1923 Ending Explained (In Detail)
The Paramount Plus exclusive Yellowstone spinoff 1923 concluded its first season with a bang, but the ending left a lot of questions to be answered.
The Paramount Plus exclusive Yellowstone spinoff 1923 featured a tangled web of interweaving storylines, and its ending left viewers with a lot of unanswered questions. Springing from the mind of Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan, 1923 catches up with the Dutton clan in the early 1920s and explores the family’s hardships as they live through the years leading up to the Great Depression and the end of the proverbial “Old West.” With established stars like Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren attached to the show, 1923 rivaled the original series in its star power and managed to deliver the same Western charm that made Yellowstone so appealing in the first place.
Westerns have always been about the idealized American West, but 1923 made itself unique by not only preserving the charm of the cowboy archetypes but also by adding historical elements that aren’t typically covered in the genre. Everything that happened in 1923 season 1 had a purpose, and the story was lean while also being complex. Not content on a mere one-and-done spinoff season, 1923 built such a rich and complex narrative that the entire story couldn’t fit within the confines of eight episodes. As such, the ending of 1923 was also a beginning of sorts, and it offered conclusions while also setting up things to come for season 2.
Did Spencer Make It Home?
Besides the troubles faced by the Dutton family members on their Montana ranch, 1923 also chronicled the harrowing journey of Spencer Dutton as he tried desperately to return to the United States to help out his struggling kin. Spencer was introduced in the first episode working as a hired big game hunter in Africa, a profession that saw him have several brushes with death. Obviously affected by his experiences during World War I, Spencer eventually found solace in the love of Alex andra, an engaged woman he met in a bar. News of his family struggles drew Spencer toward home, but the couple’s path to Montana wasn’t easy.
Spencer’s prolonged journey home in 1923 season 1 saw him attacked by a rogue elephant, shipwrecked, and eventually arrested, but he never made it back to the States. Spencer and Alex’s blossoming relationship was given a massive cliffhanger when, following a duel with Alex’s ex-fiance Arthur, Spencer was forcefully removed from the passenger ship and deposited on mainland Europe. With Alex seized by her opulent family, the ending of 1923 set up their potential reunion in season 2 as Spencer promised to reunite with Alex in Bozeman, Montana, as soon as he could.
Why Alice Was Arrested
Not afraid to tackle the darker side of American history, 1923‘s ending was anything but a glamorized look back at the past. Besides the awful treatment that Teonna suffered at the hands of the Catholic reform school she was forced into, 1923‘s finale also saw Alice Chow arrested for breaking a racist law. Though she was a somewhat peripheral figure in season 1, Alice Chow was Zane Davis’s wife, and she was seen around the Dutton ranch supporting her husband and raising her children, Matthew and Madelyn. After being spotted in bed with Zane by one of Banner Creighton’s men, she was taken into custody for breaking Montana’s anti-miscegenation law.
Unfortunately based on fact, the Anti-Miscegenation Act of 1909 made it illegal for a white person to marry someone who was African American, or of Chinese or Japanese descent. That Montana iteration of the law would stand until 1953 when it was eventually repealed. Season 2 of 1923 will obviously address the fallout of Alice’s arrest, but in context, it was used as a nasty measure of revenge by Creighton to show that he could use the legal system just as effectively as the Dutton family. Even when the family tries to fight fair, 1923 used Alice’s plight to show that even legal channels were horribly skewed in those days.
Does Whitfield Own The Dutton Ranch?
Though Banner Creighton was the obvious heel of the season, the ending of 1923
The looming Great Depression made money tight on the Dutton ranch, and Jacob Dutton had spent the entirety of the first season trying to raise the money to pay what he owed. When Whitfield paid off the family debts, he put even more pressure on Dutton because the ranch would default to the sadistic aristocrat if he wasn’t paid back in a timely manner. Whitfield had often scolded Creighton for his violent methods of exacting revenge against the Duttons, and the ending of 1923 proved Whitfield’s adage that “the pen is mightier than the sword,” though in his case the dollar was mightier than Creighton’s all guns blazing approach.
What Did The Last Scene Mean?
Of the characters in 1923, Helen Mirren’s Cara Dutton was perhaps the most complex of all. Shown to be a no-nonsense pioneering woman, Cara was the rock of the family and held things together when they seemed the bleakest. However, the final scene of 1923 season 1 offered a glimpse of her vulnerability, which made Cara a more interesting character overall. After trying to correspond with Spencer all season in order to compel him home, Cara had seemingly reached the end of her rope when she decided not to send her last pleading letter. The Dutton matriarch broke down and cried while leaving her letter to Spencer unsent.
The placement of Cara’s vulnerable moment was no accident, and the choice to end 1923 season 1 on the image of Cara breaking down showed that things had reached rock bottom for the Duttons. Like the typical act 2 low point of any three-act story, the ending of 1923 placed the Duttons firmly in the so-called dark night of the soul that typifies the harshest moment of the classic hero’s journey. Cara was the unshakable pillar of the Dutton family, and her breaking down truly showed the audience that things had gotten serious.
The Real Meaning Of 1923’s Ending
Though 1923‘s ending was certainly purpose-driven, it also spoke to the overall themes that pervaded the entire season. Like its predecessors, Yellowstone and 1883, 1923 never showed the Duttons enjoying the fruits of their labors, and only featured their constant struggle against outside forces. While that may seem bleak, it represents the real-life harshness of the American West and stuck closely to the complicated web of American history. The spinoffs of Yellowstone not only expanded the franchise, but they showed that the American experiment was never easy, and was often darker than the glossy Hollywood Westerns made it out to be.
No matter what generation of Duttons was showcased, life was never easy, and that is where the intrigue of 1923 comes into play. What makes the spinoff unique is that it was the first series to show that life was hard for everyone in the early-20th century by contrasting the Dutton’s experience with the unfair treatment many people faced through racist policy. Far from merely a snapshot of American history in the eponymous year, 1923‘s ending was actually a rich tapestry that made an ardent attempt to show the real story, warts and all.
