In the latest “Yellowstone” recap, John finds out more information about the person who tried to murder his family, Kayce has problems at his job and at home and Beth discovers being a parent isn’t easy…
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer
The aftermath of the attack on the Dutton family continues to reverberate throughout “Yellowstone” season 4 including the devastation in Kayce’s personal life, which was already walking on a razor’s edge.
Monica has never been a huge fan of the Dutton family, especially Kayce’s father John, but she reunited with him for the sake of their marriage and their son Tate. But over the last two seasons, Tate has been kidnapped and tortured by a group of white supremacist militia members and then he was forced to defend his mother by shooting an armed assailant dead.
It’s safe to say Tate will need a whole lot of therapy but more than anything Monica just wants to take him away from the place she’s deemed as evil.
Elsewhere, John Dutton himself is still trying to figure out who exactly ordered the hit to come after his family. While Kayce believes the militia acted on its own as payback for what the Dutton family did to them in order to get Tate back, John knows there’s more to this story than just a simple act of revenge.
Rip and Beth’s new family unit came together under interesting circumstances during the season premiere after a young boy named Carter lost his father due to a heroin overdose. Beth decides to bring him home because he’s got nowhere else to go and if he stayed out on the streets, he’d wind up dead or even worse.
Unfortunately, Beth discovers that parenting is a very difficult endeavor after she decides to offer the boy a reward without him earning it first.
Finally, Jimmy returned home from the hospital last week after he was nearly paralyzed after being bucked off a horse following a promise he made to John that he had given up the rodeo. Now as penance, Jimmy is being sent on the road to a whole new ranch where he’s expected to learn how to be a cowboy or die.
With that said, let’s get into our recap for the latest episode of “Yellowstone” titled “All I See Is You”…
Learn to Be a Man
Jimmy is nothing if not conflicted, especially after he found something he truly loved doing with the rodeo only to have that taken away from him after he was nearly killed during a ride. The tragedy of that incident did have one positive outcome because Jimmy was able to get that much closer with his girlfriend Mia, who saw something special in him after they first met on the rodeo circuit.
But Mia recognized right away that Jimmy was missing something after he promised John Dutton that he would give up the rodeo in exchange for all of his medical bills being paid so he could return home to the Yellowstone ranch where he would continue to learn how to be a proper cowboy. Mia all but told Jimmy that if he didn’t find that spark again that she couldn’t be around him.
So Jimmy made the ill-advised move of attempting to ride again — and as expected he got tossed and injured so severely that he had to learn how to walk for the second time in his life.
After returning home to the ranch, John told Jimmy that he couldn’t help him any further and the only way he could learn how to become a man and perhaps even a cowboy was to leave to work at another ranch before earning his way home again. With that, John told Jimmy that he would travel with Travis — the horse trainer and new employee of the Yellowstone ranch — as he gathers up stock to turn the Dutton family into top horse farm in the United States.
Jimmy is wrecked with questions about what he should do — particularly because Mia essentially lays down an ultimatum that he either leaves her behind in Montana to do what John has instructed or stay with her and they can be together.
As he prepares for a journey down to Texas where he will work at the Four Sixes ranch — a legendary facility that the other ranch hands tell him he’ll either learn how to be a cowboy or die trying — Jimmy talks to John about why he’s being sent away.
John explains to Jimmy that this is for his own good and because this is how he’s finally going to become a man. Once Jimmy has learned what he needs to learn then John will welcome him back to the Yellowstone ranch with open arms.
John also offers Jimmy some advice on his love life — if Mia won’t wait for him until he returns, well then she was never his to begin with.
Finally, Jimmy decides to leave and he receives some advice from Walker, who tells him that unlike the Yellowstone, the ranch where he’s going is just about being a great cowboy without any of the other drama that seems to follow the Dutton family wherever they go. Walker wishes Jimmy well as he prepares to jump in the truck with Travis to leave for Texas.
Of course, Travis offers him very little sympathy that he’s leaving everything and everybody he knows behind and the other cowboys don’t seem particularly happy that he’s there with them. Travis also informs Jimmy that he’ll be a help at these horse shows or basically he’ll be walking his way back to Montana.
The new Yellowstone horse team leaves the ranch with Jimmy giving one last look to Mia on his way out as she gets tears in her eyes as the man she’s grown to love says goodbye.
A Mother’s Work Is Never Done
Back at the ranch, Carter is up early cleaning out the stalls again as John and Kayce go out for a morning ride. When Rip arrives at the bunkhouse, he finds an agitated Lloyd, who is none too happy that Jimmy’s being sent away while he’s gotta face the humiliation that Laramie is now bunking with Walker just a few feet away from where she was sleeping with him.
Rip more or less tells him to man the fuck up because there’s work to be done.
Outside, Carter is still cleaning up horse dung when Beth arrives and declares that she’s taking the boy to get a decent pair of boots and a jacket since he’s going to be working outside all day.
Rip warns her not to treat the boy as a pet, which she resents, but he tells her that right now all he needs is to learn the value of a hard day’s work and nothing else. Beth disagrees and decides to take Carter into town to go shopping with her.
Once they arrive at the store, Carter immediately abandons the plan to buy boots and a jacket after he finds a fancy cowboy shirt that he likes instead. When Beth tells him to leave the shirt and pick out the boots, he defies her and basically says he wants the shirt and not the boots.
When Beth grabs Carter to remove the short, a nosy mother intervenes and shouts child abuse at her before whipping out her phone to record what’s happening. Beth wastes no time grabbing the phone away from the woman, smashing it to bits and warning her that assault is coming next if she wants to keep sticking her nose into other people’s business.
Since the woman is so interested in parenting, Beth tells her that she’s more than welcome to try as she turns and leaves Carter in the store.
After getting into the car, Carter arrives at the window and apologizes for his behavior before she lets him in again. On the way home, Beth gives the boy some life lessons about what it takes to get rich in this world because there are only four options.
You can inherit it — and that ship has already sailed for him.
You can steal it — but she knows he doesn’t have the patience or the intellect to pull of any kind of job that would yield any sort of real return
The third option seems to be the one Beth hopes that Carter takes to heart.
“Work really, really fucking hard. You’ll learn, you’ll fail. Learn more, fail more and don’t let anyone outwork you. Never.”
~ Beth
Of course, Carter has to know the fourth way to get rich so Beth tells him “learn how to suck a dick like you lost your car keys in it.”
It feels like that bit of wisdom is just a t-shirt waiting to happen.
After returning home, Beth tells Rip that he was right about the boy — he needs to learn the value of hard work and discipline before he’s handed anything. Rip also tells Beth the hard truth about Carter, no matter how much she hates hearing it.
Rip: “He’s not our son. No matter what he becomes, he’ll never be that. Nobody will.”
Beth: “The day’s coming when you will resent me for that.”
Rip: “No, I won’t sweetie.”
Beth: “It will come”
Remember, Beth was sterilized without her knowledge after she got pregnant and had to have an abortion as a teenager. Her brother Jamie arranged it in order to help Beth save face and embarrassment but he failed to actually tell Beth that she’d never be able to have children again.
Now she’s being faced with the reality of a man she loves knowing that he’ll never have a son or daughter of his own as long as they’re together and that terrifies Beth to her core.
I Hate You
This week’s episode of “Yellowstone” actually started with some good old fashioned retribution as Kayce, his livestock agents and the local sheriff’s department tracked down the rest of the Montana militia that had initiated the attack on the Dutton family.
Through executable warrants or search and seizures, the authorities essentially wiped the militia off the map because these people weren’t going to come quietly much less sit in a court of law and be judged for their actions.,
When it was over, the entire militia was wiped out and Kayce had at least some sense of justice done.
Back at his office, Kayce received a visit from a rancher named Emmett Walsh — he’s one of the people who would like to see the new livestock commissioner become Governor Dutton one day soon.
Emmett tells Kayce that his new neighbor Ralph Peterson has made it nearly impossible for him to move his cattle between their properties so he can lead them to pasture and water. To make matters worse, Peterson put up cattle guards, which basically prevents the animals from walking on the road, which means Emmett has to load them all up into trucks just so they can travel to the place where they can graze and drink water.
With cattle stock prices dropping, Emmett tells Kayce that the cost he’s incurring is just becoming more than he can handle and attempts to haggle with his neighbor through lawyers has not resulted in a positive outcome. Now he’s calling on his favorite livestock commissioner to see if something can be done.
Kayce then pays Peterson a visit — and after the smug millionaire (or perhaps billionaire) refuses to open his gate, he just smashes through it with his truck before putting the man in restraints and telling the police that he’s got everything handled.
Kayce then takes Peterson out to the road where he has the cattle gates and the man tells him that he doesn’t have anything against Emmett or his animals — he just doesn’t want them on his land.
Of course, Peterson also informs Kayce that his own ranch is receiving tax subsidies illegally because he set up the place to raise llamas except there are no llamas to be found. That only irritates Kayce even more.
So Kayce tells Peterson that he can’t make him take down the cattle gates and he certainly can’t tell the man what he’s allowed to do on his own property — but he can make him a better neighbor.
Kayce ends up tossing the man inside one of his own cattle gates and he leaves him there until later that day when Emmett is the one who finally arrives with his truck to drive his herd to food and water. Before passing, Emmett hears Peterson crying out for help and it probably doesn’t take the rancher very long to figure out who put his neighbor there to begin with.
Later that day, Kayce returns home to find an empty house at the dinner table and he asks the chef to make a couple of plates that he can take upstairs to Monica and Tate.
When he gets to his bedroom, he finds Monica on the floor with tears in her eyes and Tate hiding under the bed, which is where he’s been ever since the attack on the ranch. Kayce tells Monica that she’s only enabling him by allowing the boy to just stay under the bed rather than get the help he needs to by speaking to a doctor but she’s mostly just angry that her husband brought them to live here in the first place.
Kayce’s finally had enough and he literally drags Tate out from under the bed before telling his son that he’s already faced down his worst fears and beat them. He survived his kidnapping and now he helped save his mother — he’s conquered everything that should terrify him in this world.
He then sends Tate over to the table where he’ll eat his dinner like a normal person while Monica lashes out at him for bringing his family to the ranch in the first place.
Monica has known for years that the Dutton family is evil and that this ranch is evil and his father John in particular is quite evil yet Kayce led them all right into the lion’s den. She then says without hesitation “I hate you” and then begs Kayce to just let her go home and leave this place for good as she breaks down in tears.
Kayce leans down to hug his wife as he attempts to figure out some way to put the broken pieces of his marriage and his family back together again.
The Last Duel
Presumably after his morning ride with Kayce at the ranch, John gets a call for a meeting with Thomas Rainwater out in the middle of nowhere.
When he arrives, Rainwater tells John that he’s discovered the truth behind the people responsible for launching the attack on his family. He hands over a folder of documents that include a prison inmate report on a man named Riggins, who supposedly ordered the hit on the Dutton family.
Rainwater tells John that he’s sorry about the attack committed on his family but now he’s leaving proof with him to deal with however he sees fit. Rainwater reminds John that their game of chess still isn’t finished but he’s not looking to lay down his queen on this particular day.
Rainwater then leaves with one of his police officers from the Broken Rock reservation while his right hand man Mo stays behind to hand over the evidence to John.
Mo then opens up the back of his truck and he reveals Jesse — the loudmouth blackjack player who proclaimed that he was responsible for connecting the person who wanted the Dutton family dead to the militia that went after them. It turns out, Jesse was once cellmates with this man named Riggins, who is still currently locked up in a facility in Montana.
The only problem is John has never seen Riggins before in his life and that still doesn’t answer why his family was targeted. John believes that Riggins was acting on someone else’s behalf but that’s all the information that Jesse has available to him.
John then takes possession of Jesse before driving him out to the Wyoming border where the Yellowstone-Dutton ranch dumps all of its problems — in other words, the pit where all the dead bodies are dropped off.
But John admits he’s never just killed a man in cold blood and he doesn’t intend to start now. So rather than just put a bullet in the back of Jesse’s head, he lays down a weapon, walks away and pulls out his own gun before explaining that they’re going to have a duel of sorts.
John tells Jesse that if he can pick up the gun and kill him first, he’ll get to live — but if not he’ll be another dead body at the bottom of a canyon.
“Care to send me to heaven before I park your sorry ass in hell?”
~ John Dutton
Jesse grabs the gun and fires a shot but misses — John does not.
John fires a few more shots into Jesse’s body before he backs up and falls into the ravine where he will join the rest of the ghosts of the men who dared to cross the Dutton family.
Now John has gotten rid of the man who hired the militia to go after his family and Kayce has managed to wipe out every last member of that militia so they’ll never seek revenge again. The only problem is John still has no idea why this Riggins wanted the Dutton family dead or who put him up to the job in the first place.
It’s possible there’s some other backstory that we just haven’t heard yet and Riggins could tie into a much bigger story that’s going to begin to develop for the rest of season 4 and beyond. It’s also possible that Riggins is connected to Garrett Randall — Jamie Dutton’s birth father who went to prison for murdering his own wife.
While there’s no way Garrett would have the kind of money needed to orchestrate a hit like this, Jamie certainly has those resources but it still seems unlikely that he’d actually attempt to kill his own family no matter how much he might hate them right now.
Time will tell as more secrets are sure to be revealed in the coming weeks with “Yellowstone” set to return next Sunday night at 8 p.m. ET on the Paramount Network.
