So, How Did the Duttons Fare in <i>1923</i>’s Violent Finale?

Spoilers for 1923 season 2 ahead.

1923 has had an explosive season 2 so far. The Duttons are preparing for war against Banner’s men, who’re tasked with going after Spencer (Brandon Sklenar), then taking out the rest of the family one by one. In episode 6, they already managed to kill Jack (Darren Mann). And Spencer’s wife, Alex (Julie Schlaepfer), is still struggling to get to Montana after a road trip with a pair of good samaritans goes awry. Then there’s Teonna (Aminah Nieves), who’s reeling from her father’s death and outrunning U.S. marshals. It’s safe to say everyone we’re rooting for is in peril right now. Taylor Sheridan has set up a whole lot of stakes for this chapter of the Dutton saga, and with a movie-length finale (about 111 minutes!), it looks like the show somehow resolved them all.

Episode 7, “A Dream and a Memory,” begins back at the Dutton household, where Cara (Helen Mirren) waits patiently outside for her husband, Jacob, and the rest of the men to return. Elizabeth (Michelle Randolph) appears, worried, and reveals Jack went out on his own and never came home. Cara tries to reassure her but Elizabeth already has a bad feeling. We then cut briefly to Jacob (Harrison Ford) and the sheriff at the train station, waiting for Spencer’s arrival.

At Banner’s (Jerome Flynn) home, he talks to his wife, Ellie, as he grapples with the dark choice he’s made to hunt the Dutton family down. He reveals that he respects Jacob and doesn’t think he’s evil, now that he’s seen what Whitfield (Timothy Dalton) is capable of. He decides to leave rather than see the plans through.

Alex—lost in a frozen expanse somewhere on the way to the ranch—tries to keep warm in the car left behind by the British couple she traveled with. To survive, she grabs matches, a handkerchief, and pages of a newspaper to make a fire.

Meanwhile, Mamie Fossett (Jennifer Carpenter) finds the bodies of Father Renaud and Runs With Horses at the small camp Teonna and her father made the night before. With Teonna gone, Mamie and her crew will have to work backwards to figure out how the men ended up dead.

Jennifer Carpenter as Marshal Mamie Fossett.

We then briefly cut to Whitfield. He’s gleeful at the prospect of the Dutton family’s downfall and his dreams of a ski resort business coming to fruition—and celebrates by abusing Mabel once more.

Back at the train station, the sheriff and Jacob learn Spencer’s train is coming at 2:20. Jacob then sees Banner arrive with Ellie and his son. He buys three tickets to Portland, which is where Spencer's train will head next after it lands in Livingston.

Jacob confronts Banner for his cowardice, and refuses to let him leave. So they compromise: Ellie and his son get to leave, but Banner himself has to stay. Banner also warns Jacob there are men headed to his house too.

The U.S. marshals continue to hunt for Teonna. Mamie argues that Teonna is gone, and despite a warrant, there’s no reason to keep looking for her. But just then, they spot Teonna hiding, and a chase ensues. Mamie begs the others not to shoot, but it’s no use. Teonna is shot off her horse, and she kills one marshal before she’s cornered.

Aminah Nieves as Teonna.

Mamie and Teonna have a standoff. Mamie says Teonna can plead her case to a judge with testimony and witnesses. But Teonna asks how she’ll be able to prove all the wrongs that have been done to her: “which relative will they dig from their grave to speak for me?” The marshals still take her into custody and set off for a court hearing.

Banner’s men close in on the Dutton house and decide that rather than wait for a signal, they’re going to “just start killing.” A shootout begins between the ranch hands and Banner’s men. While the women and children are ordered to the basement, Elizabeth decides to stay on the main floor, hunkered down with a rifle. Cara snipes at the incoming men from a window.

Back at the train station, there’s 25 minutes left before the 2:20 train rolls in. Jacob sees scores of men arrive in preparation for Spencer’s arrival. While Banner is desperate to leave, he doesn’t tell his confused son the true reason for their exit. He explains to his child that there’s nothing for him in Montana; it’s only a place where the rich get richer. It’s better they leave so he can make a start somewhere else.

Harrison Ford as Jacob Dutton and Robert Patrick as Sheriff McDowell.

In the car, Alex’s fire is dying. She’s saved the most important paper for last: her letters from Spencer. Reluctantly, she begins to burn them, while asking God if this is really the plan he has for them. Was she really meant to meet Spencer, carry his child, then become separated and freeze to death?

But just as she’s given up, Alex hears the whistle of a passing train. It’s Spencer’s! Alex and her companions were actually driving alongside the tracks, which means she’s in the perfect line of sight for her husband to spot her.

Alex pours alcohol over the fire to put the whole car ablaze. It’s enough for the train conductor—and Spencer—to see her. He runs through nearly every car and jumps right off the back of the moving train. Alex cries, believing she’s lost her final chance at salvation, then she sees her husband racing toward her. Finally, we get the reunion we’ve been waiting for. Plus, Alex reveals she’s having a boy.

Brandon Sklenar as Spencer.

A doctor on the train sees to Alex and reveals she’s suffering from frostbite on all her fingers and toes. He says she was minutes away from death when Spencer found her. As they begin to warm her up, Alex asks about her baby’s health. The doctor says if there’s a way to keep the baby safe, her body will find a way.

The doctor also advises Spencer not to get off at Livingston. Instead, there’s an ambulance waiting for them at the next stop, Bozeman, to take them to a hospital.

Back at the house, the group have managed to hold off Banner’s men for now, but they’re still outnumbered. Zane (Brian Geraghty) suspects the men will come back at night. All they can hope for is Jacob and Spencer’s return, along with the sheriff and any other backup he can bring too.

Brian Geraghty as Zane.

The train finally nears the station. Jacob readies his pistol. Banner advises his wife and son to climb aboard, no matter how much chaos is around them. Jacob and the sheriff manage to hold their own, and Ellie and Banner’s son get on the train. Spencer even gets a shot in and saves Jacob in a pinch. The sheriff gets downed, but manages to shoot Banner twice.

When the shooting stops, the platform is littered with bodies, and Jacob stands over Banner for one final conversation. He’s pleased to see Banner kept his word, and Banner is pleased Jacob has kept his. Banner didn’t leave, and his family will get to Portland.

Jacob and the sheriff board the train to be seen by the doctor. He decides to send Alex off to Bozeman with Jacob; meanwhile, Spencer grabs his gun on the way out and heads to the ranch.

We then get our first voiceover from Elsa in this episode. She narrates what’s running through Alex’s mind as she watches her husband go off to defend his family’s home. She fears it’s the last time she’ll see him. But now that they’ve had their long awaited reunion, Elsa explains, “for her, that was enough.” Alex can only hope to be proven wrong.

Night falls on the house and Banner’s men begin to close in, shooting out the windows and throwing a molotov cocktail inside. Two men storm the house, but Elizabeth and Zane manage to take them down.

At Whitfield’s house, he gathers businessmen together to present his grand idea of tourism, particularly his ski resort. They’re not convinced at first, but Whitfield describes his idea of a debauched Disneyland—where every customer’s whims are met and men can “traverse untamed land.”

Timothy Dalton as Whitfield.

Jacob and Alex arrive at Bozeman and take an ambulance to the hospital, while Spencer and the sheriff’s men arrive at the house. With Cara’s help, they manage to defeat the last of their attackers.

Elizabeth asks after Jack again, and Spencer sends men to go looking for him. Then, Cara points Spencer in the direction of the man who’s the real source of all their problems: Whitfield.

At the hospital, doctors can’t find the bullet in Jacob. They fear if there is a bullet in him, the lead could slowly poison him. Jacob says there’s nothing to sew up; it’s only old wounds bleeding again. And besides, he’s 80 years old! Slow poisoning is the least of his worries.

He searches for Alex and discovers she’s in labor. The odds are stacked against her: Not only is her baby only six months along, but most of her limbs have gone necrotic from frostbite. They’ll have to be amputated or she’ll die. She gives birth to a premature baby, and while the doctor doubts it’ll live long, she demands to hold it regardless. Alex believes the baby will live. And she’s so sure of it that she tells Jacob she’ll name him John.

The men sent to search for Jack find him dead on the ground. At the same time, Spencer and Cara meet up with Jacob and Alex at the hospital. Cara and Jacob embrace, and Alex tells Spencer she refused to give up her baby or her limbs. She asks Spencer to look after John, and he lays by her side for one final night.

In the morning, Spencer wakes to find Alex’s body cold. He calls Cara in and admits he doesn’t know what to do. “You’re not supposed to, my dear,” she says, “But I do.”

Helen Mirren as Cara.

As Cara takes the baby (who we assume is John Dutton II, the father of Kevin Costner’s John Dutton III), Spencer tells Jacob it’s time to go; they still have to kill Whitfield. Inside his house, Whitfield sits with Lindy and Mabel at the dining table. Mid-conversation, Spencer comes in and shoots both Whitfield and Lindy. He tells a clearly scared Mabel to leave.

Whitfield gets a few last words in. He tries to scare Jacob and Spencer, telling them they’ll have a lot of explaining to do if they kill an unarmed man in his own home. Jacob replies, “I think we about killed everybody we’d have to explain it to.”

With one more shot to the head, Whitfield is finally dead. Spencer and Jacob then set the house ablaze and leave.

After a whole season of evading arrest, Teonna appears before a court. First, the judge asks why the case isn’t held in North Dakota, where Teonna’s school was based. The prosecutor answers that the witnesses were all in Oklahoma territory, so the case will take place here instead. Teonna’s lawyer then brings up the death certificates of all of those witnesses. With no living witnesses to any of the crimes, or concrete evidence, there’s basically no case at all. The prosecution brings forth a motion to dismiss the case, and the judge grants it. After everything she’s been through, Teonna is finally free!

Teonna doesn’t know where to go after this whole ordeal, but Two Spears gives her a horse and a gun, and suggests she head to California. She rides out west, and her story finally comes to a close.

Elsa cuts in with narration again, as Spencer and the rest of the Duttons lay their dead to rest. Back at the house, Cara feeds baby John and says goodbye to Elizabeth, who doesn’t have much left at the house after Jack’s death. Cara tells her it’s okay to move on. “I’ll remember him enough for the both of us,” she says.

Spencer tells Jacob he’s off to gather up cows at the Crazies, and asks if he’s coming along. But Jacob just wants to sit on the porch with his wife and baby John and “ponder the meaning of life.” Jacob admits to Cara that he’s finally retiring. Cara asks what Alex was like, and Jacob describes her as if “a shooting star could talk.”

Elsa then gives us the epilogue: Spencer never remarries. He does take up with a widow and has another son, but that second relationship doesn’t last. She then recounts Alex’s birthday and death, and reveals Spencer dies 45 years later. Then we cut to a ballroom with Alex and Spencer, both alive and well, dancing together (in the afterlife, it seems).

There, the episode ends. With Whitfield and Banner dead, along with Alex and Jack, this chapter of the Duttons’ sweeping saga comes to a tragic close. There’s no word yet on a season 3, but with many Yellowstone spin-offs (including 1944) on the way, you can rest assured this isn’t the last you’ve seen of the Dutton family.