I’m pleased to report that this half-season of Yellowstone is going out on a high note! When the show returns this summer, there’ll be a change of location and an all-out war. And I have to say that, despite this season’s occasional structural lumpiness and its numerous eye-roll-worthy moments, my anticipation is high — a lot higher than it was after last season’s finale.
The low point in “A Knife and No Coin†is the extended scene checking in with Jimmy at the Four Sixes, which feels truly random, like a deleted scene from late season four. I don’t know how much Jimmy will appear in the rest of the season, but even if his story ends up intertwining with Travis and Rip’s crew in Texas, this feels like a pretty arbitrary check-in, a reminder of a happy ending we already saw play out for far too many scenes last year. I’m glad Jimmy has become the best version of himself at the ranch with a simple but happy life of herding cattle and skipping meals to fuck his fiancée, but some of the dialogue between him and Emily can get pretty cringey.
Following up on last week, half of the ranch hands are heading out to move the herd to Texas. There’s a sweetness to the good-bye scenes, especially between Colby and Teeter. From the start, their relationship has been defined by Teeter’s intense, aggressive displays of affection and horniness, and Colby has always played the reluctant or even unwilling participant. But spending so much time together has allowed them to develop something real, and it’s a great payoff to watch Colby chase her down to see her one last time. Jen Landon plays Teeter’s confident whisper of “I love you†perfectly.
With half the crew leaving and John increasingly stuck in Helena, there needs to be someone else there to take care of the ranch — so John consults Monica about the idea of Kayce stepping in. John’s relationship with his daughter-in-law is one of the most subtle and interesting of the show, and I like the wistful scene when she shows her gratitude for the wisdom he shared at her son’s funeral (maybe some of the best dialogue of the show). There’s a history between these two; Monica spent a lot of time resenting John, especially in the wake of her brother’s death in the first episode, but they’ve really grown to respect and care about each other.
Part of it is that both Kayce and Monica are beginning to learn they really do have a home here. As expected, Kayce reveals that his vision quest foretold a difficult choice: He could have Monica or the ranch but not both. But when John suggests they move into an East Camp home, they both see a way forward, a place to settle down and expand their family while taking care of the place they love.
The main focus of the episode by far, though, is the steady escalation of the war between Jamie and the rest of his family. There’s a real gravity here, a sense that this is a story that has been simmering since the very beginning of the show. It begins with Jamie’s speech to the assembly, announcing his office’s request for a Senate tribunal to impeach the governor. In an unusual style for this show, Sheridan cuts between the announcement and possibly John’s most genuine and bold act as governor: a show of support for Chairman Rainwater and a condemnation of the new planned pipeline. The side-by-side sure makes Jamie look like the unambiguous villain here with John’s passionate speech even impressing Tom and Lynelle.
It’s unclear at this point how effective Jamie’s reasoning will be; according to Clara, this is all conjecture, and John hasn’t actually done anything illegal. But either way, John’s position as governor is in danger, and they’ll need to fight back. According to John, the truth won’t get them what they want. Menace will.
We get a glimpse of that menace on both sides in an intense trio of scenes. In the first, Beth breaks into Jamie’s place to confront him. After she hits him in the head with a rock (brutal!), she plays the blackmail card, but Jamie makes the point I’ve been making since last finale: Whatever could incriminate Jamie at the train station would also incriminate John and everyone else. But it turns out Beth doesn’t even know the train station exists.
Now I’d have to go back to see if this breaks continuity at all; I always assumed Beth was at least partially aware of the sporadic murder habit her husband and father share, but here she seems genuinely shocked. And either way, the logic of the blackmail doesn’t make much sense to begin with. Why would Jamie have acquiesced to Beth’s puppetry early in the season if he knew she didn’t have anything on him? Couldn’t he use the exact same coordinates to threaten Beth by exposing her husband and dad’s crimes?
But I started to come around on this development in the second scene, when Beth visits John to confront him, fresh off an official declaration of war with Jamie. It’s not a scene I would’ve expected, especially in this episode, but it feels like a culmination of sorts, a brutal ripping away of some idealized image Beth had of her dad.
Yellowstone’s train station, for me, has always been a symbol of the jarringly violent side of the show, a side that hasn’t cropped up as much in the past season or two. This show is a violent soap at heart, but occasionally the forays into 24-esque thriller territory feel at odds with the usual vibe. But I actually like how Beth’s discovery represents a sort of crossing over between the two sides; in the past, Beth has most often been a corporate killer who schemed and conned and dropped delicious (and/or overwrought) monologues, but now she’s confronted with the reality of the blunter instruments her family uses to protect the ranch. And it hurts all the more because Jamie knew about it before her. Hearing John’s description of the Zone of Death makes that side of the show feel more rooted in reality somehow because Beth treats it with the shock it deserves. Part of Yellowstone usually involves hand-waving all the murder and suspending your disbelief, but “A Knife and No Coin†reminds us how violent and amoral the Duttons can be.
So maybe it’s fitting, then, that the scene mostly breezes past any serious sense of betrayal and conflict between Beth and John, at least for now. After John describes the train station as a “trash can for everyone who’s attacked us,†Beth pretty quickly pivots to her ultimate goal: murder Jamie. She only just found out about the train station, but it’s already occurred to her to use it to cover up her brother’s untimely demise.
Then, in the final scene of this story, Jamie comes to the same conclusion: He should probably murder his sister. It’s kind of thrilling to see Yellowstone follow in Succession’s footsteps and finally go full Shakespearean tragedy with John as an emotionally complex wild card. In general, this season is following through on challenging the status quo a bit more than last year and even season three. Let’s hope that continues this summer.
The Last Roundup
• Carter Corner: Aww, there’s a girl who likes him, and she even helps unsaddle the horses.
• The opening flashback depicts the night that Rip got his brand, and I’m glad we were spared an actual shot of Lloyd doing it.
• One of my TV pet peeves is when an episode forgoes what would be an effective ending and ends on a boring scene instead, so I was a little annoyed this one ended with Kayce and Monica’s sweet conversation instead of Jamie’s murder speculation. But I guess that’s Yellowstone.
• On my wish list for when the show comes back: a scene between Kayce and Jamie and a scene between Kayce and Beth. He wouldn’t support either of his siblings trying to kill each other, would he?
• Unclear what Summer’s role will be on this show going forward, but she and Beth are back to treating each other like shit for no reason, which is a little disappointing. But I did laugh at Beth saying she’ll fuck Summer’s dad, and her warning, “You touch my peanut M&Ms in the freezer, I will kill you in your sleep.â€
• The wolf collar scandal is coming out, which should make John look even worse.