I’m beginning to sour on 1923. After this past weekend it is on hiatus for a month, and that may be a good thing. This most recent episode was especially off-putting. The Spencer Dutton : Big Game Hunter side show has begun to feel like something straight out of a ridiculous Harlequin romance novel. He and Alex have become an annoying distraction from the Yellowstone action, and during their beach/ocean/romance scene I found myself hoping for a shark attack that would result in a grief-stricken Spencer returning to America. I guess the pen is mightier than the shark though, so at least the second part of my wish was granted.
Meanwhile on the Dutton ranch, somehow Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren are managing to turn in far less interesting performances than Tim McGraw and Faith Hill did in 1889. Four episodes in and I have yet to really connect with or care about anyone in this branch of the Dutton family. Jerome Flynn is probably doing the best acting job in the series right now, and he’s the “bad guy”. Which brings up the subject of the range war. Why in the hell would the rich guy (was that supposed to be the governor?) trust Creighton (Flynn) with the cash and manpower to make a move on the Dutton ranch? Couldn’t he just make that move himself? If it is the governor (which was unclear) then it directly contradicts what Clara Dutton said about having the governor’s go ahead to form the Livestock Agents…and if he’s not the governor, then shouldn’t the rich guy be aware of the governor’s intent to form what will basically be a legalized militia his men will have to go up against?
Basically it’s all still very jumbled and not making a lot of sense. Then you throw the Indian School into the mix, and you get a large dose of horrific abuse thrown in seemingly for no reason connected to the plot. Taylor Sheridan may be trying to do too much with 1923, telling what seems like three separate stories at the same time without enough focus on any of them to make them feel interesting and compelling.
Gave up on Yellowstone but enjoyed this quite a bit. Like you said, excellent cast. It doesn’t get to quite the levels of melodrama that YS does and is better for it. I prob ought to go and finish 1883.
You know I was the opposite --I really liked 1923. I think it was the guy from Africa that turned me. Looking back on it I agree it wasnt great (and not as good at 1883 for sure).
Finished 1923 last night. It’s decent, but not nearly as good as 1883 was. A big part of that is that 1883 was laser focused on the Dutton’s journey West so that by the end of the show you were fully invested in Elsa, her parents, even the other major characters from the wagon train. When something happened in 1883 you felt it. Did I ever think I would find myself shedding a tear for Sam Elliot playing pretty much the same role Sam Elliot has played in countless movies and TV shows? No, but damned if at the end of 1883 I wasn’t doing just that (along with a lot of other tears). The fact that 1883 won ZERO Emmy Awards just proves how corrupt that whole system is. At the very least it should have won for Cinematography (for which it was nominated at least), and Isabel May should have been nominated for Best Actress in a Limited Drama/Anthology (she was not, which is a goddamn crime).
1923, while I’d still recommend it, just couldn’t achieve that level of focus and feeling. It was too spread out, with no fewer than 3 completely separate storylines with different characters in 3 separate locations to try to follow in only 8 episodes. It was difficullt to actually connect with any of the main characters, and in fact some of them were actually sort of unlikable. Cara Dutton (Helen Mirren) is probably the most likeable and relatable character, with Teonna Rainwater (played brilliantly by Aminah Nieves) a close second due to her incredible resilience and courage. Jacob Dutton (Harrison Ford) is supposed to be the Dutton you’re rooting for in this series, but early on he hangs a whole group of men for basically trespassing, without law enforcement involvement or permission, and then acts surprised when that decision comes back to haunt him and his family. Spencer Dutton (Brandon Sklenar) is essentially an adventure novel come to life, and Alexandra (Julia Schlaepfer) gives off such strong spoiled rich girl vibes that it’s impossible to like her even when she does begin to redeem herself a bit. Also that fact that they refuse to give her a last name pretty much screams that she’s going to be the daughter or niece of Timothy Dalton’s character in a plot twist that everyone saw coming. Poor Timothy Dalton is totally wasted in his role as a literal mustache-twirling prostitute-beating “bad rich guy” playing foil to the Duttons, though I do love seeing Jerome Flynn, one of my favorite character actors, in this as well. Check out the excellent Ripper Street from the mid-2010’s to see Flynn in one of his best roles (alongside Matthew Macfadyen) as Det. Sgt. Bennet Drake.
Long post short, 1923 has a lot of potential for next season assuming they’re working towards shrinking the world down to more manageable size, though at this rate I suspect Spencer and Alexandra will be Jacob and Cara’s age by the time they finally reach the Yellowstone Ranch!
I think I liked 1923 more than you did, but I agree with your criticisms. It did overall leave me wanting more and looking forward to Season 2.
I’d also like to thank Paramount+ for finishing the series on 2/26 since my $1.99 2 month trial expires 3/1.
I’ll watch Top Gun maverick and then say goodbye to Paramount for a year or so until a new season of Star Trek Strange New Worlds, 1923, and hopefully, Yellowstone returns .
I feel like there is a need for a steaming app, where you can rate all of your favorite series, tell them what season you are on. Then it provides you a list of the cheapest/easiest ways you can watch the series, based on how much streaming per week you want to so. E…G Disney Plus, Hulu, for 3 months than Paramount 1.99 promo two months, HBO, 1.99 promo. Peacock free trial etc…
This would be great. I can’t really easily keep track of all the cheap / trial offers I get, or which ones I’ve taken up and which ignored. I finally figured out I get free Paramount+ with my T-Mobile plan, and then they sent me an offer for a year’s free Apple TV+. So I caught up on Slow Horses and binged 1923. But I can’t find any obvious way to see Yellowstone for free.
1923 was…okay? Good production values, some good characters and story arcs. But the romance novelization approach to Spenser and Alex’s story really gets very tiring. I mean, nobody fights duels on British passenger liners in 1923. Duels were outlawed in England in 1819, and the last duel was fought there in 1845. It is not a thing that would even occur to the character in question. It’s just silly.
Hey, the writers are doing it to me, and the shit just rolls downhill.
Seriously, I do so want to like this show. The Teonna Rainwater storyline is really compelling, and the Spencer / Alex storyline is sometimes compelling when they don’t get overly silly with it. The main storyline is even good, though they’re trying hard to make me dislike it with a lot of genuinely unnecessary stuff.
I don’t know why the prostitutes bit is even in the show — it doesn’t tell me anything I need to know about either Creighton or Whitfield. And the machinations the players engage in range from contrived to downright silly. If Whitfield can buy what he wants — and it seems he can — then why bother funding a villainous army to get it? What is Creighton even doing for him?
If Dutton can take a small 30-year mortgage on a portion of his ranch, without really putting the ranch at risk — which he can clearly do — why doesn’t he do that and pay his taxes? And didn’t Dutton basically cause all of his current problems himself, in the first place? Every time poor Harrison Ford starts running his mouth about it, a part of me wants to say hey, wait, man, you started this vendetta.
