In the “Yellowstone” recap, John receives news that could change everything as Jamie prepares to make a power move against his father…
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer
John Dutton never really wanted to be the Governor of Montana.
The only reason the patriarch of the Dutton clan ran in the first place was to usurp control of the state government from his adopted son Jamie, who had already sold off a huge piece of his ranch for development to a corporation looking to build an airport and ski resort in the middle of a field that’s provided food for cattle for over a century.
Jamie’s ambition was not without merit — he realized a long time ago that running the largest ranch in the United States comes at a cost — one that his family won’t be able to pay forever. Looking at the long game, Jamie decided that selling off a chunk of the land that would earn the Dutton family enough money that they would want for nothing for the next 10 generations would be more than enough to appease his father while also likely saving him from eventual ruin.
Rather than see his ranch broken up and an airport built in the middle of it, John decided he needed to run for Governor — and he won the election based on the principle that progress stops with him. He wants to return Montana to the state it was 100 years ago when the only major occupation was ranching.
Unfortunately, ranching, raising cattle and farming don’t earn much money and John receives some news this week that could alter the future of his family home forever.
In the latest episode of “Yellowstone,” John deals with the fallout from that Earth shattering news he receives while Jamie starts to put together the puzzle pieces that would take his father out of his role as governor so he could finally ascend to take the throne.
Meanwhile, Beth has started to settle into a happy existence alongside her husband Rip after they spent some alone time last week in the middle of a cattle drive that ended with the annual branding. Ever since the tragic death of her mother, Beth hasn’t felt like she deserved happiness but she’s found that with Rip, although they find out that there might be some real distance between them in the very near future.
It will be interesting to see how Beth reacts when she finds out what Jamie’s been doing behind her back.
More on that later but for now let’s recap the latest episode of “Yellowstone” titled “The Dream is Not Me”…
The Morning After
Following a day spent at the annual branding where John Dutton had the break the news that Emmett Walsh — a fellow rancher and the former head of Montana’s Fish and Game department — had expired while helping him herd cattle. John had largely been ignoring his duties as Governor to return to the ranch and he even brushed off a Presidential visit but still came out looking great to his constituents when cameras caught him consoling Emmett’s wife as she grieved for the loss of her husband.
A party followed as the cowboys and ranchers from across Montana celebrated a time of year that’s been near and dear to them for more than 100 years.
The next morning before the sun even has a chance to rise, John is already on horseback just waiting for the day to start. Rip soon joins him, although he doesn’t see the beauty of a moment like this when there’s still so much work to be done.
Meanwhile, Kayce wakes up to find Monica shedding a tear because she realizes in that moment that her son Tate is starting to grow from a boy into a man right before her very eyes. Kayce and Tate leave to help with the herd while Monica stays behind.
As for Ryan, he’s getting up with a kick in his step after spending the night with Abby — the fiery country singer who tried to shy away from getting involved with a cowboy. Despite his wish to stay in bed with her all day, Ryan has work to do so he heads out with the rest of the cowboys as they eat breakfast and prepare for the next stage of the cattle drive and branding.
With the cowboys gone, Abby joins Laramie and Summer out in the camp to get breakfast where they run into Beth, who is already sipping on a cup of coffee. Of course, Summer and Beth engage in a bit of a sparring session — much friendlier than ever before — over the tenets of marriage.
Summer sees it as just another way to control a woman while Beth has found nothing but happiness after finally committing to the man she loves. Beth is rarely at a loss for words, especially when she’s trying to prove her point.
As Laramie leads the ladies to the bunkhouse so they can shower, Monica arrives and asks Beth why she’s always so mean yet never comes at her with the same kind of scathing retorts that she shares with others. As much fun as it is for Beth to zing anyone crazy enough to get in a verbal tussle with her, Monica sees it as cruel — and that’s exactly why Beth never comes at her that way.
Monica promises that she can take it as well as anybody else and she doesn’t want to be handled with kid gloves just because she lost a child. Beth says that’s exactly why she should be treated different because she understands that kind of pain.
That’s when Beth comes clean to Monica about her own pregnancy and losing a child when she was still just a teenager. It turns out Monica is the first person to know that story outside of Beth and Jamie.
“I know how you feel because I felt it and I feel it everyday. So when I say that I am sorry, Monica, I really mean it.”
~ Beth Dutton
Monica can’t help but wonder if keeping that secret is what torments Beth so much and makes her so ready to lash out at the world. While that might actually be a solid theory, Beth prefers to hold onto her angst and telling Monica that it would hurt a whole lot more if everybody knew what she had gone through.
Elsewhere, Thomas Rainwater has been summoned for a meeting at Senator Lynelle Perry’s office where she breaks some bad news to him. Just two days removed from a Presidential visit, Lynelle has received word that there will soon be plans announced for a pair of pipelines to be built that will run through Montana — and directly through the Broken Rock reservation.
The pipelines will end up running below the reservoir where the reservation receives clean drinking water, which essentially means they’ll be getting poisoned or worse yet the water just won’t be drinkable any longer.
Lynelle tells Thomas that she plans to vehemently oppose these pipelines but the sad truth is the United States government picked this spot in particular because the Native American people don’t have the money or legal means to fight back in the same way that ranchers or other land owners might. Lynelle is hoping that if she can raise enough of a disturbance along with Thomas’ help that the pipeline plans will be scrapped and moved somewhere else like North Dakota.
She also knows that Thomas is fighting back an insurrection from inside the reservation with an ambitious group of people attempting to oust him from power. Lynelle is giving him this information so he can make an announcement and get out in front of the problem before it potentially eats him alive.
Thomas appreciates the heads up but decides to use this moment to gain some political strength of his own by joining the Senator at a press conference where she will vigorously opposes the building of the pipeline. Thomas knows standing next to a newly elected Senator will help in the eyes of his people and that also essentially means that Lynelle is giving him an endorsement to remain in power at the reservation.
It’s still going to be an uphill battle for Thomas to maintain his role as chairman but at least now he’s got the backing of a Senator after Angela Blue Thunder brought the President to the reservation. A planned pipeline cutting directly through the reservation as approved by the President might give Thomas just enough room to fight back against those attempting to topple him out of office.
The Long Drive
As the cowboys gather the cattle, they start finding dead bison calves all around the field — and after reporting the information to John, he realizes that it can only mean one thing.
The bison have been infected with brucellosis — an infectious disease caused by bacteria — that can spread like wildfire when it gets to the cattle. In fact, John knows that if any of his cows test positive for brucellosis that the state of Montana demands that the entire herd is culled, which would be an utter disaster for the Yellowstone-Dutton ranch.
Back at the ranch, John breaks the news to Rip and Kayce — and sadly if the herd has to be slaughtered, the state would reimburse them but not at nearly the rate that the animals would earn while being sold at top dollar on the open market. To make matters worse, killing the entire herd would ruin 100 years of breeding at the ranch, which is part of the reason why the Dutton family has been able to stay in business because of the quality of their cattle.
On the flipside, if the cattle aren’t infected, there might be an even bigger problem.
Because the south pasture is potentially riddled with brucellosis, the cattle don’t have anywhere to feed for the winter and that creates a monumental issue. The only solution is to keep half the herd at the ranch where the feed would be manageable and then drive the rest south for the next year or so where they could eat and live in a warmer climate.
That means Rip would have to lead a group of cowboys on a cattle drive to the south and stay with the herd for the next year at least.
That’s not exactly the news that Rip was hoping to share with his wife much less the cowboys he’s going to have to take with him, who will also be forced to leave everything behind for the next year while on the cattle drive.
Of course, Rip has devoted his life to this ranch and he takes that oath very seriously, especially after a flashback scene shows how he made the promise to John Dutton all those years ago.
Back when he was still just a teenager, Rip was teamed up with Rowdy — the cowboy that hooked up with Beth — and he can’t help but lament about how much he’d rather be spending time with his boss’ daughter than sitting in a field guarding a herd from wolves. When Rip tells him to shut his mouth, Rowdy refuses and they end up in a fight.
Rip gains the upper hand and Rowdy pulls a knife — and that doesn’t go well for him either after he ends up smacked in the head with a rock. Later that night, Rowdy is struggling and it’s clear he’s hurt far worse than Rip intended when hitting him with that rock.
So he raced back to the main house and told John what happened while also refusing to go with Rowdy’s story that he fell off his horse. When John, Lloyd and Rip return to the field, they find that Rowdy is dead.
John offers to take care of this problem but only under one very specific condition.
“You’ll be part of this ranch until the day you die. You will do for this ranch what I say do, no matter what that is.”
~ John Dutton
Rip agrees while calling the ranch the only family he’s even known. It seems that was the moment when Rip accepted his Yellowstone brand, which marked him as a permanent fixture at this ranch until the day he dies.
Back in the present day, Rip reveals what’s happening to Lloyd while essentially putting him in charge with him gone — and he picks the cowboys to join him on the journey. Rip decides to take Jake, Teeter, Ryan and Walker with him on the trip that will take them south for quite some time.
He tells the cowboys about the plans to drive the cattle south and stay there for the next year, which means they’ll be staying in tents and essentially living on the land. It turns out this is like a dream scenario for the cowboys, especially Walker who can’t wipe the smile off his face.
“We’re gonna go do some cowboy shit now. Keep that bunkhouse and cable TV.”
~ Walker
For Ryan, this is the kind of job that every cowboy wants but possibly for the first time in his life, he has somebody who will miss him when he’s gone. To make matters worse, Ryan just got close with Abby and he now has to tell her that he’s going to be leaving and won’t be back for a year.
Despite all that, Ryan wouldn’t choose to do anything different and he thanks Rip for the opportunity. Rip then hands him over some cash and tells Ryan to take the cowboys to the county fair that night and enjoy themselves — it might be the last time they see a town or civilization for quite a while.
Back in the main house, John is ready to break something to show his frustration but thankfully Beth is there to remind him that the bottle he picked up is 100 years old and belonged to his grandfather. John is forced to then tell Beth the news that he’s got to lease land down south to feed the herd and it’s going to require about 100,000 acres.
At the going rate, the Yellowstone-Dutton ranch will be on the hook for $1.4 million per month to lease the land and that’s money they don’t have.
Just selling the herd doesn’t help matters much either because then there will be no income the following year so really John is trying to solve a smaller problem rather than making a bigger one. But even Beth knows that none of these are workable solutions because either the family takes out a massive loan that they’ll never be able to pay back or they sell off the herd and the ranch sinks in debt a year later when there’s no more cattle to raise.
After learning how much each cow is worth, Beth wonders why the ranch isn’t making more because she knows how much beef sells for on the open market. Steaks at $30 a pound and even ground beef commands $5 a pound yet her father is selling his cattle for pennies on the dollar by comparison.
When John insists that he’s not a meat producer — he just raises and sells cattle — Beth decides that perhaps it’s time that the family business changes. Beth reminds her father that if ranching was such a successful endeavor that Montana would still be filled with ranchers but that’s not the case.
“People don’t sell businesses that make money. They sell the losers.”
~ Beth Dutton
So rather than watch her father spend millions trying to save the herd and then selling the cattle for next to nothing, Beth decides to pursue an alternative plan. She calls to the Four-Sixes Ranch — the famed ranch in Texas where Jimmy now resides — and she discovers how much money they make selling beef online.
It turns out the demand for beef is so high that the Four-Sixes ranch has been forced to outsource to other local ranches just to keep the freezers full.
Beth goes back inside to reveal her plans to her father — she’s going to allow him to take out that hefty loan but only so she can convert the ranch into a meat producer where they keep the bulk of the profits rather than losing millions by just selling the cattle. While that’s not what John envisioned for his ranch, Beth reminds him that making million dollar deals is what she does for a living — and now she wants to do it for him.
“You are a rancher. I am a businessman.”
~ Beth Dutton
Before the conversation goes any further, Rip arrives and asks Beth to join him at the county fair where they will share a night together and he will break the news to her about his year long cattle drive.
Impeachable Offense
At the county fair, John arrives as the Governor of Montana along with his environmental advisor Summer and all the cowboys from the ranch. Kayce and Monica spend time together while Tate makes a new friend in Carter, who is understandably heartbroken after learning that his surrogate father Rip would be leaving and not returning for over a year.
The cowboys enjoy some fun together including Colby winning a stuffed animal for Teeter before everybody convenes at the stage to watch the band playing.
When Beth learns that Rip will be leaving for a year, she’s not nearly as despondent as you might imagine because there’s no way she’s losing her husband for that long. She decides to join him on the cattle drive — well she’ll stay in hotels in the nearest town and Rip will come visit every chance he gets.
Sadly this is also when Abby learns for the first time that Ryan is leaving and he’ll be staying in Texas for the better part of the next year, which means he’s leaving her behind. Ryan attempts to explain to her that if Abby’s dream would be singing at the Grand Ol Opry one day, that driving a herd of cattle and living off the land is the equivalent for a cowboy.
This is his dream and Ryan wants to live it — but Abby won’t be waiting for him to return.
“Chasing a dream, I understand and I hope you catch it. I just wish that dream was me.”
~ Abby
As for John, he shares a private moment with Summer as she wonders how people might feel about seeing them together considering she just got out of prison. John doesn’t worry much about appearances and he certainly doesn’t care what other people might think of him.
Summer does tell John that while she’ll never fully understand the life he leads and the fierce way he attempts to protect his ranch, she’s beginning to see a bit more through his eyes. She wonders if perhaps John wouldn’t be better served to help more outsiders see that as well, especially considering the vast amount of tourists that come to Montana.
“You might want to think about inviting a few of them so they understand who you really are and what you really do.”
~ Summer Higgins
The private conversation finally leads to them sharing a kiss with John preventing anybody from catching them in the act when he raises his hat between them as they embrace.
And finally there’s Jamie Dutton and his ambitious plans to sit in the Governor’s mansion sooner rather than later.
Following another night spent with Sarah Atwood — the hired gun from Market Equities sent to destroy the Dutton family — he tells her how he never intended on becoming a lawyer. That’s the job his father wanted for him because it was the best suited role for how he could help the ranch.
It turns out, Jamie didn’t even apply to Harvard — that was an application filled out for him with an essay submitted that he didn’t write. Only after Sarah suggests it does Jamie realize that it was probably Beth who did that writing for him.
Jamie is somber because he believes that John never really loved him but he still desperately wants his approval, which is exactly what he’s been seeking since he was still a child. He tried to tell John many years ago that ranching wasn’t a sustainable business but his father never listened, which is why he’s been locked in this battle with Market Equities rather than selling off a piece of his land that would net the family hundreds of millions of dollars in profits.
Later that day when he goes to work, Jamie finds out that Sarah and Ellis are already there waiting in his office. Before he goes inside, Jamie gets a warning from his assistant that there’s something off about Sarah but he still refuses to listen.
We all probably know how that’s going to turn out.
At the impromptu meeting, Sarah and Ellis reveal to Jamie that his father has placed the Yellowstone-Dutton ranch into a conservation easement, which means the state can’t touch it. In fact, nobody can touch that land because that’s the entire point about the conservation easement — it protect the property as environmentally important and it can’t be touched, developed or otherwise changed.
That’s a whole other kind of problem for Jamie because while there are legal maneuvers he could make, the environmentalists representing the conservation easement come with deep pockets and lawyers that could tie the state up in court for decades to come.
To make matters worse, Sarah tells Jamie that Market Equities will soon file a lawsuit in New York over a bad faith deal gone wrong and Montana will be on the hook for several billion dollars. It’s a lawsuit that Jamie and the lawyers from Montana won’t win, which means the state will be on the hook for that bill.
In other words, Montana will likely go bankrupt from this single lawsuit.
An enraged Jamie doesn’t see a way out of this situation but that’s when Sarah appears on his shoulder like an angel from above — but more likely she’s the devil.
“Sounds like an impeachable offense to me.”
~ Sarah Atwood
Realizing that his father made the move to kill the airport along with 600 new jobs and now a lawsuit that could bankrupt the state, John Dutton could potentially be tossed out of office almost as quickly as he assumed his role as Governor. That gives Jamie the perfect opening to seize the power he’s always wanted.
That night, Jamie crafts a speech that plans to give before the state assembly that will call for Governor John Dutton to be impeached. If he’s successful, John would be tossed out of office and a special election would be held — and Jamie would have the full backing of Market Equities as his biggest endorser.
A political storm is on the horizon and John may not even be aware of the fight that’s coming for him.
“Yellowstone” will return with a new episode next Sunday night at 8 p.m. ET on the Paramount Network.
