In the “Yellowstone” recap, the Dutton family prepares for the annual branding while Beth and Summer’s rivalry finally boils over…
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer
The moment Governor John Dutton decided to use his power to commute Summer Higgins’ sentence and bring her home to the Yellowstone-Dutton ranch, he had to know that was going to cause an awful lot of problems with the other woman in his life.
Beth Dutton is nothing if not fiercely loyal — to a fault at times — but she definitely doesn’t want to see some hippie environmentalist skulking around her father much less seeing that woman sleep in her mother’s bed. Nevermind the fact that John promised Summer’s return was in a purely professional capacity, Beth needs to mark her territory and that’s something the newest house guest finds out rather emphatically in the newest episode of “Yellowstone.”
Last week also saw Jamie Dutton meet up with Sarah Atwood — the cunning hitwoman sent to infiltrate the Dutton family by Market Equities— and just like clockwork he fell into her trap. Well, not to be overly crude, but he actually fell right into her as they ended up having sex in the backroom of a club where they met for dinner, all while Beth was keeping a watchful eye on them from a nearby booth.
As for Kayce and Monica, they laid their baby boy to rest a week ago as the couple continues to mourn the tragic and unexpected loss of their child. Monica has been almost catatonic at times since the car accident that left her injured and resulted in her baby’s death. This week Kayce finally lets his emotions be shown before Monica insists on a little family time to try and get them back on track together.
A large part of the newest episode begins moving the family towards the annual branding — where the young calves joining the herd are marked with the symbol for the Yellowstone-Dutton ranch — and an event that John decides to use as a way to not only reunite his family under one roof but to help remind the people of Montana why they voted for him as governor.
With that said, let’s recap the latest episode of “Yellowstone” titled “Watch ‘Em Ride Away”…
Remind Them Who We Are
It’s early morning on the Yellowstone-Dutton ranch but Beth Dutton is already stirring while still being haunted by memories of the past from her relationship with Rip while both were growing up together. While Rip has long since moved past those tumultuous times, Beth just can’t forget it — or at least she’s still being haunted by it in her dreams.
Waking up filled with regret isn’t something Rip wants for his wife as he gives her a reminder that the only thing he thinks about is the present day and tomorrow — yesterdays are only there to fill you with regret.
Of course, Beth isn’t done with her reckoning for this morning because she also feels the need to confront her father about the new houseguest that’s joined them. Beth doesn’t trust Summer Higgins whatsoever and she doesn’t believe the environmentalist is there to help him as governor but rather hurt every bit of the agenda he’s attempting to build for the state.
Beth knows that whether it’s environmental agencies, companies like Market Equities or past rivals like Dan Jenkins, the real objective always comes down to one thing — taking away a piece of the Yellowstone-Dutton Ranch.
“They want the land, dad. That is all you need to understand.”
~ Beth Dutton
For now, John’s got bigger concerns as he moves his administration back to the ranch for a few days while his cowboys are planning for the annual branding for the calves that will be joining the herd. It’s a big event on the ranch — one that John refuses to miss even if that means leaving his office in Helena unattended for a few days while he tends to work on his ranch.
He works with Rip on plans to drive the herd back down into the main ranch, which will require extra help from outside workers and a trip deep into the heart of the Yellowstone to retrieve the cattle. The plan is to spend two days out in the wilderness to slowly drive the herd back down into the ranch before branding the spring calves.
While this has largely been a private affair amongst ranchers over the years, John decides he’s going to turn this one into an event so people can remember what it is they do in Montana.
“Nobody knows what the hell we do anymore. It’s time to remind them.”
~ John Dutton
The same goes for John’s agenda in his new job as Governor after his assistant Clara is shocked to hear he’s cancelling all of his meetings for the next few days. Rather than dismiss his gubernatorial duties, Clara suggests an alternative — invite the right people to attend the annual branding and the Governor can knock out two weeks’ worth of meetings in just a few days.
That sounds like music to John’s ears as he tells his assistant to load him up once they’ve returned from gathering the herd.
As the cowboys prepare for a rough couple of days ahead, Summer makes her way out to watch them work while she also notices an awful lot of smoke billowing up from over the hills. Carter tells her that it’s a fire in the forest that starts every year when lightning strikes the dry wood and there’s no much that can be done about it until God decides to put it out.
When Summer reminds him that it’s nature that makes the rain, Carter answers back by essentially telling her that’s exactly what he already said. Summer is obviously struggling to deal with her new surroundings — a stranger in a strange land if you will — but she’ll learn a lot more before this episode is over.
The Needs of the Few
Out at Kayce’s home, he’s by himself sitting on the porch when the weight of everything that’s been happening to his family finally overwhelms him. He breaks down in tears when Monica comes out to comfort him while remembering that she’s been leaning on Kayce so much that he’s barely had any time of his own to mourn the loss of their son.
During their conversation, Monica tells Kayce that she doesn’t want him to quit his job — and she refuses to let any of that come between them. Monica knows that Kayce blames himself for the loss of their child after she was forced to drive herself to the hospital because he was hours away on a job for the Livestock Commission but she refuses to believe that’s true.
Kayce didn’t cause her to go into labor early and him being at work didn’t cause them to lose their child.
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As for the here and now, Monica tells Kayce that John called to remind them about the annual branding happening at the ranch and he’s invited their entire family to attend. Monica believes it’s the perfect distraction they need right now to get their minds off tragedy for at least a few days.
When they arrive at the ranch, John couldn’t be any happier to see his son, his daughter-in-law and his grandson there to join them. After greeting his family, John walks back towards the barn when Clara asks if that is his youngest son — the patriarch of the Dutton clan answers back that is his only son.
As for Jamie Dutton, he’s back at work at the attorney general’s office when he receives an unexpected visit from Sarah Atwood.
At first, he apologies for their unprofessional encounter — having sex in a public bathroom is probably considered unprofessional no matter your job unless your occupation is porn star — but he knows they also share a working relationship with the ongoing battle between her employer, the state of Montana and his family.
Jamie does acknowledge that the two of them having sex would force both of them to be recused from the case if any lawsuit makes it to trial, although he reminds her that the state of Montana hires outside litigators for those purposes anyways so he couldn’t be involved even if he wanted.
Rather than argue with Jamie about jurisprudence, she instead decides to teach him a lesson about being unprofessional as she unbuttons her dress and stands in front of him with barely a stitch of clothing on her body while Jamie sits on his desk as the Attorney General of Montana.
And finally as Rip starts getting together clothes and gear to give to Carter so he can join them on the gathering, he’s visited by his wife because Beth has decided she wants to go along for the trip as well.
When Rip scoffs at that suggestion momentarily because Beth doesn’t like horses, she doesn’t like camping and she definitely doesn’t enjoy being out in the middle of nowhere without any food or comforts of home, she fires back that perhaps while he’s gone a weekend trip to Las Vegas should be in store instead.
After telling his wife to put the crazy away, Rip remembers who he’s dealing with because he realizes that all Beth really wants is to feel wanted. So Rip goes out of his way to make sure she feels not only invited to join the gathering but that her presence is absolutely necessary.
These two really know how to balance each other out.
With the argument over, Beth taps into her crazy just a little bit after Rip picks her up, tosses her onto a shelf and the two of them proceed to enjoy a moment of privacy together.
The Gathering
With the trip to round up the herd happening in the morning, John decides to stage a family dinner so he can have all of his loved ones at the same table despite the problems that always seem to arise whenever that happens.
John even asks that Beth, Rip and Carter join them at dinner so they can eat together as a family for once. He warns his daughter that if she can’t be nice that she shouldn’t talk at all, which pretty much just serves as an appetizer to what Beth will soon unleash.
At the dinner table, Beth wastes no time celebrating the family dinner where they are also joined by John’s assistant and a hooker aka Summer Higgins. A moment later, Gator arrives with the main course for the evening — a variety of game that he’s killed and cooked for the dinner.
Of course, Summer is vegan so none of this sits well with her and she’s happy to remind Gator about that while questioning how he killed a poor, innocent deer foraging for food so he could cook them venison. She informs Gator that ducks mate for life and he just killed several of them to provide food for the dinner but the roasted doves really get her upset.
“You’re serving the fucking bird of peace for dinner?”
~ Summer Higgins
When Kayce answers back that doves taste pretty good and Monica bursts out in laughter at how fucking uncomfortable this dinner has become in rapid-fire fashion, Beth decides to invite Summer to join her on a walk where they will have a chat away from the prying eyes of the people at this table.
Summer decides to join her, much to Rip’s chagrin, but John believes this is the best possible way for his daughter and his new environmental consultant to settle their problems.
Outside the walk quickly turns into a fight when Beth punches Summer and the supposed hippie counters by nearly choking out John Dutton’s only daughter while educating her that she’s done nine years of jiu-jitsu, bitch. The women bloody and batter each other for several minutes until Rip finally can’t take it anymore and he walks outside to find his wife and Summer rolling on the ground like a couple of children.
“Do you think you’re going to beat the other one into respecting your opinion? Hell, I don’t even know how you can respect yourselves.”
~ Rip Wheeler
Rip first turns to his wife while asking Beth if this is the kind of behavior that she wants Carter to learn after just telling him that she was attempting to teach the boy some manners. As for Summer, Rip reminds her that insulting someone in their own home and mocking them is probably the last possible way to get them to understand her way of thinking.
Summer has to remember that she’s a guest and insulting her host, his children and the dinner they’re being served isn’t making any kind of attempt to ingratiate herself to the new surroundings, especially after she was just eating prison slop two days ago.
But neither woman is ready to budge so Rip insists that they stop scrapping with each other and instead trade punches until one or both are ready to quit. After a few shots land, Summer falls to the ground crying but much to her surprise it’s Beth that offers her a hand to get back to her feet.
Beth then offers Summer a reminder about where she’s standing.
Beth: “This is my fucking house. You will show me and everyone in it respect, do you understand?”
Summer: “What respect to I get?”
Beth: “You get exactly what you give.”
While it’s highly unlikely that Beth and Summer will ever be friends, they’ve at least reached some sort of understanding through sharing blood together on the lawn. Before heading back inside, Summer suggests they clean up but Beth says she’s not embarrassed to show her family what she’s done — and so they both sit back down at the dinner table, bleeding and cut from the fight that just ended.
After watching Summer struggle through eating mashed potatoes thanks to the multiple punches she just endured, John puts an end to the dinner and leaves to have a drink with Rip before both retire for the night.
It’s there that John laments about the way of the world and how resolutions are reached now — his family settled this valley through fighting and battling for what was theirs but now that same fight seems like a liability, especially with how problems are solved these days.
“Cowards rule the world these days, Rip. With coward rules and coward customs. To succeed today all you’ve got to know is how to blame and how to complain. I truly believe it’s survival of the unfittest these days.”
~ John Dutton
Rip definitely doesn’t disagree, especially after the spectacle he just witnessed at dinner and then with his wife and John’s ex-lover beating the shit out of each other to finally solve their differences.
In a way, John actually envies the way Beth handles herself — constantly confronting her issues with enough blunt force trauma that rarely do her opponents dare to stand up again. John knows he’s failed as a father with many of his children, especially with one dead in the ground and another all but dead to him while still very much alive. Little does she know it but Beth is probably the child that makes John the proudest because she turned out the most like her father.
The Morning After
At breakfast the next day, there’s no more fighting but everyone is fueling up for what lies ahead. When John rises from the table, the rest of his family follows behind without saying a word, which is a strange phenomenal as Summer sits as the last one there.
She eventually follows outside where John is gathering his cowboys along with all of the extra help that’s arrived to lend a hand to gather the herd. Even Beth is up on horseback preparing for the drive when Summer asks what she’s supposed to do while he’s gone — she’s not even sure what to do while John is actually at home either.
That’s when Beth suggests that perhaps Summer get to know the land a little bit — take a walk around and see what the Yellowstone-Dutton ranch has to offer.
“You’ll understand us better. Tell me if there is a forest in America in better shape or more loved and then tell me we’re the enemy.”
~ Beth Dutton
John gathers the troops as they prepare to head out for what he hopes will be a two-day journey to gather the herd and bring them back to the ranch for branding. He reminds them that the terrain where they will be traveling won’t offer any place to sleep so it will be empty stomachs and cold backs for a couple of days while they get the job done — but that’s just the life of a cowboy.
As everyone rides away, Monica watches her husband and son smiling and thumping on horseback as they leave on an adventure together. A few tears roll down her cheek as Summer catches a glance with her.
“If it doesn’t make you cry to watch your family ride away, you probably shouldn’t have one.”
~ Monica Dutton
The two of them stand behind to hold down the fort while John leads his family, friends and cowboys into the ranch to bring the herd back and remind the world what it is they do.
“Yellowstone” will return for a new episode next Sunday night at 8 p.m. ET on the Paramount Network.
