Yellowstone can definitely be the crown jewel of the Paramount network and is all set to end the neo-western saga of the Dutton family. Created by the genius of Taylor Sheridan the first season of the show premiered all the way back in 2018. Now six years later, the filmmaker is ready to conclude the family drama once and for all.
The first episode of Yellowstone Season 5 Part 2 was released recently on 10th November and given that Part 1 was released almost two years ago, the viewers are bound to miss out on a couple of details about the same.
So, in this article, we will take a closer look at what happened in Season 5 Part 1 of the Yellowstone universe, and what the audience needs to know before streaming Part 2.
John Dutton Was Electex the Governor of Montana
The world of Yellowstone is filled with twists and turns as well as the hunger for power. The fifth season of the neo-western drama stars John Dutton (Kevin Costner) assuming the role of Governor of Montana. With this political power, the patriarch of the Dutton family is determined to protect his ranch. Though he wanted his son Jamie to take over this responsibility, their estrangement played a major role in John doing all the major lifting himself.
As soon as he took over his Governor duties, the very first thing he did was to sign an order to suspend funding for an airport and ski resort in Paradise Valley. Interestingly, these projects were supported by Market Equities aka the enemy of John Dutton headed by Caroline Warner. This decision of his puts the ranch as well as the state at a major risk of a lawsuit.
John claims to have done all this with the sole intention of what’s best for Montana, but his real motivation for the same is to secure the Dutton ranch for his grandson Tate and unofficial adoptive grandson Carter. But just like many politicians, power begins to corrupt John when he decides to free his fling Summer Higgins from prison.
This causes a huge tension between Higgins and his daughter Beth who also gets into a physical altercation. The flashbacks also clear out the air as to why Rip is so loyal to John and the ranch. So, in these snippets, a younger John works with a teenage Rip and helps him cover up a murder after he kills Rowdy, after he had insulted Beth.
In the midst of this, John also makes a startling discovery that the water of his ranch is being poisoned by phone companies, which is killing his cattle and livestock. So, he confronts the government-approved contractors who had sprayed paraquat on his ranch.
Jamie and Beth Reached a New Boiling Point in Season 5 Part 1 of Yellowstone
The relationship between Beth and Jamie has always been tumultuous, which only escalated when she came back to Montana. Several years ago, when they were young, he took her to an abortion clinic, which in turn left her sterile. This was the major reason for all the anger and hate Beth had for Jamie and decided to ruin his life. Though Jamie agrees that taking Beth to the medical clinic was the worst decision of his life, she is just not ready to forgive him.
Her need for revenge reaches an all-time high when she gets to know that Jamie has a child of his own and tries everything to take away his joy of being a parent. But having enough of the situation and little encouragement from Sarah Atwood, he decides to strike back at Beth.
Jamie then turns his head towards John and pushes for his father’s impeachment from the position of Governor of Montana. He also adds that John’s actions have put Montana at a serious legal risk. This is something that many agreed upon as well, and soon John’s position was called into question. Beth gets enraged after hearing this and threatens to reveal that he had murdered his biological father, Garrett Randle.
He does this as a sign to showcase his loyalty to the Dutton’s, but Beth decides to use this in order to blackmail him. Jamie in turn threatens her with a secret that could land the people closest to her in a lot of trouble. He tells about the hidden secret of the “train station,” aka the Dutton’s personal graveyard.
Interestingly, Beth had no clue where John and Rip dumped the bodies of their enemies, so Jamie used this secret to stop her from retaliating against him.
Towards the end of Season 5 Part 1, it’s pretty clear that the brother-sister duo might try to kill each other before the series concludes. Evident from the fact that he asks Sarah if there are people who could silence Beth quietly. On the other hand, Beth was seen telling John that it was time to silence Jamie for good. Though John looked very uncomfortable with the idea, and despite their estrangement, he cared deeply for his adoptive son.
Kayce and Monica Deal with a Personal Tragedy
Life has been pretty tough for the most underutilized Dutton’s, Kayce, and Monica in the Yellowstone universe. In the season premiere, after working with the Montana Livestock Commission in order to rescue lost horses on the US-Canada border, Kayce gets a call from Monica. In this, she says that she has gone into labor with their second child that too three weeks early.
On the way to the hospital, tragically she and her son Tate get into an accident when a bison gets into the way. Though their child is born, he only lives for an hour before sadly passing away, leaving the duo devastated. After which they name him John as a tribute to Kayce’s father. John Dutton decides to transfer the ownership of the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch to Kayce after assuming the role of Governor to avoid conflicts of interest.
In the midst of this, while Monica grieves the loss of her son, Kayce takes over the responsibilities of managing the ranch. They also decide to bury their son on the ranch as a way to keep him connected to the family heritage.
This heartbreaking tragedy also brings John and Monica closer as he offers his support to the duo. At the end of Season 5 Part 1, Rip and other heads of the ranch leave for Texas, with Kayce staying behind to take care of the ranch.
How Will Kevin Costner’s Exit Affect John Dutton’s Storyline?
Kevin Costner had been leading Yellowstone since 2018 and shocked everyone when he abruptly left the show in the middle of part one of the fifth season. In an interview via Screen Rant, the actor himself detailed the reason for leaving the project. He added delay in the writing and development process of Yellowstone was preventing him from working on other commitments.
This came as a huge blow to the fans who could not even imagine what would be the show without Costner. This also raised a lot of rumors with viewers bringing their own theories about how his role would be handled in Yellowstone. Some added that maybe Josh Lucas who played the younger John Dutton could somehow take over as a stand-in.
Others speculated that maybe his character would be entirely written off the show, possibly being killed. Now after much scrutiny and debate, John Dutton’s death has already been announced on the show. This perfectly aligns with creator Taylor Sheridan’s vision as “(John Dutton’s) absence was part of the ending.”
Even Kelly Reilly who plays Beth Dutton on the show added via Collider:
That’s not something that we had to pivot, that was already written into the tapestry of the story. It was always going to happen, it just happened a little bit differently.
While the viewers will definitely miss Kevin Costner as John Dutton, it would also be interesting to see what the makers do with the legacy his character has created on the show. Interestingly, several past clips of the actor were also used in the teaser of Season 5 Part 2, confusing the audience as to what is Sheridan trying to achieve with the same. But with his death now confirmed in the storyline, fans will definitely get the answers to most of their questions.