I guess the second episode of 1923 season 2 is a testament to the fact that Jake Dutton will never leave his pack behind, no matter what happens. He treats his men like family, and obviously it is one of the many things that separates Jake from the likes of Donald Whitfield. Well, the mining mogul does help his people, just like he backed Banner Creighton when he needed some financial support against his enemies, but Whitfield’s favors come at a price, and that’s what gets Banner thinking in this episode. He knows that Whitfield can see the greed in his eyes and won’t hesitate to exploit his weakness to serve his interests. He’s an evil whose very presence will corrupt everything people cherish. And the way he’s insulting Banner every now and then only suggests that Banner will part ways with him or end up betraying the man, which will only work in the Duttons’ favor. In 1923, Banner and Father Renaud are two men who are still left with some saving grace. I am not saying they aren’t cruel, or that they don’t deserve to die, but maybe their death could be a bit poetic, for the lack of a better word. However, in the case of Marshal Kent and Whitfield, not even God can save men like them. Sooner or later, they’re going to face the consequences of their savagery, and may end up dying in the most gruesome way possible. With that said, let’s take a look at the important events of episode 2 and what we can expect in the upcoming episodes.
Spoiler Alert
Jake rescued Zane and Alice Davis
At the end of season 1, Whitfield used his influence to tip the authorities off about Zane’s unauthorized marriage with an Asian woman, Asami Ashikaga (Alice Davis). The police officers got into action and put Alice behind bars to investigate the matter, while Zane was beaten black and blue and ended up in a county hospital. He was brutalized so badly that he couldn’t even move. In the first episode of season 2, Jake arrived in Bozeman to help his wagon boss and bring his family to safety. He contacted his old friend, Roy Garrett, the judge handling Alice’s case, to remit the family to his custody, so they could live on his ranch never to return to town again. Garrett himself was married to a Native American, and Jake believed he would understand Zane’s plight better than anyone else.
Garett agreed to release them under supervised probation on one condition. He wanted to know the name of the priest who sanctioned Alice’s marriage with Zane so that they could put him behind bars. Jake and Sheriff McDowell knew that Alice wouldn’t divulge the source, and therefore they had no other means but to convince Garett in their own way to make the judge change his mind. Jake saw a bottle of booze in Garett’s drawer and curiously inquired where he was getting his liquor from during the Prohibition. The Sheriff quickly took out his cuffs and threatened to arrest Garett, forcing the judge to release Alice and her family immediately.
Whitfield Found A New Sport
The first episode began with Whitfield giving some business lessons to Banner, telling the latter to look for a more profitable line of business than ranching. Just like millions of other men and women in the Yellowstone universe, Whitfield too brought up the topic that herding and cowboying is a lost cause that only brings misery and hardship. It is sooner or later going to be replaced by the coming wave of the future. I think Banner took that insult pretty personally because, you see, every crime he had committed so far was just to protect his herd, and Whitfield mocking his vocation does make Banner question his friendship with the mining mogul.
Later, Whitfield saw some Norwegians skiing on the mountains, which caught his attention. To him, it seemed like a dangerous sport that would give people a euphoria of peril, and he wanted to sell that exhilaration, especially when everyone was getting bored after the war. As per the trailer for season 2, he’s planning to set up a ski resort, a playground for the elite, and to lay down the foundation of his dream project, Whitfield will need the Duttons’ land more than ever. The visionary businessman had already told Jake and Cara that in thirty years or so tourism would be the largest industry in Montana. I know it all sounds similar to the Paradise Valley project and the whole fuss around it. But it gives one a clear idea that it was always the land that brought trouble to the family, and therefore they did the right thing by returning it to its real owners, the Native Americans.
Thomas Got Killed
In the previous episode, Marshal Kent attacked a settlement of Native Americans to gather information about Teonna Rainwater. He even trampled an innocent child with his horse, and such brutality couldn’t be ignored. It seemed like a few men from the same tribe decided to take revenge and launched an attack on Marshal Kent, Father Renaud, and Thomas, who had set up a bonfire to spend the night. An arrow hit Thomas, killing him on the spot, while Renaud and Kent hid in the bushes and opened fire on the Indians, killing each one of them brutally. It was obvious that Renaud didn’t want to use a gun and kill the young men in cold blood, but Kent reminded him that he wasn’t a saint, even though he dresses like one.
Before this encounter, Mamie Fossett, a marshal in Anadarko, Oklahoma, had told Kent to tread carefully in these lands, as the people of the Comanche reservation wouldn’t submit to his tyranny and would fight oppression till their last breath. Kent might have shot down a few and saved his life because he was holding a superior weapon, but he wouldn’t be as lucky the next time. The tribe would come in numbers to avenge the deaths of their fallen, giving Kent the most horrible death he could imagine. And by the way, he now had a sketch of Teonna to help him in his hunt, which I guess he would be showing around to the cowboys who might want to help another White man.
Spencer Ran Into Some Mafia
Luca and Spencer finally reached Galveston to meet Luca’s cousin, Rosario Maceo, who ran a bootlegging business in the Prohibition era. Just like everyone else, Maceo, too, had heard the tales of the fabled big game hunter and was quite excited to meet him. He thanked Spencer for saving his cousin’s life and, as a token of his gratitude, offered him a stay at the luxury resort, but Spencer didn’t have time to spend on pleasantries and therefore tried to leave the hotel when Maceo’s right-hand man, Angelo, tried to stop him. Spencer found himself in trouble again and knocked the man down so he could go look for a ride home, but before he could leave Galveston, Maceo brought him back to Maceo’s Hollywood Diner Club. This was when a bruised and badly beaten Spencer shared his worries with the Italian mobster and requested him to let him go. Well, a Mafiosa who gave weight to family more than anything else understood Spencer’s predicament and forgave him for causing so much trouble.
In episode 2’s ending, Maceo assigned Spencer the job of delivering a truck of whiskey to Fort Worth, from where he could find his way to Montana. This means; after dropping the consignment, Spencer could take the truck and travel 1,459 miles on the road to reach home. Before leaving, Maceo also handed him a gun to deal with any police officers who couldn’t be bribed. As we already saw in the season 2 trailer, on his way home, Spencer comes across Mamie Fossett, who might be searching for Teonna in Texas. I guess Fossett and Spencer may enter into some sort of gunfight where the former will finally find out about Spencer’s family trouble and therefore let him race home. This interaction between the two seems important, because I feel when Fossett hears Teonna’s story, she’ll request the Duttons to find her a safe refuge on the ranch, similar to what Jake is doing for Zane and Alice.
Also, in a brief scene, we saw Alexandra on the Cunard vessel trying to survive the journey on water. The hope of meeting Spencer again is what keeps her alive. She eagerly wants to reach Montana so she can tell Spencer about his child that she’s carrying.
Elizabeth Strafford Will Likely Leave Yellowstone
The dread of winter had forced most animals in the wilderness to leave the mountains and go out looking for food elsewhere. In the second episode, a hungry wolf broke into the Duttons’ poultry coop and ate all the chickens. When Elizabeth entered the coop, the wolf tried to attack her. It even bit her on the leg, but before the wild animal could do more damage, Spade, the caretaker, fired a shot to scare off the animal and saved Elizabeth’s life. However, when Cara saw the wound, she feared that the wolf could be rabid and therefore called the doctor to give Elizabeth a vaccine. Elizabeth, who had recently lost her child, was already traumatized by the entire incident when Dr. Miller told her that he would have to give her an injection in the stomach. Well, I guess, because of her miscarriage, Elizabeth didn’t want anyone to look at her scars or even let anyone touch her stomach, which was why she freaked out and Dr. Miller had to give her the injection forcefully. In the first episode too, Elizabeth had seen a lion sitting on the Duttons’ porch, which left her shaken to the core. She was trying to survive in the wild lands just because she loved Jack, but it seemed like she’d had enough. Maybe Elizabeth felt her mother was right and these lands were unsuitable for someone like her, and therefore, in the episode’s ending, Elizabeth told Cara, “When the storm passes, I am going home.” The question here is, will she leave? My guess is she will, and I don’t see Jack surviving the war between Jake and Whitfield, so maybe it would be in Elizabeth’s best interest to leave the ranch while she still has time, or she might have to witness another death of a loved one with her own eyes.
Jake and Company Got Stuck in a Blizzard
In the previous episode, Jake had told Cara that he’d be back from Bozeman the next night, which was when Cara asked him not to travel during the blizzard, but Jake didn’t have a choice. The thing is, he had rescued Zane and Alice and didn’t know what might come after them. He didn’t want to risk another day in town, and therefore decided to take them to the ranch as quickly as possible. However, in the episode’s ending, Jake and the group got stuck in the blizzard, and they had no other option but to flip the roofless wagon and use it as a shelter against the harsh weather. I am not sure of this, but given Zane’s condition, it is likely that he won’t be able to make it through the storm.
Cara Kills The Wolf
In 1923 episode 2’s ending, the violent wolf who had tasted human blood, Elizabeth’s blood, returned to the Dutton house and killed the nurse sleeping on the sofa. Earlier, when Dr. Miller came to the house, he had brought a nurse with him. Unfortunately, because of the storm, Dr. Miller and the nurse had decided to spend the night at the Dutton house, unaware of the horror that awaited them at night. While Cara had arranged a separate room for Dr. Miller, she’d offered for the nurse to sleep in her room, but she’d refused… a decision which she paid for with her life. It only goes to show that life’s so uncertain in the wilderness which is even explained by Elsa’s voice that winter is nothing less than hell. For many people, hell calls to mind images of rivers of fire and canyons of coal and ash. But to the mountain people, hell is a river frozen with canyon walls of ice. Hell is the winter that has come to ravage the Durron family. In the episode’s ending, the wolf tried to attack Cara, but as soon as it jumped towards her, she pulled the trigger, possibly killing the wolf, just like she killed the lion in the previous episode. I guess, an animal is going to die in each episode of 1923, and yes, that includes the likes of Whitfield, Banner, Renaud and Kent. Furthermore, the wolf breaking into the house will only strengthen Elizabeth’s resolve to leave the Yellowstone ranch, if nothing else.
