Trouble’s ahead for 1923‘s Duttons as Sheriff McDowell allows an “inside man” to become a livestock officer against Cara’s instincts.
As the fiery beard of Brian Konowal framed Clyde’s words, we all felt it, right? Clyde walks in unassumingly, then waxes poetic about his ranching accomplishments and disdain for Chicago’s rancid city life about a third of the way through Season 1, Episode 6. Everything feels… Off. This Scottish gent comes out of the blue and is way too good to be true. And Cara Dutton knows it.
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Helen Mirren‘s stoic Dutton matriarch says it best herself to their previous (rejected) applicant:
“I know men. You see, I can look into a man’s eye and know if he can be trusted. If he can maintain his composure while facing adversity; an element of this interview you seem to be failing.”
As both she and her nephew, Jack (Darren Mann) looked Clyde over, they recognized him. Both Dutton guts told them this man was not someone they could trust. But their desperation makes them fold, turning their minds back to why they need livestock agents so badly in the first place.
Throughout this scene, Konowal plays Clyde as a big ol’ teddy bear of a man. “Ma’am, it’s been a pleasure. Thank you for the opportunity,” he says as he takes off his hat with a half-bow.
Cara nods silently in turn. She’s not buying it, but it’s too late. Sherriff McDowell (Robert Patrick) has already tossed Clyde’s badge and paperwork to him across the table. And this was a big, big mistake.
‘1923’s Clyde is a ‘Snake in the Grass’
Clyde has been through hell in Chicago, he says. He’s heavily armed and has enough finances to travel three hours by train from his homestead. Yet he’s just this sweet puppy dog of a man looking for an incredibly high-risk job? I wasn’t buying it, and neither were you, chances are. Yet I will be the first to admit that I did not put two-and-two together during Episode 6. As he did to Jack and Cara, Clyde looked familiar to me. But I couldn’t place him.
The gents over at Taste of Country, however, did just that. Clyde, or Clive as he is also credited on IMDb, first appeared in 1923‘s Season 1, Episode 3. There, and in episodes since, he appeared as a background ally of Jerome Flynn‘s villainous Banner Creighton. That’s right, as ToC totes, Clyde is a genuine “snake in the grass.”
While the Duttons can clearly sense it (to an extent, at least), Robert Patrick plays his Sheriff McDowell as unaware of Clyde’s origins in their Ep. 6 scene. McDowell takes Clyde at his word, a stark contrast to Cara’s confessed ability to read men like a book.
Regardless, whichever way this shakes out, Clyde is about to gain direct access to the Duttons, their plans, and their ranch. And either Sheriff McDowell will come to regret his decision to badge Clyde immensely, or he’s in on the whole thing.
1923 returns Sunday, Feb. 19 for Season 1, Episode 7 exclusively on Paramount Plus.
