome event.