I'm Reeling From 'Yellowstone' S5, E6's Death
When we last left the Dutton ranch, Beth and Summer were beating the snot out of each other.
At least romance is alive for one couple in Yellowstone.
As things heat up in Paradise Valley, next week also brings the premiere of 1923, which stars Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren.
When we last left the Dutton ranch, Beth and Summer were beating the snot out of each other. The women clonked each other in the face until it seemed like Beth won, leaving Summer to return to the dinner table bloody and bruised.
Without getting into whatever ideological battle the brawl settled, this week’s episode sets Yellowstone Season Five back on track. If Beth was all about declaring “this is my fucking house” in Episode Five, her arc this episode is about remembering that there’s far greater threats to the Duttons than her daddy’s little girlfriend.
The next morning, four helicopters descend on the Broken Rock Reservation, with tactical secret security teams pouring out to guard a presidential event that was planned without Chairman Thomas Rainwater’s approval.
Mo arrives on the site, just as the police start gunning down dogs because they believe they are stray threats. But... the dogs are just people’s pets on the reservation. Psychos! When Rainwater arrives, he finds out that the menacing Angela Blue Thunder set up the event.
The President is preparing to offer his support for Rainwater’s competitor to the chairmanship: a young man named Martin. “Obama visited Standing Rock two years before he tried to run a pipeline through it,” Rainwater tells her. “Presidents don’t see us.” Sure, President Obama tried to cancel the pipeline following the protests—and it was only completed after an override from the Trump Administration—but Rainwater’s still (mostly) right. It’s clear that people in positions of power in the U.S. don’t really give much time to the needs of our reservations.
Back on the ranch, the Duttons do some real cowboying, rounding up all the cattle. Rip finds Beth an empty meadow to lay in together after a day of work. “I could live here, and never see another person in my life except you,” she says. “I don’t need anything else. Cigarettes, whiskey, and meadow.”
At least romance is alive for one couple in Yellowstone. Ominously, the shadow of death comes in the night for the cattle crew. The reaper takes an old ranch hand, Emmett Walsh (Buck Taylor), who was hired for the job.
Fans of Yellowstone may recall his previous appearance in the Season Three finale. Walsh was the Chairman of the Stockgrowers Association, and he was in Kayce's office when the Beck Brothers attempted to assassinate the Dutton family. Walsh was so enamored with Kayce that he suggested that Kayce run for Governor. Yellowstone would go in a different direction, however, and give it to his father.
"I couldn’t dream of a better death if you paid me," John Dutton says when he finds him, passed away in his sleep. "You sure earned it, old friend." Later, he tells the old man’s widow that her husband died “as a cowboy should.”
Preparing for the cattle branding, Summer helps Monica peel potatoes. Monica says that “cities are the opposite of nature,” as she explains what she finds so beautiful about Paradise Valley. “They defy [nature], which is why they always crumble,” she continues. “These mountains have been around for 80 million years, and they’ll be around for millions more. Name a city that will stand that long.”
Following Beth’s lead, Monica continues to shame this season’s stand-in for the modern metropolitan leftist. There could have been a real opportunity—with Summer’s reintroduction to the series—for everyone to learn more about each other and where they come from. But so far, Yellowstone has only used Summer to solidify the Dutton's family values. Of course, it’s also no surprise that the Duttons are stuck in their ways. This family wouldn’t be fighting for the right to keep their generational land if they weren’t.
Meanwhile, Jamie wakes up in bed with Sarah Atwood once again. She’s supposedly still working for Market Equities as a contractor tasked with destroying the Dutton family from the inside out.
“I’m trying to figure out what you’re doing here,” Jamie tells her. Atwood takes offense to him insinuating that she's being paid to have sex with him—but in the last episode, she all but confirmed to Jamie that she wasn't being genuine in their relationship. She changes to the conversation to the governorship. Specifically: why did it go to his father instead of him? Maybe Jamie is stupid if he can’t see through Sarah.
“Help me win governor,” Jamie promises as they have shower sex, “and I’ll give you your airport.” Later that night, a news report tells the heroic story of how Governor Dutton comforted a widow following cowboy Emmett Walsh's "last ride." Jamie says that his father will be hard to beat in a fair fight if he challenges him for Governor. “I don’t think we can let him show up to fight, Jamie,” Sarah responds. Chills!
As things heat up in Paradise Valley (quite literally, as Episode Five introduced a raging wildfire in the distance), next week also brings the premiere of 1923, which stars Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren.
We'll be back to shootin', tootin', and rootin' for the Dutton family to protect their ranch as we head into the holidays—especially since the prequel series' trailer promises an action-heavy drama. See you then, cowboys.
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