约翰-达顿在美丽的天堂谷最后一次捧着长子Lee时，靠着一棵大树。一个多世纪以前，另一位达顿的男性家长詹姆斯-达顿用同一种方式，几乎在同一个地点，送走了自己的长女Elsa Dutton。Lee和Elsa各自的死亡有诸多不同的因素。但毫无疑问，有一点是相同的：约翰和詹姆斯都不仅仅失去了孩子，也失去了对这个孩子继承自己传奇的寄托。Lee和Elsa都是为了各自父亲的梦想而死。Elsa为家族的未来选择了栖居之地；约翰-达顿则因为Lee的死而更加坚决地维护家族利益。两人的死都使自己的家族作为整体更为强大。
第二集惊现汤姆-汉克斯，他扮演George Meade，历史上确有其人。
乔治-戈登-米德，美国陆军少将，曾参加过第二次塞米诺尔战争、美墨战争和美国南北战争。 米德最著名的战役是1863年在葛底斯堡战役中指挥联邦军波托马克军团击败联盟军罗伯特-E-李将军率领的北弗吉尼亚军团。 美国陆军基地乔治·G·米德堡、堪萨斯州米德县和南达科他州米德县都是以乔治·米德的名字命名的。
Tom Hanks和他的妻子Rita Wilson，与《1883》的两位主演Tim McGraw和Faith Hill是多年好友。Tim McGraw和Faith Hill分别扮演詹姆斯-达顿和玛格丽特-达顿，现实生活中就是夫妻。
汤姆-汉克斯的米德将军在Battle of Antietam战役后向詹姆斯-达顿表达了善意。
第九集Elsa的命运锁定。
拉科塔（Lakota）部落的首领，由Tokala Black Elk扮演，他在《黄石》中出演四集，是凯西和莫尼卡在保留地的邻居Sam Stands Alone。
《1883》第一集的站街女，既是《黄石》中的女律师，也是泰勒-谢里丹另一作品《金斯顿市长》的秘书。
第十集的印第安酋长由Graham Greene扮演，他在这里的名字“Spotted Eagle”与当年《与狼共舞》里的Kicking Bird，对仗挺公整，动词 鸟。
《与狼共舞》（Dances with Wolves）1990年电影，描述1860年代美国南北战争末期，北军中尉邓巴与印地安苏族的故事，电影的对白多使用苏族语言拉科塔语，配以英语字幕，这在当时的美国电影圈很罕见。本片获得七座奥斯卡金像奖，票房也大获成功，象征着西部片在好莱坞的复兴。2007年，此片因为它“文化上、历史上、美学上”的重要价值，被选为美国国家电影保护局典藏。
Graham Greene因为《与狼共舞》这部影片获63届奥斯卡最佳男配角的提名，输给了《好家伙》里的乔-佩西；不过凯文-科斯特纳也没得最佳男主奖，倒是得了最佳导演和最佳影片。
因为这部电影的巨大成功和所表达的对原住民的深切同情，凯文-科斯特纳被接纳成为拉科塔族（Lakota）荣誉成员。
在听说《与狼共舞》要用拉科塔语说台词时，Graham Greene的第一反应是“I don't speak that”。
Graham Greene还在《猎凶风河谷》里演原住民保留地的警长Ben。也是泰勒-谢里丹的作品。
正如警长Shea Brennan所说，Elsa比谁活得都明白，他75了而她只有18岁，她却笑得比他欢快、爱得比他恣意、战斗得比他更勇敢。也许每个人从出生那刻就开启了奥德赛之旅，而Elsa的旅途更为壮阔，更为自由，爱过，心碎过，受过伤再努力站起来，清楚地知道自己的向往。她的旁白就像她为这次旅途写下的诗句，残酷贫瘠的生活里长出浪漫的翅膀。
Season 1, Episode 1: “1883”
开场就是第九集的地狱景象。I remember the first time I saw it. Tried to find words to describe it. But I couldn’t. Nothing had prepared me. No books. No teachers. Not even my parents. I heard a thousand stories… But none could describe this place. It must be witness to be understood. And yet, I’ve seen it. And I understand it less than when I first cast eyes on this place.Some called it the American Desert. Others, the Great Plains. But those phrases were invented by professors at universities. Surrounded by the illusion of order. And the fantasy of right and wrong. To know it, you must walk. Bleed until it’s dark. Drown in its rivers. Then its name becomes clear. It is Hell. And there are demons everywhere.But if this is Hell, then I must be a demon, too. And I’m already dead.
Elsa总结了父亲詹姆斯-达顿的梦想：
The road West is filled with failures. But failure isn’t what drove him. It was a dream. And the dream was coming true.
Season 1, Episode 2: “Behind Us, A Cliff”
Freedom is running wild through untamed land.
年轻的姑娘憧憬着前方的土地。
The world here plays parlor tricks on your senses. I do not know what the word Texas means. But to me it means magic.It seems even the trees are new to this place; scattered about in clusters like little villages. And everywhere: treasures. Everywhere a bounty just waiting to be scooped up.”18-years ago on this day, Lee surrendered to Grant in the home of Wilmer McClean in the village of Appomattox. A year later, I was born. It was Monday, April 9, 1883. And it was my birthday.I looked to the right and saw my father somehow riding vertically towards the earth. Beyond him, cowboys and cattle pushed towards us; dust following them like a cloudy shadow. The light was soft and pale and pink, like God had decided to light this day with candles. And the whole of Texas spread out before me. It was the most magnificent thing I had ever seen.
最后Elsa思考时间的变幻。
What began as a journey had become a retreat into the unknown. We were backing into the abyss; so worried our sins would follow us we didn’t bother watching where we walked. And behind us was a cliff.
Season 1, Episode 3: “River”
从第三集开始，Elsa目睹了西扩途中的恐怖，她的旁白也变得暗黑起来。
Death is everywhere on the prairie. In every form you can imagine. And a few your worst nightmare couldn’t muster.Death hides in creek beds. Possesses animals. It hides in tall grass, waiting. With every death, our father moved camp a little further away. As if death was not the result of accidents and disease, but death was its own disease. And carelessness was contagious.”But of all the perils awaiting us – sickness and snakes, bad horses and bandits – there was one thing above all that sent terror through both man and beast… There was one word so feared it was barely spoken and barely whispered… River.
粗粝之中也有片刻宁静，Elsa看着母亲放牧，第一次视她为女人，而不仅仅是个母亲。
I watched her ride and I didn’t see my mother. I saw a woman. And the woman was magnificent.
Season 1, Episode 4: “The Crossing”
I knew that war. That war between what you should become, and what you could become.
随着剧集进展，Elsa的旁白也渐渐成熟。第四集她站在由女孩向女人进化的边缘，第五集将完成转变。
I had abandoned every memory of Tennessee as if I was born on this journey. But I wasn’t. We were leaving a place, and seeking another. And the journey was a necessary, miserable road between the two. Somehow I felt immune to the dangers of this place. As if the land and I had struck a deal. I could pass on heart so long as I loved it. And I did. I loved everything about it.
目睹了种种死亡之后，Elsa平静地讲述了人与自然关系的真相。
But crossing the Brazos taught me there was no deal. No matter how much we love it, the land will never love us back.
Season 1, Episode 5: “The Fangs of Freedom”
We are in the land of no mercy now.
到第五集结尾，Elsa Dutton已经是一个完全不同的人了。她成为一个女人，一个被1883残酷现实带来的心碎所改变的人。Elsa从一个古灵精怪、充满希望的孩童，变成了坚毅警觉的女人。
I think cities have weakened us as a species. There are no consequences there. Step into the streets without looking and the carriage merely stops or swerves; the only consequence an angry driver. But here? There can be no mistakes. Because here doesn’t care. The river doesn’t care if you can swim. The snake doesn’t care how much you love your children. And the wolf has no interest in your dreams. If you fail to beat the current, you will drown; if you get too close, you will be bitten. If you are too weak, you will be eaten.
Elsa与Ennis合为一体，然而命运自有别的安排。
The whole world faded away. No stars or moon, no sky at all. No earth between my feet; no rock against my back. There was only us.Today My Eyes Died.I’d known death since I was a child. It’s everywhere. But it had never touched me. It had never placed it rotten finger on my heart. Until today. Today my eyes died. I see the world through my mother’s eyes now. Yes, freedom has fangs. And it sunk them in me. I chose to love him. He chose to love me back. Then chose to protect me. Then a man we’ve never met chose to kill him. And made me colorblind.Maybe killing this man will get my eyes back. Maybe it won’t. But I chose to find out.
余下的旅途在Elsa平静的旁白中展开。
Season 1, Episode 6, “Boring the Devil”
Elsa毫不掩饰她的心碎，同时迎来新的经历。
We moved towards Dome’s Crossing and the Red River, and tragedy’s next opportunity to ravage what’s left of us. My mother says the pain will fade and the good memories return. I suppose that’s true. Every person on this planet will endure this pain, until they are the cause of it for another. Someday I’ll die and shatter hearts, too. But that is not today. Today I am living. And I am a shadow.
第六集结尾，Elsa再次敞开心扉。年轻的心容易痊愈。
We were leaving Texas, entering the Indian territory and redefining our meaning of unknown. Far from the cities that have paved the world away, and the farms which had turned it into a resource. We were no longer under the cloud of civilization. Only sky above us now. No more walking over bridges. Out here, we swim horseback through rivers. There is nowhere to chain love to vows and ceremony. Out here, love burns through you like a fever. And when the devil comes to strip that love from you, there is no funeral or song or speeches that dull our senses and deaden our hearts. Out here, you turn towards the pain as it tears into you. And you let it. When you do, the devil gets bored. He sees another soul to eat.And you get to live again.
——重新定义未知，再活一次。
Season 1, Episode 7, “Lightning Yellow Hair”
达顿一家坚定地踏进狂野西部，Elsa重新打量自然的真相和人的残酷。
The best way to know if land is truly undiscovered is to seek words to describe it. When you can’t, you know it’s virgin land. Untouched by our dirty hands. To see it is to be silenced by it. Made speechless by its endless uniformity… One must read the sun and stars like a sailor to navigate this place. We’ve seen nothing but grass for over a week. No grass, no birds. No snakes. Not even a lizard. And no evidence the human race still exists. But the plains are littered with bones.The dirty man of hand can go unnoticed in a city. because his dirty hand made the city. But in this place, where innocence is a mineral in the soil, the filth of our touch is an apocalypse.
玛格丽格-达顿不得不杀死一个偷马贼，Elsa得以通过母亲的眼睛体会恐怖。
She wouldn’t speak when she got back to camp. Wouldn’t look at my father. Wouldn’t look at me. I heard her crying by the fire before dawn. I sat beside her and asked her what was wrong. She said she killed a man over a horse, and now John was the only hope our family has of reaching heaven.I didn’t have the heart to tell her there’s not heaven to go to. Because we’re in it already. We’re in hell, too. They coexist right beside each other. And God is the land.
Episode 8, “The Weep of Surrender”
Elsa与Sam定下牢不可破的誓约，对这个年轻的女孩来说，什么都没有自由驰骋更为重要。
This is our third day here, the longest we’ve stayed in one place since the journey started. One trait all animals share, people included, is no matter where we are or where we wish to be, if we’re there longer than a day, we try to make a home of it. But the plains are not for home building. Not enough resources. No shelter. The plains are for vagabonds, wanderers, and cowboys. Their home is a saddle. The sky is their roof. The ground is their bed. What’s lacked in material comfort is regained in the knowledge that they are always home. To them, the journey is the destination.Should they find gold at the end of the rainbow, they would leave it there and seek another; choosing freedom over the burden of the pot. I haven’t thought once of Oregon. No dreams of the ocean or snow-covered mountains. I only dream of the journey. That is all. No gold for me. Just the rainbow.To import the traditions of the place you fled, the place that failed you, is to condemn the place you seek to the same failures.I understood my mother’s worry. My choices made no sense in her world, where customs and prejudice rule where law cannot reach. There will be customs and prejudice here, too, I’m sure. But they were born of this world, and belong here. To import the traditions of the place you fled, the place that failed you, is to condemn the place you seek to the same failures.
因为对家人的爱，Elsa对Sam短暂告别，虽然心也在痛，但这次告别不像对Ennis那样永无再见之日，花开时再见。
I felt their eyes move over me. Felt their pity and disapproval. And it meant nothing to me. The only thing that mattered was riding away. Just as I was riding away from him. As I pondered the new journey before me – making it back to him – they watched the tears run my cheeks. And I let them. I didn’t turn my face or wipe them away. Tears became control. Sobs and weeps are little surrenders. And I will surrender nothing to the pain. Tears may flow, but I will not weep. I am the wife of a warrior now. Which is to say… I am a warrior. And warriors don’t cry.
——不向痛苦缴械投降，战士永不哭泣。
Season 1, Episode 9, “Racing Clouds”
I had convinced myself of the world’s ambivalence towards its inhabitants… Until I came to this place. This place doesn’t want inhabitants at all. Every plant is inedible. Every creek bed is dry. Though only September, snow covers the mountain peaks. Winter can’t wait to have at us. Can’t wait to join with the land and run us off or kill us. If land can have emotions, this land hates. It hates us. And everyone can feel it.
Elsa被迫穿上了第一集中箭时的白裙子。
The dress felt like a prison built just for me, choking me by the neck and digging into my underarms. Flattening my breasts against my ribcage. It disguises everything that makes me a woman from the glares of jealous women and rapacious men; as if their lack of self-esteem and willpower should be my only concern. I will never live in that world again, where the weak would rather guilt the strong than become strong themselves. No, I will stay in this world. This world doesn’t care what the weak want. This world eats the weak.
中箭后Elsa没有感到疼痛。
I felt no pain. Perhaps it was the fever of the fight. But it didn’t hurt. I thought of pushing it through. I thought better of it. As my father would say, ‘The one good thing about problems, is they’ll still be problems later. Don’t have to deal with them right away.That’s when I knew… I was going to die.
她的父母尽可能让她有活着的感觉，詹姆斯给她的闪电上了鞍。在马背上，Elsa说出了最有力的一次旁白。
I looked at my father, looked past his smile. Saw his worry. Saw something deeper. As if he were already in mourning. As if I were already gone. I felt different, too. Felt as though my soul had been dislodged from… Whatever cavern in our chest the soul is lodged to. It felt loose; disconnected. I looked out at the sagebrush, the colors looked different. Sharper. Looked up at the sky, the clouds seemed to race above us as if new laws applied to time and space above me.I looked back at my father, and I studied his eyes. Looked deep into them. That’s when I knew… I was going to die.
终将死去，那又如何？连星星都会陨落。
Season 1, Episode 10, “This Is Not Your Heaven”
The numbing shock of war is behind me now. Pain has taken its place. Hurts to move. Hurts to breathe. The back of my head throbs with every step of my horse. I look at the world through the hazy lens of fever and somehow see it clearer.What is death? What is this thing we all share? Rabbits, birds, horses, trees. Everyone I love. And everyone who loves me. Even stars die. And we know absolutely nothing of it.
Elsa也对两位牛仔Wade和Colton最后告别。
I wondered what became of them. Wondered if they staked their claim in Wyoming and built sod houses, bought cattle, and tried to scratch a life from this place. Perhaps they fought the winter and braved their way to Oregon; laying stakes in the emerald fields of the valley. But I’d seen too much of this world. Knew too much about the nature of man to think either would be their future. Another future awaited them, and it laid in the abyss of unmarked graves along the Oregon Trail.
第二天早上，Elsa与父亲共骑一匹马。他们在蒙大拿令人忘记呼吸的美景中谈论死亡。
“你看着我就像我即将死去一样。”Elsa对父亲说。他们注视着眼前这片土地，达顿一家和他们的后代将要栖居的天堂。
“我看着你，只看到本来的你：在这个星球上于我最重要的人。我的目光里有焦虑，是因为你无可替代。”詹姆斯对女儿说。
We never spoke of death or dreams again. We never spoke of the pioneers, either. Because there was no need… To survive the frontier, you must learn to recognize those who won’t, and be weary of their doomed decisions. They are to be avoided at all costs. Because their fear is tragedy’s closest cousin. And tragedy is contagious in this place.
太阳再次升起，Elsa来到了她的天堂。在那里，她和Sam重聚在说好的山谷，他们一起骑马，在无人荒径上渐渐走远。极美。
There is a moment where your dreams and your memories merge together and form a perfect world. That is heaven. And each heaven is unique. It is the world of you. The land is filled with all you hold dear. And the sky is your imagination.My heaven is filled with good horses, open plains, wild cattle, and a man who loves me. It is always sunrise in my world. And there are no storms. I am the only lightning. I know death now. I’ve seen it. It had no fangs. It smiled at me. And it was beautiful.
