Warning: SPOILERS for 1923 Season 2’s Finale – “A Dream and a Memory”1923 season 2’s finale ended on an unabashedly romantic note between Alexandra Dutton (Julia Schlaepfer) and Spencer Dutton (Brandon Sklenar), and I loved that Taylor Sheridan did Yellowstone‘s version of Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Rose (Kate Winslet) in Titanic. Before Spencer arrived home in Montana to defend the Yellowstone Dutton ranch from Donald Whitfield’s (Timothy Dalton) hostile takeover, he had an improbable reunion with Alex. Freezing to death in Montana’s brutal winter, Alex’s cries for help were miraculously heard by Spencer, who jumped off his moving train and rescued his wife.
1923‘s epic finale boasted the high body count expected from the violent war for the Yellowstone, but the heart of “A Dream and a Memory” was Alex and Spencer Dutton, just as it was throughout 1923. Spencer and Alex’s arduous journeys to Montana took up the bulk of 1923 season 2, and it often seemed like they wouldn’t see each other again. While Yellowstone maestro Taylor Sheridan’s story was ultimately not about Alex and Spencer getting a happily ever after – at least in life – Sheridan shamelessly borrowed a page from James Cameron’s Titanic and its iconic romance between Jack Dawson and Rose DeWitt Bukater.
The RMS Titanic sank on April 14, 1912, and James Cameron’s Academy Award-winning blockbuster placed his fictional doomed lovers, Jack and Rose, in the midst of that historic tragedy. The Titanic sinking would have been only 12 years before the events of 1923 season 2’s finale. It’s clear now that Spencer and Alexandra Dutton were Taylor Sheridan’s stand-ins for Jack and Rose all along, and their tragic love story came to a sad romantic crescendo, just like Jack and Rose’s famous reunion at the end of Titanic:
I Loved Spencer & Alex’s Titanic Ending In 1923’s Finale
Spencer Never Let Go Of Alex
At the end of 1923 season 2’s finale, Spencer Dutton dies in 1969 at 80 years old. The dying Spencer lays himself to rest at his wife’s grave, 45 years after Alexandra Dutton died from frostbite on March 29, 1924. For the first time in the Yellowstone saga, 1923 shows the afterlife as Spencer reunites with Alex in their vision of heaven: the grand ballroom of the British ocean liner where they were forced to part in 1923 season 1’s finale. Alex and Spencer are young and beautiful, and they dance together in a gloriously perfect world that doesn’t want to tear them apart.
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Spencer and Alex’s romantic reunion on a grand ship in 1923‘s finale is just like in Titanic when old Rose (Gloria Stuart) goes to sleep (or dies, depending on your interpretation), and returns to Titanic, where Jack awaits her. They are both young again and, unlike in their waking lives, they are surrounded by well-wishers who applaud them when they kiss. Similarly, in Alex and Spencer’s romantic heaven, there is no Arthur, Earl of Sussex (Rafe Soule) to ruin their happiness. Taylor Sheridan shamelessly apes James Cameron’s version of a doomed but perfect romance, and it touches the heart in 1923 just as it does in Titanic.
Spencer’s love for Alex was able to go on because of their son.
Taylor Sheridan actually improves upon Titanic‘s ending in one respect: Alex and Spencer have a son. 1923 season 2’s finale is the origin of John Dutton II, who is the father of Kevin Costner’s John Dutton III and was played as an old man by Dabney Coleman in Yellowstone. Even though Spencer loses Alex, he is able to raise their son with his aunt and uncle, Jacob (Harrison Ford) and Cara Dutton (Helen Mirren). Jack and Rose in Titanic did not have a child, but Spencer’s love for Alex was able to go on because of their son.
Spencer & Alex Were Always 1923’s Version Of Jack & Rose In Titanic
Cruel Fates Denied Spencer & Alex A Happy Ending In Life
It wasn’t quite as evident in 1923 season 1, but by the end of 1923 season 2, it’s clear that Spencer and Alex Dutton were Taylor Sheridan’s version of Jack and Rose from Titanic all along. Like Rose, Alex was upper class, born as Alexandra of Sussex, and she dreaded her future in a loveless marriage, just as Kate Winslet’s spirited young heroine was engaged to Caledon Hockley (Billy Zane). Spencer was more rugged than Jack Dawson, but the lion hunter was “not suitable” for Alex. Yet Alex fell for Spencer and ran away with him, just as Rose wanted to with Jack.
Alex asking Spencer, “What took you so long?” in their heavenly reunion was the last line of dialogue in 1923, and it perfectly summed up their relationship.
Jack and Rose only had a few days together on the Titanic, while Spencer and Alex had a few weeks in Africa and traveling to England, but cruel fates denied them the chance to be together permanently. Alex and Spencer even survived a freighter they sailed on sinking in 1923 season 1, and they floated at sea just like Jack and Rose did after the Titanic sank. Like Rose, Alex gave up her luxurious life to reunite with the man she loved, and the rest of her short life was spent on her adventure to see Spencer in Montana. After Jack died in Titanic, Rose lived the adventurous life Dawson urged her to experience.
1923 Was Full Of Romantic Couples
Alex & Spencer Weren’t 1923’s Only Lovers
Romance is the underlying secret sauce of 1923. Alex and Spencer Dutton are the most star-crossed couple of the Prohibition-era Yellowstone prequel, but, in truth, all of the Duttons are romantic in 1923. Jacob and Cara Dutton may test each other’s patience after decades of marriage, but there is a lifetime of genuine love, loyalty, and affection between Spencer’s aunt and uncle. Jack Dutton (Darren Mann) and Elizabeth Strafford (Michelle Randolph) also loved each other before Jack’s foolishness led to his untimely death.
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Jack’s parents, John Dutton (James Badge Dale) and Emma Dutton (Marley Shelton), were also in love before they both died in 1923 season 1. Jacob Dutton’s wagon boss, Zane Davis (Brian Geraghty), was in love with his wife, Alice (Joy Osmanski). Even the villainous Banner Creighton (Jerome Flynn) genuinely loved his wife, Ellie (Sandra Randall Hunt), and his villainous acts were to give his family a better life.
1923 is underpinned by romantic Duttons.
James Dutton (Tim McGraw) and Margaret Dutton (Faith Hill) were in love with each other in 1883, while Yellowstone also has genuine romantic relationships between Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly) and Rip Wheeler (Cole Hauser), as well as Kayce Dutton (Luke Grimes) and Monica Long (Kelsey Asbille). But 1923 is underpinned by romantic Duttons. Yellowstone is a pop culture phenomenon like Titanic was in the late 1990s, and I loved that Taylor Sheridan gave Spencer and Alex Dutton the same Titanic ending as Jack and Rose.
