1923 (Season 1) Episode 3: Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren have cemented themselves as some of the most iconic actors over the years. In 1923, they practice their acting chops with restraint to play their roles. Now that the season has established the background of its central characters, it is turning the pages from their personalities while using different storytelling approaches. While it follows a relaxed pace to focus on the tender moments – not essential to the plot progression, it also turns into a sudden sense of thrill and action without a jarring tonal shift.
1923 (Season 1), Episode 3 Recap:
Episode 3: The War Has Come Home
Unlike the previous episodes that presented many plot details, the third one indulges in a leisurely pace to delve into gentle moments between the couples. Romance is in the air, and so is a lull that overlaps their moments together. Through a voiceover, Elsa narrates the nature of ranchers’ lives, how they do not have any holidays as servicemen do, and how hard it is to work in the scorching heat of the summers, especially the one they are facing that year. Then, the Duttons are seen returning from their cumbersome task, where they had taken their cattle to the highlands for them to graze.
After worrying the ladies of the house that they might never return, Jacob (Harrison Ford), Jack (Darren Mann), John Sr. (James Badge Dale), and Zane (Brian Geraghty) finally arrive at Yellowstone. Cara (Helen Mirren) and Jacob have their own moment of reunion where a mature understanding about such long departures is present between them. While there is always a worry at the back of her mind, like everyone else, she is far more comfortable with its uncertainty. On the other hand, young Elizabeth (Michelle Randolph) runs to embrace Jack into her arms after seeing him from a distance, for the distance seems to have become too unbearable for her.
While the lovers meet and mingle, Banner (Jerome Flynn) manages to escape getting killed and finally reaches his home. While his son is pleased to see his father’s face, Banner just sends him to gather others. Even when his wife is inquisitive about how he got injured and how his feet were bloodied, he does not want to waste a single moment, for he plans on seeking revenge against the Duttons.
Meanwhile, the Dutton family walks through the town together as a family. Over there, they come across a salesman selling the washing machine, a new invention for 1923 people, which can do the chore of washing clothes for them. The man tries his best to sell it as a proposition to save their time and effort. He also notes how cities like New York have already started using it. Jack points out how these inventions are coming at a cost, even if they are saving time. To buy every new tool, they need to work more, and if these machines are taking away their work, then how are they helping people? The salesman is dumbfounded and keeps asserting that it is the future.
Meanwhile, Jacob seems genuinely concerned about his cattle and unsure about their safety. At the same time, he walks the road between the motor wagons as if nothing is going to harm him. Cara surmises that he is a man full of contradictions. Be that as it may, all the Duttons keep noticing changes. Elizabeth gets stunned to see a bar similar to what she used to visit in the city. She and Jack see folks from the city ordering fancy drinks and ask for the same. Afterward, they get a room for themselves and consummate their relationship after a series of innocent smiles of laughs.
Back in Africa, Spencer (Brandon Sklenar) goes to his next hunting task and speaks with the local British officer, who tells him about the nature of the Hyenas that they are supposed to hunt down. Spencer thinks of putting up some animals as bait, but the man says that it has not helped them in the past. While he contemplates the best possible way to hunt, Alexandra (Julia Schlaepfer) wakes up from sleep after her first night with this wild man. They ruminate over random aspects of wildlife and human life and how they correspond. Unlike him, she is naïve in regard to the wisdom about this way of living.
Yet she is filled with curiosity, owing to a feeling of exoticness about this life that she had never experienced before. It might also be due to her infatuation with this dangerous, rude American man. She is swept away by his charm and has no calms about leading a life in the wilds with him, at least for the time being, when the romance is in the air. Over the course of wandering, they decide to give this relationship a more concrete form. She dreams of a romantic life with him. Soon after, their truck gets toppled by an elephant, which leaves them hiding for a while. While he manages to shoot it dead, they get injured and discover that the truck is beyond repair.
As a result, Spencer takes Alex toward a tree and they climb up together since he considers it to be a safe space from wild animals, especially hyenas. While the day passes by without any visible sign of danger, they suddenly see a couple of lions circling around the elephant and around their tree. He makes every effort to keep her safe. Then suddenly, they see other trucks riding toward them.
While they scare the animals away, Alex coyly notes her uncertainty about being his fiancé after this terrifying incident. While he had lived with the same kind of fear for a while, she was new to it and, thus, fairly scared. Despite that, they share a tender moment while heading back to their safe tent. Back at Yellowstone, Jacob and Cara share a moment of togetherness before heading toward their family outing. Whether it is Jack or Cara, you sense displeasure in them for what the outsiders consider as growth. They are critical of such capitalistic greed where people are inventing needs after inventing things.
1923 (Season 1), Episode 3 Ending Explained:
In a horse wagon, Jack drives all the ladies of the house while Jacob and the others ride their horses along. They head toward the ranch and suddenly hear a sound of fire. It disturbs their leisurely conversation and startles the men. Right the next moment, another shot gets fired, and this time, it hits Elizabeth. They get horrified by the sudden downpour of gunfire and get out of the wagon. While the men go on the lookout for these people to hunt them down, Jack tries to ensure Elizabeth’s safety.
From the hiding, Jacob notices a gang of herders riding in their direction, trying to shoot them down. Cara also joins the men in this gunfire to get hold of the people who disturbed their leisurely walk. That’s when Jacob hears Banner screaming his name. Cara and Emma start running away while Banner manages to shoot Jacob and John Sr. Eventually, the herders rush back to their base, while Cara sees her wounded husband on the verge of death. She notices a man, one of the wounded herders, running for his life, and follows him to shoot him dead.
Even if he tries to make her feel guilty about her following action, she goes ahead and kills him. She screams an echoing scream that seems like opening up to her pain. Then the Duttons head back home, where Cara makes every possible effort to save Jacob from dying. She tries to stop him from bleeding by the time the doctors arrive. Upon a single glance, they surmise that he won’t survive. Cara goes out and writes a letter, filled with passion, to her nephew – Spencer, urging him to return – for he is required to follow through with his familial duties than sinking his teeth deeper into his personal agonies.
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1923 (SEASON 1) EPISODE 3 LINKS: IMDB, WIKIPEDIA
1923 (SEASON 1) EPISODE 3 CAST: HELEN MIRREN, HARRISON FORD, DARREN MANN, MICHELLE RANDOLPH, BRANDON SKLENAR
Where to watch 1923
