How did ‘Yellowstone’ end? Recapping an emotional finale to an epic series
Season 5, Episode 14: “Life is a Promise”
Spoiler alert: Look, at this point, if you read an article about “Yellowstone” without watching the finale, that’s on you. We’re gonna spoil the heck out of it here, obviously. So if that’s not your thing, go watch the episode, feel all the feels, and come back to check out our takes on the end of middle America’s obsession.
Ryan J. Rusak, opinion editor: Once Kevin Costner left “Yellowstone,” the end of the series felt rushed and uncertain. We can only judge what was on our screens, and for all the faults of the final season, Sunday night’s series-wrapping episode delivered emotional punch and, mercifully, resolution.
The episode begins with a gripping action scene. Dozens of members of the Broken Rock Indian tribe are on horseback, decked out with war paint. They drag pieces of pipe meant to run under their water source out onto the lake and roll them off to sink. It’s quite an operation and, finally, a sign that the tribe’s long-neglected story is about to move fast.
After the opening credits, we’re at the Yellowstone ranch for a bunkhouse scene where Travis Wheatley, played by series creator Taylor Sheridan, is departing after helping the ranch sell off its prized horses. It’s one last chance for Taylor, er, Travis, to strut his stuff, cracking jokes and busting chops.
Teeter, the forlorn ranchhand mourning the death of boyfriend Colby, asks Travis for a job at his ranch in Texas. He grudgingly agrees and, never one to miss a moment to be a jerk, hands her cash for an audiobook on how to speak English. As obnoxious as the character is, it’s a much-needed acknowledgment that whatever accent actress Jennifer Landon thinks she’s doing comes across as a speech impediment, not a southern drawl.
Inside the main house, Beth shows Rip a ranch for sale online. It’s got a lot going for it: Plenty of acreage for a cattle operation, distance from the airport (and the encroaching development) and far from any town. Rip likes it, which is good, because Beth already bought it! Rip asks who’s gonna run the Yellowstone. He still doesn’t seem to have figured out (or accepted) what’s about to happen.
Soon, it’s morning, and Beth lights a cigarette in the house, as if to say she’s done with the place. When the funeral home calls to say that her father’s body is finally ready for burial, she is stricken. Rip promises to dig the grave that day — next to where Beth’s mother is buried. Meanwhile, the cowboys are getting ready for the day when Rip comes into the bunkhouse. He asks the hands where they’re headed — a handy way to quickly resolve their stories — and asks for help digging the grave.
Brayden Garcia, Star-Telegram reporter who covers all things in the Taylor Sheridan universe: An emotional punch is a good way to describe this series, I mean, season finale.
It’s always good to check back in with the bunkhouse crew and enjoy one last laugh with the hands. They’ve always been the backbone of the show and a different flavor to the heavy family drama. That’s the part of the show I’ll miss the most.
YELLOWSTONE RANCH ENDS UP BACK IN ITS ORIGINAL HANDS
Ryan: The tribe’s security head, Mo Brings Plenty, asks Chairman Thomas Rainwater if the sabotage will stop the pipeline. It’ll anger the people behind it, they’ll make noise, and then people will pay attention, the chairman responds, promising to answer with “noise of our own.” We never hear another word about it, so I guess we’ll have to assume that’s how it goes down.
Next comes the fateful meeting at Kayce and Monica’s place. Kayce explains that the Dutton siblings can’t afford the taxes to keep the ranch. He explains that his vision from Season 4 showed him he had to choose between saving the ranch or his family. But he has realized, he explains, that while he can’t save both for himself, both can be saved. So he strikes a deal: He keeps the “east camp” for a small ranch and sells the rest to the tribe for $1.25 an acre, an insanely low price. In exchange, the tribe must agree to never alter or develop the land.
Rainwater’s agreement is poignant: “It’s sacred,” he says of the land. “And that’s how we will treat it.”
The two complete the agreement with a blood-brothers ritual, and Mo sings. It’s a powerful scene, but nowhere as gut-wrenching as what follows.
Brayden: Great, great scene between Rainwater and Kayce.
All fingers were pointing toward the reservation getting the ranch, but seeing it play out and how much Kayce sold it for, was special.
‘YELLOWSTONE’ SAYS GOODBYE TO JOHN DUTTON
When the cowboys have finished the grave, Rip and Lloyd rest. A hawk soars over, and they take it as a sign.
Meanwhile, Jamie Dutton is rehearsing his statement as attorney general, forecast in the previous episode. He tries to honor his father’s legacy and vows, on behalf of the people of Montana, to get to the bottom of the governor’s murder.
Rip and Beth are walking down to the funeral site, but Beth takes off. Rainwater is there, having been with Jamie when Beth called to tell him the ceremony was on. Beth signs off on Rainwater being present, noting that he’ll now be the steward of John’s legacy.
What follows is one of the biggest emotional punches in all of “Yellowstone.” John’s coffin is in the barn, and Beth has a final moment, telling him: “We won.” Carter escorts Beth to the grave site. Her grief turns to anger and her final words to her father are: “I will avenge you.”
When it’s over, Rip decides to lower the coffin and fill the grave himself.
Back at the ranch, chef Gator is preparing a feast — rib-eyes, beans, sourdough biscuits and blueberry cobbler. “His favorites,” John’s longtime friend and lover Lynnelle Perry says. Beth changes clothes, grabs a knife and bear spray, and takes off in a huff.
Rip has his final moment at the grave, struggling with what to say to John. He ends with a simple word of thanks and a promise to take care of Beth. Classic Rip.
Brayden: Loved the choice to position John’s casket in the barn, a place near and dear to his heart.
Using the cowboys as pallbearers was an inspired choice and a nice sendoff for the older Dutton. Beth’s final words were touching and fiery, just like the woman herself.
Rip’s final gesture of drawing a “Y” in the grave dirt had me misty-eyed.
THE GOODBYES BEGIN ON ‘YELLOWSTONE’
Ryan: Jamie delivers his big statement, and it goes well. He’s feeling pretty good about himself — for a minute.
Ryan becomes the first cowboy to leave the ranch. It’s poignant as he says goodbye to each of his colleagues. But suddenly, Rip and Lloyd take off suddenly — Rip has figured out what his wife is about to do. He calls and begs her to pull over, which she immediately does.
As if, right? No, Beth is shown waiting at Jamie’s house, where she clubs him with a crowbar and blasts him with bear spray. But he fights back — Jamie is mentally weak, but he, too, has a couple of murders under his belt, remember? Soon, Beth is back up with the crowbar, but Jamie knocks her down and tells her she’s going to take the fall for John’s murder and the scheme to develop the ranch.
She tells him about the ranch sale and laughs at his reaction. An enraged Jamie is close to strangling her, but Rip arrives just in time. Before Rip can do the deed, Beth stops him and plunges the huge knife she brought into her brother.
Beth swears she has a plan and tells Rip (more or less) what to do. Here we go for one last trip to the train station!
First, though, in a weird piece of sequencing, we cut to Kayce and Rainwater signing the deal to sell the ranch. Rainwater calls it the worst land deal since Indians sold Manhattan, a rare moment of humor for this episode. But, he tells Kayce, the ranch will never change. Kayce is overwhelmed and heads out of the house.
Brayden: We’ve been building to a Beth and Jamie fight all season and boy, did it deliver.
Kicks and punches and bear spray, oh my! It’s a good thing Beth and Rip have an eternal life bond, because she was cutting it close in those final moments.
Getting bear sprayed and a knife in the chest, that’s one hell of a way to go, Jamie.
I will say, why does this man have two gallons of milk in the fridge? There’s no way he drinks those before they expire, well, I guess it doesn’t matter now.
BETH DUTTON GETS AWAY WITH MURDER
Ryan: Back at Jamie’s house, police and EMTs are helping Beth, who’s in pretty bad shape. An officer tells Detective Dillard, who has been investigating John’s murder, the story Beth outlined: That she came to confront Jamie, he attacked her, she fought back and he took off. She further lays out the story that Jamie ordered the hit on John, Sarah arranged it and tells the detective what to look for to prove it.
Then we’re at the train station. Lloyd and Rip dump the body, then dump and burn Jamie’s car. According to a news report, Beth is watching in her hospital room; this is taken as a sign that Jamie destroyed evidence and disappeared. Well, that worked out pretty easily!
HOW ‘YELLOWSTONE’ FINALLY ENDS
Teeter arrives at Travis’ operation, and it’s the usual Taylor Sheridan show as he directs Teeter to a horse and berates Jimmy.
Next, it’s Ryan at Billy Bob’s Texas to catch up with his old flame, Abby, played by real-life country superstar Lainey Wilson. He tells her that he screwed up not going with her when he had the chance. “You’re my Super Bowl,” he says, and somehow, that line works.
Rip, Beth and Kayce share a final scene at the ranch. The barns and house are empty. Beth asks Kayce if she wants anything from John’s office. “I spent my whole life trying to get away from this place,” he says. “Seems silly to cling to his things now.” Beth points out that Tate might want them someday, and to know about John’s legacy, “a story worth telling.” It’s a rare moment of subtlety and wisdom from her.
Rip offers Kayce the ranch’s main sign, and he declines, saying he wants to start his own brand. We soon see Kayce and Tate at a cattle auction, carrying the legacy forward in their own way.
Soon, the tribe is working on tearing down the ranch house. It’s ceremonial, with drums and chants. Rainwater is overwhelmed at the completion of his years-long quest, even if it’s not exactly as he envisioned.
We see Indian kids knocking over Dutton tombstones. Mo stops them, explaining that the Duttons fought and died to protect the land, and puts the stone back. We end with a voiceover (ugh, really?) from Elsa Dutton, the “1883” character, who rounds out the story of her family watching over the valley for 141 years.
At the end, Kayce and his family are getting their cattle delivered. Rip and Carter are herding on their new ranch. Beth tells Rip about a bar in town, with a hitching post and no tourists.
The final shot is a long view of their new ranch, with Willie Nelson singing “My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys.” Like most things with Willie, it is pitch perfect.
Brayden: And I thought “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” had a lot of endings.
Only joking, this is a huge show with many characters all over. I’m glad to see Ryan finally happy after Colby’s death, but I agree that the Super Bowl line was not good.
Kayce’s journey has been the most compelling storyline this season, and I’m glad to see him get his own slice of heaven. Finally free from his father and the ranch, Kayce can now make his own legacy.
Beth finally gets her own family, with Rip and Carter. It’s touching to see her happy and making her way with the people she loves. The sun will always shine tomorrow.
BOTTOM LINE ON THE ‘YELLOWSTONE’ FINALE
Ryan: We’ll never know if this was the way the series would have ended had the business — and egos — of Hollywood not interfered. If Costner had been around to see John Dutton through, would he have fought to the end? Would everyone involved have been so eager to get to spinoffs, side projects and new streaming opportunities? Would the ending have felt as rushed as it ultimately did?
One thing is clear: Once the end of the ranch was forecast in “1883,” the ranch had to end up back in the Broken Rock tribe’s hands. Were we deprived an epic confrontation between Dutton and Rainwater?
The finale (both the episode and the way the story ended) was not perfect. Rip and Beth are stone-cold killers who rode off into the sunset. Jamie’s demise was unrealistic to the point of absurdity.
All you can really ask is for the story to be faithful to itself, for the characters’ dramas to be resolved and for an enjoyable ride — raw emotion and memorable moments. On those counts, “Yellowstone” always delivered. And so it did as it ended.
Brayden: As a new viewer, it felt like the show was hitting another level this season with John becoming governor, and I’m bummed that we’ll never get that full vision.
Losing your main star is a death sentence for any show, especially one built on his presence. Albeit a bumpy flight, the plane did land safely.
This isn’t the last we’ll hear from the Duttons. Season 2 of “1923” hits Paramount+ in February and “The Madison,” a “Yellowstone” spinoff, is also on the way.
As long as the pen is in Taylor Sheridan’s hands, the Duttons will be there.
RANDOM OBSERVATIONS ON EPISODE 14
From Ryan:
Notes on drinking: Beth slugs back a fair bit of Tito’s before John’s funeral. Jamie pours a Buffalo Trace before his sister bashes him with the crowbar. But the best moment was when Beth gets a smoothie in the hospital, with a couple tabs of oxycodone for what must be considerable pain. She refuses the drugs but dumps a considerable amount of Tito’s in the drink. As Frank Sinatra used to say, whatever gets you through the night.
Not to be picky, but because it’s a Fort Worth icon, we should note that normally at Billy Bob’s, tables crowd the stage. In the show, the entire front area is shown as standing room only, which conveniently allows Ryan to get close to see Abby. Usually for concerts at the venue, tables crowd the pit, and standing room means standing on the rail well off to the sides.
Line of the night: When Beth has her moment with John’s coffin, she spells it all out: “You made me promise not to sell an inch. And I hope that you understand that this is me keeping it. There may not be cows on it, but there won’t be condos, either. We won.”
From Brayden:
The venue Abby (Lainey Wilson) is playing at is Billy Bob’s Texas in Fort Worth. “The World’s Largest Honky Tonk” has been a staple in Fort Worth since 1981.
Voiceover from Elsa Dutton (Isabel May) is heard toward the end of the episode. Elsa was a major character in the “Yellowstone” prequel series “1883” and narrates the events of the other precursor, “1923.”
Line of the night is from Beth who says, “I will avenge you.” It’s short and to the point, just like Beth has always been.
While billed as the season finale, I think this is the end of this version of the show. Ahead of Sunday’s episode, new reports suggest that a spinoff featuring Beth and Rip is in the works. The story of Yellowstone may continue in another show, but I doubt we’ll ever get a true sixth season.
I’m a newbie to this show and have only seen Season 5 thus far. However, now with things in the rear view, I think I’m going to go back and start from square one.
One last note. Thanks for following along to these recaps, Ryan and I have enjoyed putting them together. We’ll see you down the road.
Editor’s note: Updated Monday morning to more accurately reflect the set-up at Billy Bob’s Texas.
This story was originally published December 15, 2024 at 11:03 PM.
