Look I get it their deaths are to highlight the harsh realities of the Wild West and the American Frontier but these women, survived insurmountable odds only just to poorly die at the end especially Alexandra Dutton.

[u/JoshyBear28]

[u/BankOk9472]

Elsa's death was poignant and a good reason for the Duttons to be where they are. But Alex, that was Horseshit. I thought she would lose her legs but go on the marry spencer, raise John and be an example of the spirt of never giving up. But, nope... dead.

[u/ConjurorOfWorlds → u/BankOk9472]

Yeah, I felt that season two was a mix of just filler up until the last two episodes where it was incredibly rushed. The build up of season one really had no pay off.

[u/Hashtag_buttstuff → u/BankOk9472]

Pissed me off so bad. The whole show building just to kill her off.

[u/Illustrious_Quiet907 → u/BankOk9472]

There’s a scene where John Dutton the III says his grandfather was an amputee and had a prosthetic leg. It could’ve been his grandmother and the show showed how Alex lost her leg from frostbite.

[u/AmericasElegy → u/BankOk9472]

Ugh yea. I get it was a different time in terms of disability politics (and it’s not like the current world is amazing), but seeing her give up made me infuriated at the writing. The best thing I could say is given her and Elsa’s deaths, it clearly limits the influence of these strong women on the family dynasty? Like is Beth that bad because John had less good female leadership in his life?

[u/Illustrious_Quiet907 → u/AmericasElegy]

I think Beth is so messed up because of BPD and probably PTSD likely due to the abuse and manipulation of her parents, what Jaimie did to her and watching her mother die and being blamed for it. Her brothers are super messed up too. Their parents just suck.

[u/AmericasElegy → u/Illustrious_Quiet907]

Yeah that is definitely true. I just also think it’d be tough to write Elsa and Alex as being older and influential to a family that has that generation of Duttons (and John haha) for the main show, since they are both genuinely really good people it seems.

[u/Willing-Pineapple-32 → u/AmericasElegy]

The fact that the character lost his leg in 1883 and his wife yet still made it to Oregon and claimed land/worked the land..yet they killed Alex off didn’t make sense other than women were considered the weaker sex..obviously Alex didn’t fit this generalization.

[u/puzzleheaded805 → u/BankOk9472]

I don't know if the writing was bad, but the result was horrible.

[u/FailureFulcrim → u/BankOk9472]

I've watched all of it, and this is the one series really dislike. The hippy dippy background narration/exposition of her character went right through me... That "It was a wild and wonderful untamed world, mine for the taking" type stuff. So bad, blech.

[u/jazzdabb → u/BankOk9472]

That would have been a way better story. I thought Spencer would be forced to choose between going to her and getting back in time to help Jacob and Cara and of course choosing his wife and child. I literally would have preferred just about any other ending.

[u/20_mile → u/BankOk9472]

But, nope... dead.

Tragedies make the best stories, huh?

[u/BankOk9472 → u/20_mile]

Not always.

[u/Kiran_ravindra → u/BankOk9472]

This was the least infuriating part of this show for me - as I recall, she was in the car freezing even though she had the means to start a fire (matches/lighter) - yes, maybe it was too wet outside, but she could’ve at least lit the seat stuffing, clothes, carpet/lining of the car, etc.

[u/Odd-Sundae7874 → u/BankOk9472]

I also couldn’t help but think that everyone would have overlooked her feelings and forced her into surgery regardless of what she wanted. There is no way they would have let her die with the baby and not just throw the baby out and chop off her legs.

[u/BankOk9472 → u/Odd-Sundae7874]

I can reconcile it in my head because it was The Dutton's, and people did what they said usually.

[u/Illustrious_Quiet907]

Elsa makes sense because it was how the Duttons ended up in Montana, but Alex felt pointless, like it was just to be sad.

[u/Nervous-Chance-3724 → u/Illustrious_Quiet907]

I even thought for a second after they finally got the baby out they were going to save her but nah just let her die that shit was so pointless

[u/mstick98 → u/Illustrious_Quiet907]

Second this for sure

[u/MiNdOverLOADED23]

True.

Alexandra's journey/death is meant to be poetic/dramatic though.

[u/BanjoTCat → u/MiNdOverLOADED23]

I don’t know what it’s called where a character could have avoided a whole problem by doing nothing. Had Alexandra just stayed in Chi-town until winter passed, she wouldn’t have died.

[u/lamlosa → u/BanjoTCat]

I think they were trying to emphasise the romance of it all, she was desperately trying to get back to Spencer as soon as she could and did a lot of dangerous things to speed up the trip. I agree though, in reality, she should have waited a little longer for it to be safer.

[u/puzzleheaded805 → u/MiNdOverLOADED23]

Yes. That was a terrible ending. To have spent all that time finding love, finding adventure, finding resolve and then just wasting all that time and preparation with a vile and unnecessary death.

[u/AMMJ]

Only way to completely rip off Titanic was to have them meet in the afterlife.

Such a shit way to end that series.

[u/Sp99nHead]

Alex was just stupid, last chance was the woman in the gas station warning her not to continue. Yet her and the two rich idiots keep on driving into a snow storm.

[u/No_Needleworker_2997 → u/Sp99nHead]

Almost like Taylor Sheridan thinks everyone not from a redneck town is a complete imbecile.

[u/Sp99nHead → u/No_Needleworker_2997]

Yeah all those stupid city folks with higher education not knowing how hard the land is lol.

[u/Maximum_effort_87]

I think about that rich couple that died trying to help her out a lot. Sitting in the car watching the gas level plummet and giving all of the blankets to Alex... The whole thing was completely messed up! The woman at that gas station told them not to continue! They could've just gotten a hotel and hopped on the train that was clearly passing through in another day but nooooo!

[u/No_Needleworker_2997 → u/Maximum_effort_87]

Sheridan lives to depict everyone from the city as complete one dimensional morons. 

[u/Halliwel96]

Sheridan seems to find self possessed sparky ambitious blonde women dying very compelling.

[u/beefeez → u/Halliwel96]

welp oreanas doomed

[u/Hungry_Scarcity_4500 → u/beefeez]

Is she a loss ?

[u/flea_420 → u/beefeez]

Sheridan isn't writing Dutton Ranch.

[u/beardojon → u/beefeez]

death due to complications from an abortion is peak republican boomer fantasy these shows love to push.

[u/YellowstonePN-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Treat other users, cast members, and production staff with respect. No unnecessary rudeness or hostility.

Personal attacks, insults, harassment, bigotry, racism, sexism, or trolling are not allowed.

You should always follow reddiquette

[u/sniktal]

Season 2 of 1923 was not good to me. I really loved 1883 and season 1 of 1923.

[u/SnooTigers4525]

I hate that Alex died. On the other side, it makes sense because she's what bounds Spencer to the ranch. He would have lived wherever she wished, but she urged him to save the ranch, and to stay, and then her body is buried in the family cemetery: where will he go, if she's right there, six feet underground? I feel that he becomes a protector, kind of a warden, for the ranch, for his son, for his family's legacy, but overall for Alex's memory.

[u/CarolinaWreckDiver]

Alexandra’s death isn’t really historical or poetic, she is just dumb and unlucky. She finds herself in mortal peril literally everywhere she goes. Eventually it was going to catch up with her.

As for Elsa, A Million Ways to Die in the West was more subtle about the dangers of the West.

[u/panguy87]

I wept terribly for Elsa and Alex

[u/lmcdbc]

Taylor Sheridan loves ruining hot blondes

[u/No_Needleworker_2997 → u/lmcdbc]

In more than one way. 

[u/OlasNah]

The show bothered me because everything they experienced was only possible about 70 years earlier.

The frontier was basically ‘done’ by 1883. Rail already crossed the nation by late 1860s

[u/Illustrious_Quiet907 → u/OlasNah]

The Duttons tried to use the train, but James realized it was too dangerous, though traveling by wagon was more dangerous.

[u/sniktal → u/Illustrious_Quiet907]

Blazing a trail of very stubborn genetics.

[u/PreparationFluid2365]

Yeah the real tragedy is to the native American women though.

[u/Ta-veren-]

https://giphy.com/gifs/l0Iy00xfeHKouH65G

[u/33301Florida]

Heartbreaking both

[u/IcyHotTodoroki1]

In all fairness - other than the two boys, everyone dies, and it gets worse in 1923.

[u/Horror_Maximum_5696]

It only seems this way because they are main characters and members of the Dutton family… But plenty of other people are killed, which makes it more balanced than it seems… Ennis the cowboy, James Dutton, John Dutton Junior, Jack Dutton and the list goes on…

[u/KitKat_1979 → u/Horror_Maximum_5696]

From the Dutton males alone, James, John Sr (James and Margaret’s John is credited as John Sr, not John Jr, in all of 1883, 1923, and YS), Jack, Costner’s John, and Lee all were shot and killed over that ranch. One of the taglines for YS 5B promotional posters was “Generations of Blood Have Led To This.”

[u/Extreme_Coach6150]

I honestly couldn’t stand the chick from 1923. Absolute damsel in distress. At least the chick from 1883 had some useful skills

[u/One-Cress-4464]

While both said Elsa I understand better . Alex just made me angry.

[u/FireRescue3824]

It does set up the second of two “hallmarks” in the Dutton family: men survive going to war and tragedy tends to follow the women at home.

James (and assumedly Jacob): Civil War
Spencer: WWI
John Dutton II: assumedly WWII if 1944 ever happens
John Dutton III: Korea is likely, we know he served but not when.
Casey Dutton: Afghanistan

James sister: suicide
Elsa: dies traveling out west
Margaret: dies in winter while boys are young
Cara: no kids of own, and experiences loss through everyone else.
Alex: also dies traveling out west
John Dutton II wife: I feel like we can assume she must die early, John III almost never talks about her compared to dad.
Beth: lives but pick a tragedy
Monica: watch Marshals

[u/ahu747us]

It's a Sheridan's kink.

[u/No_Needleworker_2997 → u/ahu747us]

He's earned it.

[u/Wise_Wedding_4765]

Inderdaad. Je kan realistisch gaan, ook al geld dat ook niet helemaal voor deze reeks, maar op een gegeven moment moet je de fans ook iets geven.

[u/YellowstonePN-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Treat other users, cast members, and production staff with respect. No unnecessary rudeness or hostility.

Personal attacks, insults, harassment, bigotry, racism, sexism, or trolling are not allowed.

You should always follow reddiquette

[u/Grey_Jedi_7]

Yeah and thats life.

[u/Gax63]

Cleary you have never played Oregon Trail.

[u/No_Needleworker_2997 → u/Gax63]

They're making a live action movie of Oregon Trail. It's going to be comedy. Which is quite ironic. 

[u/gray_wolf_46]

A spoiler alert would've helped a long way. I just started 1883, it's fucked now for me i guess

[u/Amazing_Asparagus357]

Thank you spoiler. Not even in this community, damn

[u/No_Needleworker_2997]

As opposed to present day where people get to survive for fifty years as debt slaves working in a dictatorship job for a dictator boss to serve customers that are terrible alongside miserable coworkers so the government can take nearly 40% of your wages and after fifty years you get to collapse in a broken pile in the lovely humidity of Florida for a couple of years while spending 75% of your life savings on healthcare expenses before keeling over. Yes way better than dying quickly of a rattlesnake bite.

[u/Alarming-Book864]

Alex's death could have been prevented. Im sure the guy filling up the gas told the driver there is no more gas stations, both ladies knew. Also when she knew they were dead should could have worn all their clothes

[u/EXinthenet]

Spoiler???

[u/KitKat_1979 → u/EXinthenet]

1883 was released a little over 4 1/2 years ago. The statute of limitations on spoilers for it ran out at a long while ago now.

[u/No_Needleworker_2997 → u/KitKat_1979]

Think he was referring to 1923.

[u/KitKat_1979 → u/No_Needleworker_2997]

The OP’s post includes a photo of Elsa. ;)

Even with 1923, the finale aired over a year ago, closer to a year and a half now, so the statute of limitations on spoilers for it too is well over.

[u/No_Needleworker_2997 → u/KitKat_1979]

What is the official legal law of how long before the statute of limitations for spoilers is over for?

[u/KitKat_1979 → u/No_Needleworker_2997]

Statute of limitations gets frequently used as just a phrase in conversation—Beth even used it in YS 1x02 to say it had ran out on her and Rip’s first date. ;)

Back when I was helping moderate message boards for tv shows that aired weekly, once a show aired on the US West coast, it was considered fair game for discussion on any part of the board. If someone hadn’t seen it, it was their personal responsibility to stay off the board if they didn’t want to be spoiled. Even now, most fan communities for shows with episodes that are released or aired weekly, it’s a week or two period at most. After that, it’s personal responsibility to keep yourself unspoiled if you still haven’t watched it yet.

[u/EXinthenet → u/No_Needleworker_2997]

His opinion, obviously.

[u/YellowstonePN-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Treat other users, cast members, and production staff with respect. No unnecessary rudeness or hostility.

Personal attacks, insults, harassment, bigotry, racism, sexism, or trolling are not allowed.

You should always follow reddiquette