Warning: SPOILERS for 1923 Season 2’s Finale - “A Dream and a Memory”
Taylor Sheridan used Elsa Dutton’s (Isabel May) narration in1883to tellYellowstoneaficionados how1923season 2 would end. In the series finale of Paramount+’s Prohibition-era Dutton saga, Spencer Dutton (Brandon Sklenar) finally made it home to Montana, but the outing was filled with highs and lows for the youngest son of James (Tim McGraw) and Margaret Dutton (Faith Hill). Spencer serendipitously reunited withAlexandra of Sussex(Julia Schlaepfer) in1923season 2’s finale, rescuing his wife when he saw Paul (August Prew) and Hillary’s (Janet Montgomery) blazing car.
Saving his wife was just one of theheroic things Spencer Dutton did in1923.After ensuring Alex was headed for the Bozeman hospital, Spencer went home to relieve Cara Dutton (Helen Mirren) and Zane Davis (Brian Geraghty) in saving the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch. Upon his arrival, Spencer took out the rest of Banner Creighton’s (Jerome Flynn) army with an elephant gun. Then, after the death of his wife, Dutton finished the war by killing Donald Whitfield (Timothy Dalton) in his dining room. Alex’s fate added a shockingdeath within the Dutton family, butTaylorSheridan had already told us1923’s ending.
Taylor Sheridan Revealed Someone Would Die In 1923 Season 2, Episode 7’s Title
1923 Season 2’s Finale Is Titled “A Dream And A Memory”
Taylor Sheridan revealed that someone would die in1923season 2’s finale with its title, “A Dream and a Memory.” The moniker has established significance in theYellowstonefranchise, with Elsa Dutton using the terms to contextualize her ending in1883’s finale. In the earliest-setYellowstoneprequel, which follows Elsa and her family along the Oregon Trail, Elsa narrates the saga. The story ends with the family establishing the Yellowstone Ranch in Montana afterElsa’s1883deathcauses a diversion from their trip to Oregon, and the series ends with her version of eternity.
When the phrase “A Dream and a Memory” emerged as the moniker for1923season 2’s finale, keenYellowstonefans could have foreseen that we would lose a key1923character.
After her death,Elsa established the afterlife for theYellowstonefranchise. She says this about Taylor Sheridan’s depiction of Heaven:“There is a moment where your dreams and your memories merge together and form a perfect world. That is Heaven. And each Heaven is unique. It is the world of you. The land is filled with all you hold dear, and the sky is your imagination.“That said, when the phrase “A Dream and a Memory” emerged as the moniker for1923season 2’s finale, keenYellowstonefans could have foreseen that we would lose akey1923character.
Alex & Spencer Dutton Both Die In 1923 Season 2’s Finale
Taylor Sheridan Foreshadowed Two 1923 Endings
Taylor Sheridan hinted at not one but two major1923character deathsin the series finale. First, Alex Dutton dies of frostbite complications after delivering John Dutton prematurely, refusing the procedure that would save her life. Then, we witness her husband’s death 45 years later inSpencer Dutton’s time jump at the end of1923season 2, which shows him collapsing at Alex’s grave in 1969. In the end, Elsa Dutton says this about her brother’s fate:“When old age robbed him of his memories, he simply closed his eyes and dreamed up new ones.”
Elsa, therefore, confirms that1923’s finale scene is not only the afterlife, by her definition, but specifically Spencer’s afterlife, since Elsa also tells us that“each Heaven is unique”in1883.In1923season 1, Spencer tells Alex that he dreams that they are supposed to be together, that she is his to keep. Alex tells Spencer that the dream has already come true, but1923season 2 proves that the couple is star-crossed, destined for an ill-fate. In the end, Spencer’s dream finally comes true, but only in his afterlife, like his sister’s, giving a bittersweet ending to1923.
1923
Cast
1923 is a series following the Dutton family during the early twentieth century. It explores the challenges they face amidst pandemics, the end of Prohibition, historic drought, and the Great Depression, as they struggle to maintain their home in the mountain west.
