What Shocker Means to the Show, Episode 3, 1923

Talk about the ending of an episode.

Editor's note: The below contains spoilers for Episode 3 of 1923.

1923 was a quiet show until... well, it wasn't. In the first two episodes of the series starring Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren, we saw the Dutton family split. Spencer (Brandon Sklenar) has been in Africa so far, which has made the series incredibly split, which isn't a bad thing, but it has created two very different shows. After Spencer and Alex (Julia Schleipfer) get stuck in a tree with a pride of stray lions, Alex comments that Spencer needs a new "job," but he seems Not going back to Montana so suddenly.

However, Shepherd Banner Creighton (Jerome Flynn) adds a different factor. Back at Yellowstone, Jacob (Ford) takes Kara (Mirren) and some of their family into town. When they return from an overnight stay in the city, they encounter Banner, a group of men on horseback, and...a machine gun? Suddenly, 1923 turns into a massacre, and the tone is so jarring that it literally takes a minute for our brains to catch up to what's going on.

In the first episode of the series we see Kara points a gun at a man; Episode 3 takes us back in time to before that scene. Well, we finally know what drove her into a murderous rage, and there's a lot to unravel - all because Banner is back to get revenge on the Duttons for what happened in Episode 2. The role of the shootout has set a lot in the direction of the show, especially since Jacob is now in critical condition. Old John Dutton (James Badge Dale) was also killed in the battle, and jack (Darren Mann Darren Mann) and his fiancee Liz (Michelle Randolph Michelle Randolph) were also involved in the crossfire. , each shot but still alive. When we left 1923 for the last time, Jacob was lying on a table with multiple machine gun wounds, while Kara wrote Spencer a letter telling him he had to go home.

Is '1923' Really Going to Kill Off Harrison Ford?

One of the more surprising developments in this week's episode of 1923 is that Jacob appears to be dying. He was shot multiple times during the shootout and in the end, the doctor tried to attend to him but Kara didn't Hope he pulls through.

This begs the question: Did Ford really only appear on the show for a few episodes? The series isn't even halfway through, so even if he only appears in the next episode, it's still not the Ford performance we've been led to believe. He's great as Jacob, but it just doesn't feel fair to be with him for only three episodes. In the meantime, it seems unlikely that he'll actually die that soon, but with Spencer seemingly headed back to Montana, the tone of the series is sure to change -- and possibly his new fiancée, Alex. Max could be dragged away.

The Episode 3 Gunfight Ensures Spencer's Return to Yellowstone

One of the major issues with the first two episodes (and most of the third episode) revolved around how these storylines converged. Spencer is in Africa, where he seems more than happy to stay and never have to return to his family ranch - but that does leave us with a different story. It's not like Yellowstone itself; there's no way to call home and find out what's going on. It's the Wild West in the 1920s, so all we have left Spencer didn't know what was going on.

Kara's letter to Spencer at the end of the episode gives us a hint as to where this storyline is going in the next episode, but it's a pretty crazy way to involve him - especially since it comes from Hand John's Death and Jacob's potential death looms over us. Bringing Spencer back to Montana isn't a bad idea; it's just a little bit aggressive, given the cost of doing so. Part of it is on Cara. She waited until a lot was going on at the ranch before telling Spencer to go home. While this event brings the two arcs together in an interesting way, I just hope he gets home in time to see Jacob alive.