Death Comes for (Almost) Everyone in the ‘1883’ Finale
The following contains spoilers for season 1 of 1883.
Read more: Everything We Know About 1883 Season 2.
We’ve reached the end of the road—Oregon, the coast, the Yellowstone, and, for many, the grave. The first season of 1883 concluded where we expected it might, at least for the Dutton clan, who we knew would stop in Montana and settle the ranch, the Yellowstone, inherited by John Dutton III (Kevin Costner) decades later. But for many other characters, including Shea, Thomas, and the migrants, the journey ended, well, we guess it also ended kind of how we expected. But that’s okay. To paraphrase real-life cowgirl Hannah Montana: it’s all about the journey.
After the events of episode 9, where Elsa was shot through with an arrow and given the exacting 19th century prognosis of “eh, probably dead in a week or so,” we knew we were in for a heavy final episode. Still, we wondered up until the end, whether John’s grandaunt would survive the rest of the journey, if Sam would come to rescue her one final time, and if maybe her children and her children’s children would somehow factor into the upcoming season of Yellowstone, or 1932. But none of this came to pass. Elsa died under a tree in James’ arms. (At least she wasn’t crushed to death by a horse on that land like her great granddaughter-in-law will be. Somehow, we blame Beth for Elsa’s death, too.)
The connection to Yellowstone, however, seems to include only this fact of discovery. Nothing in 1883 gave us any insight or foreshadowing into season 5 of Yellowstone (unless Beth dies in John’s arms under a tree). This lack of further continuity may have served the series best, allowing it to stand alone as its own story, while also providing some justification for John’s future actions. If his family sacrificed so much to settle the land, perhaps he owes them some effort in preserving it.
One interesting conversation did occur, however. When James and the remaining wagon train come across a native tribe in Montana, one of the tribal leaders shows James the land that will later become the Yellowstone. He has James promise to allow his people to return and hunt that land when they see fit. (We’re guessing the hunting patterns shift, and the tribe no longer sees that land as desirable in the short term.) He also tells James to remember that his people will one day want the land back—seven generations from now. James says by that time they can take it.
It’s a strange interaction, given what the tribe must know about settlers and the violence and land theft in their wake. (But we can’t go having our protagonist go stealing this land, now can we? So, James is gifted the land.) What’s interesting to note is that over a hundred years from this moment, James' descendant, John Dutton III, will go to great lengths to prevent the Broken Rock Reservation from taking back any of this territory (like, not even a small part). Something must have happened between the Duttons and the native tribes during that time. (A flashback to 1893 also shows James parleying with a tribal leader, so we know they were on somewhat good terms a decade after settling.)
Anyway, enough speculating. Here’s what happened on the 1883 finale.
The Beginning of the End
The episode opens as each one before it: with Elsa’s narration. We have yet to learn from where the narration originates—if Elsa wrote it down, or tells it later, if Elsa survived. She says the world has become clearer as she nears death. She notices a hawk circling (the last thing she will ever see at the end of the episode is also a bird). Despite this clarity, Elsa will soon spiral into fear, realizing she doesn’t understand death. The episode in many ways tracks Elsa’s acceptance of her fate within a landscape she has spent the journey contemplating, hating, admiring. She goes from clarity to fear and back to clarity. Writer Taylor Sheridan has been peppering the series with discussion about eyes and sight. It is fitting that both Elsa’s journey (and also Shea’s) should end with a restored vision, of sorts.
Before all that, James takes Elsa into a military camp, seeking a doctor. He is told what he already expects: Elsa will not live much longer. There is no point in going to the fort for help. He will ride north to Montana instead of continuing west.
The wagon train also breaks up. Shea, Thomas, Noemi, Josef, Risa, and the Duttons (so: the main characters) head north. The rest of the wagon train ill-advisedly continues west.
Risa is dying and Josef requires amputation. Both these events occur before the episode end.
As the Duttons cross into Montana, we learn through Elsa’s narration that the remainder of the wagon train will soon die at the hands of bandits. We also learn that both Colton and Wade will die somewhere along the Oregon trail. This insight feels impossible. Elsa has never before given us such specific insight into future events. Perhaps, we’re made to think, she lives.
Riding ahead of the train, Elsa encounters riders from a native tribe. They take her to the tribe’s doctors where once again James is told what he already knows but seems not yet willing to accept: that Elsa will die. One of the tribal leaders tells James that if he wishes to bury her somewhere, he should head farther upriver where there is a valley called “paradise.” He says the winters are unforgiving, but the summers are sublime. James decides he will settle there.
The End of (the Dutton) Beginning
Since the wagons won’t be able reach the valley before Elsa dies, James proposes taking her by horseback to the valley instead, which would mean putting a strain on her body, likely killing her faster. Elsa says goodbye to Margaret and leaves with James.
The two reach the valley where Elsa points out a grove and then a tree. She wants to be buried under it. James sits up against the tree with Elsa, who tells him that her first memory was of birds behind their old house. Then she says she understands and she’s not afraid. She dies soon after.
We then see Josef burying his wife. We see Noemi and Thomas finding a suitable valley in Oregon to settle. We see Shea finally reaching the coast. He sits down by the water, fulfilling a promise he made at the beginning to let his wife see the ocean through his eyes. He then spots a hummingbird, which seems to be a representation of Elsa, who by then has already died. At peace, Shea shoots himself.
And then we hear her narration. Elsa says heaven is an individual experience and hers includes horses, a sunrise, and the man she loves. We see her and Sam racing across the plains.
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