Editor's note: The below contains spoilers for Episode 3 of 1923.1923 has been a show that is calm until... well, it isn't. In the first two episodes of the Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren-led series, we've seen divided the Dutton family is. Spencer (Brandon Sklenar) has been in Africa thus far, and it has left the series incredibly divided, which isn't a bad thing, but it makes for two very separate shows. After Spencer and Alex (Julia Schlaepfer) are trapped in a tree because of a roving lion pride, Alex makes a comment that Spencer needs a new "job," but it hadn't seemed as though he would be returning to Montana so suddenly.

However, sheepherder Banner Creighton (Jerome Flynn) throws a different wrench into the mix. Back on the Yellowstone side of things, Jacob (Ford) takes Cara (Mirren) and some of their family into town. As they are returning from a night in the city, they're met with Banner, a sea of men on horseback, and... a machine gun? Suddenly, 1923 turned into a bloodbath that was so incredibly jarring in tone that it really did take a minute for our brains to catch up to what was happening.

In the first episode of the series, we'd seen Cara pointing a gun at a man; Episode 3 transports us back in time prior to that scene. Well, we finally know what happened to get her into a murderous rage, and it is a lot to unpack — all because Banner comes back to get his revenge on the Dutton family for what transpired in Episode 2. What the gun shootout does is set up a lot of where the show could be heading, especially because Jacob is now in critical condition. John Dutton Sr. (James Badge Dale) also died in the fight, and Jack (Darren Mann) and his fiancée Liz (Michelle Randolph) are also caught in the crossfire, each of them shot but still alive. When we last left 1923, it was with Jacob lying on a table suffering from multiple machine gun wounds, while Cara writes a letter to Spencer telling him that he has to come back home.

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Is '1923' Really Going to Kill Off Harrison Ford?

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Image via Paramount+

One of the more surprising developments from this week's episode of 1923 is that Jacob seems to be dying. He's shot multiple times in the midst of the gunfight and at the end, the doctor is trying to take care of him, but Cara doesn't really have hope that he'll pull through.

This then begs the question: Is Ford really only in this show for a few episodes? The series isn't even halfway through and so even if he's only in the next episode, it still isn't the big Ford performance that we were led to believe. He's been great as Jacob, but only three episodes with him doesn't feel fair. At the same time, it doesn't seem likely that he's really going to die so soon, but there is definitely going to be a tonal shift to the series with Spencer seemingly coming back to Montana — possibly with his new fiancée Alex potentially in tow.

The Episode 3 Gunfight Ensures Spencer's Return to Yellowstone

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Image via Paramount+

One of the major questions in the first two episodes (and for the majority of the third) revolved around how these storylines would converge. With Spencer in Africa, it seemed like he was beyond happy to stay there and never have to go back to his family ranch — but it did leave us with a divergent story. It's not like Yellowstone proper; there's no ability to call back home and find out what's happening. It's the Wild West of the 1920s, and so we're left just with Spencer unaware of what is going on.

The letter that Cara is writing Spencer at the end of the episode gives us hints as to where this storyline is going in the next episodes, but it is quite a wild way to bring him into the fold — especially since it comes at the hands of John's death and Jacob's potential death looming over us. It's not a bad way to bring Spencer back to Montana; it's just a bit aggressive given what it has taken to do so. Part of that is on Cara. She waited until there is a lot going on at the ranch to tell Spencer to come home. While this event makes for an intriguing way of bringing these two arcs together, I just hope he makes it back home in time to see Jacob alive.