After almost two years of being on a hiatus, Paramount’s Yellowstone has made a comeback to finish the rest of season 5. With John Dutton (Kevin Costner) and two out of four of his kids, Beth (Kelly Reilly) and Kayce (Luke Grimes), by his side, he continued to fight for his land and bring the family closer together. In the previous episode before the hiatus, episode 8, Rip Wheeler (Cole Hauser) and the Dutton Ranch wranglers take a trip to Texas for work. At the same time, John quickly faces an indictment for his role as Governor of Montana.
The new episode begins with Lloyd Pierce (Forrie J. Smith) walking out of the barn and standing against the fence early in the morning, as the sky is still dark. We see Beth speeding on the road in the daylight, with police vehicles surrounding the area. She exits the car and runs to a cop, saying her father is in the house. She sees John’s assistant, Clara Brewer (Lilli Kay), with mascara running down her face. She shakes her head at Beth, who screams. Kayce goes over to Beth.
The two siblings go inside the house and Kayce walks into the bedroom and asks the detective where his father is. Beth stands outside of the room, waiting for her brother. Kayce walks to the bathroom and sees the crime scene. John allegedly died by suicide. Beth asks what happened to him and Kayce begins to get teary-eyed. Beth walks over and takes a look at the bathroom.
Beth begins to breathe heavily, sobbing, while Kayce sits next to her on the stairs, holding onto her. Beth whispers to her brother that Jamie did it and Kayce tells her they can’t talk about it there.
We next see Jamie Dutton (Wes Bentley) watching the news of his father’s passing. The coverage doesn’t confirm that John is dead, but it’s obvious. Jamie gets a call from someone, confirming a meeting. He then gets a knock on the door and has to go out to make a statement to the public. As he walks down the stairs, he sees Governor Lynelle Perry (Wendy Moniz) and hugs her, both of them not having the time to take the sad news in.
Jamie’s trying not to choke up as he informs everyone that his dad has passed away. On the other end, Kayce and Beth are watching his speech as Kayce is driving. Beth turns it off and demands Kayce to pull over. She speed walks into the yard and begins to break down.
In Texas, Rip gets a call from Beth. She tells him the news and he tells one of the wranglers, Ryan (Ian Bohen), that he has to leave. He speeds off on his horse.
It’s now six weeks later and Rip and the wranglers are returning to Texas, after having to come back home.
In Montana, Beth is cleaning up trash; she’s on probation and has to do community service. She’s not following any of the rules, smoking and drinking. Beth calls Rip and asks him how the road trip is going. She mentions that she went to jail for him. Beth tells him she’s booking a flight to see him.
Jamie’s partner-in-crime, Sarah Atwood (Dawn Olivieri), is at a meeting. A man named Grant comes into the room and shows her surveillance footage from Jamie’s home and it’s a video of the two of them. Grant tells her that this puts everyone in a tough position. If the video leaks, she would be the root of the “murder.” Grant says that there was most definitely a murder, but because they don’t have enough evidence, they have to state that it’s a suicide. She tells him, “You have my permission to execute,” meaning that he can move ahead and falsely state that John died by suicide.
After a long day, Jamie comes home. He goes straight up to his bedroom and cries. Sarah comes over to him and he realizes she set everything up. He’s confused because they only had a short conversation about ruining John and Beth’s lives, but he didn’t know that Sarah would kill John. She tells him not to mourn his father.
The next day, Beth and Kayce are sitting in the living room of their family home. Beth has paperwork in front of her. She tells him that Tate is now the beneficiary of the ranch and that Kayce is the executor. Beth makes him call Jamie’s office to get some type of answers regarding John’s death. The lead, Dillard, tells Kayce that there is evidence of John using the weapon, but they don’t have any video footage of the crime scene. This news makes it clear to the siblings that it was set up. Dillard tells them that the crime happened at 3:53 p.m. When Jamie had that phone call, the person on the other line confirmed the time with him, but he was too shocked to understand what was being confirmed.
Beth hears a truck pull up and runs to Rip as he gets out. She breaks down in his arms.
Overall, this was a good episode. It’s a relief to finally have the series back finishing the final season. It will be interesting to see how John’s death plays out and if Kayce and Beth will be able to gain evidence that Jamie and Sarah killed him. It’s bittersweet to see Kevin Costner leaving the series, as John Dutton’s the heart and soul of Yellowstone.
Rating: 8/10