Full Recap Of The Gut-Wrenching Final Episode Of “1923”
LEFT: Julia Schlaepfer as Alexandra. (1923 / Facebook) MIDDLE: Harrison Ford as Jacob Dutton and Helen Mirren as Cara Dutton. (1923 / Facebook) RIGHT: Brandon Sklenar as Spencer Dutton. (1923 / Facebook)
Taylor Sheridan Held Nothing Back In This Action Packed Finale Episode
See how each leading character fairs in the article below.
Elizabeth Strafford
Elizabeth Strafford shows a rare moment of bravery in the finale episode. Near the end of the two-hour finale, Whitfield’s men attack the Yellowstone ranch.
The Duttons were outnumbered entirely, nearly 5 to 1.
Elizabeth chooses not to go downstairs with the women and children and stays on the main floor with a shotgun. She is told to run but decides to hide under a table instead. This rare act of extreme bravery ended up saving the life of Zane Davis when two men stalked into the house and had him pinned.
She shoots the men in the legs and then kills one of the men while they are incapacitated. Zane kills the other, and the two end up surviving what looked to be a rather hopeless situation.
Near the end of the episode, Elizabeth is dressed in her city clothes and heading back to Boston. She found out that her husband Jack was killed, so she had no reason to stay on the Dutton land.
She stops before she leaves to have a brief conversation with Cara Dutton.
During this heartbreaking chat, she promises to love Jack forever.
Cara disagrees, saying that her love will fade over time. She then says, “That’s all right. I’ll love him enough for both of us.”
Elizabeth and Jack’s baby is not mentioned again. If you recall, in a previous episode, it was confirmed that Elizabeth was pregnant again after her first miscarriage. Fans are speculating about whether there will be an explanation for this in an upcoming spinoff or if the storyline was simply forgotten.
Banner Creighton
Banner Creighton had a come-to-Jesus moment in the finale episode of 1923.
Banner Creighton, Whitfield’s right-hand man throughout the series, finally decides to no longer serve the perverse man. He comes to this revelation after witnessing Whitfield’s harsh treatment of women.
He confides in his wife that he believes Whitfield to be evil and no longer wishes to serve him or his vision. Banner then takes his wife and son to the train station in an attempt to flee. This is an actual train station, not the metaphorical one, which is a dumping ground for murder victims in the Yellowstone universe.
He arrives at the train station, where Jacob Dutton, along with his men and Whitfield’s men, wait for Spencer Dutton’s arrival. An all-out war is on the horizon.
Banner and Jacob have a tense conversation, during which Jacob states that Banner is not allowed to leave, as he was the one who started the whole mess. Banner agrees to stay, but only on the condition that his family can board the train and escape.
When the shooting at the train station begins, just after Spencer’s train arrives, Banner chooses to shoot at Whitfield’s men instead of Jacob’s. In doing so, he protects the Duttons, against whom he has been actively fighting throughout the entire season.
However, this does not save his life, as he is shot in the process.
Before he dies, Jacob stands over him and honors the fact that Banner turned out to be a man of his word. Banner’s dying words were, “It’s all a man’s got.”
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Teonna Rainwater
Marshal Fossett and her men find the remains of Pete and Kent. They deduct that the priest killed Kent and that Kent killed Pete. Making them wonder what happened to the priest.
They see smoke in the distance and find the remains of the priest and Teonna’s father. There, they discuss their next move, trying to answer whether or not they would go after Teonna.
They seemingly decide to leave the girl alone until she fires at them. They chase her and eventually capture her; she kills one of the Marshal’s men in the fight.
She yells and screams in frustration as she has endured so much only to be captured and hanged. At least, that is what she thought. In a turn of luck, she is taken before a judge who points out that there are no witnesses or evidence that she killed anyone. (Unless you count her confessing to Marshal Fossett a couple of scenes prior as sufficient evidence.)
Either way, the Marshal chooses compassion, and Teonna is free to go. She leaves alone on horseback, heading west.
Leaving viewers to question: Will she get a spinoff?
Jacob Dutton & Cara Dutton
Jacob and Cara Dutton both survived shootouts in the finale episode of Yellowstone’s prequel, 1923.
Jacob was at the train station, waiting for Spencer and ready to defend his nephew from Whitfield’s men. Along with the sheriff and a few of his men, Jacob ended up winning the shootout once Spencer arrived at the station. However, he did not leave unscathed, as he was shot in the stomach during the conflict.
Meanwhile, Cara was at the Yellowstone ranch, defending against a second group of Whitfield’s men who were attempting to take the land by force. Positioned at a window overlooking the Dutton ranch, she used a sniper rifle to take out men one at a time.
The Duttons seemed to be losing the shootout; they were overwhelmed by Whitfield’s men, who had managed to breach the house.
At that moment, Spencer arrived, guns blazing, and single-handedly took out all of Whitfield’s men with a shotgun, effectively saving the day. During that altercation, he discovered who Whitfield was and learned that he was responsible for the attacks on his family and their land.
One of the final scenes of the episode showed Jacob and Cara sitting on the porch, discussing their future and grieving together for what they had lost.
Donald Whitfield
Most fans agree that Donald Whitfield’s character was extremely unsettling. There are many villains in the Yellowstone universe and most of them desire to take the Dutton’s land.
Witfield, however, takes the cake with his depraved desire for pain. His masochistic behavior towards the women he “captures” sets him apart as a particularly evil villain.
At the beginning of the episode, he stood in a ballroom filled with upper-class men and gave a speech about his imminent victory. However, it was premature, as he had not yet acquired the Dutton land.
Besides his abuse, the only other time he is shown in the finale is his death.
Spoiler: Alexandra dies, explained below.
The morning after the death of Alexandra, Spencer decides to get revenge.
He walks out of the hospital room and turns to Jacob, saying, “I want to meet the man who killed my wife.”
Spencer and Jacob enter Whitfield’s house, and Spencer quickly kills Whitfield’s woman, who was complicit in his abuse, and then lets the other girl go. He shot Whitfield, who survived and began to beg for his life.
Jacob responded, “I plan on making such an example of you that it’ll be 50 years before one of your kind dares to enter this valley again. I want them teaching about how you die in schoolbooks!”
Then Spencer makes Whitfield say “Alex” in honor of his wife, who was killed due to the man’s greed. He then shot Whitfield in the head.
Spencer Dutton & Alexandra
After traveling across the seas and encountering many challenging obstacles, the young couple finally reunites in the final episode, albeit for a brief moment. In the previous episode, Alexandra is left stranded in the middle of a Montana winter, fighting off the cold while six months pregnant. Meanwhile, Spencer is on a train crossing Montana, heading home to support his family. Little do they know, they are about to reunite in the most romantic way.
In a stroke of genius, Alexandra starts a small fire to keep herself warm. When she hears a train approaching, she quickly sets the entire car on fire to try to get the train to stop.
Spencer, who happens to be on that very train, What are the odds? jumps off the back once he sees Alexandra trying to catch the train’s attention. He runs across the tracks to her, and the couple finally reunites. Their love is evident in their embrace.
After they hug, Alexandra playfully points out that Spencer jumped off the train with no plan and jokingly says, “So good of you to join me in this pickle, free from the burden of a solution.”
Spencer laughs while picking her up in his arms, declaring that he will carry her the three miles to the next city. Fortunately, he doesn’t have to carry her that far, as the train has stopped just a couple of hundred yards away.
As he begins to carry her, he jokingly remarks, “You’ve eaten well on this journey, my love.”
Laughing, she lightly slaps him and responds, “You may carry me from certain death, sir, but you may not joke about my weight while doing it.”
Unbeknownst to her, that statement was tragically true.
Then she adds “I suppose he’ll be tall like you,” making Spencer realize he is going to be a father.
The scene shifts to them on the train, where a doctor is present to assist Alexandra. Once she lies down, the doctor is able to examine her health, and when he removes his gloves, they are pitch black from frostbite.
While Spencer was busy saving the day at the Dutton Ranch, Alexandra was taken to the hospital, where she unexpectedly gave birth prematurely to her son, whom she affectionately named John. Against all odds, the baby, only six months old, survived. As she held her baby, the doctors began to prepare her for surgery.
However, she adamantly refused the surgery that could save her life.
The doctors insisted, saying, “Your legs are necrotic to the shin, and your left hand is necrotic above the wrist. You will not see the sunset if we do not amputate immediately.”
Again, she refused, responding with, “How can I raise a child with stubs for feet and clubs for hands?”
Some time passes, and then Spencer arrives.
He realizes the dire nature of the situation and, with tears in his eyes, asks her to get the surgery, saying, “Your legs are a long way from your heart.”
She again refuses, saying, “They wanted to take my legs and my hand and take our baby and throw them all away like rubbish. I said no. I would never trade what we made for me.”
Spencer and her fall asleep in each other’s arms, and when he awakes, she is dead. He looks at his son and does not hold him, but calls his aunt Cara and says, “Cara, I don’t know what to do.”
Cara takes the young boy in her arms and tells Spencer that it is not a problem because she does. For the rest of the episode, John is not seen separated from Cara.
The end of the episode features a narration by Elsa Dutton, where she shares the fate of Spencer. She says,
“Spencer never remarried. Took the comfort of a widow and made another boy, refused to marry her, and one day, the widow was gone.”
Spencer never remarried and lived another 45 years.
The final scene is in Heaven, and it shows a 1920s dance floor. Alexandra is there waiting as Spencer walks up. When they meet, she jokes, “Took you long enough.” They both smile as they begin to dance together.
Watch a full recap below.
