Note: This story contains spoilers from “Yellowstone” Season 5, Episode 12.
There’s something about the run to Season 5 Part 2 of “Yellowstone” that feels like a funeral march. The show is still humming along ratings-wise and creator Taylor Sheridan is more prolific than ever, but there’s a stink of death around his crown jewel. Perhaps it’s because the show lost its marquee actor, Kevin Costner, prior to the release of this season and thus quickly dispatched him on-screen in the premiere. Or maybe it’s just because it’s “Yellowstone,” a show that’s always been filled with drama and despair, and producers want to go out with a bloody bang.
Either way, there’s quite a bit of blood in the water already on “Yellowstone,” from the much-wanted demise of the evil Sarah Atwood (Dawn Oliveri) last week to the much sadder (and much more accidental) death of ranch hand Colby Mayfield (Denim Richards) this week. Trampled by a loose-cannon horse in a stall while trying to save Carter (Finn Little), Colby went quick and with cowboy dignity mere hours after confessing his love to Teeter (Jennifer Landon) over the phone. It was a bit of dialogue that we should have seen as a bad omen — when does a love confession ever lead to something good in a TV drama? — but it was shocking all the same. We knew there’d be more blood this season, but we didn’t think it would fall like this.
There’s symbolic blood flowing at the ranch too, with Rip (Cole Hauser) trying to scrape some cattle and cash together to appease Uncle Sam, who he says “wants his pound of flesh.” It’s fire sale time at the ranch and down in Texas, where Travis (Taylor Sheridan himself) is tasked with trying to get top dollar for the cattle and horses down there as quickly as he can. He’s also forced to relay the news of John’s death to Jimmy (Jefferson White), who takes it hard but decides to stay in the saddle a bit longer in his old boss’s honor.
And speaking of Uncle Sam: Things aren’t looking great for Jamie (Wes Bentley), who gets questioned by police about the death of Sarah Atwood. He stumbles over explaining their relationship since the state’s AG having a live-in love affair with someone he’s throwing a ton of business to doesn’t look great, and he falsely throws his weight around when the detective (Rory Cochrane) asks to search Sarah’s belongings in the house. It pretty quickly puts the cops onto his scent, with a quick post-interview call to Kayce (Luke Grimes) pretty much confirming the fuzz’s suspicions. Meanwhile, Jamie’s running around his house like a chicken with his head cut off shredding documents, which doesn’t make him look guilty at all.
While you could say, “Great, Jamie’s going to jail. Now the Duttons won’t have to exact their murderous revenge after all,” Beth (Kelly Reilly) and Kayce certainly don’t see it that way. Beth rightly tells Kayce that if Jamie gets into hot water, he’ll spill the family’s secrets faster than a smashed tumbler of whiskey and summarily takes his fate into her own hands. Kayce, meanwhile, finally realizes what his vision quest meant last season, calling up Mo (Moses Brings Plenty) to do what’s best for his family.
What that means, we find out, is throwing himself into the back of evil mercenary Grant Horton’s (Matt Gerald) car after his daughter’s soccer game, holding a very terrifying, silenced gun to her elementary-aged head and telling the contract killer in no uncertain terms that if he comes after another Dutton, he’ll quickly enter a world of familial pain. Kayce leaves the car after counting coup, which is both the title of the episode and a Native American tradition wherein warriors show their strength by touching an opponent in battle without being killed. It’s not that Kayce can’t kill the man who executed the plan to kill his father. He could, easily. It’s that he’s choosing mercy (and terror) instead, which makes him that much more powerful.
Whatever happens next in “Yellowstone” will certainly happen with equal parts shock and pathos, as Teeter and company return to the fold in the wake of multiple losses and the Dutton clan circles the proverbial wagons to preserve — or at least reckon with — the future of their family land.
With only two more episodes to go before the whole show rides off into the sunset forever, it’s sure to be a bumpy (and bloody) ride.
“Yellowstone” airs Sundays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Paramount Network.
