Warning: Spoilers from the “1923” Season Two finale, below.
Fans of “1923” are having a passionate and tearful response to the show’s Season Two finale.
In the seventh and final episode of Season Two, which was released on Paramount+ April 6, viewers watched an unexpected death occur in the supersized conclusion.
“1923,” a prequel series to hit Western drama “Yellowstone,” tells the story of an older generation of the Dutton family. At the center of the drama is the love story between Brandon Sklenar’s Spencer Dutton and Julia Schlaepfer’s Alexandra.
Leading into the finale, “1923” fans had already said goodbye to five main characters. In the penultimate episode, Pete (Jeremy Gauna), Kent (Jamie McShane), Jack (Darren Mann), Runs His Horse (Michael Spears) and Father Renaud (Sebastian Roché) were all killed off, hinting that the finale would include more bloodshed and heartbreaking moments.
But nothing could have prepared them for the tragedy headed their way. In the Season Two finale, titled “A Dream and a Memory,” Spencer and Alex reunite after spending most of the season apart. They share a long-awaited embrace, and she reveals she is pregnant with their son. The two then encounter a doctor who tries to help the couple as Alex’s fingers and toes are frostbitten from being in the snow.
Later, Alex is taken to a hospital where she delivers her premature baby. The doctors suggest surgery to operate on Alex and amputate some of her frozen limbs, but she refuses. Spencer later joins them and sees his son for the first time. The sweet moment is short lived, though, because when he awakes the next morning, he realizes that Alex died beside him during the night.
Fans reacted to the episode — which could double as a series finale since Paramount+ has not confirmed if the show will return — on social media, expressing that many tears had been shed. Beneath a post on the “1923” official Instagram page celebrating Alex and Spencer’s relationship, viewers voiced their opinions on Alex’s death.
“The reunion healed me, then the ending broke me. Devastated that my favorite character in the whole Yellowstone universe didn’t get the happy ending she deserved,” one said and included two crying-face emoji.
Another wrote, “I just saw the end. I can’t stop crying. Alex NOOOOO.”
A third commented, “My heart is wrenching! I just can’t find the words to say how much I loved every scene of Alex and Spencer TOGETHER. I wish more happy moments for them. They really deserved it!”
Sklenar and Schlaepfer opened up about their characters’ final moments together in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter. “It just hits me right in the heart every time, even just thinking about it now,” Sklenar said. “I remember filming it and standing in the corner and just having to wipe my eyes because it was so beautiful. I was just crying too much all the time.”
Speaking about the scene where Spencer and Alex finally reunite, Schlaepfer said, “It was the first scene we shot together this season, which I’m sure was not by accident. When we got to film that scene, for both me and Alex, I felt like I exhaled.”
