Recapping ‘Yellowstone’: A brother-sister showdown, and why did it have to be snakes?
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‘Yellowstone’ Season 5 Recaps
“Yellowstone” is back, and it’s bigger than ever. Check here for episode recaps throughout season 5.
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Season 5, Episode 10: “The Apocalypse of Change”
Spoiler alert: Sometimes, there are things you just don’t want to know, at least not yet. If you’re a true “Yellowstone” fan and you haven’t watched Episode 10, don’t read this yet. Come back. We’ll be here when you’re ready.
Ryan J. Rusak, opinion editor: Episode 10 kicked off with some intense action: a West Texas rattlesnake rodeo.
It’s a quiet night on the prairie, where most of the Yellowstone Ranch cowboys are tending to the cattle. They’re starting a very early day, but where is Teeter?
Just in her tent. Basically paralyzed. With a rattlesnake on her chest.
Rip comes in and grabs the snake with his bare hand. Pretty sure that’s not recommended, but he didn’t have a lot of options. He soon has it outside for a cowboy to crush its head, and Teeter finds another. And there are more.
The hands have mistakenly set up on an old prairie dog range, and the snakes have really taken to the holes they left behind.
Gator, the chef, brings a little comic relief by offering to cook up the rattlers, but the cowboys apparently weren’t quite that hungry.
It’s a great scene, unfolding as a paean to rustic cowboy life, then twisting suddenly to reveal the harsh realities of it. Though, as Harrison Ford, who’s in a “Yellowstone” spinoff famously said in another role: Why did it have to be snakes?
Brayden Garcia, Star-Telegram reporter who covers all things in the Taylor Sheridan universe: Whew, what an opening.
Kudos to Rip for peeling the rattler off and to Walker for giving Teeter a trophy she’ll always remember. If I was in the Yellowstone crew, I’d hop in the truck and drive in any direction until I ran out of gas.
It’s a fun way to start the episode and gives the show’s most underrated character (Gator) room to crack some wild game jokes.
BETH DUTTON IN ALL HER BETH-NESS
Ryan: We remain in the timeline before John Dutton’s death. Beth, rocking to a Miranda Lambert song about being a bad you-know-what, is roaring down a highway when a cop pulls her over. She prepares a flirting routine only to be diverted when the officer turns out to be a woman.
And, according to the patch on her sleeve, she’s a Fort Worth cop. Where she’s patrolling that might have a windmill in a pasture, who knows? The Four Sixes Ranch, Beth’s destination, is about 200 miles west of here, but that kind of geographic accuracy is not what “Yellowstone” is all about.
The officer shows respect for the cattle industry, however, and Beth is soon on her way to kidnap Rip. At first, he’s not having any of it; Rip is, if anything, a field general. But she talks him into a couple of nights in an Amarillo hotel in exchange for arranging such visits from the cowboys’ significant others.
Next, we see the other remaining branch of the Dutton clan — Kayce, Monica and Tate — repairing the house they’ve chosen to live on at the ranch. They’re enjoying each other and the fruits of their labor, so, if you know anything about the Kayce/Monica storyline, terrible things are about to befall them.
Brayden: I enjoyed Beth and Rip’s hotel night out and cozy speakeasy drink.
Beth looks around the bar and realizes there’s no tourists in the Amarillo bar. This prompts Rip to ask her what’s going on in her “big brain,” to which Beth says she’s “just thinking.”
Could this be how “Yellowstone” moves forward? A new season set in Texas with Rip and Beth figuring out love and loss in the Lone Star State? Maybe not, but I found it interesting that she’s “thinking” about Texas a whole lot.
I too wonder if darker days will continue to follow Kayce and Monica. I mean, the couple have already lost a child and a father this season, what’s next?
SETTING UP THE FIGHT OVER JOHN DUTTON’S DEATH
Ryan: We jump forward and Rip is back at the ranch, trying to help sort out the aftermath of John’s death, which of course no one believes was self-inflicted. Lloyd asks Rip if they are joining the fight. Rip, in a cool assessment of what they Duttons might be up against, answers: “If we can figure out who to fight and how to fight them.”
Next, Beth discovers Summer — the environmental activist/girlfriend John had living at the ranch — and gives her the boot. She conveniently informs Summer that her “house arrest” was made up and dismisses her with a kind word and best wishes.
Nah, of course not. Beth drives her off the ranch in a ride from one of the cowboys, berating her the entire way.
Rip soon tries to see Carter, the orphan that the Duttons have taken in, who is grieving John as another in a long line of people who have “quit” on him. Rip assures him that’s not the case and that his place at the ranch is secure and then gets him up to get to work.
A similar scene unfolds between Kayce and Tate, as the father tries to explain to the son the choice that is before him: If he wants to run the ranch, he can have it, but Kayce has to know to make it happen. He tries to help Tate cope with his grandfather’s death, but it’s clear Kayce still doesn’t have his own arms around it yet.
Brayden: Oh yeah, Summer, honestly forgot about the whole house arrest storyline. Man, when Beth hates someone she sure hates them with every fiber of her being.
While the main father figure of “Yellowstone” is gone, there’s still plenty of fatherhood coming from Kayce and Rip. Kayce and Tate’s scene in particular left an emotional wallop on me.
BETH, JAMIE AND SARAH — TWO BATTLES WITH MORE TO COME
Ryan: Here comes the confrontation of the episode: Beth is waiting in Jamie’s office. She slaps him three times — and honestly, that seemed restrained — and says she knows why he can’t look at her (meaning she blames him for John’s death).
On Beth’s way out, she runs into (literally) Jamie’s girlfriend Sarah, the Market Equities executive for whom he’s undertaking the takeover of the ranch. Beth gives Sarah a hard shove, but she’s undeterred. It may be foreshadowing that this is one war Beth can’t win with just her usual intimidation tactics.
Kayce calls an old military friend and asks for help tracking people who might be doing “black work.” The pal gives him some info but warns him that it’s a dangerous world to dip into. Monica briefly sees the darkness that is descending on her husband, another moment to remember when the sparks really start to fly.
Back in the attorney general’s office, Jamie outlines his plan to gain control of the ranch, estimating it can be done in about a year. Want some help running for governor, a Market Equities executive asks? Don’t mind if I do, Jamie says.
As the episode wraps up, we’re back with the cowboys on the range, minus Rip, starting a long day of work and reminding us the legacy that’s ultimately at stake as the Duttons prepare for civil war.
Brayden: Oh yeah, we were really cooking with gas in this last sequence.
Beth’s shoulder check and shove of Sarah was a nice bit of action in an emotional episode. I agree with my co-writer, in that Sarah taking all of Beth’s rage on the chin is symbolic of an uneasy road ahead.
Jamie better batten down the hatches, Beth now knows the truth. Here’s hoping the Dutton Civil War reaches an inflection point next episode.
RANDOM OBSERVATIONS ON EPISODE 10
From Ryan:
- Can we get a little help on the timeline? If the episodes are going to jump back and forth, can we get a warning, or a “six weeks later” or whatever will help us keep track? This is “Yellowstone,” not “Inception.”
- Life is one big commercial: At several points, “Yellowstone” has devolved into an extended commercial for various pieces of the Taylor Sheridan empire. Witness the several extended ads for his new show, “Landman,” which is heavy on the Fort Worth references. But the advertising for his Four Sixes ranch reached a new level Sunday, with the cop who pulled over Beth telling her to thank Rip for his work. And then there was the Four Sixes vodka, the only choice available at the Amarillo hotel where Beth holes up with Rip for a couple of days. Have some in your Four Sixes glassware before you tear into that Four Sixes ribeye, seasoned with a Four Sixes spice blend, of course.
- What now? Did y’all know that the actress who plays rough-and-tumble cowgirl Teeter, Jennifer Landon, is the daughter of Michael Landon of “Little House on the Prairie” and “Highway to Heaven” fame? Oh, and an award winning soap actress. Mind. Blown.
- Line of the night: OK, it’s more of an exchange: Beth, sipping a cocktail at the hotel bar: “Mmm. That is a [bleepin] drink.” Bartender: “Yeah, I made a judgment call. I went heavy on the vodka.” Beth: “You’re a smart man.”
- Bring on this television event: When Kayce calls his former military pal, asking for some “black work,” the fellow “Yellowstone” junkie who lives in my house quipped: “Are y’all gonna call Barry?” That would be Bill Hader’s troubled assassin character from the very dark HBO comedy “Barry.” It would be a brilliant crossover.
From Brayden:
- Good call on the Four Sixes overlord in this episode. I understand lifting up the legendary ranch, but it feels like we’re watching HSN with all the product placement. Hurry, call now!
- The actor who plays Kayce’s old military pal is Jake McLaughlin, who television fans may remember from “Quantico” or the currently airing “Will Trent.”
- As far as Texas references this episode, I counted the mention of a couple cities: Amarillo and San Angelo.
This story was originally published November 18, 2024 at 5:23 AM.
