"1923" Features A Valiant Pro-Life Message

Warning: Spoilers ahead

The people who accuse Taylor Sheridan of an inability to write good female characters clearly haven't watched Alex Dutton’s story line in “1923,” the prequel to “Yellowstone,” or Elsa Dutton, from its prequel “1883.”

Julia Schlaepfer gives a phenomenal performance as Alexandra Dutton, wife of Spencer Dutton (wonderfully portrayed by Brandon Sklenar) and grandmother of John Dutton III (Kevin Costner). Spontaneous, fun, drive and tough as nails, Alex and Spencer’s story explains how the modern Dutton family are naturally driven and relentless. I was so looking forward to seeing her come into her own in the wilds of Montana — a beautifully developed character on the precipice of their actualized potential is a remarkable thing. Sadly, Sheridan killed her dead and stabbed me in the heart.

Her legs and hands literally froze off because she and her kind-hearted, but entirely dippy, British friends (new acquaintances, longer story) were enthralled by her grand love story and decided to drive her to Montana, into a blizzard with no gas stations around for hours. Both Alex and Spencer each had an Odysseus-esque journey to meet each other in Montana. Both by cruise liner, then Alex by car, Spencer by train, until Spencer saw Alex’s dead car on the side of the tracks and leapt into the snow to save her. The last 45 minutes of the show seemed rushed compared to the multiple episodes of Alex and Spencer simply trying to get to one another.

I’ve almost forgiven Sheridan’s egregious BDSM/Timothy Dalton scenes (you can fast-forward and lose not a shred of the plot. It was entirely unnecessary, it interrupted the flow of the plot, and dragged the series) because of the amazing pro-life message towards the end of the series.

Alex, who was also six months pregnant at this time, is being cared for by a Bozeman hospital after Spencer found her near death from hypothermia. She is being overlooked by patriarch Jacob Dutton (Harrison Ford) while Spencer and his pistol made too-quick work eliminating an entire horde of bad guys and the series’s main antagonist in minutes.

The hospital tells Alex she needs to forget the baby and get her hands and legs below the shin amputated because her appendages are too ravaged by frostbite to save. If she doesn’t, they plead, it will kill her. Alex refuses. She asks the doctors “What kind of mother chooses self over her child?” and successfully, albeit six months prematurely, delivers John Dutton II, named for Spencer’s murdered brother. The baby is healthy and survives, providing the future Dutton lineage. I’ve never seen such a strong pro-life message in contemporary programming.

The remaining episode was a speed-run to finish the series, which Sheridan previously said would only ever last two seasons. However, as Alex goes into labor time slows down in 1923 Montana and Sheridan takes great care here. Alex is given center stage as she valiantly pushes back against doctors who, as she says, tell her to discard “her hands, legs, and her baby to the trash.” God bless Jacob Dutton, who dutifully watches over her from the corner of the room and only intercedes on her behalf when the doctors and nurses outnumber her in her refusal to discard her son. It was Jacob Dutton’s last, and perhaps most important, major act as the Dutton patriarch. Alex lives long enough to see the torch pass from Jacob to Spencer after he saves the ranch and eliminates the baddies. Alex Dutton saved the entire Dutton family and the future of the ranch in once decision.

There are no sacred cows here for Sheridan. Sometimes life doesn’t care how much you love, how fiercely you want to live, or how well you planned your days. Sometimes, life just happens and the task is to find enough inspiration in the beauty that is left to continue.

I highly recommend it, save for the fast-forwarded inappropriate Dalton scenes, which is easy enough to manage. I’m also looking forward to “1944,” which is definitely happening.

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