1923 Fans Think That The Season 1 Was Slow (& That's A Good Thing)

Television is often a matter of pacing. If you rush your storyline, fans will call you out on it. If you're too leisurely, then they might get bored. Every show moves at its own pace and, naturally,

"1923" takes a long time to build toward the crux of its action. It starts swiftly and with horrifying violence– and then takes the time to show us how Spencer Dutton (Brandon Sklenar) and Alexandra (Julia Schlaepfer) fall in love on the African plain among a group of fellow big game hunting adventurers. As they take a troubled journey back to the Dutton family ranch in America, Spencer's kin is left alone to ward off a violent range war. The lives of his grandfather Jacob (Harrison Ford), grandmother Cara (Dame Helen Mirren), and brother Jack (Darren Mann) hang in the balance as they prepare to go to battle Banner Creighton (Jerome Flynn) and Donald Whitfield (Timothy Dalton).

Along the way, there's time to explore Alexandra's failed engagement, Jack's rocky relationship with his lively fiancé Elizabeth Strafford (Michelle Randolph), Spencer's Great War-related PTSD, and Jacob's slow recovery from a gunshot wound. The show's pace is somehow simultaneously urgent and leisurely.

While some television fans might be irritated by the slow pace of "1923," many fans posting to the show's subreddit find it quite worthwhile. In fact, the notion that dual chapters will bookend the show enthralled viewers. "Sometimes the journey is the story. In this case, we have two chapters, or almost a book and a sequel," said u/EllieJamesYA. "The journey is the destination," Agreed u/zsreport. But fans like u/Informal_South1553 think fans are going too easy on the show's producers. "People are just coping at this point with how underwhelming this season was," said u/Unlikely-Distance-41.

Most fans who spoke out on the "1923" subreddit agreed that the pace had been quite a switch-up from "1883," but still something they enjoy.

Some think that Season 2 will pick the show's pace up. "From interviews, it's pretty clear S2 will have a distinctly different tone and feel. The pieces have all been moved into place, the stakes raised. Now the war escalates," said u/EllieJamesYA.

Others complain that the show's fans yearn for their curiosity to be instantly gratified, making them intolerant of the slow pace. "Everyone wants instant gratification. Most don't have the attention span to sit through these episodes as they are and blame the show instead of their own attention span," said u/jwbrkr74. Another viewer, u/MrGurabo, agreed, mocking people who want Spencer Dutton to immediately show up at the Dutton Ranch guns blazing. And then there's u/TY2VETS, who is so fully invested in "1923" that they don't care where the show goes from here because they feel it will be entertaining.

And yet some viewers feel as if the show is spinning its wheels. U/martun-baker names a side plot involving Whitfield's connection to a group of sex workers. U/Busch__Latte was also irritated by what they felt was a high amount of diversions in a series already jam-packed with plot. Time will tell how much filler and killer exists in the show's second season.