Taylor Sheridan may be a master storyteller but without the right elements, even the best stories can get easily lost to the chaos of the external forces. In Yellowstone‘s case, those forces include a growing distance between the creator and his creation, the void left behind by the series lead Kevin Costner in his role as the family patriarch John Dutton, the lawsuit between Sheridan and one of his leading stars, Cole Hauser, and a two-year gap between the two halves of the final season.
As futile as it may be to wallow in the lost glory of Yellowstone, it is also important to note that Sheridan’s efforts to effectively tie up the season finale will decide where Yellowstone ranks in the annals of television history. Despite the downward spiral that the series has been in since the end of Season 3, a master manipulation and a well-timed plot twist can do no harm in remedying the current situation.
And if all else fails, at least Taylor Sheridan will finally know what Courtney Peppernell meant when she said, “The tragedy of what could have been is nearly as crippling as what once was but can never be again.”
Yellowstone Needs to Redeem One Character for the Sake of the Story
The primary hope for the possible survival of Yellowstone is Wes Bentley‘s Jaime Dutton: the most undermined, overlooked, and essential piece on the chessboard of the Dutton family dynamic. After making him a scapegoat for the family’s dysfunctional interpersonal trauma and Beth’s personal punching bag, Jaime Dutton has suffered enough abuse for 4 and a half seasons to make even the audiences tired and irritable with the Beth x Jaime dynamic.
Moreover, the glorified lead characters, i.e. Rip, Kayce, and Beth have contributed far less to the story in terms of the in-universe politics, except for raising hell and creating drama with a dash of self-pity and a dollop of insanity. Despite not being a true Dutton, Jaime has contributed far more to the family with his unwavering loyalty and love for the ranch than the rest of the toxic crew.
A Reddit user, LluagorED, has aptly pointed out:
Beth doesn’t give a sh*t about the ranch, she’s only there because her Dad asked. Kayce was happier without having to deal with the Ranch, and would rather not be involved.
Jamie was the only one that truly cared about the Ranch and tried to keep it alive like John wanted, but John was hung up on him not being his actual son and made an enemy of him.
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With Yellowstone hurtling towards the end, it’s pertinent for Taylor Sheridan to look at all the right places and all the right faces, fix the errors of the past, and pray to the Powers-That-Be for a non-zero-sum game scenario. Resolving Jaime Dutton’s character arc with a redemptive storyline is the only way the series can arrive at a favorable ending since Beth, Rip, and Kayce have already stepped far beyond the point of no return.
With only 8 episodes remaining to tie up the end, it is almost impossible to consider Yellowstone‘s fate as anything but sealed. And yet, as they say, stranger things have happened.
Yellowstone‘s Epic Fall From Grace – Such a Shame!
Taylor Sheridan’s poorly executed arc of Yellowstone‘s latest seasons almost mirrors the downfall of HBO’s Game of Thrones. However, while the latter went off the rails only in its final season and with a selective few plotlines and character arcs, Sheridan, on the other hand, seems hell-bent on plunging his masterpiece off a cliff and diving headfirst into an early grave.
A creative demise on such a drastic scale has never been witnessed before, considering the height of fame that Yellowstone enjoyed based on its unique Western storytelling format. The overarching plots, singular characters with their individual flaws and idiosyncracies, the underlying political message, and the horrifying reality of a capitalist world all clash and merge to conceive Sheridan’s best work to date.
And yet, one can only ride the wave for so long without contributing to the elements that made the series so great in the first place. Falling into a routine and failing to innovate, adapt, and evolve beyond the scope of its first three seasons became the reason for Yellowstone‘s epic fall from grace. Now, as Taylor Sheridan inches closer to the grand finale, the chances of tying off all the subsequent storylines, character arcs, and redemptive plots are either futile or negligible – dooming the series to a fate worse than Game of Thrones.
Yellowstone Season 5, Part 2 will premiere exclusively on Paramount+ in November 2024.