Paramount+’s 1923 episode four picks up hours after the doctor rushed to the Yellowstone Ranch to try and save Jacob’s life. Episode three ended with the shocking deaths of John Dutton Sr and Jack’s fiancée’s father, Bob Strafford, at the hands of Banner and his murderous band of sheepherders. It also saw Jacob and Elizabeth fighting for their lives.
Cara (Helen Mirren) enters the kitchen after the medical team has finished their work, and blood is still dripping from the table as she scans the room. It’s all too much, and she grabs a handkerchief and races from the big house. She collapses into sobs of grief as she stares up at the sky. Moments later she collects herself and returns to complete cleaning up just as ranch foreman Zane Davis (Brian Geraghty) arrives.
Zane walks past the exhausted doctor and nurses sleeping in the living room and tells Cara he and his men can finish cleaning up. She won’t allow that and instead instructs him to take her letter to Spencer to the post office. Zane’s concerned it won’t get there for months; a wire would be much faster. But Cara knows a wire will draw attention and she’s determined to keep everything that just happened a secret. She won’t allow the sheriff to become involved and won’t tell the town that the Duttons have been attacked and suffered devastating losses.
Jacob (Harrison Ford) survived the night, but it’s touch and go. It’ll take a miracle for the family patriarch to survive, and Zane suggests Cara should say her goodbyes while she can. Cara insists on holding onto hope.
Zane takes off with a few cowboys but leaves one behind to protect the big house. He’s ordered to kill anyone he doesn’t recognize as a friend.
Emma (Marley Shelton) heads out alone in the buggy, determined to bury her husband, John (James Badge Dale), in the family graveyard. She’s quickly joined by a group of cowboys who assist with digging the grave next to John’s mother, Margaret. (Her headstone says she was 54 years old when she died.)
Emma’s son, Jack (Darren Mann), was injured in the ambush but is well enough to watch over Elizabeth (Michelle Randolph) as she sleeps. He’s clutching a rifle and seated in a chair when Cara arrives to examine Elizabeth’s wound. Cara’s concerned about Elizabeth’s fever and suggests a bath, and Jack offers to fetch the water, insisting he’s still got one good arm.
Spencer and Alex Enjoy a Little Peace in Africa
Spencer (Brandon Sklenar) is standing in the ocean looking at the gentle waves when Alex (Julia Schlaepfer) wakes and joins him. They’ve moved on from the railroad camp and are in a gorgeous part of Africa that Alex didn’t even realize existed.
Spencer rows a boat as Alex, still in her sexy lingerie, watches. They arrive at a beautiful secluded beach, and that lingerie comes off as soon as they walk onto the sand. They make love under the warm sun without a care for the rest of the world.
Spencer promises their life will never be dull, even when they’re old and frail. Alex is in a flirty mood and won’t stop talking, and Spencer finally convinces her to be quiet by calling her darling. She loves the term of endearment. (Sklenar and Schlaepfer absolutely sizzle onscreen.)
A short while later, Alex wonders where they’re going to live. She thinks they’ll have to go to London occasionally to satisfy her parents and get some money. They discuss the Great War and it’s revealed Alex’s brother died fighting. Spencer confesses the war cost him his soul, but he believes he can get that back.
They go for a swim but can’t keep their hands off each other. Alex jokes that her plan is working; she’ll have Spencer wrapped around her finger in no time.
The only two sheepherders who survived after ambushing the Duttons make it back to Banner’s place. They want to flee the state, but Banner (Jerome Flynn) insists they’re not leaving. Instead, Banner believes they can use the men who mine precious minerals to fight their battle against the cattle ranchers.
Banner pays a visit to Donald Whitfield (Timothy Dalton) and explains that Jacob and John Dutton are dead and the women are now running the Yellowstone Ranch. Donald asks how they died, and Banner doesn’t elaborate but promises that in six months he’ll be in charge of the Yellowstone. And when that happens, he’ll lease Donald the mineral rights.
Donald desperately wants the rights but isn’t willing to do business with Banner until he’s actually in charge.
“Killing a king doesn’t make you a king. It makes you an assassin,” says Whitfield.
Banner suggests that if Donald backs him now, he’ll have the run of the Yellowstone which has the most gold, silver, and coal of any area in Montana. Donald’s fully aware Banner doesn’t have the money or the men to take the ranch and offers to fund Donald’s takeover. In exchange, Donald will be allowed to mine wherever he wants without paying another dime for the rights.
They strike a deal for Donald to have the run of the Yellowstone’s mountains while Banner can have his sheep in the other areas. However, if Banner reneges on the deal, then Donald warns he’ll skin his wife alive and bury his children in her skin. (Well, that was an incredibly graphic threat.)
Banner’s given enough money to raise an army to take over the Yellowstone Ranch.
Banner’s next act of war comes when he and his men kill the cowboys watching over the herd and then steal all of the cattle currently grazing in a section of the Yellowstone mountains. It’s a mix of different ranches, but he doesn’t care – he wants all the cattle in the area.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth’s mother, Beverly (Jessalyn Gilsig), arrives at the ranch and is prepared to move her daughter to a decent hospital back East. She’s done with this lawless state and, with her husband dead, no longer has a reason to stay. She announces that Elizabeth and Jack’s wedding is off, and Jack talks back which earns him a slap. Cara isn’t about to let that go unanswered, and she slaps Beverly.
Elizabeth’s mother goes outside to collect her deceased husband’s body from the icehouse. Cara, alone with Elizabeth, tells her the Yellowstone is her home now if she’d like it to be. Elizabeth chooses to stay and marry Jack.
Cara and Beverly argue over Elizabeth’s choice, with Cara explaining Elizabeth is free to leave but her mother has no right to take her.
Seconds after Beverly leaves, Zane arrives with the horrible news that the cattle in the east camp have been stolen. He knows they’ll be taken to a train and needs all the cowboys to help him retrieve them before they can be shipped out. Jack wants to go with Zane, but Cara is dead set against it. Jack believes they need to take the fight to the sheepherders, but Cara needs a moment to think.
She prays next to Jacob in bed, asking what he would do and explaining the dire situation they’re in. Jacob wakes and says, “You be the leader.” Cara’s shocked he’s awake and shocked he wants her to run the ranch. Jacob confirms the cattle aren’t worth losing any more lives and says they need to hold off on fighting until Spencer arrives.
Jacob teases Cara that she can’t get rid of him this easily. He’s dug in and fighting to survive, and Cara forbids him to die.
Cara steps outside and informs Zane that they’re to let the cattle go. Jack’s furious and claims it’s not her decision to make, and Cara tells Zane that Jacob wishes to speak with him.
Jacob instructs Zane to keep the calves and sell the mothers. He also suggests they send Cara to the livestock conference. She can say he’s in Wyoming hunting cattle thieves.
Zane confirms they sent for Spencer, but it could take a year for him to return. “Then a year’s how long we have to hold off,” replies Jacob.
A voiceover from Elsa (Isabel May) says the three possible answers to prayer are yes, not yet, and I have something else in mind for you. She believes we need to trust the “not yet” and “something else” and avoid the foolish notion of hope.
“Hope is the surrender of authority to your fate and trusting it to the whims of the wind,” says Elsa. “My family does not hope. We fight for what we believe until we have it or we are destroyed by the pursuit.”
The Situation Escalates at the Boarding School
Teonna (Aminah Nieves) refuses to sit quietly as her friend Baapuxti (Leenah Robinson) is repeatedly hit by a nun while they’re learning to harvest fruit. She uses a bucket as a weapon and hits a nun in the head. Sister Mary (Jennifer Ehle) immediately responds by knocking out Teonna with a shovel to the face.
Teonna comes to tied to a chair with Sister Mary claiming she’s just trying to save her from herself. She needs to be cleansed, but only if she wants to be saved. Teonna refuses and is hit in the face numerous times. She screams with each blow, and Sister Mary breaks the ruler and grabs another. Teonna is in so much pain that she gives in and begs to be saved.
A prayer is said as Sister Mary cuts off Teonna’s long braid. Teonna cries as her restraints are loosened and her hair is trimmed. She’s set in a bath and then writhes in pain as steel wool is used to wash her back. It cuts into her skin, and she screams as blood joins the water in the tub.
Teonna silently packs her belongings in the dead of night as the other girls sleep. She asks Baapuxti to come with her, certain there isn’t a law that forces them to become servants or be beaten. Teonna takes Baapuxti’s bible and then reveals she’s making war.
Teonna sneaks into Sister Mary’s room and beats her in the face with the bundle that now includes Baapuxti’s bible. Mary’s gravely injured but not dead, and Teonna finishes the job by suffocating her while, in her native tongue, saying, “I am the land and I am killing you.”
After Sister Mary’s dead, Teonna heats up a wooden ruler and brands Mary’s face.
Cara Takes a Stand
Cara arrives in town accompanied by Zane and the Yellowstone cowboys. She takes Jacob’s seat at the head table in the packed town hall and addresses the assembly. Cara claims cattle thieves have struck the Yellowstone and Jacob’s in Wyoming hunting them down. She points out three fellow ranchers whose cattle were also among those stolen.
Cara says nothing about her own family but announces the thieves killed Bob Strafford in cold blood. (There’s a murmuring of shock and disbelief in the crowd.) She requests a forceful but lawful response as mob violence isn’t the solution. Cara also requests the Livestock Commission be given the authority to make arrests. She asks for members of the association to vote for the creation of a police force to bring thieves and lease violators to justice.
The room’s silent. No one votes for the police force.
Banner’s been taking all this in from his seat, and it appears he’s now uncertain whether he actually killed any of the Duttons. He speaks out against the vote, claiming she has no authority to request one.
Cara holds up the order she claims was written and signed by Jacob, and Sheriff McDowell (Robert Patrick) confirms it’s Jacob’s signature. A vote is taken again, and the ranchers vote a resounding yes while the sheepherders vote no. The ranchers win, and a police force will be created.
The meeting’s adjourned and Cara confesses to Zane she thought of the police force on the way to the meeting. She signed the letter, not Jacob.
Banner confronts Cara outside the town hall, calling her a liar. Zane wants to kill him where he stands, but Cara suggests if she’s lying, then he should go back inside and tell the sheriff the truth. She demands to know how he knows where Jacob is and Banner seems satisfied with himself when he explains no bank or government will allow a woman to run a ranch. He suggests her charade will have to end at some point.
Cara spits in his face and hisses, “When my charade is over, so are you.” She adds that she kills much slower than men do, and his fight is now with her.
Banner warns her he has the money and the army for a fight and she has neither. Cara laughs and tells him she can’t wait for him to meet her nephew. Banner thinks she’s talking about John and is shocked to learn there’s another nephew coming home to Yellowstone.
The Dutton Family’s Story Unfolds in Cara’s Letters
Our favorite couple’s spending a blissful night together when Alex finds a large stack of unopened letters tied with a ribbon among Spencer’s items. Spencer says they’re from his aunt and he chose not to read them. He describes war as “if insanity was a thing you could touch” and confesses the letters would have made him miss home during the war. Dreaming of being in Montana with his family could have distracted him and led to his death.
He believes not reading them kept him alive. Spencer has two years’ worth of unread letters and now he feels guilty for never opening them.
Alex sets the letters down by Spencer and calls herself a jealous lover. She won’t share him with his demons, so they need to chase them all away. She pours two drinks and suggests they begin getting rid of those demons by reading each of the letters together.
Cara’s letters describe what she’s heard about the war, and flashbacks are shown of Spencer in battle. Cara wrote that she prayed for the wild young man who loved to chase cattle and ride horses with abandon to return soon. She misses his beautiful smile, which she called her sunrise.
Alex is crying by the time she finishes reading the first letter out loud, and she thinks this might be a mistake. Spencer doesn’t and asks her to read the next letter.
This continues into the night, and as they drink, Alex begins enjoying herself as she learns more about Spencer’s family and his upbringing. She’s fallen madly in love with his family through these letters and can’t wait to meet them in person.
One letter describing the death of Emma and John’s baby has Alex crying once again. Apparently, they tried to have more children after Jack but were unsuccessful. The letters also describe the period when Jacob and Cara arrived in Montana, as well as a description of Jack’s love, Elizabeth, and how she leads him around on an invisible leash.
Some letters Alex reads silently after Spencer’s fallen asleep, but not the final letter. She wakes him and says it’s important he reads it now. He asks her to read it and she begins, “Spencer, your brother has been killed. By the time you receive this letter, I suppose your uncle has been killed as well…”
Spencer cries as Alex reads Cara’s words expressing the need for him to return home and fight the war that’s landed on their doorstep.
As episode four, “War and the Turquoise Tide,” ends, it’s revealed the letter was written three months ago! If Alex hadn’t been nosy, it could have gone unread for months, even years.
- Recap of 1923 Episode 1
- 1923 Season 1 Episode 2 “Nature’s Empty Throne” Recap
- 1923 Season 1 Episode 3 “The War Has Come Home” Recap
- 1883 Season 1 Episode 10 Recap: “This Is Not Your Heaven” Season Finale
- Yellowstone Season 5 Episode 1 Recap: “One Hundred Years is Nothing”
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