This week on Yellowstone: The wolves come back to haunt Rip. The bunkhouse celebrates a birthday. Beth strikes a deal. Kayce makes a choice. A Dutton ends up in handcuffs. Spoilers ahead!
“Tall Drink of Water” opens with another flashback of young John, Rip, Lloyd and the cowboys discovering cattle killed and ripped open by wolves. Evidently the wolf problem is not a new problem for the ranch, but having eight minutes of flashbacks per episode is reminiscent of Jimmy’s 6666 scenes last season that didn’t advance the plot at all. Entertaining for one or two episodes, but not what viewers are wanting to see every week - as nice as it is to see Josh Lucas.
In the present, Beth is up early and getting ready to head to Salt Lake City to pitch her newest scheme. As she leaves the house, she finds John sitting on the porch looking out at the ranch. Like Rip, he is also surprised to see Beth up so early. The two sip their coffee as John reflects on memories of Evelyn; some he doesn’t want to share with Beth. In her usual way, Beth gleefully taunts her father by reminding him of the time she told him about her first threesome – at least, she thought she did. Either way, he knows now!
While John tries to delete the information he’s just learned from his mind, he turns the conversation back to Evelyn. How if Evelyn had lived longer, Beth would’ve realized she was a good person, and had more love for her. Beth manages to hold in her tears until she reaches her car, not wanting John to see her cry. It’s clear her relationship with her mother is something that still causes Beth a lot of pain, as much as she likes to show a tough exterior.
In the bunkhouse, the crew are happily preparing for the day while teasing Lloyd about his birthday. Walker’s barrel-racing blonde Laramie has reappeared in the bunkhouse shower, much to the disappointment of some of the guys. Rip wishes Lloyd a happy birthday, and the guys give Lloyd shit by guessing his age at 70 when he happily tells them he’s only 58. I love these scenes in the bunkhouse, the camaraderie of the cowboys always brings a great comedy aspect to the show.
Rips stops off at the barn to find Carter bottle feeding the young orphan calf they found in episode 2. A beautiful scene between the two as Carter asks what will become of the little calf, and Rip reminds Carter that orphans don’t get shipped off around here. While Beth is in the city, Rip and Carter are most likely spending a lot of time together up at the main house. I’d love to see more scenes with them as Rip slowly lets his guard down and becomes not just Carter’s mentor, but his friend.
Just as Rip thought he was having a good day, Fish and Wildlife pull up and inform him they found one of the wolf collars on a log – in the Yellowstone River. Since the GPS data shows exactly where the wolves had been, the officers want to search the ranch. They do not take “no” for an answer, and Rip is forced to ride out with them to the field where the wolves were shot – which has now been plowed and replanted, hiding all evidence. If these officers don’t leave this alone, they may find themselves taking a trip to the train station in the future..
Rainwater & Mo meet with Kayce & Monica at their little farmhouse to discuss baby John’s burial. It is decided that the ceremony will be tomorrow, on the fourth day. Rainwater advises the couple to do it alone – not for the Duttons or other extended family to witness – but for sending baby John off in a peaceful way. I’m curious about this storyline as I feel it will come into play later: Since baby John is half Native American, burying him on the ranch could possibly force that section of land to become legally protected by either government or tribal rules, preventing development. I’m very interested to see how this plays out.
Kayce has put much thought into his vision quest and decided to choose between his Livestock Commissioner badge and his family. He chooses Monica & Tate, as whenever he uses his badge he feels something bad happens to his family, like a curse. While the three men are discussing Kayce’s next career move, Monica’s grief comes to a head as she slices off her long hair in the kitchen – in Native American tribes, this is done as a way to grieve the death of a family member, and as a symbol of their deep sadness. A heartbreaking scene as Rainwater and Mo hold Kayce back, telling him he must let Monica process her emotions in their way. Kayce later has a talk to his father, hands in his badge and sets out to choose a place to bury baby John.
Jamie arrives at the office to find he’s been served, and Ellis (Beth’s favorite Market Equities lawyer) is sitting in his office. It is in this scene that Jamie comes face to face with new arrival Sarah Atwood, who immediately sets a plan into play to take Jamie out to dinner (at the Deerfield Club, no less) and use him for her own nefarious means. Ellis puts on a childish performance and storms out, leaving Sarah to talk to Jamie alone. Sarah later congratulates Ellis on his “outraged” act. I can’t wait for Sarah and Beth to come face to face in a future episode, as it’s sure to be explosive.
Meanwhile, at Schwartz & Meyer: A legal team enters the boardroom to find Beth seated at the head of the table, ready to make a deal. Beth still holds a controlling interest in Schwartz & Meyer, and offers it up to an old friend, Robert Baldus. Robert works for a company called Berson International, one of Market Equities competitors. She offers the deal with a catch: She gets to keep the real estate. After getting rid of the other four executives, Beth successfully talks Rob into signing on the dotted line while informing him she knows Market Equities are most likely going to sue her for breaking her NDA, amongst other things. She knows she’s currently one step of them, but not two. By rushing this deal through, she creates further headaches for her ex-employers and buys herself more time. Rob takes the deal, with a little foreshadowing in the line “You better watch out, Beth, they might send a hitman after you for this.” Good thing Beth happens to be married to her own personal hitman, or I’d be a little worried!
With Berson International accepting Beth’s offer, the firm takes control of Schwartz & Meyer. A blow to Market Equities, which results in Caroline Warner being recalled to New York by her bosses. What role Berson International will play in the rest of season 5 remains to be seen, but it can’t hurt Beth & the family to have another big firm on their side to level the playing field a little.
Beth arrives home very pleased with herself and wanting to celebrate her win. When she learns it’s Lloyd’s birthday, she heads on down to the bunkhouse to join the party – but is a bit disappointed to find the boys just playing cards and drinking. She demands they go to a cowboy bar in Bozeman, which Rip is adamant they will not as he knows someone will get in trouble and the ranch is currently his responsibility. Beth promptly takes this “no” as a challenge, and they all end up at the bar in town except for Carter, who is thankfully too young to go with them and witness the night’s festivities. “Nothing bad happens before midnight!” Famous last words, Beth.
Everyone has a blast at the bar as Beth slaps her credit card down and orders a dozen whiskey shots and a dozen beers. What could possibly go wrong? As the guys dance, see old friends and Ryan meets up again with his singer crush Abby (played by real life country singer Lainey Wilson), Rip begrudgingly has some fun spinning Beth around on the dancefloor. While he takes a break, Beth dances with Teeter which is one of my favorite parts of this episode. I’d love to see these two hang out more often.
A drunk woman decides to approach Rip and hang off his arm, trying to hit on him while a very nervous Rip is aware Beth can see what’s going on. He tells the woman no, and points out he has a wife – and that she’s right there. Beth stares the woman down like a bull waiting to charge and in the words of Rip (“Aww, shit”) it’s ON. Beth’s glass meets the woman’s head as the whole dancefloor gets thrown into a brawl and the cops are called. Classic Yellowstone, we haven’t had a good bar brawl in a while and they sure are fun to watch!
As everyone is lined up outside the bar while the officers take statements, Rip tries his best to talk them out of charging Beth – who does herself no favors by punching the woman in the face again in front of everyone. She’s placed in handcuffs and arrested on a charge of aggravated assault. In true Beth form, she manages to flip the woman off from the back of the Sheriff’s car while handcuffed. Rip no doubt feels a lot of guilt right now, despite the fact that Beth got herself into this mess.
I’m sure John will not be happy when he finds out his Chief of Staff has got herself thrown in jail, creating unwanted press for him to deal with. Jamie will no doubt take his sweet time getting Beth released, as he enjoys seeing his sister suffer. While Beth is certainly a “love her or hate her” character (Personally? I love her. Great entertainment, and Kelly Reilly is a brilliant actress who deserves all the awards) even I admit power has gone to Beth’s head here. She did not think about the repercussions of her behavior, though I’m sure she will have plenty of time to think about them while sitting in jail.
Until next week, y’all!
