Paramount Network’s Yellowstone continues its final season with a new episode on Sunday, which reveals exactly how John Dutton (Kevin Costner) was killed.
Fans were livid with this revelation, though it was learned that Sarah Atwood (Dawn Olivieri) – the new girl Jamie Dutton (Wes Bentley) is involved with – had gone through a company specializing in making murders look like a suicide.
It didn’t take long for John’s other children – Beth (Kelly Reilly) and Kayce (Luke Grimes) to realize that Jamie was involved in their father’s death.
Beth has vowed to kill Jamie herself, and while it remains to be seen when or if that will happen, the show’s opening moments revealed exactly how Dutton was killed.
The reveal was shown in yet another flashback, which has irritated fans once again, while others revealed how shocked they were after seeing how John was killed.
The episode began with another flashback, before John was killed, with Beth and Rip in their hotel in Amarillo, Texas.
Beth says she can’t do this for a year but Rip says there are rules and he has to stay with the herd.
He says no more surprises, and to let her know when she’s coming before he leaves to get back to work.
As Beth starts her drive back to Montana, soldiers dressed in black are seen subduing John and rigging the death to be a suicide, injecting something into his foot and orchestrating the suicide.
Just as that happens, Beth is suddenly stunned by a notion that something was wrong, while Kayce woke from his slumber as well.
Beth calls Rip asking if he’s OK, insisting that something is wrong, as Rip tells her to pull over if she gets tired.
The trooper arrives in the governor’s mansion and finds what appears to be a suicide but the soldiers are gone.
Fans were not only shocked by seeing John’s death play out, but also annoyed with the notion that Beth and Kayce could somehow ‘feel’ their father’s death.
@dreaminwithj said of the death scene, ‘I feel like I just watched my grandpa get murdered,’ with a broken heart emoji.
@celloiejr said, ‘I can’t wait for Jamie to get what’s coming to him!!!!’ while @thetvescape said, ‘I am NOT okay! There was a cop keeping watch outside and they STILL found a way to kill him?!’
@atiyah9369 added, ‘Where is the governors security,’ while @dreaminwithj added, ‘john dutton has lived through so much and THATS HOW HE DIES BRUHHHH’
@rix530 added, ‘They showed it, dang,’ while @ilovefroggie said, ‘Dude! They placed a new medication in the bathroom cabinet. There are no fingerprints on the bottle.’
@ilovefroggie added, ‘Ohh! They’re showing flashbacks. So confusing,’ mirroring confusing fans expressed in last week’s episode as well.
@Thetvescape said, ‘Beth knew. The moment it happened. This woman’s intuition is never wrong.’
@cmitch410 said, ‘This jumping back and forth confusing at times,’ while @njramen said, ‘I just fell to my knees watching John’s murder. I couldn’t see him like that.’
@CrazyBoothSocks said, ‘I think I would have rather not seen it happen. There was something more eerie about the opening.’
The episode also featured Kayce paying a visit to the medical examiner, which resulted in her changing the cause of death from a suicide to homicide.
Beth and Thomas Rainwater (Gil Birmingham) discuss teaming up to try and save what they can of the Yellowstone Dutton ranch now that John is gone.
The new governor tries to recuse Jamie from the proceedings and invokes imminent domain to try and seize control of the ranch.
The fourth of six final Yellowstone episodes debuts Sunday, December 1 at 8 PM ET on Paramount Network, with the series finale on Sunday, December 15.