In the wake of the attack, Cara and the Duttons carefully plan their next move.
Here are some random thoughts prompted by “War and the Turquoise Tide,” Episode 104 of 1923, which premiered early Sunday on Paramount+. Please keep in mind: There will be scads of spoilers here, so consider yourself warned.
-
- Must admit: For the first eight minutes of this episode, I thought Jacob had transferred permanently to the night shift. Yes, I know, Harrison Ford is not just a star of this show, he is a superstar of the highest magnitude. But, really, do you think that would stop Taylor Sheridan from dropping a bomb on us?
-
- They probably should just go ahead now an engrave Helen Mirren’s name on the Emmy Award for Best Actress. Never mind that the Emmys won’t be given out until next September. Do you really think any possible competitor could match over an entire season the entirety of what she does in this single episode?
-
- Slap! “I’ll discipline my own nephew, thank you very much!” Perfect move, perfect line.
-
- And just when I was starting to fear they were saving Timothy Dalton’s arrival for the Season Finale, he arrives on the scene to make his presence felt as Donald Whitfield, an imperious Alpha Male who, apparently, is rich enough to fund private armies. His sneeringly contemptuous reaction to Banner Creighton’s game plan should have made the sheepherder think twice about even attempting a deal with this dude. (“Killing the king doesn’t make you a king. It makes you an assassin. And I’ve never heard of an assassin running anything.”) But no: Creighton refused to let that — or Whitfield’s graphic description of what might happen to the sheepherder’s wife and children if he’s ever stupid enough to cheat the powerful wheeler-dealer — stop him from signing his soul away. Fearless prediction: Nothing good will come of this.
-
- So Whitfield wants the mineral rights to Yellowstone, eh? Are they valuable? Is there, like, oil to be drilled on the property? Then why haven’t we seen drilling sites all over the present-day landscape in Yellowstone? Stay tuned for further developments.
-
- Sorry, but Isabel May’s narration has gone past weird, and is well on its way to becoming… intrusive.
-
- It’s a little surprising — in fact, it’s pretty damn close to shocking — that there hasn’t been more of an uproar from Catholic groups you might normally expect to be upset by the way nuns at the Indian School (and the priest who operates the place) have been depicted as sadistic zealots in their attempts to beat the Indigenous out of poor Teonna. (And before you respond by arguing this depiction is historically accurate — hey, I’m on your side.) But the outage floodgates may be opened wide after word gets out that Teonna vengefully killed her chief tormentor, the fanatical Sister Mary, before breaking out of the hellhole in this episode. On the other hand, I can name at least one former Catholic school boy who’ll probably have to say a rosary or two after shouting at the TV screen: “Yeah, she had it coming!”
-
- Meanwhile, off in Africa, Spencer and Alexandra continued to steam up the screen with repeated ravishments of each other. They were having so much fun in their stunningly beautiful isolated hideaway on the Zanzibar coast that… OK, I know I’m starting to sound like a broken record about this, but I half-expected something terrible to occur. Indeed, while they were frolicking out in the water, I actually thought a shark might suddenly appear and chomp!
-
- Now we know a bit more about Spencer’s wartime experiences, and why he felt compelled to cut himself off from his past in order to survive. Good thing Alexandra dropped into his life to provide, in addition to great sex, a push to finally learn the contents of all those letters from Cara. Especially the last one. Dated three freakin’ months ago. Damn. He may have thought he was a loner, but he better get back to where he once belonged.
-
- 1923 is going on a brief hiatus — there won’t be a new episode available until Feb. 5 — so maybe that will give Spencer enough time to return from Africa so he can help Cara and the Yellowstone cowboys win the war against Banner Creighton and Donald Whitfield. Hell, maybe that will give Jacob enough time to recuperate. Fingers crossed.
Photography: Emerson Miller/Paramount+