8: "The Killing Season" (S2E1)

[00:00:05] Welcome to the show. My name is Alex. And I'm Jerry. We are back. It's 1923, Episode

[00:00:34] 1, Season 2, The Killing Season. A long-awaited second season is here. Unfortunately, we know how the story ends for modern day with Yellowstone, but we still have more story to speak about in this iteration of the Dutton family. So how you been, Jerry? It's only been a year

[00:01:00] and a half it seems like. I think it's been over two. If I remember. It seems like it's been, I don't know, I think it was 1923 when they started this darn thing. Exactly. And folks, you know, before you, if you enjoy our unofficial 1923 coverage, you are more than welcome to hit the subscribe button and tell a friend or tell a couple of friends because,

[00:01:25] you know, the three people that actually do listen, we appreciate your patronage and everything else. If you did a rewatch of the first season, that's great. And I think, you know, right from the beginning, the show does a great kind of recap of what's going on, where everybody is. The Duttons seem like no matter what they do, they're always on the brink of losing the ranch. Yeah. So what was your first thoughts of this episode?

[00:01:53] Well, I would just like to start off that they had an in-memoriam segment for the actor Cole Brings Plenty. Yeah. I did. I totally, I heard about his death and I totally forgot about it until that, that came back. And I was like, holy smokes, he did die. Yeah. That was craziness. And he's the one that, well, we're going to talk about him later. Yeah. But yeah, no, that was kind of a, a little bit of a shocker. I mean, but since they've been

[00:02:23] trying to put, put this show together for five, 10, 20 years, I think, I think the last thing that Harrison Ford did was Star Wars, right? It just seems like it, right? But, but yeah, no, I, that, that is true. And that was kind of a bummer to see right off the bat, but, you know, they do a

[00:02:46] great job of, sorry, they do a great job of really taking care of their own, so to speak, the whole Yellowstone family. So, so that being said, what were your first thoughts other than the, the in-memoriam? I was happy to have the show back because I really like it and it's, I wish it was more often than every two years, but I'm thinking that's just the way production works.

[00:03:14] Yeah. In, in, in shows nowadays, it seems like you get one, you know, like one season and it takes anywhere between a year and a half to two years, but this doesn't really have much post-production into it, but I think it's just getting all the, all the shots done and you can only, you know, depending on what happens in the show, they can only shoot in certain times of the year. Absolutely. And I think also, you know, it's, it's actors availability and a whole bunch of different things. I know, you know, it's funny because Harrison Ford has been working his little

[00:03:42] butt off lately. He's on shrinking, he's on this, he's, he's been doing a bunch of other stuff as well. So, and it's just funny because he's just gotten old and I'm not saying this in a bad way. It's just, it's just like, wow, he's really old. And you know, I mean, I know he should be, it's just, it's, it's just, you know, you hate to see your, your, the people that you love so much,

[00:04:06] you know, on the, on the swing, but I'll tell you for a guy that's, that is in his, the years that he's in, he's still as spry as ever. I want to say early 80s. I don't know. He's 107 years old. I don't know. Yes. But, but yeah, no. So where do you want to go first? I mean, do you want to, do you want to start from the opening or what do you want to do? Well, I was just going to do a quick recap. Sure.

[00:04:31] When we left just a, just a couple of points. It's like we left Spencer and Alexandra being forced apart after, you know, Spencer yeeted her ex fiance over the side on the, on the majestic, which I still has like that guy deserved that. Absolutely. That was just bull crap. And then I love how he, he gets attacked yet.

[00:04:58] But he's the one that gets put in, you know, taken away, should we speak? Yeah. They get separated. And then, you know, Alexandra has to go back to England. Right. Okay. And then, and then she said, you know, I'll come find you in Montana. So we had, then we left with Tiona and dad and I forget the guy, the name escapes me right now, but the other guy on the, on the run. And then we had back in Montana, we had Whitfield,

[00:05:27] the guy that, that, that, that's his name. The name just blanked out on me. The, the X James Bond guy. Yes. Yeah. Timothy Dalton guy. Timothy Dalton. Thank you. I mean, I got to tell you his storyline. If there's a reason why I don't want to watch the show, I don't get it. Like the other stuff, not the, well, we'll get into it, but just

[00:05:54] press on. Yeah. And then we have a, yeah. Whitfield had paid off Jacob Dutton's tax debt. Yeah. And then, and then he had, and then he said, well, if you don't pay it off, it doesn't, you know, all your deeds revert to me. So, you know, that's where we left that off. And then we had, and it just almost seemed like shoehorned in a little bit about one of Jacob's employees. He's he got him and his wife got arrested for breaking a miscegenation law. Yeah.

[00:06:23] Yeah. Miscegenation laws are just, you know, straight up gross. But I, like I said, I wonder where he goes with this stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, this is a brutal episode and this is coming from

[00:06:49] a show that's been pretty brutal. Yeah. They don't really hold back. I mean, as much as I like it, you really got to have a thick skin to be watching the show and I don't know what's going on, but anyway, anything else on the recap? No, that was pretty much it. But I just want to let, okay. Maybe we can start in just like, start where the episode starts in Montana and just keep

[00:07:13] with the Montana stuff. Then go with, I think with Tiona or no, let's go with Spencer and then Tiona and then Alexandra. Sounds good. Start it off. Start it off, Jerry. I'm here for you. Yeah. So we have Jacob getting ready to go into town to handle, to go attend the trial of his, Zane. And there's a couple other things, a couple of things that happened there. It's not, not important, but we see a mountain lion as he's leading. He sees a mountain lion on the porch.

[00:07:43] I know just a little mountain lion, just a little mountain lion, you know, but it was funny because the horses were getting all spooked and they didn't realize why. And of course, you know, he's like, take the horses back to the barn. Mm-hmm. I love how he plays this. He's got the gun out and he's like, okay, are you hungry or are you trying to get warm? Trying to get warm. Yeah. He's like, but that's the West, I guess.

[00:08:13] Yeah. And in this, in like, in this beginning, we find out that to be able to pay the debt, that they had to sell off all the, you know, most of the cattle, except for like some, some of the, some of the, a couple of the bulls and, and a bunch of, and a bunch of the, the other, the other. I think they had a hundred, a hundred cattle and two bulls. Yeah. Something like that. Yeah. And that's, and like, like, that's what she was saying. She's like, this is the,

[00:08:40] the beginning of, this is all we have left. Yeah. Yeah. Go forward. Yeah. And this is like in, in, in kind of a, in a narrative letter to Spencer. So. And I have to say, I do like that. And I liked that they, she explained why she does it. You know, it's like a diary, but you're like writing to somebody, but you know, I mean, but it's Helen Muir and so she can do whatever the hell she wants. Yeah. And, and they're depending on hunting and they don't want to take the cattle because the cattle is, that's it.

[00:09:10] That's their lifeline. That's, that's, that's, that's it for, for them. Um, so, you know, so what we see is after that happens, we have Jacob going into town, going into the speakeasy and seeing the sheriff. And, and he's the sheriff, you know, like one of these throwaway lines. It's like, yeah, you know, the, it wasn't the summit. Some other sheriff said he got an anonymous tip about a speakeasy in this town. It's like, I love it. I loved it. It was so great.

[00:09:37] I mean, and yeah, I'm going to investigate that. And I, you know, there's a lot of things about government and whatever else, but back then it must've been awful to live at that time, but there are times there's moments. And that was probably one of them where it's just like, you know, everybody's on, not on the tape, but you know, but you'll just try to stay warm.

[00:10:03] Well, I always say, I always thought, you know, prohibition was a little silly and I know the, but I know the temperance movement really made that happen. Well, I mean, if you go back to the original, when they came out here, the sister, she was all about, you know, being prim and proper while in the wild west, you're not so prim and proper. You're just trying to drive. Yeah, not exactly.

[00:10:35] You're not having high tea. That's for sure. And then as they're on, you know, and then this next day, as they're, as they're walking to the courthouse, they walk by, they stopped by a phone booth and say, Hey, you know how one of those works? And it's like, not a clue. Well, she hints to it. Oh yeah. Cause yeah. Elsa. One of their friends has a phone, has a phone and we'll be checking up and he's like, yeah, he, he, I guess he said something like he got lost one time in his own ranch or something,

[00:11:04] you know, something crazy like that. But it's kind of neat. Cause last season they talked about the washer and now they're talking about the telephone coming. And I just love those little tidbits that they drop. Yeah. I mean, even the ranch itself, the, the, the building is so much smaller than the original Yellowstone building.

[00:11:26] And I, I, I'm really torn about this episode, not this episode, but the way they played it out because, you know, not to go down on too much of a tangent, but the way they ended Yellowstone was kind of crappy. Yeah. I mean, not because, I mean that these things do happen, but they've struggled all this time to keep this thing and they finally are at the highest point.

[00:11:57] And, and I mean, yes, you can say they gave it back to the Indians and all the other stuff. And I know that's a big spoiler. I'm sorry, but you know, we never claimed to be a non-spoiler. I guess that's why I really need an unofficial, official podcast of 1923. All right. I'll let you go on. Sorry. I keep cutting you off. Okay. You're good. And, and to round out the Dutton thing, or at least our time with the Duttons is that we have Elizabeth going out to the porch and she happens across the mountain lion.

[00:12:28] And she's just like terrified in the, in the mountain lions looking to make a breakfast out of her. Well, and of course, you know, Helen Mirren knows what to do. Yeah. Blows it out of the water. I mean, blows it right through the glass. I mean, it just doesn't get any better than that. And, you know, I find it really amazing, you know, not being a farmer, being a person of

[00:12:55] this world now, how the weather has such an impact. I mean, it took them two days to get to town. Yeah. Not two days, but you know, they have to spend the night and come, they couldn't do it in one day. Yeah. Couldn't go back there back in one day. I mean, you know, all these creature comforts are just out the window. And, you know, they're really laying the foundation for progress.

[00:13:23] You just don't, I mean, they have so much progress when you've got, when we get to the boat, you know, they're so technological, if you want to call it that, versus where they are in the, in the, in the farm, you know, in the house. So, so I just find that fascinating. I know it's not really an interest. I mean, it's not a point. It's just, as a, as a viewer, they do a great job of, of showing the grandness of that time.

[00:13:54] Okay. And then we have, to round out the Montana stuff, we have, what's it, Donald Whitfield in his, in the tub. And I was like, dude, I don't need to see, I don't need to see Timothy Dalton all pasty and shit. But first off, it was all good until she got out of the tub. Yeah. Oh, well, the, her part.

[00:14:21] I don't understand this whole, I mean, I understand it. I just don't understand why I need to see it. Yeah. But I wish they would explain this. I mean, I, obviously he's like a crazy guy. There's ways to show that in so many different ways. And it's a little much. I had to like scan through it really fast. I was like, I mean, that's why I said, it's like, as much as I want to do the show, it's

[00:14:51] like, are you kidding me? Yeah. I don't need to see that. But anyway, let's press on. Okay. And then we go on to Banner. Oh yeah. I'll see. I love Banner. Yeah. And Banner is just such a, such a frigging whack job. But he, he, he makes a very interesting point because his wife says, I don't know if you have the line or not, because I know you're good with this stuff.

[00:15:18] You shouldn't lie with, you lie with the dogs because you wake up, you wake up with fleas. Yeah. It's like, no, these aren't fleas. But I will say this in his defense. And I know he's not a good guy. He's not supposed to be a good guy. And I know he's, you know, I'm not defending him, but they, he came from nothing. They had no food. They were nothing. Now they're in a hotel. They've got food. They've got means. They've got all this stuff. He's like, I'll do anything for my, my family. Yeah.

[00:15:47] And that's all they're all trying to do. Yeah. So that's kind of where that leaves off. So then we got, then we got Tiona still, still on the run with her dad and, and, and Pete Plenty Cloud or something like, oh, some of these names escapes me. Well, no, I'm, I'm, I'm looking it up on IMDB right now. It's, it's, it's kind of hard to find everybody, but. That storyline was cute.

[00:16:16] I mean, that was just so cute. Cause you've got the father and the daughter. Yeah. They're talking. Yeah. I like that. It's like talking. It's like, well, wait till after your marriage. Like, does anybody wait? And it's like, not really. And she's, and he kind of like more or less gives his blessing. And then she like lit lights out of there so fast. She leaves like a vapor trail behind her. Oh, I think I'll go see what he's doing and go sit by him while he hunts. He's like, yep. There, there she goes.

[00:16:46] But no, I mean, I thought it was really sweet how they kind of have been courting and how clueless guys are. And. I'm. I was a clueless guy when I was that age. I think everybody was. Yeah. But, but. We didn't learn something really important about their story. Yeah. They're not even in Montana anymore.

[00:17:16] Oh, they're, they're, they, they thought they were going to go back. Was it to Oklahoma or something like that? They're in Texas. And I love how that, that cowboy was like, yeah, do whatever you want. You know, just watch out for the rattlesnakes and see you later. And I think that that just goes to show you. I mean, not that they're. Not that they're free. Because who knows what the story is going to say. But.

[00:17:46] They're kind of in a good place. Yeah. I mean, that only means one thing that something bad is going to happen. You know. Of course. Yeah. Because this is a. This is Taylor Sheridan show. And something's bad got to happen. And then speaking of that whole storyline. To continue it right before that, you've got father. Father Reneau and the Marshall. And the Marshall who's like. The Marshall's such a bastard.

[00:18:16] Oh my God. You know. I mean, I don't understand why at this point. They're so obsessed with finding this woman. Mm hmm. I mean. At what point do you just say. It's not going to happen. Yeah. I mean. And I love how. You know. Father. Is trying to like. Throw his morals in there. At the end. It's like, wait. Now you're going to do this. Like. Yeah.

[00:18:46] It's like. Was it your. Your graveyard is filled with the people. Exactly. I mean. No. No hands are. No. No hands are not. I should. All. All hands are bloody. That's for dang sure. But yeah. Now. So. I think that that was. You know. Him. Him killing the. The boy. I don't. I don't have to kill them. But then they killed the guys. The guns. Mm hmm. I mean. They were just looking for a fight. Yeah. They were just like. They didn't get the. The.

[00:19:16] Hop to. And. And give me the answer. So they. They started shooting. Which makes no sense. But. Nothing. Nothing with them have proven that they're. They're. They're sane. Yeah. A lot of our work. Yeah. So. That ends. That part. That's kind of where we're at. So. Let's go to Spencer. One part. The. Oh. I mean. You know. We went from.

[00:19:46] We went from. Lions. Or. Whatever they were. We went from Cougars. To. Winter. To. Bondage. To. All this other stuff. Now let's go to the light part of the show. Which is. The boat scene. Yeah. Oh. I. You know. Because. There's. We have a Spencer. Working his way across. And I'm assuming. He's gonna. The. Because the. Ship captain.

[00:20:16] Said. You know. Go to Galveston. Because that kind of. It's kind of the best way to get there. So I'm assuming he's on his way to Galveston. Right. On this boat that he's working across. After he got tossed off the majestic. Which is ridiculous. Yeah. I think that's freaking ridiculous. And then he saves his shipmate. From being sexually assaulted. By. By one of the other guys. Right. And. The captain. You know. After. You know. Beats him down a few. And then. Captain comes in. And says. Pop. And then.

[00:20:45] Just kills him. Just kills him. And I was like. God. Because. You know. All of the. You know. All they're gonna do. Is just pitch him over the side. And let the sharks have him. Absolutely. That's what I would do. Yeah. Well. Maybe for that time. Not. Maybe not so much now. But. Well. I mean. I don't know. But. But yeah. No. He has a. He has a firm hand of justice. Opportunities. Mm-hmm. And.

[00:21:17] So. The guy gets sexually assaulted. You know. They know each other. Because they're feeding the coal. Mm-hmm. He's telling them that you're feeding too much. Because. They're gonna blow up the engine. Yeah. And then. It's only designed to work in a certain range. Right. Well. And then he comes up with this brilliant idea. To make some money. Oh. Yeah. And. So. Which. He has no part in really. Except for taking the money. Mm-hmm. And. You know.

[00:21:47] Okay. So just go fight everybody. That's a great idea. You know. And just beat the crap out of it. You know. Hey Spencer. Just. You're the toughest guy here. Just beat everybody up. Mm-hmm. So he beats everybody up. As much as he can. And I like the last guy. He's like. Yeah. Don't. No. No. I get it. Or anything like that. No. I get you. He's still out of work. And. You know. Spencer's not exactly the most seen person right now. Yeah. So he beats the crap out of some people. And then. He only gets.

[00:22:17] He gets. What is it? 80%. Yeah. 20 for the. You know. Holding the money. Yeah. Well. I don't have any money to cover the. Unbelievable. But. And he said. You know. But then he kind of. You know. And I think his name is Luca. And he said. I justified it. Because if. If I didn't pay. I would be. I would be suffering the consequences of. You know. Of this. But. But I did like the. The final guy.

[00:22:47] Who asked him. You fought in the war. Yes. You kill any Germans. Everyone I could find. Yeah. Well. And then he was like. You have all this money. It's like. Well. Now you got to worry about everybody stealing it. Mm-hmm. And you can't exactly. You know. There's no exactly. A safe. You know. Like. A purser safe on the ship. That you can put it into. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Okay. But what I did like on this one. Is that. You know. After. You know. After the assault.

[00:23:17] Luca had written a letter to both. To both Spencer and his mother. Right. And his mother. But. But Luca. Luca wrote one to his mother. And he did. I did. He did the rose treatment. On the rail of the ship. Standing outside of it. Yeah. Yeah. I did see that. That was funny. Yeah. Well. I'm glad he saved him. It's like. You saved me from the guy. It's like. Well. If you jump. I didn't save you. Right. And yeah. Go to Galveston. Give this to my. My cousins. And they'll pay you. It's like. No. I clearly didn't do. What I was supposed to be doing. Yeah.

[00:23:47] So. But yeah. No. That was kind of. That was kind of an interesting little. That's for sure. Yeah. And then. His part. You know. And his part ends with. He's on the ship. Having a cigarette. You know. At nighttime. And he sees. You see the lights of Galveston. Off in the distance. And that's like. He's finally. Finally made it to the states. Hopefully. And then. I hope that's Galveston. I'm not sure exactly. Which one. Not just Cuba. Well. Cuba's still okay that time. I mean. I'm just saying. It's just like. Or it's you know. Somewhere.

[00:24:18] Who knows where it is. But yeah. No. I mean. He's in a good place. But I guess we should talk about his wife now. Yes. Alexandra. And she's a mess. In bed. She's a mess. She's. She's at home. In Sussex. And her. And her best friend. Stops by to visit. And. She says. I need to get out of here. And I need to go to the states. And then. And it's like. Because I'm running out of time. And I'm like. I kind of. I kind of like. Cocked my head. And I was like. She's pregnant.

[00:24:48] Right. Oh yeah. She's totally knocked up. Yeah. Because. Well it's like. All that canoodling they did. Between. Between Africa. And. Yeah. And when. Something. Something is going to give. So to speak. But yeah. No. I. And. And she just. She just wants. To live her life. So. What does she do? She gets the family jewels. Literally. And. Yeah. Gets a ticket. On. Not first.

[00:25:18] Not second. Second. But. Tourist class. What's that? Tourist class. Yes. There's no tourists on the. On that. There's no tourists on that shit. It's all thieves. And. I don't know what. That's right. Yeah. Whatever. Whatever words they used. No. But I thought that was a nice little moment. You know. She. Even though it was kind of sad. It was. It was a nice little moment. To put a little bit of levity. And I say levity. Because. Anything could be more. Light. It can't be any lighter than. Or heavier than what's going on.

[00:25:47] In this whole show right now. Exactly. Yeah. Because. And I know that. You know. She. She made this implication. Like she has to get out of here. Because I'm thinking. It's like when your husband kills the men. You were supposed to marry. The family may look at you funny. If you know. You start to have the guy's kid. Well. Yeah. Yeah. So. Among other things. But. Then. We've got to go to. What's the last piece? I believe that was it. Oh.

[00:26:18] Okay. Oh. I don't know why I thought it was. There was another piece. For some reason. I don't know why I thought there was another piece. But. This was a. This was a very jam-packed hour. That is for sure. I know we only did it in like a half hour. But. You know. When you think about what. What's going on. You've got. You've got the Duttons that are. That. The ranch is getting hit by like two different ways.

[00:26:47] You know. Spencer is. Fighting for his life figuratively and literally on a boat. Alexandra is finally getting towards her goal of getting to the states. And not looking back. And. And. Meanwhile. You know. A big ass. Wild creature is on their porch. Looking for. To eat. But what I did. What I did find very interesting was. They talked about. You know. The harsh winter. And how. You know.

[00:27:17] They had stale bread. And lots of stew. And. Then. Once spring comes. It's like. It's like God. Kind of heals itself. And that's when you're going to stock back up. And. And make sure that you can get through everything. And I hope our heroes. That's what ends up happening for our heroes. Because. I mean. Clearly they survived. Because there was the. You know. There's the show. The Yellowstone. But at the same time. It's really interesting how. Even though.

[00:27:47] We know. How the story. Ends. So to speak. We don't know. The stuff in the middle. And I think that this has really. Been. A nice little journey. I'm looking forward to the next. I guess. Eight more weeks. Nine more weeks. Eight episodes. So we got. Eight episodes. So. Another seven more weeks of this. And we're going to try to get these episodes out a little bit quicker. Better. But. Because I know it comes on Sundays. So. We'll try to get it out as quickly as we can. But.

[00:28:16] Hopefully you guys enjoy. Listening to our little bit of a recap. And. Like I said. If you. If. If you like the podcast. Please. Hit the subscribe button. And. You know. We're going to keep doing them. Because we just love the show. Even though. It gets to be kind of freaky. 90% of the time. And. It's. I mean. It's got some great stuff. And then it's got some. Wow. What are we doing here? But. You know.

[00:28:45] It is what it is. And. We're not ranchers. So. You know. I know you have to deal with the. The harshness of cold. Jerry. Being in California. Where your tires. Really. Because it's so. So gosh darn hot. But. Like right now. It was a balmy. 50 something degrees today. And we didn't know what to do with ourselves. I actually went outside. So I mean. I kind of. I can kind of. Relate to the cold part of this. This show. But you know. Being a.

[00:29:15] Not being a rancher. You know. Everything's got to get fed. Whether it's. Cold winter or not. You got to. You got to hunker down. And. And do your deal. And especially out there. Where. The closest. Place. You know. Going back to that. That actually reminded me. You know. The. Indian scenes. They were talking about. Why the Indians were. How they got in the position. That they got in. And they were talking about. How nobody knows. How to make anything anymore.

[00:29:44] Because they relied on the white man. For trade. And all they want to do is trade. And then they just dumbed them down. I mean. You know. You can. There's a lot to be said for that. Even in. In today's. Climate as well. You know. We don't really manufacture. That much anymore. And that's not. You know. The current political. Landscape. But it's just the political landscape. Of many. Many years. You know. We've kind of outsourced. A lot of things. So. You know. There's something to be said.

[00:30:14] For being able to. To make do. And use your hands. And know how to. I know how things work. Because everybody can't be a manager. Of a company. They have to actually. Somebody actually has to produce something. So. You know. On that lovely. Light note. Because this is just going to be. The latest podcast possible. Yeah. Another point. Yeah. One more point. Is that. At the very. At the very end of the episode. After the. After Kara. Shot the lion. Or mountain lion. Yeah. We have another voiceover.

[00:30:44] From Elsa. Isabel. Isabel May returns. Well. Of course. And I mean. You know. I love that. She. She is the. The quintessential. Voice of this show. I mean. Of the prequels. I mean. If. If we could have had her. In the beginning. In Yellowstone. It probably would have been great. Mm-hmm. But. It's great to see her memory. So to. So to speak. Live on through this. This show. Even though she's passed.

[00:31:14] Yeah. But. That's our. That's our brief show. My name is Alex. And I'm Jerry. And we will see you. Next time. For episode two. Bye. Bye.