Sumith Prasad
Created by Taylor Sheridan, Paramount+’s Western series ‘1923’ resolves around the Duttons in the 1920s, dealing with the concerns that arise as part of Prohibition and the Great Depression, which started in Montana a decade earlier. Jacob and Cara Dutton, the patriarch and matriarch of the family, try to protect their Yellowstone Dutton Ranch with the assistance of the other family members, including their grand-nephew Jack Dutton. The first episode of the show ends with a startling development that threatens Jack’s life. Naturally, the viewers must be alarmed about his fate. Well, here’s what we can share about the same! SPOILERS AHEAD.
Does Jack Dutton’s Impulsiveness Lead to Disaster?
Jack Dutton is the son of John Dutton Sr., the son of James Dutton and the nephew of Jacob and Cara Dutton. Jack is a feisty young man who is yet to understand the nuances of the cowboy way of life. He prioritizes the delights of life over the struggles and hardships of being a cowboy, only to get schooled about being the same by his grand-uncle Jacob. In the first episode of the show, Jack gets forced to postpone his wedding for the Dutton men to lead their cattle to the mountains to feed them. Meanwhile, Banner Creighton, a sheep herder, arrives at the Dutton Ranch with a group to feed his sheep.
When Jack rides around the mountains on his horse, he encounters the sheep which are eating the limited grass that belongs to the Dutton cattle. Before he could inform about the same to Jacob, a herder shoots at him. Since the episode ends without revealing whether Jack gets shot, his fate is ambiguous. Jack may haven’t gotten shot since the herder shoots at him from distance. The young Dutton may have been able to avoid the shot and Jacob and others may have arrived at the place after hearing the gunshot to save Jack from any more attacks on him.
Even if Jack gets shot, he may have stayed alive for quite a time for his father John Sr. and others to come to his rescue. Having said that, even if Jack succeeds in staying alive, his life is expected to get threatened as the Duttons are facing several threats and enemies, including Creighton. Since Jack is extremely loyal to his family, he most likely will put his life on the line to protect the same. “He [Jack] loves his family a lot, and he’s definitely down to do whatever he has to do to protect it, to preserve it,” Darren Mann, who plays Jack, told Hollywood Life.
As a young boy, Jack doesn’t have the experience and wisdom to wisely approach the challenges he faces in life. When his wedding gets postponed, he fails to inform his fiancée Elizabeth Strafford about the same in an ideal way, threatening his relationship with her. The incident shows how impulsive and over-confident Jack is. Since the Duttons are expected to face life-threatening threats as the series progresses, Jack’s aforementioned qualities may cost him his life. In other words, the sooner he realizes the importance of his elders’ words and instructions, the better he will be at safeguarding himself from enemies.
In the premiere episode of the show, Jacob jokes about Elizabeth possibly being pregnant with Jack’s child. If that’s the case, Jack can be killed off anytime during the series, especially since the pregnancy will lead to the birth of John Dutton Jr., the father of John Dutton III of ‘Yellowstone.’ Jacob’s joke about Elizabeth’s supposed pregnancy can be the way the show is establishing that Jack has already extended the family through the baby inside Elizabeth, which allows the writers to write him off.
In the ‘Yellowstone’ universe, deaths are used to depict the stakes of trying to protect one’s own land and way of life. In ‘Yellowstone,’ the stakes are established through the early death of Lee Dutton, the son of John Dutton III. It will not be much of a surprise if Jack turns out to be the Lee Dutton of ‘1923.’
Read More: Who is Spencer Dutton? How is He Related to Kevin Costner’s John Dutton?
