“Taylor Sheridan's latest Yellowstone prequel series, 1923, is shaping up to be a disappointingly melodramatic, forgettable western.”
There are pros and cons.
There are pros and cons.
There is a moment of violence at the beginning of 1923. In the show's opening scene, Cara Dutton shoots a fleeing man in cold blood, followed by two other instances of brutality and death. The opening images show a crumbling empire and bodies found frozen in the dead of winter. 1923's opening would be a huge understatement. The opening minutes of 1923 were ruined by the clunkiness of the author.
The opening three scenes of the series flow from one to another and the narration that accompanies them serves little purpose other than to place 1923's story within the history of the Duttons. Despite how incongruently it fits within the rest of 1923's largely meditative, exposition-laden premiere, Mirren's bloodied debut scene feels like nothing more than a superfluous tease.
Cara and Jacob Dutton (Harrison Ford) are the matriarch and father of the Dutton family, and they deal with various hardship and tensions in their Montana community, in the previous Yellowstone prequel, 1923. The main conflict facing Jacob and Cara is the tension between their community's cattle ranchers and sheep herders.
The leader of the latter party is Banner Creighton, whose desperation to save his herd from dying leads him into conflict with Jacob and other ranchers. The series does show signs of life whenever it allows Flynn and Ford to go head-to-head with each other, even though 1923's premiere is severely lacking. Outside of Jacob and Cara's immediate problems, 1923's premiere spends a lot of time in Africa following Spencer Dutton, one of Jacob's nephews, as he tries to run away from his experiences in World War I.
Spencer is followed over the course of the first chapter as he battles a lion and a leopard. Spencer's African adventures are so disconnected from the rest of 1923's plot that they often feel like dramatic detours. Unfortunately, the same can be said for the scenes in the 1923 premiere that focus on Teonna.
The most difficult scenes in 1923's premiere are those of Teonna. To shine a light on the ways in which the U.S. government has abused America's indigenous people is commendable, but Teonna's scenes don't connect to the rest of 1923. It isn't helped by the fact that the scenes set in Teonna's boarding school focus primarily on the abuse that she suffers at the hands of its "educators", which makes investing in them that much more difficult.
Since the premiere of Yellowstone, the dialogue of Sheridan has remained mixed. The creator of Yellowstone is capable of writing conversations that feel lived-in. His commitment to remaining a first-draft writer results in multiple cringeworthy lines still making it into 1923's premiere, including one moment when Sklenar's Spencer tells a train attendant, "I have no destination."
1923's cast makes it out of the series' premiere relatively unscathed by the quirks of the author. They bring their charm and gravitas to 1923. The series will allow her to be more fearsome on-screen than she has been allowed to be in the past. During 1923, Ford seems to shine the most, as he blends his commanding presence with a likable sense of humor.
Robert Patrick and James Badge Dale aren't given much to do in 1923's premiere, but they round out the show's cast of cattle ranchers. The romance between their two characters lacks any of the complexity or authentic qualities that can be found in other relationships. The finale of the series suggests that the romance between Jack and Elizabeth may not last long.
It is not certain if that is what lies in Jack and Elizabeth's future. It is not possible to say if the series will ever fix any of the flaws that were present in its premiere. It is possible that 1923 will be the most successful TV effort of all time. 1923 is shaping up to be a mostly grim, melodramatic exercise that never quite lives up to the talent of its own stars.
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