Nothing Left to Lose

Before pressing "play" on 1923, I hadn't watched a moment of Yellowstone (or 1883, for that matter). This was my introduction to the Taylor Sheridan western universe. That unfamiliarity didn't matter in the slightest-1923 is a remarkable period piece no matter how you come to it!

For a very basic overview, 1923 tells the story-now in prequel-of the Dutton family. Jacob (Harrison Ford) and Cara (Helen Mirren) are the bastions, while son Jack's (Darren Mann) courtship of Elizabeth Strafford (Michelle Randolph) also gets a lot of screen time. With a rough winter and a locust infestation having reduced grazing land to bare minimum, the Duttons feud with local sheep herders--led by fiery Banner Creighton (Jerome Flynn)--in a jostle for viable grassland.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, Spencer Dutton (Brandon Sklenar) is trying to find himself after his harrowing World War I experiences. As a gun-for-hire, he meets an unlikely romantic partner in the upper-crust Alexandra (Julia Schlaepfer). When Spencer is summoned home by mother Cara, he takes Alex along on his adventure to return to the Dutton homestead.

Alongside the "Dutton stuff", young Teonna Rainwater (Aminah Nieves) is being horribly abused by the nuns and priests in a Catholic reform school (forceful assimilation into American culture). Will she escape to her roots--or suffer a seemingly inevitable fate?

Somehow, in balancing all those threads, 1923 manages to be adventurous, aspirational, and extremely culturally/emotionally relevant all in the same breath. The "city life versus country life" themes will have viewers deep in thought, while Spencer and Alex's rollicking adventures, the tender moments between Jacob & Cara, or the absolutely gut-wrenching Native American material makes for never a dull moment.

All that plot material is supported by some of the best acting you'll seen on TV today. Ford--at 80 years old--hasn't lost an ounce of his charisma, and Mirren is equally tremendous. When one or both these characters are on screen, it is utterly mesmerizing. The same can be said for the Spencer/Alex relationship-absolutely magnetic. The ferocity of Nieves is startling, as is her torment by the likes of Jennifer Ehle & Sebastian Roche in their authoritarian roles.

The only small knock on this otherwise-wonderful S1: 1923 is a series that always lives on the razor's edge of being preachy/political. Rarely does Sheridan succumb to such pandering, but it does happen a few times in the final two episodes-where lines of dialogue feel more like "turn to the camera speeches" as opposed to natural conversation. In a way, the Timothy Dalton character arc-being so debauched and violent as it is-actually helps this a bit by allowing him to say outlandish things yet bear them out in his brutalist fashion.

Overall, though, that slight misstep only knocks a half-star off my S1 rating-I enjoyed the rest of the proceedings that much. Whether you are a Yellowstone fanatic or a newbie like myself, this is a series you'll burn through at a rapid pace!