‘1923’ Just Killed 7 Characters in a Bloodbath of a Pre-Finale Episode

It looks like no one is safe on 1923. It’s an absolute bloodbath in the penultimate episode of Season 2, with not one, not two, but seven characters meeting their makers this week — and I can tell this finale is going to be a painful one. Spoiler-filled recap ahead for 1923 Season 2, Episode 6 “The Mountain Teeth of Monsters.”

Teonna’s Escape Takes a Brutal Turn

Let’s start with the cliffhanger shootout between Pete (Jeremy Gauna) and Marshal Kent (Jamie McShane) that ended last week’s episode. I had hopes that somehow Pete would survive this, but it turns out the gunshot we heard last week was from Kent’s gun, and Pete was killed before he could even get off a shot.

I’m not sure why this particular killing is any different for Father Renaud (Sebastian Roche), but he apparently has a change of heart this time around, telling Kent, “Your path is the walkway to perdition, and I shall not walk it with you,” then shooting the marshal.

That’s two bodies already, if you’re keeping track at home, and we’re about to add a couple more after Teonna (Aminah Nieves) and Runs His Horse (Michael Spears) find Pete’s body. “He gave his life to free you,” Runs His Horse tells his heartbroken daughter.

I wish they could be free but Father Renaud is right on their heels, sneaking up on the sleeping pair at night and immediately killing Teonna’s father. The deranged priest then tries to get Teonna to confess her sins as he holds a gun to her head, but it seems like God isn’t on the Father’s side. His gun doesn’t fire when he pulls the trigger, and Teonna uses the opportunity to get vengeance for herself and all the people she loves via some coals from the fire, a knife, and even her father’s gun. She’s finally free – but she’s got no one left. And that’s four deaths we’re counting so far.

Death Comes for a Dutton

The Duttons aren’t doing too hot either when Sheriff McDowell (Robert Patrick) brings them the good news that Spencer Dutton (Brandon Sklenar) is on his way home and the bad news that Donald Whitfield (Timothy Dalton) probably already knows because apparently, switchboard operators are big gossips.

Jacob Dutton (Harrison Ford) has got to intercept his nephew before Whitfield finds him, telling the sheriff, “If Whitfield finds out, he’ll kill him, Bill. And if he does, I swear to God, I will burn his f—kin’ house to the ground with him in it!”

Jack Dutton (Darren Mann) is ordered to stay home with Cara (Helen Mirren) and Elizabeth Dutton (Michelle Randolph), but he decides to go against his father’s wishes and attempt to follow him to the train station. It’s then he’s intercepted by Banner’s men, who shoot the unsuspecting Dutton dead. And that’s five.

A Catastrophic Car Ride

Just when you think there can’t possibly be any more death and destruction, we come to Spencer and Alex Dutton (Julia Schlaepfer), both of whom separately have had their trains to Bozeman stopped by snow. They’re stuck — or at least Spencer is — because Alex has her new rich friends Paul and Hillary (Augie Prew and Janet Montgomery), who think driving her up north will be a real adventure. “We journey the path of pioneers, in the name of lost love, soon to be found,” Paul declares before the trio sets off.

Unfortunately, this trio is about to get the real pioneer experience because this place is in the middle of nowhere, they’re running out of gas, and it’s freezing outside. So when Alex awakens after a long frigid night in the car, she finds the vehicle is completely out of gas and both Hilary and Paul have frozen to death. And that’s seven.

“There have been five mass extinctions on this planet, where almost all life was eradicated, its occupiers cleansed from this place,” Elsa Dutton (Isabel May) says in a final moment of narration as the camera zooms out to show truly how isolated Alex now is. “It only stands to reason that a sixth one is coming.”

This finale is going to be a brutal one.

This article was adapted from the latest episode of PopCulture Social Call, streaming weekdays on PopCulture.com’s YouTube channel. You can now watch this episode, which is embedded in the above article.