Well, there are lots of ways, actually, but I’m thinking of “1883′ which ran initially in 2021 with great work by actors  Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Sam Elliott, and Isabel May. The series about a wagon train heading west was very gritty, but the dialogue and plot were exceptional. Okay, I’ll warn you that there are spoilers here.

The most interesting plot line was the development of the Isabel May character (Elsa) who was the exact opposite of most young women of the era. She could ride better than most of the men and learned to help move the cattle since there was a shortage of men to manage the herd. She had a love affair with a Comanche warrior (Sam)and planned to return to him when the wagons reached their destination.

This was the best character development I’d seen in a Western in a long time, and I’m sure most viewers anticipated her reunion with Sam. However, in episode eight of ten, she is shot during a battle with a Lakota band that thinks people from the wagon train attacked their camp while the men were gone. Her arrow wound is too bad to heal and she ends up dying in the last episode.

I was furious. The writers and producers spent the entire series developing this character (Elsa) and then they kill her off at the last minute. I cry foul. The series should have given us a legitimate ending rather than getting rid of the woman who became the main character.

–Malcolm