For the entirety of tonight’s episode of Yellowstone, I was under the impression that I was watching the mid-season finale; it was originally reported that season five would be split into two parts of seven episodes each, so I was primed for a climax of sorts. It wasn’t until the preview for the next episode popped up that I realized we still had one more to go before the break two weeks from now. And yet I came away from “The Dream Is Not Me†thinking I’d just seen a pretty solid midseason finale, one that would’ve worked in a pinch.
It’s telling that I would’ve accepted this as a mini-climax for the season because the episode ignores a number of the show’s main plot engines, including the war between Jamie and Beth. (Is she still plotting to take his child? And is she still looking into Sarah Atwood?) But enjoying Yellowstone requires you to make peace with some unconventional pacing, and I found some of the developments here pretty interesting, if the show commits to them. I’m curious about what the second half of this season will look like.
It’s often difficult to tell when a story line on Yellowstone is over; in season four, for example, several different episodes seemed like the end of the Lloyd-Walker feud, but it kept going. Ditto Jimmy’s long journey to the Four Sixes and back. That’s still the case now, with the last episode’s branding bleeding into this week. Summer is even helping with calf vaccinations, which would’ve seemed unbelievable a couple of weeks ago. It remains gratifying to see her become more open-minded, although she still gets in an insufferable tirade about how marriage is only about men controlling women. But hey, it would be out of character if she stopped being annoying now.
John and Summer’s conversation at the end of “The Dream Is Not Me†is maybe the first time their romance made sense to me. Her stay at the ranch has made her finally understand these people and their culture, and she’s smart in urging John to get over his knee-jerk distrust and invite outsiders into that world. She may function as a Taylor Sheridan mouthpiece when she says, “They have you pegged as a bunch of misogynist bigots who are ruining the environment, and that is not who you are†— after all, Sheridan clearly has thoughts about this vast swath of the country getting ignored or condescended to by the media. But it’s fitting for this show that Summer helps other people see these people for the human beings they are, even if she’s firm in sticking to veganism. (Not that those things would ever be mutually exclusive, but it often feels that way on Yellowstone.)
The continuation of the branding isn’t the main ranching drama this week, though. When the ranch hands come upon some stillborn buffalo calves, they realize several buffalo from the park have brought brucellosis to one pasture of the ranch. It’s striking how quickly and casually this situation accelerates; supposedly, the state will destroy the whole herd if they find the disease in just one cow, so they’ll need to lease land Down South to separate out half the herd. As ranch manager, Rip will oversee the move, bringing along Jake, Teeter, Ryan, and Walker.
The panic around the costs of this plan leads Beth to get involved and try to make her dad understand how unviable his business model is. A conversation with the Four Sixes supply house leads her to the conclusion that John should get into the beef business instead of just selling his cattle off. It sets the stage for another possible new story direction for this show, alongside the trip to Colorado.
This season has featured quite a few nice, conflictless stretches of time on the ranch, but a common theme is the impermanence of that beauty. More than ever, these peaceful, carefree events like the spring gathering feel temporary and suffused with melancholy. The death of the old way of living seems to be accelerating, with some terrifying, soulless new future on the horizon. That feeling is there during this episode’s county fair, especially with the departure from Montana looming for half of them. At least Beth plans to accompany Rip to Colorado and stay in a fancy suite within driving distance, but Colby and Teeter will be separated. Sadly, so will Ryan and Abby, and just when their romance was getting going! It’s nice to see Ryan sincerely express why he can’t stay for Abby: Cowboying is what he lives for, like singing is what she lives for.
The other shadow looming over the ranch, unbeknownst to most of them, is Jamie. He’s fully bought into Sarah’s manipulations, and it didn’t take much; he’s carried these resentments toward his father for many years and wasn’t even supposed to study law in the first place. What’s interesting about this is that Jamie still genuinely loves the ranch, even if he wants to fuck over the man who loves it more than anyone else. He and John both want to protect the place but have different ways of doing that. Sarah suggests that tourism is all they have, and even if that isn’t strictly true, it makes sense that Jamie would buy it.
She even manages to convince Jamie to make a bigger move against John after she and Ellis come to his office to discuss the conservation easement. A legal battle with Market Equities could bankrupt the state, making this a potentially impeachable offense. Sarah promises Jamie that she’ll get him the resources he needs to win a special election and become governor himself, should John step down. As the episode ends, he rehearses his speech to Sarah, ready to call on the assembly to impeach.
It’s a fun note to end on, especially because John leaving office doesn’t sound out of the question at all. (Some part of him probably craves a way out of it, if anything.) It doesn’t seem like there’s an easy way out for the ranch and its troubles right now, both legally and financially, and that central tension has added a degree of suspense to the season even when the pacing is slow. We’ll see if there are any real explosions next week.
The Last Roundup
• The opening flashback finally shows the significance of Rowdy: He pulled a knife on Rip one night, and Rip hit him with a rock, hard enough to kill him. It seems like an important part of Rip’s origin story, explaining how John came to have so much power over him, but I wonder how much this accomplishes that wasn’t already explained by Rip killing his father.
• Nice scene with Monica straight up asking Beth why she’s so mean, and Beth vaguely telling her about how she lost a baby, too. These are very different circumstances, but it’s a nice moment of connection between two people who rarely talk, and I appreciate that Sheridan doesn’t use Beth’s trauma as a strict explanation for her cruelty.
• Chairman Rainwater learns about two new approved pipelines that will cut through their reservation and beneath their reservoir. Lynelle agrees to stand by him and perhaps remind John of his duties, but I’m still a little frustrated the show has sidelined John and Tom’s relationship so much.