I was not ready for 1883!
(Image credit: Photo Cr: Emerson Miller/Paramount+)
In the first third of 1883’s premiere, you’ll see a burning wagon and a man burning down his house after losing his daughter and wife to smallpox. That sets the tone for the rest of the series about the ruthless origin story of the Dutton family finding the ranch that will eventually become the Yellowstone. Now, as a fan of the Yellowstone shows, I expect violence, brutality and devastation. However, when I watched 1883 for the first time, it hit differently than the rest of them in all those departments.
The Challenges The Characters In 1883 Face Feel More Grounded And Realistic
Overall, 1883 is the most brutal Yellowstone show by far, and that’s saying a lot. Both Yellowstone and its other spinoff 1923 are violent and dramatic to the point that you have to suspend your belief a bit. However, 1883 feels more grounded, and the challenges they face are simple yet deadly. So, that’s why this show hit so much harder than Taylor Sheridan’s other Westerns.
The majority of the intense moments in this series are centered around natural challenges that would be easily solvable or avoidable these days. For example, one of the events in the show that caused the most casualties was when the caravan of pioneers had to cross a river.
While there are bandit attacks and some big action, for the most part, the challenges in 1883 are grounded and based on day-to-day hardships that came with traversing across the country with nothing but wagons, horses and cows.
There’s no train station yet to take all those who have wronged the ranch, no one has been attacked by a lion and in a boat wreck in one season. 1883’s drama is centered primarily around survival, and it feels a lot more realistic which makes it a lot scarier.
Can We Take A Minute To Talk About The Tragic Yet Heroic Tale Of Sam Elliott’s Shea?
As I mentioned at the top of the story, this show starts with a man burning down his house after his wife and daughter died of smallpox. That man is Sam Elliott’s Shea, a Civil War veteran who helps lead a group of pioneers West.
That opening scene happens long before he meets the pioneers in Texas, and it is the backbone of his story. Later on in the series, when Elsa loses her first love Ennis (who was a ranchhand moving cattle with the group), Shea reveals that he’s going to make it to Oregon so he can take his wife to the ocean.
