The latest instalment of Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone spin-off reunites us with Dame Helen Mirren and Harrison Ford’s ranch owners in an absorbingly soapy new season.
Winter in Montana is brutal. So brutal that one of the episodes in the second series of 1923 (Paramount+), Taylor Sheridan’s sweeping family saga and prequel to Yellowstone, is called The Rapist is Winter. If the blizzards and freezing temperatures don’t get you, then the mountain lions and rabid wolves just might. British aristocrat Alexandra, setting out from New York on the long journey west, is warned about the weather. “I’m from England, thank you. I’m no stranger to cold,” she says. “Lady, that ain’t cold,” comes the reply.
Alexandra features in one of the storylines picked up from series one. She is attempting to reach Bozeman to be reunited with her new husband, lion hunter Spencer Dutton. Spencer is making his own way there to save the family ranch which Cara and Jacob (Dame Helen Mirren) and (Harrison Ford) are in danger of losing. The young couple’s journeys broaden the canvas beyond Montana, taking in mafia dons and the indignities of arrival at Ellis Island.
There is something satisfyingly old-fashioned about 1923. It has moments which you just don’t get that often in TV nowadays, such as a hysterical woman being slapped in the face to bring her to her senses (Mirren does the slapping). At times it can be a tad soapy, but overall this is classy storytelling led by two veteran talents.
