1923 Season 2 Episode 2 recap: An animal attack rattles Liz

In 1923 Season 2 Episode 2, ‘The Rapist is Winter’, Spencer has a mafia encounter, Jacob takes responsibility for Zane, and Liz gets a tough reality check with one encounter. (Warning: spoilers ahead!)

The 1923 Season 2 premiere was the start of a new, wintery battle for the Duttons. Jacob and Cara were simply trying to get through the cold spell, struggling to eat and survive. Meanwhile, Spencer and Alex had begun their respective journeys back to the ranch in the hopes of finding each other.

In Episode 2, Spencer can’t seem to get out of Galveston, where he catches the attention of Luca’s real-life crime family. Meanwhile, Jacob’s doing his best to get Zane and his family out of police custody.

But things take a turn for the worst when Liz has a troubling encounter with a wolf, and it looks like her resolve may break in front of our very eyes.

A wolf attack spells trouble in 1923 Season 2 Episode 2

The episode begins with Banner and Whitfield taking a jolly drive through the snow. The latter is trying to convince Banner to get his family on board with his new job, especially since all his sheep that he worked so hard to keep are now dead.

Thankfully, his harsh lesson is diverted at the sight of some skiers coming down the side of the mountain. Whitefield, smelling a business opportunity, rushes their way. 

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Meanwhile, Jacob, Jack, and Sheriff McDowell arrive at the courthouse to see if they can’t sort something out for wagon boss Zane and his family. (As you may remember, Zane and his wife, Alice, were attacked at the end of Season 1 for having an illegal marriage.) Jacob and McDowell head in to talk to the judge, who has no interest in sparing a bit of humanity for the situation.

Thankfully, Jacob convinces him to release the family into his custody, and the two successfully blackmail the judge into doing what they say by threatening to spill about his little booze supply. (It’s the prohibition, remember?)

Back at the ranch, Elizabeth is fetching eggs for the morning, when she notices all the chickens have been slaughtered inside their coop. Turns out, a wolf snuck inside and killed them all… and it’s still there. 

Liz makes a run for it, but it catches her outside, biting her ankle. Luckily, she’s saved when one of the ranch hands comes running out and scares it away. When they find Cara, she tells him to fetch the doctor, since the wolf may very well be rabid. 

Skiing, snowstorms, and scheming Marshals

At the mountain, Whitefield does a little bit of interrogating with the Norwegian skiers. As soon as he finds out that skiing is a marketable (and profitable) activity, you can practically see the cogs turning in his head. “I can sell that for a fortune,” he tells Banner.

Together, Jacob and Jack collect Alice and the kids. Unfortunately, Zane is a little worse for wear, still unable to walk after his brutal attack. But Jacob is determined to get him back to the ranch. 

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On Teonna’s side of the country, she and Pete are only just returning the next day from their tryst in the woods. They tell Runs His Horse about the cowboy they encountered. Weary of trusting a stranger, he tells them he’ll head up to the ranch and double check with the rancher if they can stay there.

Meanwhile, Teonna’s hunters, Father Renaud and Marshall Kent, arrive in town to meet Mamie Fawcett, the local Deputy Marshal. She’s tough and doesn’t take kindly to Kent’s doubts about her abilities. But he has no choice but to enlist her help to track down Teonna, so he gets a sketch printed for distribution. 

Spencer encounters the mob

Time to catch up with Spencer! He and Luca arrive in Galveston, a “free state” that allows for liquor consumption, gambling, and all kinds of other fun. There, they meet Luca’s cousin, Sal Maceo, who’s based on a real-life criminal.

When they arrive, Maceo gives Spencer some food and a chance to send a telegram home. (There’s nothing like seeing a Dutton try pizza for the first time.)

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However, when Spencer tries to crack on with his journey, Maceo’s henchman stops him. Spencer quickly disposes of him, but it doesn’t take long for the rest of his men to track him down and forcibly take him back in. 

When he’s taken back to Maceo, the boss is highly offended. But he keeps Spencer alive, giving him a chance to help his cause. 

While taking Zane and his family back to the ranch, Jacob, Jack, and the boys are caught in a furious snowstorm. They decide to ditch the horses and flip the wagon for shelter, since there’s no way they’re going anywhere in this. 

Liz can’t take it anymore

Things aren’t much better at the ranch, either. The doctor and his nurse arrive, and as a precaution against rabies, he has to inject Liz with a huge needle right into her stomach.

Horrifyingly, this will need to be done 12 times over the next 10 days. Liz fights back with all she has, but she’s held down in order to get the shot. When it’s done, she runs off crying.

After settling the doctor and nurse to stay the night through the storm, Cara later finds Liz upstairs in her room, distraught at how life has turned out. Clearly, her devotion to Jack is cracking under the pressure. As she tells Cara, “I love him, but this isn’t living. It’s surviving.” She also tells Cara that when the storm passes, she’s heading back home to Boston.

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Banner meets up with a friend that evening at the speakeasy, and remarks to him that Whitfield is the only man who’s ever truly scared him.

Meanwhile, Father Renaud, Kent, and Kent’s man have set up camp for the night. They debate the Indian Citizenship Act, and Father Renaud’s realistic comments leave Kent and his man in stitches laughing. 

However, the laughter doesn’t last for long, as Kent’s man is suddenly shot through the chest with an arrow. Soon, they’re attacked by a group of Native Americans (likely as revenge for Kent’s awful acts at the camp in Episode 1), who run them into the bushes. Kent gives Renaud a gun, and together, they come running out, firing their guns as they fight back. It scares them off, and Renaud is rattled.

The wolf returns 

Next, we catch up with Alex, who’s having a terrible time on her ship. Not only is it rocking wildly in a storm, but water is seeping through the windows and the other passengers in tourist class are screaming around her.

As she cries out in terror, her narration reveals how she’s written to Spencer once again, telling him she can’t wait to have more children with him when they reunite. 

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Speaking of Spencer, he’s still in Galveston. Maceo has enlisted him and Luca to deliver some whisky to Fort Worth, arming them with money to bribe their way through and guns just in case they can’t.

As part of the deal, he tells Spencer he can keep the truck once they’ve made the drop, and Luca will return with the money on the train. It’s not what Spencer wanted to do, but at least it’s one step to getting closer to Montana.

Finally, the night at the ranch is disrupted when Cara awakens to the sound of a scream downstairs. She grabs a gun and sneaks down, finding the back door swinging open in the wind. Snow has fluttered into the living room, where she discovers the horrifying scene of the nurse, on the floor, being eaten by the same wolf that attacked Liz.

It looks up with a blood-stained face and lunges at her. She just barely has time to raise the gun and fire, and we cut to the outside of the house, hearing only the sound of her cry out. 

1923 Season 2 Episode 2 is available to stream on Paramount+. For more, check out our guide to the entire Yellowstone timeline, and find out when the next 1923 episode is out. Also, take a look at all the other TV shows coming out soon.