The Duttons stay the same across the decades it’s their enemies that change. the rascal sellsword Bronn from Game of Thrones). The central conflict of 1923 so far is between the cattle ranchers, who are descended from the Irish, and Scottish sheepherders led by Banner Creighton (a very welcome Jerome Flynn, a.k.a. Yellowstone fans know something of his type: A man who would die for the land because the land is metaphorically, inextricably linked to his blood. His empire-building is borne from fraternal duty and nobler because of it. The important part, I think, is that it was not Jacob’s idea to travel West in reckless pursuit of riches. Someone will kindly sort me out in the comment section, I’m sure. I apologize in advance for any misinformation in the paragraph above. Jack and Elizabeth are the grandparents of ranching nepo baby John Dutton III (Kevin Costner on Yellowstone). John is married to Emma (Marley Shelton), and their son Jack (Darren Mann) is set to marry their neighbor Elizabeth (Michelle Randolph). Jacob and his wife raised those boys, Spencer (Brandon Sklenar) and John (James Badge Dale), like their own. Here’s my best attempt at recreating the family tree:Īfter the death of Jacob Dutton’s brother, James (Tim McGraw in 1883), his sister-in-law Margaret (Faith Hill in 1883) asked Jacob to ride to Montana, where Margaret was eking out a life with her two sons. However, what the Duttons really need is a public account. The frontier credo is live and let live until it’s kill or be killed.Īn atmospheric narrator - 1883 fans will recognize the voice of Elsa Dutton - does her mightiest to explain how the sprawling casts are interconnected. Cara shoots a trespasser who’s looking to kill her, too. The kill shot would perhaps be unexpected from a homestead wife if it wasn’t unexpected in precisely the way we’ve come to expect from the women Sheridan writes: women who would make better cowboys than their partners if only they weren’t missing a critical appendage. So let’s start with the first kill, which in the world run by ruthless men, belongs to Helen Mirren as Jacob’s Irish bride, Cara. But it also feels like 1923 - a series that’s rumored to last only two seasons - is going to be carefully acted, tightly drawn, real-quality TV. It shares that series’ wide open sky and indulgent one-liners the opening sequence of 1923 feels reverse-engineered from the (entirely correct) notion that we all need to see Mirren spit, “What do you know about heaven?” with a shotgun in hand. I have Helen Mirren money! I have a budget for elephants! Oh, your show has a cute little crane shot? I’m filming these vistas off the side of a chopper! We out here in Tanzania! Welcome to prestige TV in the time of Yellowstone, baby!Įxcept 1923 doesn’t feel much like Yellowstone, a show I consider to be the most captivating trash on television. In the opening few minutes, cowboy whisperer Sheridan throws it all at the screen unrestrained. There was never a dawn in America without the Duttons. Series creator Taylor Sheridan has brought us all the way from contemporary Yellowstone to the year of that show’s first prequel, 1883, and now to 1923, to feel reassured. There are plenty of reasons to panic, and yet the presence of a man called Dutton on this magnificent, hard-scrabble landscape puts me at ease. That Ford’s deeply creviced 80-year-old face looks carved from soapstone only underscores his claim. It is a hard year, but Jacob Dutton, played by Harrison Ford, has been here for 30 years and says he can’t remember an easy one. Old hostilities between the Irish and the British have recreated themselves in the new world. Automobiles line Main Street, but real men still ride horses. This is what the Mountain West is like in 1923: The land is parched.
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