Paramount+1923 season 1 episode 1 recap: 1923

The highly anticipated new Taylor Sheridan series 1923, has hit Paramount + with a bang. For months now we have all been wondering what the new crop of Yellowstone’s John Dutton’s ancestors would be like and they didn’t disappoint.

We come into Cara Dutton’s world in 1923. Right off the bat we see her chasing down a man.

With blood on the side of her face, she runs him down with her riffle. It’s never shown what led to the events but what is shown is you don’t mess with Cara Dutton.

Between her land and her people, she will fight without mercy. And you will not come out on the winning side of it, nor did that man.

"“Violence has always haunted this family. It followed us from the Scottish Highlands and the slums of Dublin. It ravaged us upon the coffin ships of Ireland. Stranded us on the beaches of New Jersey. Devoured us upon the battlefields of Shiloh and Antietam. And it followed us here. Lurking beneath the pines and in the rivers. And where it doesn’t follow, we hunt it down. We seek it.” -Voice of Elsa speaking on the history of where the Dutton’s came from."

One thing I was not anticipating was seeing elephants in Africa. Spencer Dutton is there after his stint in the First World War.

He’s definitely an interesting character from the start but there’s so many questions. For one, the background doesn’t look much like Africa.

It’s odd he would choose such a dangerous life after the dangers of war. In comes Jacob Dutton, who reminds me of a more soft-spoken John Wayne.

He’s a quiet, no-nonsense man that gets the job done. He doesn’t need to be brutal or loud, he’s not too nice and not too cruel.

A force and an outspoken leader. The nostalgic voice of Elsa continues as she tells the story of how Jacob Dutton became the head of the ranch.

Elsa’s mother, Margaret, begged Jacob and his family to leave their home and to come out to the Wild West and save theirs. When he arrived, she was frozen on a snowdrift with two starving boys who were barely able to speak: John and Spencer.

He went on to raise those boys like his own and create an empire from what James started.

Prohibition has already begun. Jacob is met with protestors wanting prohibition for Montana before meeting the sheriff for a drink prior to the town meeting.

The hard-headed Scot Banner Creighton leads the sheep farmers in town. He’s been allowing his sheep to go in other men’s land to graze.

The locusts have eaten all the grass. If they take them up to higher ground the bears will get them.

It becomes a matter of life or death which makes Banner break the rules. Jacob is the livestock commissioner and it’s his job to enforce people stay on their own land.

You cannot run sheep across another man’s ground. Banner just doesn’t seem to care he’s up against the wall and is going to do what’s necessary to keep his herd alive.

The last thing Jacob wants is a range war as things are already rough in town. They once created an empire and now the empire is crumbling.

The Great Depression is taking from everybody, no matter how much you had before. By the look of the town and the advanced buildings for that era, it was a thriving town.

John Sr.’s son Jack is doing some horse training and getting ready to get married. But it’s late and Cara is worried about her husband and John who have not come home yet.

Zane, a fiercely loyal foreman, tells her they will go look for them.

1923 Season 1 Episode 1 recap – Father, Have Mercy

Sister Mary believes hard in physical discipline at the school. Teonna, a descendant of Yellowstone’s Thomas Rainwater, was getting the worst of it as the nun would not stop beating until she gave her a right answer.

Finally, she can’t take anymore and fights back. Before long, both are in Father Renaud’s office.

He listens to the story and understands the punishment may have been too harsh. I thought he felt guilt for the girl at first.

Renaud makes Sister Mary put her hands on the desk and lashes her the way she did Teonna. Just when you think it should be even, it’s not.

It is actually Teonna that asked the abuser to stop being abused by him. Even if Sister Mary deserved it.

Father has compassion but no mercy and Teonna still broke the rules. He hits her backside even harder than before to be taught a lesson.

It goes to show you the level of respect white men had for women in that period. It wasn’t high.

What came after was the creepiest bathing I’ve witnessed on television. The nuns tell them step-by-step on how to take a bath while investigating their every move the entire way.

I think that is a commonsense procedure you could be told to do one time and get it. It really makes you feel for these girls and the harshness they go through to come like white people.

Away from their families and everything thing they know and love.

1923 Season 1 Episode 1 recap – Wedding bells are near…yet far

The men finally get back but it’s not with good news. They’ll have to leave tomorrow to move their cattle up in the mountains, along with their neighbors for at least a couple of weeks.

There’s no way Jack can get married just yet and he’ll have to break it to his lady. Meanwhile, Jacob has to break it to his wife, who he calls the boss.

You can sense who wears the pants in this relationship. Cara and Jake are a very adorable and loving couple.

There’s no love lost through the years; it’s only grown. They seem to worship the ground each other walks on.

It’s incredible to see this mature couple highlighted as main characters in a show. Even after all these years, the lust for her is just as strong as it was when they were married.

Jack’s future wife Elizabeth is not happy at all with the news. Even though she is the daughter of a rancher and should understand, she does not at first.

It is the matriarch of the family that comes to the rescue. She explains to her as the wife of a rancher the cattle always comes first.

You have to love the life and the man. Banner is back to breaking more rules as he cuts part of Jacob’s fence to let his sheep through.

Jack finds them while he’s moving their cattle. The range war Jacob didn’t want now seems inevitable.

I don’t see Jacob trying to keep the peace with the sheep herders any longer. The hunting continues for Spencer, this time leopards in Nairobi.

On his way he suffers from PTSD from the war with bad and sometimes violent dreams upon awakening. This is much like his father James, who suffered those same ailments after the Civil War.

Cara writes Spencer a letter in which you can tell they are close. She raised him from a small child and doesn’t understand why he won’t come home.

She blames herself and maybe it’s something they’d done at the ranch. Even she knows that’s selfish.

However, she also knows the toll war takes on a man. She understands how you have to find yourself again after so much of you is taken way.

Cara is an incomparable force of nature. She’s the best wife, aunt, friend, and mother figure you could ask for.

She is the glue that holds this family together, who will go to any lengths to protect it. And she loves just as hard as she fights.

Spencer thinks he’s hunting one leopard, which he took down shortly after it took a woman whom he had bonded with. Little did he know, the second was coming right at him.

It ends in a cliffhanger of Spencer turning around to the leopard leaping right at him. This Dutton better live because he is the most interesting Dutton man besides Jacob.

Will he become hurt in the fight and return home? Make sure you get Paramount Plus and find out.

Let us know what your thoughts of the first episode of 1923 season1 in the comments below! 1923 season 1 episode 2 will air on Christmas Day as a nice gift to Yellowstone fans, always on Paramount +.