Racing Clouds
In Episode 9 of 1883, the caravan continues its journey through dangerous territory, with Risa falling from her horse and Josef getting bitten by a snake. ..
James, Shea, and Thomas ride on and notice six sets of tracks leading away from a bloodbath. Numerous Lakota are dead, mostly women and children.
Unfortunately, given that they’re all tracking around the camp, whoever rides through is undoubtedly going to think Shea and the caravan are responsible, and he curses his sloppiness.
Josef’s bite is tended to, while Risa struggles to keep liquids down. They’re both in a rough way and things are looking bad.
The only way to stop the bandits and bring their bodies back to the Lakota is to find them and stop them. If not, the Lakota are going to attack and this could be a bloodbath.
The caravan will need to stay put right now – including Elsa who surprisingly doesn’t tag along with James, Shea and Thomas. Unfortunately, the resident new chef realizes what’s happened and becomes spooked, deciding to ride out to the fort in order to hide. So naturally, the entire caravan follow him.
Margaret and Elsa are left alone at the fort, with no choice but to join forces with their daughter. Margaret demands that her daughter wear a dress though, reminding her that rocking up at the fort looking like a Native American is not going to do anyone any favours. Of course, this time the dress doesn’t feel the same as it did earlier in the season; constricted, lacking freedom and hiding the new Elsa.
Meanwhile, Shea, James and Thomas ride out into the country and find the murderers, disguising themselves as deputies. Our guy are no strangers to hustlers and the minute they admit to killing the Lakota, they shoot and kill the men.
That’s just as well too, given a whole rabble of Lakota find their women and children, going on the hunt. That hunt brings them to the caravan’s cook, who has his wagon burned and destroyed. With Elsa watching from afar, the Lakota spot her and immediately give chase.
A big fight breaks out with the caravan, as Wade instructs them all to circle while they prepare to fire. In doing so, we cut forward to the scenes we actually received at the start of episode 1.
Elsa wakes up, with the Lakota nearby and after shooting one dead, takes an arrow for her troubles. As she continues to fight the Lakota, speaking Comanche stops them from landing the killer blow. She manages to rationale with them, telling the men that Shea and the others are hunting the real killers of their kin.
When they finally leave, letting her go, Elsa stumbles on with her horse. She stumbles into the path of Margaret, who urges her to press on and make it to the fort. Before they get there though, they need to remove the arrow and, as you can imagine, that’s not a pretty sight. Elsa’s screams pierce the air before she eventually passes out.
James finds the Lakota, who confirms to him that Elsa is the one who has stopped the fighting. With the battle over for now, James and the others catch up with Margaret, Elsa, and the other rabble of survivors. ..
James speaks to his daughter that night, telling her that he needs her to fortify herself against an arrow. The thing is, the blood was dark when the arrow was pulled out and after talking to Elsa, James learns in confidence that the arrow has pierced her liver.
James examines the arrow himself and believes that Elsa is going to die. In order to honor her life, James decides to let her live out every sunrise and sunset and lie to her that she’s going to be okay.
When James dies, he promises to take his wife’s body with him and bury her wherever they make a life for themselves. Of course, this is a neat bit of foreshadowing given we know the Duttons end up in Montana. ..
The family’s story is one of lies. Margaret and James keep the pretense up that everything is fine. The thing is, Elsa is smart and as she studies her father’s eyes, she realizes the horrifying truth.
The Episode Review
This week’s chapter brings a lot of new action, drama and tension to the story. With so many questions still unanswered, the fate of many characters is still up in the air.
The reveal that Elsa is on death’s doorstep and about to die, literally taking an arrow for the team, is a massive hammer blow. And it’s perhaps even more damning given it comes at the hands of the Lakota. Had she been wearing the outfit she was riding with earlier in the season, would she still have been attacked so ferociously?
As the final episodes of the season approach, 1883 is still recovering from last week’s high point. This leaves open the possibility for where this season will go next. ..
