While Teonna is on the verge of capture, Alexandra Dutton is going through hell on wheels in the train car. How much more can this young woman endure before she gets to Big Sky? Spencer may be inching closer to his homeland, and by inching I mean just that. Trouble comes for this boy at every turn and this episode rings no different. The saga of Alex and Spencer’s journey towards each other and home in 1923 better have the biggest payoff of all time. For those of you who haven’t yet watched 1923 season 2 episode 5, “Only Gunshots to Guide Us,” fair warning to the spoilers ahead.
Father Renaud and Marshal Kent remain heavy on Teonna’s trail and track Charles Goodnight and his cowboys to a saloon in Amarillo. The rancher is at first not ready to reveal his run-in with Teonna and her crew. He’s in disbelief that a little girl like that could kill 5 people. Kent makes her out to be a murderous savage while coincidentally leaving out the fact that she was beaten and sexually assaulted by the nuns. So of course she seems like a monster when the key motive behind it is left out. Even when Goodnight asks why she would do that Renaud explains evil does not need a reason. With little evidence, the rancher has no choice but to show them the last spot they were at Amarillo Fairgrounds.
Spencer Dutton has also found himself in Amarillo when Mamie Fossett comes upon him sitting under a tree. She’s not too convinced of his story of trying to get back home to Montana after her experience with the lawmen and the search for Teonna. And you can’t blame her, there are a lot of Montana locals coming around to cause trouble in West Texas.
The abuse against Alex has gone way too far
The drama surrounding Alex this season is bordering on pure cruelty in my opinion. Spencer’s wife finds herself without food service on the train and is offered to work as a waitress for the remainder of the trip to feed herself. She’s pregnant, exhausted, and starving so of course she takes him up on that after. Anything to survive to get to Montana. And unbeknownst to her it puts her in another traumatic predicament she barely escapes from.
Not to get too graphic but I despise what Taylor Sheridan is doing to this character. Alex Dutton was forcibly made to grope a man's thigh after spilling coffee on him. And you’d think that would be enough after what she’d previously been through on Ellis Island.
For Sheridan, it didn’t stop there. She was subjected to being hand raped while two other passengers were in the vicinity watching. I am all for Alex enduring to overcome but this scene was much too over the line. I imagine Sheridan wanted to shed light on what waitresses go through, but how much much more do you need to do this girl? It was satisfying when she beat his face in with the kettle. But what are we doing at this point?
After nearly being arrested and sent away to a Chicago jail, Alex’s new English friends from the train gave the police a statement that freed her. Now stuck in Chicago because the trains cannot pass through Fargo. Her new saviors offer for her to go home with them for the time being. Thus allowing another episode where she does not reach Montana.
We may see Spencer save the ranch by the finale
Spencer Dutton has inched his way from Forth Worth to Amarillo. When Marshal Fossett gets him to the station she makes a call to Sheriff McDowell to confirm Spencer’s identity. Spencer may be a Medal of Honor recipient but McDowell doesn’t want him back in Montana if he’s going to start a war against Banner. These lines don’t make a lot of sense when he knows the war has already been started. All winter did was put a pause on it.
I’m not too sure how Cara Dutton would feel about their friend the sheriff advising the Indian Territory marshal to keep Spencer there on laws he might break one day. He knows how much Cara and Jacob need Spencer to save the ranch. He is now the heir to the legacy. Whatever justice he sees fit is his right.
Spencer gets on a train the legal way this time. Hard to imagine he makes a straight shot to Montana once they reach the snow. The pacing remains substantially slow. Many fans are finding it hard to hold interest anymore. The second season may be outpacing season one by 56 percent but fans are voicing their frustrations at tedious movement. Texas needs to be a thing of the past by now.
9 key thoughts on the episode:
- I’ve never seen one character go through so much sexual assault. It’s enough.
- I would rather watch the daily life at the ranch than another roadblock for Spencer.
- I don’t see how Teonna gets out of this alive but if anyone deserves it, it’s her.
- I love these moments of empowerment for Alex but the way she has a savior at every turn kind of takes that away.
- I know it’s the time, but women are treated so poorly on this show unless you are Cara. Teonna will take another loss when Pete doesn’t return.
- It was the first someone asked Teonna’s side of the story. And that was heavily ignored. The fate of Renaud and Kent is heavily dependent on that.
- We need to see details of how Mamie Fossett became a female U.S. Marshal. The majority of what we see from her is men being shocked by her presence.
- The hypocrisy looms large. Kent cries about the lives Teonna took while taking many native lives in the process.
- The line Teonna’s father used that they can survive it because they have no people to go back to was utterly heartbreaking.
A brand-new episode of1923 will premiere next Sunday on Paramount+.