A Recap Of 1923 Series Finale

Here are some random thoughts prompted by “A Dream and a Memory,” the supersized series finale of 1923. Please keep in mind: There will be scads of spoilers here — a lot more than usual — so consider yourself warned.

• • OK, we have to ask: What made you cheer louder? Donald Whitfield getting his long-overdue comeuppance? Spencer and Alexandra being reunited in a heavenly fantasy straight out of a 1940s Hollywood romance? Or Teonna Rainwater finally — finally! — freed to pursue her destiny without always having to look over her shoulder?

• • To begin with Teonna: She should thank her lucky stars that she was captured by someone as perceptive and compassionate as Marshal Mamie Fossett (Jennifer Carpenter), who figured out — with a little help from Two Spears (Doug Hall), her observant Native American tracker — that Teonna was more sinned against than sinner. True, the fugitive was brought to trial on murder charges. But with potential witnesses against her very seriously dead, and the judge overseeing her case in another jurisdiction washing his hands of the matter, Teonna was able to walk out of the courtroom a free woman. She said she would be moving on to California, but we suspect that in the next Yellowstone prequel, she’ll make her way back to Montana.

• • Curiously enough, neither Marshal Fossett nor Two Spears — two characters who richly deserve to have their very own Taylor Sheridan-produced spinoff series — was terribly upset by the fact that Teonna killed Deputy Clint Peterson (Steve Luna) while they were in the process of apprehending her. Maybe they simply wrote off his demise as unavoidable collateral damage? Or they just didn’t like the guy?

• • Have to admit: We were pleasantly surprised when Banner Creighton (Jerome Flynn) finally saw the error of his ways, admitting to himself and his wife Ellie (Sarah Randall Hunt), “Whitfield’s evil, Ellie. Heart black as coal.” Yes, maybe Jacob Dutton has been taking up all the grazing land in their part of the world. But Whitfield? “It’s not the taking he wants. It’s the suffering.” Obviously, he wasn’t referring only to the villain’s mistreatment of prostitutes — or Whitfield’s command that he dump an inconvenient corpse in a remote corner of Wyoming, thereby establishing the Yellowstone tradition of taking people “to the train station.” On the other hand, we weren’t the least bit surprised when Creighton was caught in the crossfire at a real train station while trying to leave town with his wife and their son. But at least he lived long enough to make peace with Jacob.

• • It was great to see that the traitorous Clyde (Brian Konowal), killer of Jack Dutton, also bought the farm at that train station. He had it coming.

• • Lots of shootouts in this episode, at the station and back at the Dutton Ranch, all of them kinetically exciting and skillfully edited. We grinned unashamedly each time Cora managed to blow away a member of the attacking army that had been ordered by Whitfield and recruited by Creighton (before his change of heart). And we were almost as delighted when Elizabeth (Michelle Randolph) finally got the chance to prove she could do her own bit of shooting. Even so, we couldn’t really blame Liz when, once the gunsmoke cleared, she made good on her promise to return to Boston. After all, Liz didn’t have strong ties to the place after Jack’s demise. And it’s hard to argue that she couldn’t give the child she’s carrying a more comfortable (and much safer) upbringing in Beantown. Cora bid her a reasonably fond farewell, knowing full well (and likely dearly hoping) that Liz would eventually forget everything about her life in Montana. Yes, even her love for Jack. Of course, Liz’s offspring could complicate Dutton succession lines down the road. But that, presumably, is a matter to be dealt with in the next Yellowstone prequel.

• • Credibility was stretched near the breaking point when Spencer just happened to be on the train that Alex desperately tried to stop while she was stranded in the snow and knocking at death door.  And when Spencer providentially spotted her from his window, bolted from the train, and swept her into his loving arms … Oh, who are we trying to fool? We loved every damn moment of their long-awaited reunion. And we laughed out loud when Alex dryly wisecracked: “So good of you to join me in this pickle.”

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  Helen Mirren as Cora Dutton

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• • Alas, despite her ability to sustain a healthy sense of humor, Alex was in pretty bad shape, beset by frostbite and fearful she might lose the baby she was carrying. Fortuitously,  there was a doctor aboard the train, who did what he could to keep her alive and oversee her transportation to a well-equipped hospital. When they arrived in Livingston in the wake of the train station shootout, Jacob volunteered to stay with her as she moved on to Bozeman. But even Alex realized that Spencer would have to go home without her to help ward off anyone laying siege to the Dutton Ranch: “War isn’t a metaphor in this family, I’m discovering.”

• • Spencer did his bit to help settle hash at the Dutton Ranch before he caught up with Alex and Jacob. The good news: Alex was able to deliver her baby, albeit prematurely. The bad news: Not unlike Lonesome Dove’s Gus McCall, who chose to die rather than have his legs amputated, Alex opted to die rather than losing both her legs and a hand while treated for frostbite. Cora would wind up nursing the baby (with goat’s milk). Before that, however, Spencer vowed: “I want to meet the man who killed my wife.” In his mind, that was none other than Donald Whitfield. Jacob didn’t argue the point.

• • Once he and Jacob arrived at Whitfield’s palatial mansion, Spencer got to deliver arguably the greatest line of dialogue anyone has ever had in this Yellowstone prequel: “Do you like it here? Then I think you should leave!” He was speaking to Mabel, the replacement prostitute recently hired (and physically abused) by Lindy, after he’d taken his first shot at Whitfield, then blasted Lindy. (Hey, she pulled a knife — what else could he do?) Whitfield initially appeared remarkably poised and characteristically condescending, despite being seriously wounded, because he figured Jacob would simply bring him to jail. Wrong. Whitfield: “You can’t get away with this.” Jacob: “I don’t plan to. I plan on making such an example of you that it’ll be 50 years before one of your kind dares enter this valley again. I want them teaching about how you died in schoolbooks.” Then, after demanding that the villain speak Alex’s name out loud, Spencer shot  the SOB right in the head. And then, for good measure, he and Jacob set fire to the mansion. Can you blame us for rewatching this entire scene about a dozen times?

• • And so it goes. Before she died, Alex said she wanted to name her baby John, “after his brother,” which explains (maybe) how the Dutton family tree grew to later sprout Yellowstone’s John Dutton III (Kevin Costner). Cora assumed responsibility for the child, while Jacob contemplated enjoying retirement. “I think I’m going to sit on the porch,” he told Spencer, “stare at your son, ponder the meaning of life. Shit like that.” The ghostly Elsa Dutton (Isabel May) wrapped things up by announcing that after Alex’s death – on March 29, 1924 — Spencer fathered another child with a widow lady but never remarried. (No doubt we’ll hear about this offspring in the next prequel.) Forty-five years later, he died and was reunited in heaven with his beloved Alex. And as they had they joined together in an elegant ballroom while they danced to a full orchestra, Alex had the perfect greeting for her beloved: “Took you long enough.” But that didn’t make us cry. No, not at all. And if you believe that, we have what is left of a burned-down mansion to sell you.