This week’s Yellowstone bashes skulls and fleshes out backstories
"The Dream Is Not Me" puts John on a collision course with the worst person imaginable: his son
TV Features Yellowstone
You know you’re in for a special episode of Yellowstone when it opens with young Rip bashing in some cowboy’s skull.
John’s past way of doing things continues to prove to be no match for the present as the future of John Dutton’s ranch reaches a significant turning point in “The Dream Is Not Me.” In this game-changing episode, Beth not only calls out just how antiquated (read: crappy) her dad’s business model really is, but John also bitterly acknowledges that she’s right. For all of John’s bluster in season four, pronouncing himself as the rock that progress bashes against, it turns out that his pride is doing more to hurt his family’s legacy than to save it.
Here’s what went down this week
A shirtless Jamie held a concert at his place for the manipulative Sarah, playing the world’s smallest violin for himself and his daddy issues to justify his latest scheme to take John down.
All Jamie wants is some gratitude from the dad he’s plotting to impeach. After all, it was John who wanted Jamie to be a lawyer, while Jamie dreamed of learning how to run a ranch. Instead, John got Jamie into Harvard, with Beth likely penning the admission essay. Now, Jamie wants respect and praise for becoming the business tool his dad needed him to be. (If it’s your father’s approval you seek, maybe don’t plot to ruin and/or kill him?)
It’s too late to give a shit about why Jamie is the worst; no one is gonna feel sympathetic for this Ivy League patricide enthusiast. Especially when Sarah informs him that her bosses are preparing to sue over his dad’s conservatorship, which could bankrupt the state of Montana. That’s grounds for impeachment, Sarah argues, and Jamie’s smug, doe-eyed ass takes the bait.
What’s really sad is that this all happens parallel to John reluctantly, painfully realizing the error of his ways. Or at least the futility of stubbornly clinging to them. Stopping the airport from being built to save Yellowstone is shaping up to be his downfall, along with a potential virus among his cattle that could cost John the whole herd. Beth points out that the ranch can’t afford the millions of dollars it will cost or the month it will take to relocate some of the cows to a new location where they can be cared for. Short on cost-effective options—and very mindful of Beth’s criticism of just how flawed John’s business acumen is—John realizes maybe he could use his title of Governor to make up for his mistakes. But he better do it fast, because Sarah is winding up Jamie’s legal wrecking ball.
This week’s MVP
Jamie’s secretary. We’re surprised, too, but just like everyone else on this show—other than her boss—she sees right through Sarah’s long con. She knows Sarah is all-caps bad news and that nothing good can come from associating with her. But Jamie is too dumb and too high on his new life as the star of a ’90s erotic thriller to listen. But hey, at least she tried.
Burning questions for the next episode
1. How will Rip’s murdery flashback factor into all this?
Flashbacks on Yellowstone tend to fill up run time more than actually push the narrative forward in meaningful ways. The series has already used Rip’s past to establish why the guy is so loyal to John, but this time … something feels different. Why show us such a formative murder in young Rip’s life if it’s not gonna bite him and John in the ass soon?
2. What’s going to happen to Jamie when Beth finds out about Operation: Impeach Papa John?
Judging by the trailer for the next episode (which doesn’t air until January 1, by the way), it looks like Beth, or someone who also hates her brother, deservedly kicks Jamie’s ass. It also looks like Jamie wastes no time starting impeachment proceedings, which means John and Beth will have to take the gloves off and fight a war on two fronts: saving the ranch and stopping Jamie. Actually, it’s three fronts. Don’t forget Sarah. Because she and her evil employers won’t stop until there’s a new Dutton in office to help them turn Yellowstone into a tarmac.
35 Comments
Please tell me there’s a Yellowstone drinking game where you have to drink whenever a Carhartt jacket appears.
Wait wait wait. Is THAT why I am seeing so much Carhartt on the subway now? I owned some long shirts and a hoodie, but I see people wearing outerwear more frequently lately. I could just be losing my mind, but a show creating an uptick in popularity for a brand of clothing is not unreasonable.
lmao
They must be warm as hell, if you work outside in the winter, you better have some Carhartt coats and overalls. At least we don’t have to see that idiot Dior commercial with Johnny Depp playing guitar for his pet wolves. Not the demo of Yellowstone that’s for sure.
What’s funny is that for YEARS that was straight roughneck apparel. People who worked outside in tough conditions wore it, but it was decidedly not a prestige brand.
Or a Tractor Supply commercial.
Or Beth throws a Waterford crystal ashtray or bowl at you, or grabs a bottle of tequila off the table and storms out of the room, or brings up her abortion and how it was Jamie’s fault that this psychopath can’t have children, when in reality it was the best decision he didn’t even realize he was making.
This season has been middling-bad… last season was essentially the same. Honestly not the biggest Yellowstone fan, I tolerate it, and occasionally enjoy it, Costner and Reilly specifically. Just finished E:1 of 1923 and it was fantastic, Mirren and Ford are as good as you would expect them to be. I also enjoyed 1883 immensely though I’ve read how divisive the series was, maybe I’m a sucker for overdramatic narration or something. My theory is that when a showrunner hits big with a series and spins it off, the original series turns into a turd. Greys, Once Upon a Time, Torchwood, Angel, E.R., I’m sure there are more… all regressed when the writers and production staff started splitting time on a new series, essentially whats happening to Yellowstone.Also funny, AV Club ignores Yellowstone when it was pretty good, but gives in and starts covering it because of how ridiculously popular it is, only for the series to kinda suck once they do…
Angel never had a spinoff, it was the spinoff. And I don’t think E.R. had a spinoff, though it wouldn’t surprise me if I’m wrong.
Buffy, my bad, and ER/Third Watch was a crossover, not a spin-off, right around the time ER started to peter out for nearly a decade. Also…. Torchwood is a spin-off of Dr.Who, during a lull, imo, in the series.
Regarding focusing on spinoffs and the original suffering: I would argue that’s what happened with Letterkenny season 10, too. Weakest season of the series, and my bet is that Keeso was too focused on Shoresy (which was awesome) and Letterkenny suffered for it.
To be fair: Letterkenny has been limping along for like 2 or 3 seasons at least.
True. It’s become almost entirely reliant on the whole “let’s do that thing where we say a bunch of random terms for the same thing really rapid fire and hope a few of the jokes stick and become memes” thing. And that stuff is funny, but in doses; not when it populates every single scene.And to be fair (to be fair, to be faaaaaaair), Shoresy did that too, but not to the same extent, and there was also a clear story arc for the first season.
Yep, in shows like this you tend to run out of the good material after 6 or 7 seasons. It’s Always Sunny is one exception is can think of, they managed to last like 10 or 11 seasons before it got stale.Shorsey did do that but is kind of more focused and, as you said, had a clear story arc for the first season and apparently for at least the 2nd, assuming Hulu eventually orders one.
It may not be at the highs of the earlier seasons, but season 8 did have possibly the funniest scene in the entire show:
It’s gotten really sloppy. I mean it’s always been kind of a silly cowboy mafia/Dynasty soap opera, but the writing has gotten ridiculous.
I agree 1923 is the show to watch out of the others in the Yellowstone saga.I liked 1883, it wasn’t afraid to show just how brutal the settlers of the West had it. I found myself tearing up several times. I don’t think we need another season of it, tho. How do you go back to Faith Hill and Tim McGraw when you have Helen Mirren and Harrison Ford, as well as a helluva supporting cast in the new series.
As far as Yellowstone, I have given up. I only started watching it to see what the fuss was about. I quit after last season. If you want to note a series that went to hell in a handbasket after an amazing first season, I am happy to suggest True Detective Season 2. I watched a couple episodes again last night. What a cluster fuck. I don’t know if they were going for an updated version of Chinatown or what, but real estate development is really not that murdery. Buying up a bunch of shitty land on the if come that you can get nineteen different planning departments across the state of California to approve zoning etc for high speed rail and commercial development is a decades long process, and boring AF.
I kind of agree. For me it’s all the politics. Last week’s episode with the branding and all the cowboying was great though!
Beth called the 6666 Ranch Taylor Sheridan owns in real life to ask about the “high quality steaks” they actually sell. That’s not even to mention all the table-setting for the 6666 series coming at some point. The product placement is so blatant it’s hilarious.
Is it really product placement when the guy running the show owns the 6666 Ranch and is setting up a spin-off there?
Yeah that’s like the Inception of product placement.
I think calling the 6666 online/mail order store to discuss how amazing their steaks are was product placement for sure, yeah. Setting up the other series is par for the course but that call was so awkwardly squeezed in it was ridiculous.
I mean it’s not like Jamie took a break out of his busy schedule to take a moment to tell us about Raid: Shadow Legends or Raycon Headphones.:-P
Nothing’s as bad as those on-set testimonial/commercials from the season premier. The product placement is about at Wayne’s World levels.At least we don’t have as much Taylor Sheridan showing off horsey skids and horsey spins for 10 minutes an episode.
They’re introducing some sort of canned cocktails as well – I’ve seen the signage in my grocery store in Houston. Granted this is a perfect market for that product – booze and ranching.
Why the fuck are people trashing Jamie, the single biggest victim in the show now? Who the hell is writing these recaps?
I’m guessing you’ve never seen a Soap? Part of the allure is rooting for f’d up sh.. to happen to characters that aren’t horrible people. But I’m with you, his character is essentially being tortured.
Right? Jamie’s not the bad guy here. All he ever wanted was his father’s love and approval and maybe something of his own if he can’t have the ranch. John’s always stood in his way and treated him more as a tool instead of a son. Is it any wonder Jamie plots against him? Especially since John’s plotted against him…twice?
That’s what I thought, too. Beth is a fucking psycho, and Jamie has done nothing but try to get John to love him for 30 years. Yeah he killed that reporter, but hey it’s Yellowstone!! Rip looks at Jamie and says “hold my beer, I’ll show you how to murder people”.
He wanted to be a rancher, but daddy forced him to be a lawyer. He took Beth to get an abortion (not his baby or his fault) and his young and dumb ass agreed to a DNC without knowing what it was. He killed his real dad who was using him to get rich and back at daddy.He is a simpering coward and also a murderer, but not due to a path he chose. Dad is a relic and Beth is a psycho.That being said, I hate his hair more than anything else about him.
You buried the most hateworthy thing about Jamie in your last line there. What in the actual fuck is up with that helmet? Did John have a permanent lawyer haircut shellacked onto his head so he had no choice of profession?But I do wish they’d make Jamie a bit less of a puss. He spends half his time looking like he’s about to cry. And this guy was going to run a bunkhouse if he had his way??
We always called it Lego Hair.
Because he refuses to learn. Or leave town. I wait every episode for him to say, “F** these people!” and leave town forever. Go back East, find someone who loves him who has never heard of the Duttons. Happy Jamie would be great, but unfortunately he’s an idiot.
So is this the section where people ask if the Yellowstone Caldera is going to explode this season?Or is that just the Russian threat talking? (They threatened to blow up Yellowstone if the U.S. didn’t stop helping Ukraine.)
Rip’s gonna fuck Putin up and drop him off at the train station.