1923 (2022–…): Season 1, Episode 1 - Episode #1.1 - full transcript

[Money for Nothing by
Dire Straits] ♪ MTV... ♪

[panting, grunting]

[gun shot] [screams]

[groaning]

[shouts]

Wait!

Wait, just wait.

Hell is where you'll go
if you do this, ma'am.

All right, take me to
the nearest sheriff

and let him hang me.

That way you'll get your justice



without closing the
gates of Heaven.

What do you know about Heaven?

[gun dry fires]

[music]

[man grunts]

[gunshot]

[screams]

[music]

[Elsa] Violence has always
haunted this family.

It followed us from
the Scottish Highlands

and the slums of Dublin.

It ravaged us upon the
coffin ships of Ireland.

Stranded us on the
beaches of New Jersey,

devoured us upon
the battlefields



of Shiloh and Antietam.

And it followed us here...

Lurking beneath the
pines and in the rivers.

And where it doesn't
follow, we hunt it down.

We seek it.

[elephant trumpets]

[music]

[growling]

[gunshot]

[birds scattering]

Hey.

[speaking foreign language]

[groans] Yep.

[groans]

[grunts]

He is the one?

He's the one we tracked.

[speaking foreign language]

He is the one.

[music]

[Elsa] My father
had three children.

Only one would live to see
their own children grown.

Only one would carry
the fate of this family

through the depression

and every other hell the
20th century hurled at them.

[flies buzzing]

[music]

[Elsa] Upon my father's death,

my mother wrote to his brother

begging that he bring his family

to this wild land and save hers.

We should move 'em.

Move 'em where?

[sigh]

[Elsa] A year later he
arrived to find my mother

frozen in a snow drift,

her two boys half starved
and barely able to speak.

He raised them as his own,

then took my father's dream
and made it into an empire.

Then the empire crumbled.

[music]

[music]

[chatter]

[crowd shouting]

[women shouting]

Prohibition now! Prohibition!

Don't go in there, sir. Don't
drink that devil's drink.

Prohibition now!
Prohibition for Montana.

Woman: Join us in
our cause, ladies.

I pray you're here to shut
down this den of degenerates.

- Sign says "soda shop".
- Mm-hmm.

And the sign over the whore
house says "dance hall".

You don't say.

Step inside those
doors and your wife

will be the wiser, Commissioner.

She will be the wiser, sir!

[chatter]

Jake: Hey.

Guess it ain't started
raining since I came in here.

Only thing it's
raining is locusts.

Root beer for you?

I think I'll have a cola.

What if I did want a root
beer, a real root beer?

Well, uh, then I'd say
go to the drug store.

I'll have one of yours, then.

Them sheep herders are
getting pretty worked up.

Only got themselves to blame.

Can't run sheep across
another man's ground.

Lucky they didn't kill the
sheep herders, as well.

Try to find a softer way of
saying that in Town Hall, Jake.

How many deputies you got?

Not enough.

There's three hundred of them
sons of bitches in the street

watching the boxing.

And taking notes, if
you know what I mean.

Ain't worried about being boxed.

I'm worried about getting shot.

Bullies.

Bullies whining about
the consequences

of the rules they broke.

Come on.

Let's get this over with.

[drops coins on counter]

[crowd shouting]

Okay, fellas, let's go.

[music]

[crowd clamoring]

[indistinct shouting]

They killed our fucking sheep.

Littered the forest with 'em.

Left 'em to rot.

And what have you done about it?

Nothing!

We don't know who did it.

[crowd murmurs]

Everyone knows who did it.

It's those mick
bastards right there.

Come say mick to my
face, you fucking Jock.

I will, you paddy swine.

[clamoring]

This is going well.

[gunshot]

Sit down!

Or spend the night
in a jail cell.

Sit down.

I deserve an answer.

You know the bastards
who murdered my sheep

because you know who has the
lease to where their bodies lay.

So, you admit you were
on someone else's lease.

Sheep, they wander.

They don't know where one
lease ends and another begins.

Jake: Then why
have leases at all?

Sheep eat to the root.

They ruin the grass for cattle
or anything else to eat.

One could argue you
killed his livestock too,

it just took them longer to die.

Until it rains, there will
be no grazing in the valley.

What grass there is in the
mountains is all we have.

If you got too many sheep for
your allotment, sell some.

Sell some?

Sell them to who?

The war's over. There's
nobody to buy them.

We're all in the same boat.

I suggest we work together
or that boat is headed back

to Britain with all of us.

We are all bunched together here

fighting for every
blade of grass

while you have a whole
mountain range to yourself.

You have the land, you have
the lease, you have everything.

I have what my
family fought for.

You want to fight
me for it, too?

I didn't think so.

If you wanted more land you
should have leased more.

[clamoring]

Thought the goal was to
calm them down, Jake.

That was your goal.

My goal is not to
have a range war.

[chatter]

The sheepherder's
waiting outside.

[music]

What do you want to do, Banner,

duke it out in the
middle of the street?

Sheep are stock, too,
don't you forget.

I'm a member just
like the cattlemen...

Membership does not
mean ignore the rules.

You grazed down all your
grass then pushed your flock

on another man's grass.

The locust ate my grass.

The locust ate everyone's grass.

We're all suffering.
Take your flock higher.

Then it's bears killing
'em instead of cowboys.

What can I say, Banner?

That's ranching for you.

[guns click]

Jake: Come on.

Four can't beat twelve, Jacob.

I'm not worried about
the other eleven.

Just you.

Hey! God damn it.

I will not have this in my town!

That man is an
agent of the state.

Threaten him again and you
sleep on concrete for a month.

Understand?

Stealing a man's grass is
like stealing his steers.

You graze another
man's lease again

and I'll have your whole flock.
And I am a man of my word.

Stealing grass.

Man doesn't own the grass.

The mountains own the grass.

God owns the grass.

And you're no god, Jacob Dutton.

You're no god!

[music]

I'd like to see
what would happen

if cattle grazed his land.

He'd shoot 'em
where he find 'em.

And bill the rancher
for the bullet.

[chatter]

[piano playing]

The McCloud moved most its
horses into the Crazies.

Ain't a blade of grass
from here to Miles City.

Can't sell 'em
with these prices.

I don't see how a war ending

can cause such
hell on the market.

Hell, all those
soldiers came home.

They don't eat
here, only overseas?

They're eating their own beef.
They don't need to buy ours.

Why don't we graze
the homesteader land?

Hell, bank owns all of that now.

I doubt they'd care.

I doubt they'd even know.

The bank always knows.

I've got the ground. It's high.

Bears and wolves
will be plaguing us.

We'll have to sit
with 'em all summer.

I say let's push the herds
together, take 'em up there,

sit with them till the fall.

You know how many
cowboys it's gonna take

to babysit a herd
that size all summer?

I am aware.

I'm short of cowboys as it is.

You're gonna be short cattle
if you don't get 'em to grass.

How we gonna feed
'em in the winter?

Let's get 'em through
the summer, first.

I won't charge a lease,

but y'all band together
and, uh, contract some hay.

I hear Oregon is free of
the locust... for now.

I don't know, Jake. Half of mine
are too weak to make the trip.

We'll push 'em slow.

Graze them along the river.

Push 'em up by the park.

Yeah. Well, if it weren't
for the easy years

I wouldn't waste my time
with the tough ones.

I been here since 1894, Clive.

I do not remember an easy year.

Do you?

- No.
- [laughs]

Yeah, all right! Whoa!

[men shouting]

- Stay with him!
- Woo!

Woo!

Man: Woo!

Come on, this ain't no
rodeo, collect him up.

Keep him moving left.

Don't get him killed a
week before his wedding.

I told him not to pick this one.

That's probably
why he picked it.

[men shouting]

It's late.

This won't be our first
ride in the dark, ma'am.

Yes, but I worry.

We can ride out and meet 'em.

Thank you, Zane.

When he's done with this colt.

We ain't exactly in
a stopping place.

Come on!

Why danger gives men such
pleasure I'll never understand.

[shouting]

- Let's go.
- Come on, Jack!

That'll do for the day, Jack.

Grab a user.

We gonna go find your father.

- He lost?
- Doubt it.

Then why are we
going to find him?

Because I asked. I also
asked you to be careful.

A plaster cast on your wedding
day will please no one,

least of all your bride.

God ain't made one that
can get me off, auntie.

- Mm-hmm.
- Don't you worry, Aunt Cara.

In a week you could pick apples
off this horse in the orchard.

I'll stick to my buggy,
thank you very much.

All right. Zane:
Good job today, Jack.

[music]

Woman: Name the
ingredients of soap.

Name them.

Oil, lye, and water.

What kind of oil?

Any kind.

I prefer your answers
without the flippance.

Now, what kind of oil?

You can use vegetable
oil, or tallow.

How do you get tallow?

- You render animal fat.
- How do you render it?

You boil it.

What is lye?

It's...

It's from ashes.

What is from ashes?

[music]

The Alkaline?

- [gasps]
- Alkali.

How do you get alkali?

[ruler slap]

How?

I don't know.

[slap] Why don't you know? It
was in yesterday's lecture.

- I can't rememb...
- Yes, you do.

I don't. I don't!

Ow.

[speaks Native language]

You will not speak that
godless filth in my...

[screaming]

[girls clamoring]

[music]

[sobbing]

I wonder what precipitated her
attack on you, Sister Mary.

I'm sure I've no idea, Father.

A wild animal, this one.

Show me your hands, child.

You must beat this like a
mule to get a simple answer

the remainder of the class
has already answered.

What was the question
you couldn't answer?

She-she w-w-was asking
m-me about s-s-soap.

And-and I s-s-aid alkaline
instead of alkali.

Sister Mary, step
forward, please.

[music]

Would you place your
hands on the desk, please?

Would you recite 1 Corinthians
Chapter 13, verse one, please.

"If I speak in the
tongues of men..."

- Continue.
- [sobs]

"And Angels..."

"But have not love..."

Speak the verse, sister.

"I am a noisy gong
or a cymbal..."

"Clanging cymbal

"and if I have prophetic powers,

"and understand
all knowledge..."

Faster, sister.

"And if I have all faith"

Faster!

"So as to remove mountains"

- "But have not
love..." Faster!

- Faster!

"But have not love..."

Stop, stop, stop!

[sobbing]

Please, Father. Please.

Look at that, Sister Mary.

You beat the child,

and yet she begs for
mercy on your behalf.

Perhaps she should
be the teacher.

- Eh?
- [Crying]

[sniffles]

I understand your desire
to lash out at a sister

who lacks compassion, but...

You lash out,

all will lash out.

I have compassion
for you, my child.

I do.

Place your hands on
the shelves, please.

[music]

I have compassion, but...

I have no mercy.

[whipping]

[shrieks]

[whipping continues]

Remove your towels, fold them,
and place them beside your bath.

Enter the bath.

Grab the soap and rub the
soap into your washcloth.

Begin with your neck.

Rub under each arm.

Down your bellies.

Then your privates...

[sobs quietly]

And last your feet.

Scrub until I say finish.

Finish...

Place your washcloth on
the side of the wash bin.

Retrieve your towel.

Stand and wrap the
towel under your arms

and around your bellies.

Step from the tub.

Dry your shoulders and back,

then your legs.

[whimpering softly]

Prepare yourselves
for inspection.

[music]

Thank you.

Open your towel.

Turn 'round.

Remove your towel.

Cover yourself.

Turn 'round.

We understand each
other now, I think. Yes?

Yes, sister.

Best for both of us stay
clear of his office, then.

Yes, sister.

Once you're dressed,
mop this up.

♪ My country tis of thee ♪

♪ Sweet land of liberty ♪

♪ Of thee I sing ♪

♪ Land where... ♪

[muffled singing continues]

[speaking Native
language] How bad was it?

Bad.

Let me see.

You should put some honey
and cedar sap on that.

I'll run out to the beehive and cedar
tree first thing in the morning.

I mean it. You need
to do somthing.

That will scar. No man
will want to look at that.

You think we're going to live
long enough to find husbands?

We only have one more year.

Everyone we know who's
left said they'd write.

How many letters have you got?

None.

Those are our cousins
and our friends.

They don't lie.

So where's the letters?

Maybe the nuns keep them.

Maybe they never got
home to write them.

We gotta get out
of this place...

[music]

[crickets chirping]

[music]

John: Hey, Jacob.

When you want to
push the herd up?

Uh, Zane, gather
them up tomorrow.

We'll push up on Wednesday.

That's three days up, hold 'em
for a few days, two days back?

Something like that.

That does not get him
to the church on time.

I thought the wedding
was on Saturday.

Wednesday, sir.

Who the hell gets
married on a Wednesday?

Don't know, sir.
I guess just me.

Why the hell'd you pick it?

They left me out of
the picking, sir.

Oh, Jesus. These cattle
can't wait a week.

I know it.

I'll take a crew and drive them.

If there's a drive I'm on it.

It's my job and we're
short-handed enough...

We can postpone the wedding

or we can postpone the drive
and we can't postpone the drive.

So you gotta tell your bride
her wedding's got to wait a week

so you can sleep on the
ground and drive cattle.

She's marrying a rancher.

Don't know why the wedding
should be any different

than the marriage, 'cause
that's the way it's gonna be.

[laughs]

You tell her just
like that, son.

I want to see how
that goes over.

Hell, it's true, though. How
many birthdays did you miss?

It may be true, but you
need to find a better way

to tell her, or there ain't
gonna be any wedding at all.

You let me break it
to the boss first,

and then we'll see what
happens. [clicks tongue]

Jeez.

John: Oh, man.

[murmurs]

Sorry.

You're late.

Town took time.

How was it?

A lot of people, not much work.

Expect a letter from
the Temperance Society.

[chuckles] They are persistent.

Yeah.

I gotta run our herd
up the mountain.

The neighbors' herds, too.

If we don't, they're
all gonna die.

When?

Start gathering tomorrow.

The wedding's in a week, Jake.

Does that mean you
won't be there?

Nobody's gonna be there.

The whole valley's
pushing cattle.

Oh...

Well, I'll talk to the
girl's mother tomorrow.

I don't see what harm
two weeks would do.

Jack said he'd handle it.

Okay, Jacob.

It's his wedding.

The wedding's for
the woman, Jake.

If it were for men, we
would've spat on our hands

and shook on it, and
then you would've bent me

over the first thing you could
find that would hold our weight.

That's not far from
how it happened, honey.

[chuckles]

It's the one day
in a woman's life

that is dedicated solely to her.

And you're going to
let that boy tell her

that "moving cattle
is more important."

She's the daughter
of a rancher, honey.

I doubt it'd come as
much of a surprise.

Well, how long?

A week or two.

Or two?

Your daddy's a rancher,
honey. You know the deal.

These cattle got
their work clothes on

and they need some help.

Why do I have to wait a week?

Why can't the
cattle wait a week?

Because the cattle
will be dead in a week.

Look, I can't wait to
get married either,

and I'd never ask if
this wasn't important.

Important?

Yes, Jack, tell me how
important the cattle are.

And you know what, while
they're so important

here's an idea: why
don't you marry one?

And when you get to
the top of the hill,

you have yourself a honeymoon.

[door slams]

[screams]

[music]

Looks like I'm too late.

How poorly did she take it?

Well, she told me to, uh...

to marry a cow and to
take it up the mountain...

and... and...

Well, that's quite an image.

Go on, go back to the ranch,
I'll sort this out for you.

I think I'd better stay in
case she wants to see me.

She will. She will
want to see you,

and then you will just
say something stupid

and then she won't want
to see you anymore.

I'm pretty worried, Auntie.

I ain't gonna be much
use on the ranch.

You should be worried.

Go on, go back to the ranch.

Go on, quick, off you go.

[music]

Go on.

I don't ever want...

Mrs. Dutton.

Good afternoon...

Well, certainly not a dull one.

Are your parents home?

Daddy's tending to the cattle,

and mother's in Bozeman
making preparations for the...

I know, I know.

Can we speak, Elizabeth?

Yes.

You know, I admire you.

And the opportunities
you've had.

I regret not sending Jack
back east for school.

I feel sometimes
that we've robbed him

of countless experiences,

all of which you've had.

But what you haven't
had, however,

is an education about
this way of life.

You will miss more than
weddings for cattle, my dear.

If you give birth
during calving season

it will be a month before
he sees his first child.

If you give birth in the
fall it will be even longer.

You will stand knee deep
in mud to help a sick foal.

You will drive wagons
through blizzards

with hay for cattle
and hear them screaming

their gratitude
when you approach.

And you will be free

in a way that most people
can barely conceive.

Now, if this is not
the life you want,

you must tell the boy now.

Because you have to
want more than the boy,

you have to want the life, too.

Because in this life,
there's no debating

which is more important:
the wedding or the cattle.

It's always the cattle.

He makes me dizzy
when I'm with him

and I can't breathe without him.

I don't know the life.

But I will learn it.

It's settled then.

We'll have the wedding
two weeks from Saturday.

Okay.

He left.

[mock surprise]
- Oh, that he did.

Well, he's very impulsive.

Will you take me
to him? Please?

We'll leave your father a note.

[music]

I see him.

Well, what do you know?

Elizabeth: Will
you stop, please?

We'll see him up at the house,
after he's cleaned up a bit.

I can smell him from here.

[grunts]

[laughing]

I never want to
fight with you again.

Don't you ever do that to me.

- I'm sorry.
- I'm sorry.

That my daughter?

Well, if it ain't, my nephew's
got some explaining to do.

He's got some
explaining to do anyway.

They ain't married yet.

They're as good as married, Bob.

What's that supposed to mean?

In my experience, Bob:
when the first baby comes,

you don't want to be too picky
with your math and a calendar.

[cattle lowing]

Lord.

[music]

[coughing]

[sheep bleating]

[tongue clicking]

What's a fence
doing way up here?

I don't know.
Shouldn't be here.

Well, it's here.

That fucking Dutton.

Fencing the world out of
grass he can't even reach.

I'm not watching my sheep die

while there's grass a foot tall
no cattle could ever graze.

Cut it.

[music]

Bring them through.

[bleating]

[music]

[singing, chanting]

[distant gunfire]

[explosions, gunfire]

There's thousands of them. We
gotta fall back, all right?

- I can't my leg's broken.
- You gotta run!

[gunshot]

[shouting]

[grunts]

[growling]

Ah!

[grunting]

[panting]

We have reached Nairobi, sir.

The journey is over, sir.

This is your destination.

I have no destination.

You have a ticket for Nairobi?

I do.

Then you have reached
your destination, sir.

I've reached my next
stop. That's all this is.

Apologies for the scare.

I don't wake well.

No sir, I'd say you don't.

[music]

[chattering]

I've spiked the
tents to the ground

so tight a wood lice
can't get under them.

I've moved the cots to the
center of each quarter.

Sure it's the same leopard?

Look at the size of it.

Yeah. That's the same leopard.

Tried to get into this tent.

Guest took a shot at it.

No blood trail?

He missed.

Lucky he didn't shoot
whoever sleeps in that tent.

That's why I'm moving the
guests to the river camp

until you can rid the world
of this spotted bastard.

I'd prefer if you didn't.

You're taking away all my bait.

No, no, I brought
you up some goats.

Well, goats ain't
the same, are they?

Once they get a taste for man,
man is all they want to eat.

Not to worry, Holland.

We'll be the bait.
- [laughs]

I have a tent for you over here.

Away from the rest, yeah?

Only way to get it
deeper in the bush

would be to drop
it from the sky.

[music]

[bleating]

By God, you're mad, man.

I suggest you use
the goats, Dutton.

I think we'll use
ourselves instead.

Yes, well, dinner is at six.

I would consider being on time
since it's likely your last.

Wouldn't miss it for the world.

[chattering]

Must've been quite the accident.

No, ma'am, that was no accident.

An American.

A cowboy, no doubt.

Where in America?

The mountain version
of this place.

Coffee.

Coffee in the evening.

No, thank you. I'd
be awake all night.

That's the plan.

I suppose I shouldn't
be surprised.

You travel here all by yourself?

She came with her husband, sir.

[gulps] Mmm.

[sniffs]

Up all night? Why?

I'm hunting the thing
that's hunting you.

And what is hunting us?

A leopard the size of a sofa.

Just arrived today. No
one mentioned a leopard.

I'm sure they didn't.

Don't worry, you'll be at
the river camp tomorrow.

No leopards there.

Hippos and lions and
crocodiles but...

no leopards.

Doesn't sound any
less dangerous.

This is Africa.

Everything's dangerous.

Ma'am. [clears throat]

My goodness.

[bleating]

Look what I got.

- Can't hurt.
- Nope.

It's not like a leopard
to enter a tent.

They ambush from behind.

Lion enter tents.

Those are leopard
tracks outside.

And it was at the
railroad camp 37 times.

The lion is a brute.

But the leopard is a thinker.

He will think this is too easy.

He already thinks it's too easy.

Keep your heads down.

Stay in the tent.

These English might get crazy
and start shooting at boogeymen.

[laughs]

[music]

[sobs]

[cowboys whooping, whistling]

[cattle lowing]

Hya, cow!

That's Brewster's crew.

Yep.

By God, we're putting a
lot of cattle on this land.

Hey, break 'em up!

- Whoop!
- Hya!

[shouting]

Hey!

- Hey, come on!
- Hey, cow.

You ever taken cattle this high?

Nobody takes cattle this high.

I hope you been practicing
with that rifle.

I don't need the rifle.

First grizzly I see, I'm
roping that son of a bitch.

Ya! Ya!

Can't wait to see how
that works out for ya.

Woo!

[whistling, shouting]

[music]

[gunshot]

[groans]

They said a week?

They said about a week.

That means closer to two.

I hate having them
both out for so long.

I hate having any of
them out there at all.

But they're cowboys,
Emma. It's what they do.

I'll start working on dinner.

No need. There's
no one to feed.

Let's have sandwiches.

Can't serve just sandwiches.
I'll make a soup.

Suit yourself.

You coming?

Mmm.

No.

No, I think I'll
stay out here a bit.

[music]

My Dearest Spencer...

Summer is here, and
with it a pestilence

of locust and a
plague of drought.

Your uncle and
brother and young Jack

are pushing the herd into
the mountains in hopes

of finding greener grass there.

We postponed Jack's wedding
because, as you know,

the herd comes first.

When the house is full
and the ranch is busy

I can lose myself
in the hurry of it,

and forget you are not here.

But the house is empty now,
and I've no chores left.

And so I think of you.

And wonder why... Why
won't you come home to us?

[music]

[rustling]

[low growl]

[peeing]

[roar]

- [growl]
- [gagging]

[growling]

There's two.

[Cara] I can't help but think
your absence is punishment,

that somehow we are the
reason you won't return.

That's selfish, I suppose.

War changes men, I know.

I can only assume
you are seeking

the part of yourself you lost.

And I can only pray
that you find it

and come back to us.

[growling]

[gunshot]

[music]

You were right. It
was too easy for him.

Spencer, there are two!

[roars]

[music]

[music]

[music]