WARNING: This review contains MAJOR spoilers for the Yellowstone Season 5, Part 2 premiere
Well, they did it. They killed John Dutton. In yellow stone In the opening moments of Season 5, Part 2, Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilley) arrives at the Governor’s Mansion in Helena, Montana, to a crime scene, the driveway cordoned off and an ambulance waiting outside. When Kacey Dutton (Luke Grimes) shows up, he enters the house so he and Beth can see John’s body on the bathroom floor, a gun just inches from his hands. It looks like suicide, although Beth immediately knows that her brother Jamie (Wes Bentley) is behind it.
Thus begins what is said to be the final batch of episodes of yellow stoneTaylor Sheridan’s universe-launching neo-Western that may or may not end this year. It’s been a long road to this point – the first part of Season 5 ended in 2022, but significant delays caused a two-year gap between episodes, and while the Hollywood strikes in 2023 were a big part of that delay, it’s the Kevin Costner’s departure from yellow stone This will be on everyone’s mind now that the new episodes have debuted.
John Dutton’s death sets the stage for Yellowstone’s endgame
The premiere of the 5th part 2 of the season is between two eras
The new yellow stone The episode takes place in two timelines, one set immediately after John’s death and another six weeks earlier, roughly where the last episode left off. It’s a strange debut, one that divides its time between waxing poetic about the cowboy’s death and grappling with what happens next for the Dutton family.
It’s fitting for what the show itself has become – the dying figure of an expanding empire that changed the landscape of television. Even as yellow stone comes to an end (for now), Sheridan’s television universe continues to produce more entries. How this will affect these episodes remains to be seen. Rumors of a Beth and Rip spin-off and/or sequel have circulated in recent months, although nothing has been confirmed, likely to maintain secrecy about how things will play out for the Dutton family.
Right now, it looks pretty bleak. With John off the map, there is a power vacuum in Montana and several parties are trying to take his place. Beth is the most likely to continue her father’s legacy, at least when it comes to the business side. She spends most of the episode grieving and thinking about revenge, her Cold War with Jamie evolving into an all-out battle of wills.
It looks like Jamie may not be up to the task. When he discovers that John is dead, he doesn’t even realize that it was thanks, in part, to his girlfriend’s actions. He is shocked that she follows through with the idea of ​​killing John, questioning her ability to see through what he started. It’s no surprise that the cowardly Dutton brother responds this way, and it hints at a future loss in Jamie’s ongoing war with Beth.
Yellowstone Season 5 Part 2 Narrows Its Focus
But will it be possible to maintain this momentum?
One of the biggest criticisms against yellow stone It’s been your lack of focus. Partly an error in Sheridan’s writing and partly just the nature of such a long series yellow stone has a history of picking up and dropping stories left and right. John Dutton’s death, however, is not something that can simply be abandoned. It fundamentally changes the structure of the series, ensuring that every one of its characters is caught up in this mess.
There was a lot to do before tackling the real meat of the season, and it looks like this renewed focus will give Sheridan and his team the final push towards the end. yellow stone with a bang.
It’s unclear whether the series will maintain the split timeline format going forward or if this was simply a product of Costner’s departure. It’s hard not to see what’s happening in Texas as leftovers from what Sheridan originally envisioned the second half of this season to be, which acts as both a meditation on cowboys and a setup for the future Texas setting. yellow stone spin off 6666. But all of this is eclipsed by John’s death and the impending consequences.
Regardless of your feelings about how John died, it’s hard to deny that Costner’s departure may have been the best thing that ever happened. yellow stone in some time. It seems like anything can happen in these final six episodes. The board has been reset, and as the dust settles, new battle lines will be drawn. That this episode was slow is not surprising. There was a lot to do before tackling the real meat of the season, and it looks like this renewed focus will give Sheridan and his team the final push towards the end. yellow stone with a bang.
yellow stone season 5 will continue with five more episodes, which will be released weekly, every Sunday, on Paramount Network.
Yellowstone stars Kevin Costner and centers on his character John Dutton. Dutton and his family live on a cattle ranch just hours from Yellowstone National Park. The series chronicles the family’s fight to defend their home from an indigenous reservation and land developers. As if their lives weren’t complicated enough, the Duttons also have medical problems, political aspirations, and family secrets working against them.
- John Dutton’s death will be divisive, but it sets the stage for an emotional conclusion.
- The twist gives the show a renewed focus as it approaches the endgame.
- This first episode maintains the emotion and melancholy that the series is known for.
- Split timelines create a confusing tone that detracts from the emotion of the current timeline.