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The second Yellowstone prequel, 1923, has proven to be an excellent show on its own terms already, going far beyond standard prequel territory and carving out a distinct place in the Yellowstone universe as a surprisingly strong period piece, immersed in the culture of Prohibition-era Montana.
Of course, beyond its strengths as a stand-alone series, however, it is also meant to fill in part of the gap in the long family history of the Duttons, as well. Particularly as the de facto patriarch of the Duttons, Jacob (Harrison Ford), is down for the count, the future of the ranch seems to be moving towards the hands of the younger generation: Spencer (Brandon Sklenar) and his nephew, Jack (Darren Mann). The trouble at the moment for the future of the family is that Spencer and Jack are currently worlds apart, with one in Montana and the other in East Africa.
Despite their separation, though, each episode of the series has clearly played (to a greater or lesser degree) into a conscious parallelism between Jack and Spencer’s respective storylines. Whether it be narrow escapes from certain death or exuberant romantic encounters, a significant portion of each character’s plotline mirrors developments in the other. While it is not immediately clear why Jack and Spencer have so much in common, it has already led to some important developments in each story and promises to be even more significant in the second half of the season.
Jack and Spencer’s Stories Have Mirrored Each Other From the Start
Right from the start of Episode 1, uncle and nephew set off in parallel to each other. Jack set off to help Jacob lead the cattle to greener pastures, and when he finally arrived, ended up seeing something he wasn’t supposed to: Banner’s men taking the sheep and encroaching on the same territory. Spencer, on the other side of the world, was in a much different situation and facing a far more apparent danger as he hunted wild animals in Africa, but each of the men ended the episode in unexpected mortal danger ending in a cliffhanger: Jack on the receiving end of a shot from Banner’s men, and Spencer being jumped by an unforeseen second jaguar.
In Episode 2, those parallels only continued. Both narrowly escaped a nasty end, as Jack lost his horse, but not his life, while Spencer managed to fight off the jaguar. The new wrinkle added in the second episode, however, was the introduction of Alex (Julia Schlaepfer), which added even more similarities between the two storylines. Jack’s fiancée, Elizabeth (Michelle Randolph), had an impassioned speech about being passed over in favor of cattle in the first episode, and Alex’s comments mirror those of Elizabeth in a strange way, complaining that her own engagement has been set up as nothing more than a “real estate transaction.” This particular parallel promises to provide an interesting source of drama for future episodes, as Elizabeth was forced to concede that the cattle took precedence while Alex rejected a similar association. What will happen when Alex is confronted with the importance of saving the cattle, particularly if it ends up conflicting with her own interests?
As both stories continued, so too did the similarities between them. In the third episode, Jack and Elizabeth discovered the exciting nightlife of Bozeman as they slipped into a crowded Speakeasy before ending the night in the same hotel room. Spencer and Alex also had an idyllic outing in the stunning African countryside as they spent the day and night together. In both cases, however, those moments were shattered again by unexpected danger. Spencer and Alex were ambushed by a rampaging elephant on the way back and nearly devoured by hungry lions. So too with Jack and Elizabeth, as the Duttons were ambushed by Banner’s men on the way home, and Elizabeth was seriously injured. The continual similarities between the two plots is still unexplained, but it has served to intensify the drama in each storyline with an implicit question: when something bad happens in one of the two stories, how similar will the other one be?
Jack and Spencer’s Storylines Are Destined to Converge With Episode 4’s Twist
In the midseason finale, the story finally began to suggest a new angle on the characters of Spencer and Jack: their plotlines will eventually converge. Initially, in Episode 4, the two stories seemed to be diverging: while Jack struggled to deal with the aftermath of the ambush back at the ranch, Spencer and Alex were still faring off to idyllic vistas, spending a day on the beach in romantic bliss. Yet in the midst of this apparent difference, a surprising parallel cropped up. As perfect as the scenery might be, Spencer too had to deal with the disastrous aftermath of a traumatic experience: after holding his aunt’s letters in limbo for years, Spencer came to grips with the unspoken trauma he and the family experienced over the previous six years on opposite sides of the world. The net result of reading the letters was just as important for the overall themes of the story as it was for the plot: at the end of Episode 4, Jack and Spencer’s parallel problems finally became one and the same.
What all of these similarities ultimately mean for the story is difficult to judge, as the story is only half told. A few things are already apparent, though. One of the functions of the parallels is that often what is implicit in one storyline is made explicit in the other, such as Jack’s obvious trauma revealing Spencer’s hidden one. Another aspect is that the similarities lead to tension and anticipation as to how far the parallels will go between the two. Furthermore, the comparison drawn between Alex and Elizabeth promises to become more significant later: what will happen when the two intersect? What about when Jack and Spencer finally meet again? Will the two work together to save the ranch, or are they destined ultimately to become rivals?
The implications go even further. In a recent interview, Sklenar said that 1923 is “a love story” about “commitment to self, partner, family.” The parallel plot developments have certainly been exploring both similar and different ways in which that dynamic takes place in the story. Even beyond the story of the series, though, the similarities between Spencer/Alex and Jack/Elizabeth provide drama for the wider Dutton universe. It is still uncertain who among the 1923 Duttons is the direct ancestor of Kevin Costner’s John Dutton of Yellowstone, and the ambiguity is likely intentional. The implication seems to be that the two pairs of romantic partners might exist to play up the uncertainty in the wider Yellowstone universe: of the four people involved, several could ultimately be expendable while still leaving enough people to eventually become ancestors of the 21st-century Duttons. Are more Duttons destined to die in the second half of the season?
The second half of 1923 returns February 2023 on Paramount+.
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