Warning: SPOILERS For 1923 Season 2, Episode 1 – “The Killing Season”
It’s a fight to get back home to Montana for Spencer Dutton (Brandon Sklenar) if the Duttons can survive the winter in 1923 season 2’s premiere, “The Killing Season.” Taylor Sheridan’s early 20th-century Yellowstone prequel wrapped up 1923 season 1 with Spencer and his bride, Alexandra (Julia Schlaepfer) forcibly separated after Spencer accidentally killed Alex’s former fiancé, Arthur (Rafe Soule), the heir to the Earl of Sussex (Bruce Davison).
At the Yellowstone Ranch, 1923 season 1 ended with Donald Whitfield (Timothy Dalton) taking financial control of the Duttons’ land by paying off taxes owed by Jacob Dutton (Harrison Ford). Meanwhile, Whitfield’s men called the authorities on Jake’s wagon boss, Zane Davis (Brian Geraghty), who has a mixed-race family. Zane was severely beaten while his wife and children were taken into custody. Meanwhile, Elizabeth Strafford (Michelle Randolph) tragically lost her baby with her husband, Jack Dutton (Darren Mann).
1923 season 2’s premiere, “The Killing Season,” picks up months later during a brutal winter season gripping Montana. Although the weather isn’t severe for Teonna Rainwater (Aminah Nieves), who is a fugitive being pursued by Father Renaud (Sebastian Roche) and Marshal Kent (Jamie McShane), her life is also in danger as she flees south to hide among other native people. Here’s how 1923’s season 2 opener sets up the second and final season of the Yellowstone prequel.
Spencer Dutton Is Literally Fighting To Get Home To The Yellowstone Ranch
Spencer Made A New Friend On An Italian Freighter
Spencer Dutton is desperate to make it home to Montana and fight for his family. The big game lion hunter is now aboard an Italian freighter headed to Galveston, Texas, but Spencer can’t stay out of trouble. Working in the ship’s boiler room, Spencer befriended Luca (Andy Dispensa), an Italian youth Dutton learned was being raped during the night. Spencer saved Luca twice; first from his rapist, and then when Luca tried to throw himself overboard.
The ambitious Luca, whose cousin in Galveston is a Mafia don, conjured a scheme to take advantage of the destitute Spencer’s fighting prowess. Luca set up fights for Spencer and other crewmen, with Dutton emerging victorious and raking in $420 in spoils (about $7,000 in modern currency) – enough to buy passage to Montana, minus Luca’s fee. It’s also possible Spencer could bring Luca with him to the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch since his young Italian friend wants to see lions, which prowl the mountains of Montana.
Alexandra Fulfills Her Promise To Reunite With Spencer
Alex Reveals She’s Pregnant With Spencer’s Baby
After her forced separation from Spencer, Alexandra is essentially under house arrest in Sussex, England. When she is visited by her stalwart friend, Jennifer (Jo Ellen Pellman), Alex confesses that she’s pregnant with Spencer’s baby. This adds to Alexandra’s desperation to join Spencer in Montana before she is unable to travel.
Jennifer proves her friendship when she agrees to sell precious family jewelry for Alexandra so that she can afford passage to America. Alex decides to travel second class, but Jennifer’s earnings can only afford her the “thieves and beggars” class aboard a Cunard ocean liner heading to New York. But Alex is on her way to reuniting with Spencer, at last, although her journey across the Atlantic surely won’t be without hardship.
Teonna Rainwater Is Chased To Texas
Father Renaud & Marshall Kent Are Hot On Teonna’s Trail
Teonna Rainwater is in a better place considering the brutal conditions of the Catholic boarding school she fled. Teonna, her guardian, Hank Plenty Clouds (Michael Greyeyes), and her love interest, Pete Plenty Clouds (Jeremy Gauna), thought they went to Oklahoma, and they are surprised to learn they are in Texas. Pete also encounters a friendly cowboy before he and Teonna finally consummate their attraction to each other.
Meanwhile, Marshal Kent, Father Roche, and Marshal Thomas (Ross Crain) carve a path of destruction as they hunt Teonna. The cruel and bigoted Kent murders a young Native boy when they question a tribe about Teonna. Right now, Teonna, Hank, and Pete seem far enough away from Kent and Roche to be temporarily safe, but this is temporary and fleeting.
Jacob Dutton Has Basically Lost The Yellowstone Ranch
Donald Whitfield Is Pulling Jake’s Pieces Off The Chess Board
Despite a blizzard on the horizon, Jacob and Jack Dutton leave Cara and Elizabeth behind at the Yellowstone Ranch to go to Bozeman for Zane’s hearing. Jake and Cara discuss what a convenience it must be to have a telephone in the lodge so that Jake can call to alleviate her worries. However, in Bozeman, Jake gets bad news from Sheriff McDowell (Robert Patrick) when they meet at a speakeasy.
Sherrif McDowell tells Jake that Zane is hospitalized while his wife, Alice (Joy Osmanaki), has been imprisoned and his children remanded to state custody for violating Montana’s anti-miscegenation laws. McDowell also urges Jake to pay his taxes owed to get back control of his land from Donald Whitfield. Both men lament that Whitfield is systematically taking Jake’s “pieces off the chessboard.”
Banner secretly harbors his own reservations about Whitfield.
Donald Whitfield already feels he has won, and he’s celebrating with his hired sex workers, whom he tortures as a game. Meanwhile, Banner Creighton (Jerome Flynn) ignores his wife’s warnings about Whitfield because being allied with Donald is a ticket to a better life than being a sheep farmer. However, Banner secretly harbors his own reservations about Whitfield.
Winter Has Come For The Yellowstone Dutton Ranch
A Mountain Lion Becomes A Bad Omen For The Duttons
The symbolic threat of doom winter brings for the Duttons comes in the form of a mountain lion that camps out at the Dutton’s lodge entryway. Jacob encountered the lion and scared it off, but it later returned and nearly killed Elizabeth. Luckily, Cara was able to kill the lion before it could attack Jack’s young wife. But as the omniscient voiceover of Elsa Dutton (Isabel May) warns, winter is “the killing season” where the strong eat the weak.
As 1923, 1883, and Yellowstone have established, the true strength of the Dutton clan is the Dutton women, with Cara serving as the family’s rock in 1923. With the Dutton ranch down to a minuscule herd thanks to Donald Whitfield’s legal machinations, and the brutal winter restricting the Duttons to their lodge, Cara is once again carrying the burden of the Yellowstone Ranch’s homestead.
The mountain lion embodies the enemies out to devour the Duttons, but it’s symbolic that it’s Cara who killed that threat. Cara can only hope that Spencer, the Dutton family’s lion, can get home in time to fight for the family and save the Yellowstone ranch in 1923 season 2.