Editor’s note: The below recap contains spoilers for 1923 Season 2 Episode 6.
With only one installment of 1923 Season 2 left, Taylor Sheridan puts all his characters to the test in the penultimate episode, “The Mountain Teeth of Monsters.” So far, this Yellowstone prequel has proven that it can go above and beyond, with powerful leads in Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren’s Jacob and Cara Dutton, a star-crossed love story in Spencer (Brandon Sklenar) and Alex (Julia Schlaepfer), and plenty of action and historical commentary to boot. Yet, this episode pushes things to their absolute limit, and nobody will be the same afterward.
Danger Awaits Spencer in ‘1923’ Season 2 Episode 6

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The episode opens on the Dutton ranch, with the Duttons and the Zane family all eating together. “This is the first time that every seat at the table has been filled since the war,” Jacob notes. Just then, they hear a commotion outside as Sheriff William McDowell (Robert Patrick) arrives to inform Jacob that Spencer is on his way home. He warns Jacob that the switchboard operators have loose lips, and that Donald Whitfield (Timothy Dalton) likely knows about Spencer’s arrival. Meanwhile, in Texas, Marshal Kent (Jamie McShane) ransacks Pete Plenty Clouds’ (Jeremy Gauna) body, as the cliffhanger from “Only Gunshots to Guide Us” is revealed. Yes, Pete is dead, and Father Renaud (Sebastian Roché) takes issue with it. “We are looking for a girl, but you keep killing boys and men,” the priest chastises the lawman, noting that Kent is the real murderer who needs justice. “Your path is a walkway to perdition, and I shall not walk it with you.” Just then, Father Renaud kills Marshal Kent, marking that he will now “scream with the Devil.”
In a Bozeman speakeasy, Banner Creighton (Jerome Flynn) speaks with a few men about Spencer Dutton. After hearing that he’s a war hero, Banner orders Spencer’s death. “After you’ve killed the nephew,” he tells his men, “we’ll kill the whole lot of them.” At the ranch, Jacob prepares his ranch hands for war. Since they don’t know which train Spencer is coming on, he has set guards at every entrance. Jack (Darren Mann) wants to fight, but Jacob puts him in charge of keeping Cara, Elizabeth (Michelle Randolph), and his unborn child safe. Cara makes Jacob promise to come back to her, noting that he has never once broken a promise to her. Once he promises, he leaves with his men. At Whitfield’s mansion, Lindy (Madison Elise Rogers) has tied a new girl, Mabel (Virginia Gardiner), to Whitfield’s bed and placed the woman’s head and arms in stocks. Whitfield tells Lindy that if this woman can surrender her body to her, she can make her do anything. He watches as Lindy seduces the woman but is interrupted by Banner’s arrival. Banner tells him about Spencer, but Whitfield is unconcerned. Although the sheriff is on the Duttons’ side, Whitfield notes that the courts are on his. Banner leaves, a bit unsettled at the scene, but not before telling Whitfield that Mabel is someone’s daughter. However, Whitfield replies that if Mabel’s mother were there, he would do the same to her.
Hope Is Kindled as Life Is Extinguished in ‘1923’ Season 2 Episode 6

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Back in Texas, Teonna Rainwater (Aminah Nieves) sits beneath the stars. She wants to start a fire so that Pete can see them, but Runs His Horse (Michael Spears) notes that if he can see a fire, so can everyone else. She worries about Pete, knowing that something is wrong. “I can feel it in my heart,” she says, and her father promises that the next day, they will follow his tracks. On the Dutton ranch, Jack decides it’s time for him to catch up with his great-uncle. He’s warned about grizzlies, and one of the other hands goes to the house to tell Zane (Brian Geraghty) that Jack has left. At the house, Liz sneaks up on Cara, who anxiously knits while she waits for Jacob. Liz tells Cara that their life seems odd given that it’s the 20th century, but Cara tells her that of all the Ten Commandments, coveting will lead to “every atrocity that the world has ever seen.” It’s because of this that they are under constant threat. But things only get worse when Zane walks in and tells Cara that Jack is gone.
On the train, Spencer hears that the train is being held due to a snowdrift, and is re-booked through Sioux Falls instead. However, back in Illinois, Alex tells Paul (Augustus Prew) and Hillary (Janet Montgomery) about her romance with Spencer, and all that she has endured since. “That’s the most fantastic thing I’ve ever heard,” Paul admits, though Alex believes that much of the story is still unwritten. Paul offers to use a car to drive Alex directly to Montana, and Hillary agrees. The trio plans their trip through Minnesota, South Dakota, and eventually Montana. Paul calculates the distance, which is about 1,500 miles, will take around three days by car. “We journey the path of the pioneers in the name of lost love soon to be found,” Paul toasts. In Livingston, Jacob and his men arrive at the train station to find Sheriff McDowell already there. McDowell believes that Spencer will arrive on the train from Deadwood in a few days, and Jacob believes that Banner’s men will use the crowd outside as cover.

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Meanwhile, Jack rides through the forest and hears something. He sees men, including Clyde (Brian Konowal), riding their way through the trees, and comes out when they call. Since they claim to be members of the Livestock Commission, Jack lets his guard down, but is quickly shot off his horse and killed. The men send the Dutton heir’s body back by way of horse. Down in Texas, Runs His Horse and Teonna come upon the bodies of Pete and Marshal Kent. Runs His Horse keeps his daughter back as he checks the scene, but Teonna wails as she sees Pete’s body. “If we were home, I’d build him a place to rest between two trees,” her father tells her. “But there are no trees here.” Runs His Horse believes that Pete gave his life to save Teonna, and that she is now free that Kent is dead.
Death Follows Every Plotline as ‘1923’ Season 2 Prepares for the End

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In Wisconsin, Alex, Paul, and Hillary are on the road. They travel and enjoy the ride, making their way through Minnesota as Alex and Hillary learn to drive themselves. Reaching South Dakota, they press on through the Rosebud Reservation and meet up with the snow in Wyoming, which begins to make the journey a bit more difficult. In Buffalo, they stop to fill up and put chains on the tires. A local recommends that Alex take the train from Sheridan, as there are no more places to stop along the way, but the trio presses on anyway. In Texas, Teonna grieves as Runs His Horse prepares a fire. “Life hasn’t shown me many reasons to keep fighting for it,” she laments, and her father tries to comfort her. “We are Crow,” he says. “If you don’t live, someday they won’t even remember we were here.” He believes that their people will be the ones to preserve the ways of the land, but Teonna wonders why they would share that knowledge with anyone. From the brush, Father Renaud watches.
That evening, the priest sneaks up on them, but Runs His Horse wakes to see him. Renaud comes closer, and he and Runs His Horse shoot one another. Renaud confronts Teonna, claiming to be the light that has found her darkness. He tries to get her to call out to God, but she refuses. “I am trying to save your soul,” he insists, but Teonna tells him to beg for forgiveness instead. Renaud tries to kill Teonna, but he is out of bullets, and she brutally murders him instead. With her father now dead too, Teonna is left alone in the world. In Wyoming, Alex shivers. Hillary is used to freezing because they live in Chicago, but Alex struggles to keep warm. She lay down on the floor of the car, and Paul realizes that they are running out of fuel. “Quite the adventure,” he tells his wife, neither knowing what will come next. Unfortunately, things don’t look good for them, and they soon get even worse.
At the train station in Rapid City, we see Spencer hop on another train to Billings, while Alex lies shivering in the car with Hillary the next morning. They’re snowed in and completely out of fuel. Even more tragically, Hillary has frozen to death, and Alex leaves the vehicle to see nothing but snow — and Paul’s body, which has likewise frozen in the elements. As Elsa Dutton (Isabel May) narrates, she notes that “life is a constant state of battle for survival,” teasing an extinction event that will devour everyone whole.
New episodes of 1923 Season 2 are available every Sunday on Paramount+.

1923

Death is victorious as 1923 gears up for it’s powerful finale.

Release Date

2022 – 2024

Network

Paramount+

Directors

Guy Ferland

Pros & Cons

It seems we’re real close to a Spencer/Alex reunion, and it’s about time
This episode really sets the stage for the end, and we can’t wait

Killing six characters in a single episode is way too much
Alex has suffered enough, as has Liz. Let them be, Taylor Sheridan!
Whitfield’s sexual escapades add nothing, and have become quite tiresome