On top of her death, there’s another tragedy for Alex Dutton (Julia Schlaepfer) in 1923 season 2’s finale. Yellowstone screenwriter Taylor Sheridan details the lives of the Prohibition-era Duttons in the prequel to his original series, explaining that life protecting the Yellowstone Ranch has always been challenging for John Dutton’s (Kevin Costner) family. Spencer Dutton (Brandon Sklenar) finally makes it home in the finale to finish the long-awaited war that Banner Creighton (Jerome Flynn) started against Jacob Dutton’s (Harrison Ford) family in 1923 season 1.
While Spencer’s assisting his uncle at the train station in Bozeman and his aunt Cara Dutton (Helen Mirren) at the ranch was explosive and memorable, the end of 1923 season 2 is also riddled with tragedy for Spencer and his wife, Alexandra. Despite Spencer serendipitously jumping from the train and saving his wife as they passed, seeing Alex’s call for help, Alex died at the hospital after delivering her baby, whom she named John. Hopefully, Alex was able to pass down her brave-hearted qualities to her son, but it’s unclear if John will ever know all of his mother’s incredible story.
Alex Dutton Doesn’t Get To Pass Her Incredible Story Down In 1923 Season 2
Alex Has Quite A Story To Tell, But Never Tells It
As she encounters people who are willing to step in and save her in 1923 season 2’s finale, a common remark made in the show’s final chapter is that Alex Dutton must have an incredible story to tell. When Alex tells her tale to Paul (Augustus Prew) and Hillary (Janet Montgomery) in their cozy Winnetka home, Paul jokes that the story is so fantastic, he wants to share the tale with Edgar Rice Burroughs, a prominent author at the time, who penned Tarzan. Still, Paul never gets the chance, since he and Hillary die on the voyage to Emigrant, Montana.
With Paul, Hillary, and Alex’s deaths, too, dies Alexandra’s story. Despite those around her remarking that she has a tale to tell, Alex never actually tells her story in 1923’s finale before her untimely death. This worsens Alex’s fate in 1923 season 2. Alex’s death has already begun erasing her from the Dutton family tree. Her remaining kin being unaware of her incredible story makes Alex’s mark even smaller. While her child will live on without her, Jacob, Cara, and even Spencer lack a complete understanding of all Alex suffered to get to Montana, so they can’t pass it on.
Despite the horrible things that happened to Alex Dutton in 1923, Alex’s journey was epic. She escaped her unhappy life, scrounging enough money with her friend to make a journey across the Atlantic Ocean, literally trading her life of luxury for a humble journey to Montana. Then, Alex Dutton commits to her life as an American, changing her surname to Dutton as she passes through immigration at Ellis Island, honorably securing entry into her husband’s country. After that, Alex is beaten, robbed, and assaulted on her railway voyage, yet keeps her grace and tenacity all the way, proving her grit.
Is There Anyone Who Could Know Alex Dutton’s 1923 Story?
Alex’s Story Seemingly Died With Alex, Paul & Hillary
While we can find hope within 1923 season 2’s story that someone has access to Alex’s complete tale, the possibilities are far-fetched at best. There’s a chance that Alex told her story to Jacob in an offscreen conversation while they rode in the ambulance en route to the hospital in Bozeman. Still, when Alex asks how far a drive it is to the hospital, Jacob remarks that it’s only a five or six-mile drive, which is hardly long enough for Alex to scratch the surface of her saga. That’s only if Jacob prompted her to tell her story, amid their preoccupation with Alex’s declining health.
Alex also could have told her story to Spencer as they lay in the hospital bed. However, Alexandra of Sussex can hardly speak when her husband arrives. It appears that, once Spencer lies down, the couple falls asleep together, and when Spencer wakes, Alex is gone. Still, perhaps it’s possible that Spencer could put Alex’s story together, maybe from letters that she wrote to him or her friend Jennifer (Jo Ellen Pellman) along the way, or perhaps from eyewitness accounts, like one from the local woman at the gas station or the police who talked to Alex’s friends in Chicago.
Unless Alex wrote a diary along the way, Alex’s story will never be told in her own words.
That said, unless Alex wrote a diary along the way (which Spencer would have to search along the railroad to find), Alex’s story will never be told in her own words. The revelation is a truly heartbreaking addition to Alex’s tragedy in 1923 season 2, worsening the mother’s inability to raise her child or meet the family she spent so much time getting to know in Cara Dutton’s letters. Alex’s death is doubtlessly one of the saddest in the Yellowstone franchise, made sadder knowing that her loved ones will never know the extent of their lion-hearted matriarch’s fight.