Warning! SPOILERS For 1923 Season 2

This article contains mentions of sexual assault.

Alexandra Dutton (Julia Schlaepfer) faces a series of awful events in 1923 characters face grave circumstances, suggesting their love story is star-crossed, and they may never see life on Jacob (Harrison Ford) and Cara Dutton’s (Helen Mirren) ranch together.

Things worsen for Alex in 1923 season 2 as she makes a solo journey from London to Montana. Despite a beautiful wedding ceremony in 1923 season 1, the Earl of Sussex separates Alex and Spencer in the season finale after Dutton throws his wife’s former fiancé overboard as they travel on an ocean liner. While his wife is more optimistic after their wedding ceremony as they speak on the bow of the ship, Spencer predicts the awful things happening are signs from the universe telling Dutton to put Alex back.

14 Alex Enters A Loveless Engagement For British Nobility

1923 season 1, episode 2, “Nature’s Empty Throne”

Alex’s series of grave circumstances starts before 1923 season 1, and is revealed in “Nature’s Empty Throne” when she is introduced. When 1923 kicks off, Alexandra of Sussex is in a loveless engagement with the Earl of Sussex, Arthur (Rafe Soule). In 1923 season 1, episode 2, Alex tells her friend Jennifer (Jo Ellen Pellman) that her marriage was a real estate transaction, implying that her partnership was just a land deal between the British nobility.

Spencer’s wife has faced death almost half a dozen times, albeit for the sake of love.

While Alex flees her loveless engagement with a bold decision to follow Spencer Dutton to Tanganyika, Africa, it has proven to be ill-fated thus far. Spencer’s wife has faced death almost half a dozen times, albeit for the sake of love. All that begins with Alex’s loveless engagement, which causes her to flee a safe and comfortable life to start.

13 An Elephant Wrecks Alex & Spencer’s Truck In Tanganyika

1923 season 1, episode 3, “The War Has Come Home”

The first ill-fated encounter that Alex and Spencer have is outside Tanganyika. Spencer tells Alex that he knows a place where a child’s footprints are baked into the rock. Dutton tells Alex that the footprints were made when the earth was still soft, and the moment provokes deep-seated feelings of love for the couple as they promise to spend their life together.

On the way home, Alex and Spencer discuss children as they drive through the beautiful grassland. However, an elephant attacks Alex and Spencer’s truck, and it is rendered useless. After Spencer kills the elephant, preventing it from assaulting them further, he and Alex are left in the Savanna without a means of transportation home, forced to climb a tree and wait out the night.

12 Wild Lions Surround Alex & Spencer In The Savanna

1923 season 1, episode 3, “The War Has Come Home”

After the couple’s truck is attacked by a charging elephant on the Savanna, Spencer and Alex climb a tree to get away from the animals that roam at ground level for their next meal. Spencer shares a flask of whiskey with his new fiancée once they get settled. He tells her they need a higher tree, but they’re posted in the tallest tree around, so they have to hope a lion or leopard doesn’t spot them.

Lions scrape at the base of the tree as Spencer shoots as quickly as possible with his rifle, terrifying Alex.

Ultimately, hyenas and lions surround the tree while Spencer and Alex await dawn, when they will be safe to travel by foot. Lions scrape at the base of the tree as Spencer shoots as quickly as possible with his rifle, terrifying Alex. Ultimately, a search party sent to find the couple rescues them, establishing a theme of highs and lows.

11 Alex & Spencer’s Tugboat Is Shipwrecked In International Waters

1923 season 1, episode 5, “Ghost of Zebrina”

Alex and Spencer have a brief period of respite, with Dutton showing his future bride a secret shore with beautiful beaches. While enjoying the spoils of their romance, Alex and Spencer fall deeper in love. However, Spencer and Alex's fun in the sun ends when they read Cara’s letters, calling her nephew back to the ranch.

The couple hitches a ride on a tugboat. However, Spencer and Alex's tugboat gets shipwrecked in 1923 season 1, episode 5, “Ghost of Zebrina,” after their captain dies at the wheel. In episode 6, “One Ocean Closer to Destiny,” Alex bakes in the sun in the Indian Ocean, and she almost drowns. Despite the shipwreck being one of Alex's worst encounters, she and Spencer are rescued once again.

10 Alex Encounters Her Ex-Fiancé In Marseilles,

1923 season 1, episode 7, “The Rule of Five Hundred”

After Alex and Spencer are rescued and married in an impromptu ceremony in international waters, they dock in Marseilles, . There, they plan to board a British liner heading to London, where they can connect to a ship heading to a port in the Gulf Shore in America. However, Alex and Spencer have an unpleasant encounter.

As Alex and Spencer embrace, her former fiancé calls her name, revealing the newlyweds are at the same port as her wedding party.

In Marseille, Alex and Spencer sit down at an outdoor café. They discuss culture and the war hero’s demons, with Alex making her new husband eat arancini. As Alex and Spencer embrace, her former fiancé calls her name, revealing the newlyweds are at the same port as her wedding party, and they all board the same British liner, which proves to be a devastating development.

9 The Earl Of Sussex Separates Alex & Spencer After Arthur's Death

1923 season 1, episode 8, “Nothing Left to Lose”

Refusing to spend her trip on the British liner in her cabin, Alex and Spencer dine with the other engers. The decision prompts a conflict with the Earl of Sussex, and Alex’s former fiancé challenges Spencer to a duel. Despite Spencer’s initial refusal, he accepts the Earl's challenge after he insults Alex, with Spencer and Arthur engaging in a sword fight on the ship’s deck.

Despite Spencer refusing to continue the fight, Arthur draws a gun, and Alex’s husband defends himself by hurling the Earl overboard. After Arthur falls to his death, his father separates Alex and Spencer by jailing Alex and sending Spencer away by dinghy. Despite her valiant effort to reunite with her husband as he is towed to the shore, Alex and Spencer are separated in 1923 season 1’s finale.

8 The Royals Blacklist Alexandra Of Sussex & Her Family

1923 season 2, episode 1, “The Killing Season”

In the 1923 season 2 premiere, Alex and her family are blacklisted by the British royals after the fatal encounter in season 1. Alex tells her friend Jennifer that Arthur has banned her family from London. She worries about what he will do when he figures out that she is pregnant, implying more danger is in store if she stays in her home country.

Despite her life of luxury, Alex is stripped of any agency to act on her own behalf.

The somber moment perfectly describes Alex’s predicament. Despite her life of luxury, Alex is stripped of any agency to act on her own behalf, even after marrying Spencer and trying to get away with him. While Alex builds autonomy in 1923 season 2, she also takes on the harrowing responsibility that comes with her newfound freedom.

7 Alex Takes Tourist Class To New York City

1923 season 2, episode 2, “The Rapist is Winter”

Despite working with her best friend to sell all her finest crown jewels, Alex Dutton has little money to travel from London to America. Her best friend, therefore, books Alexandra of Sussex a ticket to America on the tourist class of a ship to New York City. Spencer and his wife were warned against the decision in 1923 season 1.

Still, with little money, Alex has no choice but to brave the journey to America below the ship deck. In 1923 season 2, episode 2, Alex is tossed around below deck as water seeps into the hull. Despite the treacherous start to her journey, Alex describes her will to continue in a letter to Spencer, with the thought of their reunion motivating her to push on.

6 Alex Is Violated At Ellis Island Immigration

1923 season 2, episode 3, “Wrap Thee in Terror”

Alex makes a brave journey across the ocean to America. Still, Alex arrives at Ellis Island without any proper immigration or marriage documents, so Spencer’s wife has to go through the arduous process of gaining immigrant status. She goes through a series of humiliating experiences, which begin to show Alex just how naive she is about the world due to her upbringing among the nobility.

At Ellis Island, despite the dehumanizing checkpoints she must face one by one, Alex yet again makes it out on top. When attempting to gain entry into the country despite her pregnancy, Alex Dutton makes a series of noteworthy references in her interview. Alex’s quotes in 1923 season 2, episode 3, prove her strength and wit, which is only further tested.

5 A Pickpocket Beats & Robs Alex At Grand Central Terminal

1923 season 2, episode 4, “Journey the Rivers of Iron”

Despite making it through United States customs at Ellis Island and making it to Grand Central Terminal, Alex is beaten and robbed in the women’s bathroom. A sinister pickpocket follows the intrepid traveler into the bathroom at the end of 1923 season 2, episode 3, and attacks her in the following chapter. The attack is terrible, highlighting Alex’s vulnerability, yet her determination to keep going.

When Alex is attacked, the perpetrator takes all of her money and valuables. The robber even took Jennifer’s bracelet, which was for the young mother to sell in case of emergency on her journey through the states. Coupled with an already bleak start, Alex’s robbery in the Grand Central Terminal makes her streak of bad luck truly awful, beyond the inconveniences and humiliations she faces.