1923 Flashback: Yellowstone spinoff puts Harrison Ford on TV with a sulk

A good character introduction is one of the greatest weapons in a TV show’s arsenal. It’s the quickest way to turn viewers into ride-or-dies because it’s easily forgiven a lot of when a show introduces you to someone you think is incredibly cool (that’s why I and a lot of other grown adults still love it dragon ball). 1923the second yellowstone Prequel series after last year 1883She has a lot to offer in this regard. For one, it stars Harrison Ford — the easiest way to get boomers and their families to stop what they’re doing and start paying attention. And it also helps that creator Taylor Sheridan is pretty good at introducing cowboys 1923‘s predecessors feature memorable openings built around their main characters.

1923 is not. Instead, it builds its splashy arrival around its leading lady.

Helen Mirren is 1923‘s other great weapon, a legendary actor on par with Ford that resonates with older viewers as well as younger ones – a sly power play of one of the most popular TV franchises on TV right now. She’s also unfortunately the only bright spot in the premiere, a calm force of nature who watches men get things done while she gets them done; 1923‘s first scene sees her as matriarch Cara Dutton confronting and killing a suspected thief. It’s an act of violence that nobody sees above all – because when men are watching, Cara has to be more subtle.

In its resounding success yellowstone has become a franchise about the Dutton family, chronicling Montana’s powerful ranchers and their various conflicts with those around them. To date, his spin-offs have each focused on a different generation of Duttons – 1883 followed James Dutton (Tim McGraw), the first Dutton patriarch to settle in Montana and found the Yellowstone Ranch for which the franchise is named.

1923 jumps forward 40 years to Jacob Dutton (Harrison Ford), the current head of the Dutton family and the Yellowstone ranch, who is currently trying to settle a dispute between cattlemen and shepherds after both herds are starved after a rough season. It’s not particularly engaging stuff and consists mostly of scenes where Harrison Ford intimidates outraged farmers with his gruff voice and a six-gun. It’s a downer compared to the trail 1923 introduces his wife Cara or the paths 1883 and yellowstone correctly presented their leading men.

You can forget a lot of what happened in the 90 minutes yellowstone pilot, but it’s hard to shake the opening moments where John Dutton III (Kevin Costner) calms a horse in a horrific accident before putting it out of its misery. or 1883‘s dual introduction of Pinkerton agent Shea Brennan (Sam Elliott) and James Dutton, the former with a moment of horrific loss, and the latter single-handedly fending off a gang of bandits that should have left him dead.

Photo: Emerson Miller/Paramount Plus

None of 1923 is so indelible immediately after the credits of the title. In fact, little of it deals with Yellowstone Ranch at all. A subplot follows Teonna (Aminah Nieves), a young woman at a Montana school for Native Americans run by the taciturn Father Renaud (Sebastian Roché). Another introduces Spencer Dutton (Brandon Sklenar), Jacob’s nephew who was separated from the family after serving in World War I and currently works as a hunter and guardian of the wealthy on the African savannah. It’s not clear how either storyline will affect things surrounding Yellowstone Ranch — Spencer’s story appears to be just a change of pace for the franchise, a distraction before the prodigal son returns home. Teonnas is more distinctly distant – although the clash between Native Americans and settlers/ranchers like the Duttons is a common feature yellowstone and its offshoots.

With a two-season order, 1923 is content to take his time – main antagonist Donald Whitfield (Timothy Dalton) doesn’t even appear for the first hour, despite his prominent placement in trailers for the show. whenever that happens 1923 could turn up the heat – currently it’s doing little to establish its own identity outside of its period.

This period of time is perhaps the most exciting thing about it 1923, a moment in American history when the Wild West of legend was long gone and settlers had to decide how to live (or not live) with the people and land around them. The show isn’t a radical departure for the Yellowstone franchise — in these shows, Sheridan builds a sprawling libertarian opera, one in which owning land is the highest ideal a man can aspire to, and embracing that American destiny makes him to the goal of those who have less ambition. They are about men bringing order to a world beyond their control, most often responding to change with violence. And at this moment in history, a shift is imminent: the chasm between America’s expanding frontier and its cities is at its widest, and the looming catastrophe of Great Depression, famine, and another world war looms just ahead. At the moment, Cara Dutton is the only character in the series 1923 that seems poised to survive it.