Alexandra endures a gauntlet of insults and embarrassments upon arriving in America, while Spencer discovers the dangers of bootlegging.
Here are some random thoughts prompted by “Wrap Thee In Terror,” Episode 3 for Season 2 of 1923. Please keep in mind: There will be scads of spoilers here, so consider yourself warned.
-
- Well that was pretty damn close to unendurable, wasn’t it? And not just for Alexandra. Viewers had a pretty rough time as well..
-
- Mind you, we’ve already done our share of wincing during scenes of graphic violence and kinky sex throughout Season 1 and the first three episodes of Season 2. But while watching what Alex had to go through after her ship finally arrived in New York and she endured repeated insults and embarrassments while being processed at Ellis Island, we must admit: Not only did we cringe, we occasionally shouted rude things at the people giving grief to Spencer’s sweetheart, even as we were deeply moved by Julia Schlaepfer’s compelling performance as the remarkably resilient Alex.
-
- To be sure, Alex might have saved herself a great deal of trouble (and embarrassment) had she applied for a visa at the U.S. embassy back in London before her departure. And she almost certainly would have made a more impressive first impression upon her arrival if she’d booked first-class accommodations rather traveling with the “peasants” in steerage. But no: Immediately after leaving the ship, she and several other immigrants were transported on the Thomas C. Millard ferry to Ellis Island, where she was interviewed and scrutinized (along with the other “peasants”) by a bevy of bureaucrats and medical examiners. When she’s informed that the processors take a dim view of admitting pregnant women — “America has no need for mongrels or invalids!” — Alex’s anxiety is dialed up to 11 because… hey, you know why, right?
-
- After suffering through the not-veiled insults of immigration functionaries who are skeptical of her story about heading to Montana for a reunion with her rancher husband, Alex had to strip and spread while undergoing scrutiny by a conspicuously unsympathetic doctor. But the processors save the worst for last: A final interview with an intimidating bureaucrat rumored to grant approval only to women willing to repay him with money or, ahem, favors. (“I hope you brought plenty of coins, love,” warns a woman in line ahead of Alex, “’cause I’m going to work all the trade right out of him.”) Liz is saved from a fate worse than death only because, when the bureaucrat snidely demands that she prove she can read from a Walt Whitman anthology he shoves her way, she defiantly selects a passage — “Dismiss whatever insults your own soul!” — she deems appropriate for the occasion. Not incidentally, she also pointedly alerts him to lipstick a previous interviewee left on his collar. Application approved.
-
- And what about Spencer? While on the road to Fort Worth with Luca, the luckless member of a Galveston-based mafia family, to deliver a truckload of the family’s illegal whiskey, Alex’s sweetie starts to seriously question his life choices when he spots a roadblock in their way. Yes, the barricade is manned by Texas lawmen on the prowl for bootleggers. And yes, despite Luca’s protests, Spencer decides they should turn around, hide the truck, and wait for the heat to pass. Unfortunately, Luca — insisting that, like Spencer, he is determined to help his family — decides to push on while Spencer remains behind. Spencer can only watch helplessly as the lawmen fatally shoot the poor guy.
-
- Elsewhere in Texas, Runs His Horse rides his horse to the cattle ranch run by a man named Anders — hey, look, it’s Ride star C. Thomas Howell! — to seek permission to remain encamped with his daughter Teonna and their friend Pete Plenty Clouds on a far-flung corner of Anders’ spread. Anders doesn’t only give his OK, he offers Rides His Horse a job gathering strays. Trouble is, this is the sort of move that Marshal Kent and Father Renaud — still in pursuit of Teonna and anyone who aids her — figured the fugitives would make. They, too, end up in the Lone Star State.
-
- But the hunters may soon be the hunted. Marshal Fossett and her crew discover that Kent and Renaud killed a few uncooperative Comanches in her jurisdiction while chasing Teonna. And unlike Kent, Fossett appears to believe that murdering Native Americans is a prosecutable offense.
-
Michael Spears as Runs His Horse
-
- Back in Montana, a bit of good news: Jacob and crew emerge relatively unscathed after surviving the snowstorm while huddled under an overturned wagon. They retrieve their horses and make their way back to the Dutton Rach — where Dr. Shilling is conveniently on hand to treat the injured Zane. Conveniently, that is, because the doctor has been tending to Elizabeth, who was bitten by a rabid wolf that later killed Shilling’s nurse.
-
- Of course, since this is a Taylor Sheridan-produced series, whenever good news arrives, bad news usually follows close behind. Sure enough, the doc finds Zane has suffered a serious brain injury while being routinely beaten by jailers, and blood must be drained from his head to reduce the potentially fatal swelling. Once again, there’s good news — yes, Shilling has a drill in his doctor’s bag — followed by bad news: He doesn’t have any anesthesia.
-
- As for Liz, she doesn’t stop squawking about having to receive painful rabies shots until Cora, having lost all patience with the young woman, slaps the taste out of her mouth. Liz becomes a great deal more cooperative after that, but still promises to leave the ranch and return to her well-to-do family after completing her treatment regimen. This greatly upsets Jack, her newly returned fiancé, but he doesn’t seem capable of dissuading her from departure. Not yet, anyway.
-
- In New York, Alex crosses the paths of two helpful people — a newsstand operator, a Grand Central Station ticket seller — who are much more sympathetic than the guys back at Ellis Island. Still, as she waits for her train to arrive, so she can begin her journey toward a reunion with Spencer, she frets to herself: “Are we not done proving we have earned each other? What calamity awaits to keep me from you? What fresh hell has the devil devised?” Judging from the look of a stranger observing her as the episode ends, she will all too soon have her question answered.
