In 1883 Season 1, Episode 4, entitled, “The Crossing,” the Brazos River poses the deadliest threat to our intrepid group of pioneers. Written by Taylor Sheridan and directed by Christina Voros, Episode 4 begins with Elsa (Isabel May) trading seamstress Alina (Amanda Jaros) for a sensible pair of pants. Her father James (Tim McGraw) has melted down all their gold into jewelry to hide their assets while on the trail, and Elsa is all too happy to barter with the disguised treasure. Elsewhere, James, Captain Shea (Sam Elliott), Thomas (LaMonica Garrett), Wade (James Landry Hébert) and Josef (Marc Rissmann) make plans to cross the Brazos River. After some argument (“This talking back is getting contagious,” says Shea), the men decide that James will help carry people across the River, Thomas and Shea will oversee the transport of the wagons, and Wade will bring the cattle at the rear.
James decides to go rogue and cross that night instead of in the morning with everyone else, and he is shocked to come across Ennis and Elsa kissing! After a heartfelt father/daughter chat, James, Margaret (Faith Hill) and John (Audie Rick) ford across the Brazos, a feat that is much more difficult than expected. Back at the camp, Shea has nightmares about his Civil War experiences, making him even more uneasy about the next day’s crossing. Nearby, Thomas and Noemi (Gratiela Brancusi) move closer to the fire while Josef and his wife Risa (Anna Fiamora) decide to bring a child into the world. Their peace is interrupted the next morning when Shea orders the travelers to lighten their wagons, which are bogged down with heavy furniture and even a piano.
The crossing at the Brazos River is chaotic. While James and Margaret help people cross by securing a lead line from one side of the river to another, Thomas is on hand to grab those pioneers who begin to drown. Unfortunately, they can’t save all of them. Several people drown, wagons are badly damaged, belongings are ruined and the travelers become more and more desperate. At one point, Margaret is even pulled off her horse by a drowning settler and is forced to fight the man off to save herself. The background music to this harrowing scene is a version of Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata” played by Elsa for Ennis and Wade on the abandoned piano. The haunting melody seems to symbolize a farewell to her once civilized life and an acceptance of the harsh wilderness that surrounds her. As the group digs graves for the recently deceased, Elsa observes in her narration, “No matter how much we love it, the land will never love us back.” She’s not wrong.
Let’s break down the 5 most important moments from Episode 4 that will have repercussions throughout the rest of the season.
NO QUIT
When Shea asked Josef if his people know how to swim, Josef tells him that swimming was illegal where they are from. He adds: “Where I’m from, they whipped the bodies of the drowned before they are buried.” Josef asks Shea what Oregon is like, and Shea replies, “It’s worth the risk if that’s what you’re asking.”
When they are alone, Shea comments to Thomas: “It takes a lot to surprise me, Thomas. These people, they’ve never been allowed to think for themselves. They can hardly think at all. The fact that they aren’t heading to Galveston, begging their way on to a boat for home, shocks me. It shocks me that they haven’t quit yet.” Thomas replies: “I don’t know why those folks would want to go home. Home sounds like hell.” When Shea observes that the hell they know might be better than the unknown, Thomas retorts, “That’s ’cause you ain’t ever been whipped.” With that exchange, Shea begins to understand what has motivated this hapless group to travel West however unprepared.
ELSA AND ENNIS KISS
After receiving James’s permission to court Elsa, Ennis wasted no time laying on the charm. As he comes upon Elsa singing the old parlor song, “Beautiful Dreamer,” to lull the cattle into a slumber, he is fully transfixed. With a little sweet talk, he gets her to continue her song as he sits on his horse next to her. Overcome with emotion, he kisses her in the moonlight! When he begins to apologize for his forwardness, Elsa implores him to “do it again.”
Unfortunately for the two lovebirds, James sees them kissing as he rides up to tell Elsa that the family is crossing the river tonight. When she insists on staying with Ennis to keep watch over the cattle and helping to move them the next day, James tells her, “Herd ain’t going nowhere with you two swapping supper.” As he begins to ride off, Elsa follows him to ask if he is mad at her. James replies: “Why would I be mad? I can’t treat you like an adult when it suits me and a child when I’m worried. Your mother… it’s gonna be a different story.” Looks like Elsa has a difficult conversation ahead of her.
NOEMI WATCHES THOMAS EAT
Just like he promised, Thomas keeps watch over Noemi and her boys at their campsite. Noemi offers Thomas some stew, which he refuses at first but takes after she insists. As she lovingly watches him eat, Thomas grows uncomfortable and tells her: “Marrying a Black man isn’t going to solve your problems, Ma’am. It’s going to create a whole bunch of new ones.” When Noemi points out that it’s a free country and the government can’t tell her who to love, Thomas sadly replies: “Your government said you can’t swim. Can’t protect yourself. Damn right, the government can tell you who to love and how to love ’em. They shouldn’t, but they can.”
When Noemi suggests they go someplace where the government can’t tell them anything, Thomas observes: “Ma’am, you don’t want nothing to do with me. I’m too old. Too set in my ways. Don’t like talking. I like sleeping outside and bathing in the river. That ain’t what a woman wants.” Noemi tells him that men have no idea what women want, and Thomas can’t argue with that. Obviously at this moment, Noemi wants to watch Thomas eat, and he complies. This could be the beginning of a romance between these two lonely souls.
A SOUR NOTE
Shea tells Josef to command his people to leave behind the heaviest things from their wagon so they can cross the Brazos more effectively. What follows is one of the most heart wrenching scenes in Episode 4. Josef tries to comfort Risa, but she screams at Shea, “We will get to Oregon with nothing. How can we make our lives with nothing?” Despite their understandable hesitation, the pioneers empty their wagons of their precious possessions leaving stoves, furniture and other antiques behind on the trail. The only person who does not comply is a musician who has brought along his piano to make his livelihood once they complete the journey.
When Josef and the man resist sacrificing the instrument, Shea states firmly: “No, he’s not a musician! And you’re not a carpenter. You are pioneers, and that’s all you are until you get there. You have no home, no job, no farm; you have the journey.” Knowing he is right, Josef tries to reason with the man who fears becoming a beggar. Furious at his stubbornness, Shea snarls: “These are his choices: he unloads his wagon, or he goes back to Fort Worth, or I burn his wagon to the ground. Tell him.” Josef can only hug the man as he cries. Sacrifices like this are a regular occurrence along the Oregon trail.
THE CROSSING
As Margaret, James and John prepare to forge the Brazos at nightfall, James tells Margaret he loves her, adding “I just want you to know it.” Margaret replies wryly, “Now I’m nervous.” As James takes John across with him on their horse, Margaret drives the wagon through the rushing waters in a stressful sequence. Exhausted, Margaret says to James, “This is harder than you said it’d be.” James replies, “I told you it was gonna take everything we had and then some.” Distraught, Margaret tells him, “You should have explained what everything meant.”
The next morning, Shea, Thomas and the group meet James and Margaret at the Brazos River. Shea observes as he looks at the frightened people: “Let’s hope these folks stay patient. Cool heads cross rivers, hot heads will drown.” Sure enough, lives are lost and property is destroyed as the men struggle to get the settlers across the river. Later, Margaret almost drowns herself when she’s dragged off her horse by a drowning woman and is forced to fight back. The crossing sequence ends with a bloody Margaret screaming in anguish on the river bank.
Where to stream 1883