Paramount+’s 1923 season one episode six begins by catching up with Teonna (Aminah Nieves) who’s on the run after murdering two abusive nuns and escaping the boarding school. Teonna’s now traveling with Hank (Michael Greyeyes) and they’ve made it to his small home, along with his flock of sheep.
Hank thinks Teonna needs a boy’s name as part of her disguise and she suggests Hank Jr. since that’s what the white men do. Hank prefers Joe and Teonna agrees.
Teonna changes into Hank’s son’s clothes and they burn everything she brought with her from the U.S. School for Native Americans. That is, except for the Bible. Hank fears the white man’s God will turn them to salt if they anger him. They decide to bury the Bible instead.
Meanwhile, two lawmen visit Teonna’s grandmother, Issaxche (Amelia Rico), and inform her Teonna’s wanted for murdering two nuns. They search the premises and when she hits one while telling him to stop destroying her possessions, he shoves her into the stove. She hits her head and dies instantly.
The murderer tells his partner, who missed the incident while out checking the teepee, that he’ll need to lie and say he was present and witnessed the attack. They’re going to claim it was self-defense.
Spencer and Alex Struggle to Stay Alive
Episode five ended with Spencer and Alex’s tugboat floating upside in the water and the young couple nowhere to be seen. Fans who watched the promo video for the second half of the season knew that the adorable twosome would survive, but it was still alarming to not get a glimpse of either Alex or Spencer before episode five’s credits rolled.
Episode six finds Spencer (Brandon Sklenar) surfacing and swimming to the overturned tugboat while shouting Alex’s name. He can hear pounding from inside the boat and dives back into the water. Swimming up under it, he discovers Alex (Julia Schlaepfer) alive and in an air pocket.
Spencer takes a few minutes to search underwater for their possessions and then confirms Alex can swim. He instructs her to hold the end of his lucky rope while he leads the way out from under the boat and up to the surface.
Once on top of the hull, they realize the boat could sink at any time. Plus, they don’t have any water or food and the sun’s beating down on them. Spencer asks Alex to stay in the center of the hull and heads back down for more supplies.
He retrieves more items but when he climbs back onto the hull, Alex is gone. She shouts for help and he swims out to her, but now they’re drifting away from the hull! If they don’t swim as fast as they can right now, they’ll die.
They make it back but now they’re both exhausted. Thankfully, the supplies he retrieved are still on the hull.
Alex confesses she didn’t think this is how she’d die, and Spencer promises it won’t be. He made contact with a ship before they were hit, and he’s sure it will come looking for them.
Spencer places his soaking-wet shirt on Alex, who appears to be going into shock.
Time passes and the noises of fish under the boat are spooking Alex. A shark swims up and Alex wonders if they’re in more danger. Spencer waxes philosophical, pointing out that in six hours the ocean’s already adapted to the boat being there. People aren’t as smart.
Alex still has a sense of humor and corrects him – they’re both smart. They also both agree this is their last tugboat ride.
Alex swears she will not be afraid. If death is their fate, she’ll use her last breath to kiss him. Spencer strokes her face and assures her death isn’t their fate. Of course, the shark ramming the hull might not share that opinion.
Night’s fallen and they’ve actually managed to fall asleep when a ship’s horn interrupts the silence. Alex wakes first and sees a light streaking through the darkness. She wakes Spencer and he fires a shot in the air to get their attention. He keeps shooting, begging the ship to see them.
It doesn’t seem like it worked until suddenly the horn bellows again and the light moves closer. Jack fires off one more shot but it’s clear they’ve been spotted.
A small motorboat with two sailors pulls up, and one of the sailors suggests they need to go to a casino. (It is incredibly lucky that they’ve been located late at night in the middle of the ocean.)
Once safely onboard the ship, Captain Shipley (Joseph Mawle) pours them drinks and asks if they retrieved the captain’s log. They didn’t, and Spencer explains they were on their way to the Suez. Their ultimate destination is the United States, but they don’t know where Lucca was heading.
Captain Shipley points out it’s going to be difficult dealing with U.S. Immigration, and he recommends Galveston or Port Arthur in the Gulf since Ellis Island is a cesspool of disease. Since Elizabeth is an immigrant, it might take months for her to gain entry. Spencer asks the captain for his help with that. Since they’re in international waters, he wants Captain Shipley to marry them.
Captain Shipley says he would be honored to officiate and suggests they can pull something together tomorrow. Spencer doesn’t want to wait that long. “Putting things off a day isn’t proving conducive to our current lifestyle,” says Spencer. Alex laughs.
They don’t have rings and Captain Shipley retrieves a box. Inside are rings belonging to sailors who have passed away and whose families couldn’t be contacted. Alex thinks it’s morbid and Shipley suggests they replace them when they can.
“The ocean almost took us and now it gives us rings. I think I’ll keep mine,” says Spencer.
The rings are all too big for Alex. Captain Shipley removes his necklace and on it is his wife’s ring. He believes she will approve of Alex having it.
It fits perfectly.
They exchange their vows and are escorted to their quarters. They barely spare a minute to accept a gift basket before slipping naked into the shower. A night of lovemaking and quiet conversation follows. They can’t take their eyes off each other, and Alex isn’t ready to sleep so they get dressed and head up to the bow of the ship.
Spencer points out the lights of Egypt and the Suez Canal and explains in Montana there aren’t any lights at night – just the stars. Alex didn’t realize the Yellowstone Ranch doesn’t have electricity or plumbing; Spencer failed to mention that.
She asks about his dreams and he claims he doesn’t have any. She doesn’t believe it and if he won’t tell her, then he’s breaking his vows to obey her. Spencer finally says that in his heart he knows he shouldn’t have taken her and that everything they’ve experienced has been a warning to put her back. But he feels too selfish to do that. His dream is that the universe is wrong and she’s his to keep.
Alex assures him she’s following him wherever he goes, whether he likes it or not. He should pick a different dream since that one’s already come true.
“There is no putting me back. We are one now,” says Alex.
Jacob Heals While Cara Makes Decisions for the Yellowstone Ranch
Zane (Brian Geraghty) is happy to see Jacob (Harrison Ford) out of the house and walking around the ranch. Jacob’s happy to report Spencer’s coming home from Africa, a trip that should take two months. When Spencer gets home, they’ll finally be able to take on Banner and his men.
Jacob wants Zane to start quietly inquiring about who wants to join the posse. Zane thinks it’ll be tough going since so many cowboys went to California. Jacob points out only the quitters took off for Hollywood.
In town, Cara (Helen Mirren) and Sheriff McDowell (Robert Patrick) begin interviewing men to serve as livestock agents. One applicant takes offense that Cara’s doing the questioning. He becomes angry and curses at Cara, and Jack – who’s been standing back by the door – has heard enough. He punches the man and then McDowell escorts him from the room. Looks like he’ll remain unemployed for a while.
It’s a slow process and they’ve only found two men all morning. Fortunately, the next man seems like a legitimate candidate. Clyde (Brian Konowal) is smart, knows ranching, and was a detective with the Chicago Police. He left because he couldn’t take the smell of so many people and cows in one area.
“I don’t know what hell is but it ain’t worse than Chicago,” says Clyde.
Cara’s about to thank him for his interest but Sheriff McDowell hires him on the spot.
They need 20 new agents and now they’ve hired three. McDowell thinks they’ll get there eventually but Cara confesses her family’s running out of time. She also reveals she needs to share a family secret.
Cara returns home, happy to see Jacob standing outside looking off into the distance. They discuss a road being cut two-thirds of the way up a nearby mountain, and Cara wonders if it’s heading nowhere.
Jacob realizes Cara’s going to hold nursing him back to health over his head, and Cara confirms that’s true. She wants a generator and a washing machine. Plus, she’s decided she wants a motorcar. Jacob wonders if he can just ease into these modern contraptions, and Cara agrees he can choose which one they get first.
Jacob brings up gathering a posse and Cara will hear none of that talk. She orders him to leave the fighting to the agents. She’s not about to become a widow. But Jacob understands that a mine’s being blasted into the mountain above the Yellowstone’s water supply. The ranches surrounding the Yellowstone have been purchased, and he knows the ultimate goal is to take over the Yellowstone too.
When he admits his concern is survival, Cara confesses she told Sheriff McDowell what’s really going on. Just then McDowell drives up with his men, and he’s angry Jacob didn’t immediately report the ambush. Jacob rips his shirt open to show off his bullet wounds, claiming his family and the other ranchers have paid a huge price.
McDowell understands Jacob didn’t want the bank or thieves to take the ranch and that’s why he kept this a secret. However, neither the bank nor thieves are coming for the Yellowstone since Jacob survived. There’s no reason that Jacob shouldn’t have come to him to report the ambush after he started to heal.
McDowell will not allow Montana to have a range war. He’s planning on arresting Banner in the morning, and Jacob and his men will have to come in and give their statements.
After McDowell leaves, Jacob’s furious with Cara. She follows him into the house and back outside once he grabs his hat, jacket, and gunbelt. She’s seething with anger as she yells at him for turning his back toward her after all she’s done.
Cara knows Jacob wants vengeance, not justice. He wants to be the one who shoots Banner, even if that means he rots in jail. Cara reminds him she bathed him, spoon-fed him, dug graves, and took care of everything while he slept. She’s suffered and so has everyone at the ranch, especially Jack and Elizabeth, yet they’ve all set aside the desire for vengeance for Jacob and the good of the ranch.
Jacob doesn’t respond and instead walks off to the barn. He manages to get his saddle up on his horse on his second try. He actually smiles as he rides off alone.
It’s not all doom and gloom at the ranch. Jack (Darren Mann) and Elizabeth (Michelle Randolph) are spending time in bed discussing the baby. Jack can’t hear it and wonders how she even knows she’s pregnant. Elizabeth laughs as she explains the signs, and he kisses her stomach. They laugh as Jack suggests they need to keep practicing so that in a year they can get pregnant again.
Cara’s seated outside and happy to hear the young couple laugh. (Their window’s open.)
Jacob joins her outside and notes Jack and Elizabeth can’t make two babies at once. Cara says they’re embracing the sport of it.
Jacob claims he’s not after vengeance, he just wants to preserve the land and keep it from turning into another big city. He won’t let them dam the rivers, cut down the trees, and turn this into another concrete desert.
He wants to kill Banner and his men because he knows they’re just the first wave of the attack. Men who build cities send men like Banner in first to do their dirty work.
Jacob knows how much Cara’s suffered and it’s Banner’s turn now. Cara doesn’t reply as he gently kisses her forehead and walks away.
- Recap of 1923 Episode 1
- 1923 Season 1 Episode 2 “Nature’s Empty Throne” Recap
- 1923 Season 1 Episode 3 “The War Has Come Home” Recap
- 1923 Season 1 Episode 4 “War and the Turquoise Tide” Recap
- 1923 Season 1 Episode 5 “Ghost of Zebrina” Recap
- 1923 Season 1 Episode 7 “The Rule of Five Hundred” Recap
- 1923 Season 1 Episode 8 “Nothing Left to Lose” Recap
- 1883 Season 1 Episode 10 Recap: “This Is Not Your Heaven” Season Finale
- Yellowstone Season 5 Episode 1 Recap: “One Hundred Years is Nothing”
