Taylor Sheridan’s third installment in the Yellowstone franchise, 1923, has recently come to an end with a heartbreaking and explosive two-hour finale. The series introduced audiences to the generation that came after the Duttons in 1883, following the new clan between the post-World War I and pre-Great Depression eras. As the modern world slowly encroached on their Old Western way of life, they faced off with great enemies who tried squeezing them out of their land. Like the Duttons they were, they put up a hell of a fight.
Release Date
2022 – 2024
Network
Paramount+
Directors
Guy Ferland
Filled with action, drama, and romance, the show made a great addition to the Western saga. While the thrilling story made for prestige television, 1923 came with many moments that left viewers scratching their heads. As seen in his previous works, Sheridan is no stranger to plot holes and inconsistencies in his writing. These are the 10 biggest things in 1923 that make absolutely no sense.
10
Spencer’s Leopard Wounds Magically Heal
Paramount+
When Spencer Dutton (Brandon Sklenar) is introduced, he’s working as a mercenary big-game hunter in Sub-Saharan Africa, having been hired by the Protectorate of Kenya to hunt a man-eating “leopard the size of a sofa” that has been terrorizing a camp of high-society Brits on a safari holiday. The premiere ends with the leopard killing a woman from the camp who has left her tent to go to the bathroom. After Spencer fatally shoots the feline, a second beast charges at him. Episode 2 picks up where the first episode left off, in a dimly lit struggle filled with growls and screams.
A Not So Believable Recovery
Spencer kills the leopard, survives being mauled, but sustains gangrene-inviting injuries. Just two episodes later, he and Alex are enjoying a beautiful day of love-making on a beach in Zanzibar, his wounds having magically closed up and healed. The kind of injuries he sustained from such a ferocious animal would have taken longer to heal, and they would have been deeper. Not to mention, the scars they would have left behind would have been gnarly. It’s also surprising that they didn’t get infected.
9
Alex Being Granted Citizenship
Paramount+
One of the hardest episodes to watch of 1923 was “Wrap Thee in Terror,” which follows Alex’s (Julia Schlaepfer) harrowing journey being processed as an immigrant at Ellis Island. The show did an excellent job showing the brutal reality faced by immigrants on the island, who were stripped of their humanity and dignity when trying to enter the country. It also depicted how the system was rife with sexual exploitation, emphasizing how women traveling alone were frequently coerced into sex in exchange for entry.
What Starts Off Rooted In Reality Veers Into Far-Fetched Territory
After going through rounds of invasive medical examinations and abusive encounters with various officials, Alex makes it to her final meeting. The immigration officer degrades her and verbally abuses her. After stunning him with her mastery of Walt Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass,” Alex regains her strength, and puts him in his place, ending her rant by pointing out the lipstick left on his collar by the previous applicant. The stupefied official approves her papers. While the verbal evisceration was one of the series’ most satisfying moments, realistically, it wouldn’t have done her many favors with a man of his low caliber, especially in her condition. Pregnant women were routinely denied entry into the country, especially those without husbands at their side.
8
Spencer Isn’t Wanted by the Mafia or the Police
Paramount+
After reluctantly agreeing to smuggle booze into Fort Worth for Sal Maceo (Gilles Marini), Luca’s mobster uncle, the next episode opens up with Spencer and Luca (Andy Dispensa) arriving in the Texas town. Unfortunately for the duo, they spot a police roadblock ahead of them. Luca, wanting to impress his family, insists on going forward and using either bribe money or a pistol to get through. Spencer doesn’t want to take any chances. After failing to convince Luca otherwise, he abandons the truck and wishes him the best of luck. Sadly, his misguided friend is gunned down and loses his life.
It Didn’t Make Sense He Wasn’t Hunted Down
Later on, a cop spots Spencer walking on the road, putting two and two together that he was Luca’s partner-in-crime. Spencer is then blackmailed into a sting operation. At the drop-off location, the cops immediately engage in a shootout with Maceo’s men. Spencer luckily makes it out alive. Surprisingly, he never becomes a fugitive wanted by the police. The big bad Mafia also never came after him. It seems unlikely, given that he abandoned the boss’ nephew, gave away their location, and forced them to lose a great supply.
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‘1923’ Main Characters Ranked From Sadistic to Heroic
Taylor Sheridan’s ‘1923’ is full of compelling characters, from heroic figures to sadistic villains.
7
Spencer Jumps Off a Train Twice With No Injuries
Paramount+
1923 features two instances in which Spencer is forced to jump off a train. The first is after he narrowly escapes the shootout between the Maceo Mafia and the police. Hitching a ride in a moving train car, he finds himself outnumbered by three squatters, one of whom refers to himself as “The Tax Collector.” After they try to attack him and steal his shotgun, he blasts the two men dead, and knocks the girl unconscious. He then jumps off the fast-moving train, surprisingly sustaining no pain or injuries.
Two Miraculous Landings
The second time happens in the finale, when he spots Alex in the snow. This time, the drop is a lot higher, and the moving train is a great deal faster. Spencer lands without fracturing himself or breaking any bones. Realistically, he would have injured himself somehow. There’s no way he’d land unscathed and be able to run to Alex that easily.
6
Alex’s Pregnancy
Paramount
Alex’s pregnancy on the show makes absolutely zero sense. When she undergoes the medical examination on Ellis Island, her pregnancy is revealed to be at four months. There’s a clear shot showing her immigration tag labeled with the date of May 22, 1924. After she finally makes it to Montana and delivers baby John, it’s revealed that he was born a preemie at six months, but not that much time goes by between Ellis Island and the birth.
A Mystifying Pregnancy
As Elsa Dutton (Isabel May) narrates the ending in the finale, she describes how Alex was laid to rest at the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch on March 29, only one week after her immigration process. Alex’s pregnancy advancing two months within seven days is impossible. Additionally, she never sported a bump. In fact, when she’s forcibly stripped down before her invasive medical exam, she doesn’t appear to be pregnant at all. Realistically, she should have been showing by that point, whether four or six months pregnant.
5
Alex Refusing Amputation a Second Time After the Baby’s Delivery
Paramount+
In the series finale, Spencer rescues a stranded Alex from the side of the railroad, where she has been fighting for her life in the snow after her new friends Paul and Hillary (Augustus Prew and Janet Montgomery) froze to death. Having suffered severe frostbite, her limbs turned necrotic. The doctors warn her that she will not see sunset if she doesn’t undergo amputation immediately. Alex, wanting to give her premature baby a fighting chance, refuses the surgery. Her decision at this point is admirable and understandable, but after the delivery, she refuses surgery a second time, rhetorically asking Jacob, “How can I raise a child with stubs for feet and clubs for hands?”
A Poorly Written End for a Beloved Character
When she speaks to Spencer about her decision, she says, “I’m not a dreamer. I don’t imagine running through fields. I have to do it.” While that may be true, the fierce, fiery Alex the audience came to know throughout 1923 wouldn’t have been afraid to live life with a disability. She wouldn’t have abandoned her child, either. The decision is totally out of alignment with her character. The Alex viewers fell in love with would have gone through with the surgery, fighting to live for both her son and husband, if there was any chance it could save her.
Related
Every ‘1923’ Villain, Ranked From Bad to Worse
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4
Spencer Blaming Whitfield for Alex’s Death
Paramount+
The morning after Alex’s death, Spencer leaves his newborn son in Cara’s (Helen Mirren) care. Then he and Jacob (Harrison Ford) proceed to storm the mansion of Donald Whitfield (Timothy Dalton). He wounds Whitfield, tells Mabel (Virginia Gardner) to run, and fatally shoots the sadistic Lindy (Madison Elise Rogers). Pointing the gun at Whitfield’s head, he growls, “You killed my wife,” before making him say her name and putting a bullet between his eyes.
For the Dramatic Flair
While it could be argued that Spencer never would have had to rush home if it hadn’t been for Whitfield’s war against the Duttons, that doesn’t entirely make sense. When Cara first writes to Spencer, urging him to come home, Dalton’s character hasn’t even been introduced yet. Whitfield knew nothing about the initial attack on the Duttons, which killed John (James Badge Dale) and nearly took Jacob’s life. It was Banner Creighton (Jerome Flynn) who started it. However, Spencer blaming Whitfield did make for quite the dramatic ending, finally seeing the show’s biggest villain get the demise he deserved.
3
A Six-Month Preemie Surviving in the 1920s
Paramount+
The fact that Alex didn’t miscarry after being stranded in the snow and suffering such severe frostbite that it resulted in necrosis to her extremities is completely far-fetched in and of itself, but it happened. After the six-month-premature baby was born, his chances of survival in the 1920s would have been slim to none. The medical technology that makes it possible for preemies to survive in the NICU in this day and age wasn’t available back then. Neonatal care with specialized nurseries and intensive care units wasn’t around until the 1960s.
Truly a Miracle
Science simply didn’t have the capabilities needed for baby John to survive. Even the doctors warned Alex the baby wouldn’t make it, surprising them all when he started crying. Miraculously, the tiny newborn survives on goat’s milk. It makes absolutely no sense. Additionally, Cara carrying him out in the cold just after his birth seemed rather risky.
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2
Cara Telling Liz She’ll Forget Jack
Paramount+
After suffering a miscarriage at the end of the previous season, Liz learns she’s pregnant again halfway through season 2. She and Jack (Darren Mann) are overwhelmed by the joyous news, which marks a new beginning in their once-fractured relationship. Tragically, however, Jack is fatally shot in the penultimate episode and confirmed dead in the finale. Liz has no more reason to continue living on the ranch, a place which was only ever rife with hardship for her. After burying her husband, she packs up her bags to head back home to the East Coast.
Jack Will Always Be Present in Liz’s Life
As she and Cara bid farewell, the Dutton matriarch tells her that she’ll forget Jack and that one day she won’t remember him at all. Michelle Randolph, who plays Liz, confirmed to People that when she leaves Yellowstone, Liz is walking away still pregnant. It makes absolutely no sense for Cara to tell Liz that she’ll forget Jack after making new memories when there’s a child who will always connect her to her first love. Even if she wanted to leave him in the past, she’d never be able to. It’s also incredibly strange that her pregnancy isn’t mentioned in this scene and that Cara doesn’t ask her to send her updates on the baby.
1
John Dutton III Being a Fifth-Generation Dutton
Paramount TV
With both Alex and Liz pregnant, many fans waited in anticipation all season to see which child would have a direct line to the Duttons in Yellowstone. Many fans speculated it would be Jack’s baby, pointing to Jamie (Wes Bentley) calling his father, John Dutton III (Kevin Costner), a fifth-generation rancher, when he introduces him as Montana’s next governor. Others were adamant that it was Spencer and Alex who were John II’s parents, making them the grandparents of the Yellowstone patriarch.
A Big Continuity Error
The latter were proven correct when Alex named their baby John after Spencer’s late brother. It makes sense, seeing that Spencer raised that child on the ranch after Alex died, likely handing him the ropes. This raises a major continuity error, but Taylor Sheridan is notorious for them. Fans have pointed out many inconsistencies and plot holes in his writing, but this is a major one.
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