In the “Yellowstone” recap, John prepares to make a move against the man who ordered a hit on him but tragedy strikes first while Beth begins orchestrating her plan to stop Market Equities…
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer
If there’s one thing for certain when it comes to “Yellowstone” season 4, the series is making sure everybody knows about the new prequel called “1883” that debuts on Paramount+ this weekend.
The opening scene in the latest episode was another flashback to the time when the Dutton family first landed in Montana after traveling up from Texas as the patriarch James Dutton sought out to avenge some horse thieves crazy enough to steal from him. He stops the thieves while sending a message to anybody else who would bother trying this stunt again but James gets shot in the process and it’s unclear just how much longer he survived.
There’s a parallel to that scene in the final moments of the latest episode after John Dutton and Rip happen upon a robbery in progress at a diner that also involves Sheriff Donnie Haskell, who is sitting down to have some dinner when a couple of tweakers decided to hold the place up.
Needless to say, shots are fired.
More on that later — elsewhere in the episode, Beth begins to systematically dismantle Market Equities’ plans to take over the Yellowstone ranch in the name of progress, Kayce gets some unexpected news from Monica and Jimmy grows closer with his new girl down in Texas.
There’s plenty to dig into so with that said let’s recap the latest episode of “Yellowstone” titled “No Kindness for the Coward”…
Where the Bodies are Buried
Last week saw Jamie Dutton humiliated after he thought he was being endorsed as the next governor of Montana only to see his father step into the spotlight as the man vying for the job he’s coveted for so many years. In the aftermath of that embarrassment, Jamie isn’t sure which way to turn or how he could possibly end up on top while going against his father in a statewide election.
While Jamie has always cowered in John’s shadow, his birth father Garrett Randle refuses to allow him to do that any longer. Garrett reminds Jamie that he’s got as much dirt on John Dutton as anybody in the world and that could be used against him in an election.
Then again, Jamie was the one carrying out many of John’s dirtiest deeds in those days.
Garrett: “You know where all the bodies are buried.”
Jamie: “Yeah, cause I buried them.”
Garrett still isn’t willing to concede that his son can’t become governor so he suggests sitting down with John and deciding on what’s fair game and what’s not when these two start playing politics. Garrett also suggests getting out in front of the narrative where he’s concerned so people will learn that he killed his wife in order to protect Jamie from an addict mother.
Anything else that they don’t want the public to know, Jamie can work to make a judge owe him a favor as state’s attorney general in order to seal those records.
While Garrett’s suggestions start chipping away at Jamie’s doubts, it’s Christina who reminds him why John is running in the first place.
John is only seeking to become governor because he doesn’t want Jamie to have the job.
If John wanted to become governor so badly, why didn’t he run before now because there’s few people with as much influence or power in the state than him. The reason John didn’t run before is because Christina knows he doesn’t actually want the job.
So she suggests Jamie prepare to drop out of the race in order to call his father’s bluff — Christina believes John will follow his son out of the race and install someone else to run instead. That could allow Jamie the opening he needs to make a serious run at the governor’s office without John there to interfere with his campaign.
Jamie tells Christina to call a press conference and then he later calls his father to ask about them sitting down to discuss the race together. Of course, Jamie declines an invite to the ranch for this meeting and John isn’t quite ready to meet his son on middle ground just yet.
Still, Jamie is ready to see if John is serious about making a run at becoming governor or if this is all just a game to ensure that he’s never the one sitting in that set after the upcoming election.
Take One for the Team
It’s the first day for Beth and Rip living in the main lodge at the Yellowstone and she’s convinced that she’s found the perfect man after taking over almost the entire closet while he only needs space for five shirts and a pair of boots.
While Rip goes off to work on the cattle at the Yellowstone, Beth heads into work at Market Equities where she’s greeted by a group of protestors led by Summer Higgins, who have set up shop outside the offices to complain about the airport that’s soon to be built in Montana that will undoubtedly displace or kill thousands of animals.
Inside, Market Equities CEO Caroline Warner is none too happy with this latest development, especially because her hands are largely tied to do much of anything because in addition to the protestors, the local media has suddenly started paying attention to the story.
So Beth offers her an alternative plan — allow the protestors to stay but get rid of the media.
Beth explains that technically they’re trespassing on private property so you get rid of the media and then they can use whatever force necessary to remove the protestors for the same violation except this time there won’t be anyone around to film what’s happening.
After Caroline gives the order, Beth approaches the media outside and tells them to pack up and get out — they are a liability to the company because if anybody just so happens to slip and fall, they could sue Market Equities as a result.
Before leaving, however, Beth befriends one of the local reporters and tells her to hand over her card and promise to stay close because she may just be getting a call on an even bigger story. When the reporter wonders why Beth is offering her this deal, she replies that she’s just nothing more than a concerned citizen.
Later that night when the security team from Market Equities rolls into the compound with guns drawn and firing tear gas into the crowds, Summer calls Beth because this was all part of the plan.
“Time to take one for the team.”
~ Beth
Summer understands the meaning of that as she ends up trying to pull one of the security officers off another protester and she gets blasted before taken down and handcuffed herself. After the protestors are detained — many of them arrested and several injured — they are all being taken out of the compound as the media has already arrived to watch this all unfold.
The next morning everybody in Montana is buzzing about the protests exploding at Market Equities, the woman leading the charge who was arrested and the brutal force used to disperse a crowd of concerned citizens just trying to assemble as within their rights. Caroline is furious because she’s not sure how the media got this information so quickly in order to film the protestors being hauled out in handcuffs and ambulances but this just became an even bigger problem.
Later that night, Beth moves the next piece on the chess board when she calls the New York Times with an anonymous tip for a reporter to look into what’s happening in Montana with Market Equities, which is a company dependent on Wall Street to keep them profitable. Now if the New York Times picks up this story, it becomes a serious problem for Market Equities because at some point the people invested in the company are going to want to see returns rather than protestors being abused on the 6 o’clock news.
While Beth has quite the productive day at work, she can’t quite find the same peace at home after returning to a family dinner at the big table alongside Rip, her father and Carter.
When a sad attempt at pleasant conversation goes awry after Beth starts talking about the time she studied tantra while also discussing her erogenous zone, John has heard enough and even Rip can’t understand why she’s so vengeful about sitting down to this family dinner.
After following her back to another room after Beth leaves the table, Rip discovers that her disdain for that situation really stems from the location and the ridiculous idea that this is all supposed to be one big happy family. Beth has seen more dysfunction at that table than she could talk about with a therapist in her lifetime and it seems like these dinners just bring out the worst in her.
But Rip reminds her that this is a very big house — there are tables everywhere and they’re not stained with the memories of fights with her family.
“Life is plenty hard. You don’t need to help it.”
~ Rip
At Rip’s suggestion, John and Carter join them at this much smaller table in a different part of the house where they share stories and actually enjoy a meal together. John even gifts Carter a rattle from a snake that was once captured on the ranch after telling him the story, which also involved a young Rip jumping into the rafters in the barn to get away from it.
For once, Beth listened to someone else’s advice and it worked out well as she enjoys a nice family dinner perhaps for the first time in her life.
F*ck Like Rabbits
Down in Texas, Jimmy is really acclimating to life at the Four-Sixes Ranch where he’s helping with the horses but after a long day of work, he returns to the stable to find Emily there waiting for him. The pretty young veterinarian assistant who asked him out last week is ready for that date that Jimmy promised but first things first, he needs to get cleaned up.
Of course, Jimmy takes Emily’s advice a little too seriously and he ends up showering in the horse stall. When Jimmy does finish getting ready, he takes Emily to a local diner where they learn more about each other.
That’s when Jimmy tells her about the Yellowstone serving as a chance at redemption for him as a favor to his grandfather but that goodwill ran out after he refused to give up the rodeo and it nearly left him paralyzed. Now Jimmy is stuck in Texas learning how to be a real cowboy but he’s still not so sure that he’s proving himself yet or not.
That’s when the boss of the ranch hands walks in with his wife and greets Jimmy by name while also saying hello to Emily as well. After he leaves for dinner of his own, Emily says that if the boss knows him by name, Jimmy must be doing something right.
Following dinner, Emily and Jimmy play a cute game of how they’ll say goodnight to each other but that ends up with them kissing and eventually taking off their clothes. It’s safe to assume that Jimmy never actually got to tell Emily goodnight.
Back in Montana, Kayce watches a wolf approach the fence near his yard before calling Mo to ask him about predators in the area. Mo doesn’t believe there are any wolves out there but if that’s the case, they’ll deal with it together the next day.
As for Monica, she tells Tate to finish up his bath and that’s when she discovers that her little boy is growing up quicker than expected because he’s hitting puberty. In fact, Tate is hitting puberty so hard that he can’t stand up out of the bathtub out of fear of embarrassment.
So Monica heads outside and tells Kayce that it might be time to have the sex conversation with their son so he understands what’s happening to his body.
Kayce replies that Tate will almost certainly learn all of that on his own not to mention he’s been watching animals breed since he was old enough to walk. In the end, Kayce knows that Tate will eventually meet a girl, they’ll fall in love and then fuck like rabbits until either she gets pregnant or they break up.
Kayce knows that’s how it goes because the same thing happened with him and Monica.
That’s when Monica decides to break a little news to her husband about how they rekindled their romance just recently and the end result was just what Kayce expected to happen.
“We did it again. We fucked like rabbits till I got pregnant.”
~ Monica
Monica reveals that she’s pregnant again and Kayce is about to become a second time father. They also break the news to Tate, who is ready for the chance to be a big brother but he also warns his parents that babysitting doesn’t come cheap.
Tate also jokes about his parents trying to conceal their sex life by telling him that they were taking naps, which only further cements Kayce’s point that his son was already well aware of the birds and the bees.
Hold Up
Back at the ranch, John helps with the cattle before pulling Rip off duty to travel with him into town where he’s planning to sit down with the sheriff to discuss a particularly sensitive matter.
John reveals to Rip that he know the person who helped orchestrate the hit on his family and he’s talking to the sheriff about a potential next step. While Rip suggests just letting him handle it, John informs him that Terrell Riggins is an inmate who will be spending the rest of his life behind bars so there’s no real way to get to him.
But John hopes that the sheriff will help them ensure that Riggins’ life is just about as uncomfortable as possible until the day he dies — and perhaps even his expiration date isn’t far away.
As they arrive at the diner, Rip looks through a window and notices the Sheriff Haskell sitting at his table but he also sees that none of the patrons are actually eating — they’re all just sitting there like statues unable to move. They stop approaching the building in order to take a look around and that’s when Rip and John discover that there are several people inside holding the diners hostage while robbing the place.
Picking a restaurant where the sheriff eats his dinner was probably a bad idea but these tweakers have already committed to the robbery and there’s no turning back now.
So John loads up a rifle and hands over a gun to Rip as they plan to get inside, kill the assailants and hopefully rescue everybody before the diners get killed.
John ends up sneaking through the back where he opens fire and kills one of the gunmen right away while Rip actually breaks a window and drags another one outside where he’s beaten severely and left unconscious.
A third gunman ends up exchanging fire with Sheriff Haskell until John is able to turn his gun back around and end his life with the pull of a trigger.
Finally there’s only one gunman remaining and he’s holding onto a hostage, which only seems to infuriate John even further as the coward hides behind someone else trying to make his getaway. But there’s no way John is going to let this guy live so Rip turns the corner, shoots the gunman in the foot, which forces him to release the hostages as he falls down in pain.
Before the gunman can do much of anything, John cuts him down with another shot from his rifle.
All of the robbers are dead but Sheriff Haskell took several bullets during the exchange and now he’s about to expire as well and his only thought is calling his daughter to say goodbye. Sheriff Haskell gets through but before he can say much of anything, he falls over dead as John picks up the phone to inform his daughter that something tragic has just happened to her father.
The sheriff is dead and now John is left wondering what could have been differently to save his life.
Only two episodes remain in “Yellowstone” season 4 so make sure to come back next week for the penultimate episode on Sunday night at 8 p.m. ET on the Paramount Network.
