"1883" on Prime - Prequel to "1923" the Prequel to "Yellowstone"

The Dutton Family Dynasty series began in modern-day Montana with "Yellowstone," starring Kevin Costner as the patriarch of the clan that lives by their own code of law.  "Yellowstone," in its 5th season is a sensation that has spawned prior generations: "1923" and "1883."  I didn't follow the original.  Rather, I started in the middle with "1923" starring Helen Mirren and Harrison Ford.  Anything with Mirren or Ford is bound to be good.  The prequel, "1923," is exceptional TV.   The episodes are set in MT, Africa or the high seas and each is a cinematic marvel elevating TV.  Mirren and Ford are wonderful in their roles, but they're bested by the actors playing their nephew and his beautiful aristocratic love interest.  The two first cross paths in Africa.  Sparks fly between Spencer Dutton (heartthrob Brandon Sklenar) and Alexandra,  (a captivating Julia Schlaepfer).  The chemistry between these two is combustible.  I rooted for the couple and was captivated with all four interwoven storylines.  For fans of "Yellowstone," I say many went panning for fools gold.  Pass!  Start your viewing in the past with the earliest in the Dutton's western trilogy, "1883." The cast includes real life married couple, western singing stars, Tim McGraw as James Dutton and Faith Hill as his wife, Margaret.  McGraw is perfectly cast as the formidable pioneer and cowboy.  Hill should keep her day job and rid herself of the awful wig she's wearing.  While McGraw and Hill may have been the draw, Sam Elliott as Shea Brennan, the leader of the wagon train of incompetent immigrants with a cattle herd in tow.   Isabel May as Elsa Dutton looks rugged and poised in the saddle.  Elsa narration of events flows throughout.  Her eloquence and emotional responses to hardships, nature's unspoiled beauty and her growing self-reliance are miraculous to behold.  Elsa's coming-of-age coincides with a dawning civilization in its lawless and nascent state.  Life is suffused with suffering, new freedoms and splendor.  The show piques a keen interest in life for the first pioneers to venture out west. The horrors of white settlers' heinous treatments of Native Americans is more explicit in "1923" but still intrinsic in this epoch as well as some symbiotic relationships that were maintained between indigenous Americans and white trailblazers.  In a searing and unforgettable scene, Elsa plays Beethoven's "Moonlight Serenade" on a discarded piano while we watch as people in the wagon trail struggled attempting a river crossing. There's plenty to treasure in "1923."  Sam Elliott gives a profound performance in this historic drama.  Less than a score before the year 1923, The Civil War was raging.  Dutton and Brennan still grapple with the deaths of soldiers under their commands in the Union Army.  Our American history has never been made into an epic this thrilling, entertaining and thought provoking.  "1883" and "1923" are must see, TV!