One word to describe episode 4? PACKED. With many storylines at play in this ep, it flew by for me. Once again, Kelly Reilly is a stand-out. Jamie finds himself in trouble. A familiar face returns to the ranch. This is going to be long, so let’s dive in! Spoilers ahead.
With a lot squeezed into this ep, we pick up the morning after Beth’s arrest for aggravated assault. A different take is shown in the “previously on” of the bar fight, where it’s revealed the woman who hit on Rip says the words “I’m taking your husband home,” to Beth. We all know how that ended!
Kelly Reilly and Wes Bentley always bring the fire to their scenes together. When Jamie tells Beth he can’t just sweep this one under the rug, she’ll have to sit in jail until he convinces the woman not to officially file charges – she’s less than thrilled. I expected Jamie to leave Beth sitting there as long as possible, so was surprised to see him actually help her… for John, naturally. Not for Beth herself.
John has a new hobby in the Governor’s office: Firing people. His PA, Clara, does her best to manage John’s busy new life and reschedule every appointment he refuses to attend. After crashing a policy meeting and realizing his policy advisors have no idea what they’re doing, he fires the whole group of them and has Clara schedule lunch with Lynelle so she can teach him the art of political damage control. At this rate, the Governor’s office will be run by Beth, Jamie, Clara and whoever manages to hide from John long enough. Godspeed.
Fish & Wildlife show up to John’s office to inform him of the suspected wolf deaths on his land, and warn him the NGO that tracks the collars will come for him once they realize what’s happened. With the wolves dead and presumably buried where no-one will ever find them, I’m sure a healthy donation from the Governor to the NGO will be enough to make this little problem go away. With his Chief of Staff in jail and a rapidly declining staff, John has bigger wolves to hunt.
One thing I’ve noticed is that the family feels very disjointed without John on the ranch full time. The ranch just doesn’t feel the same without a good ol’ fashioned chaotic Dutton family dinner. Each family member’s storyline feels separate and some characters – Beth and Kayce, for example – hardly ever see each other, let alone interact.
Jamie is true to his word (shocker) and manages to use the art of legal speak to talk Hailey Brewer (Beth’s bar fight opponent, played by Ashley Platz) out of pressing charges. I did suspect Hailey may have been sent by Caroline Warner to follow Beth and cause trouble, but that doesn’t seem to be the case here as Hailey just wants to go home to California. The County Attorney is pleased, as Jamie just saved him a whole lot of paperwork. Beth receives a lesser charge of disorderly conduct and is *thrilled* that she’ll have to pick up trash in her spare time, but she’s free from jail.
Meanwhile, the time has come to dig the grave for baby John’s funeral on the ranch. Mo Brings Plenty and a few other men prepare the site Kayce chose, as Rip and the ranch hands approach. Mo asks Rip what their intentions are for the dead horse in the paddock (John’s horse that Carter had an accident on two days prior) and asks to bury the horse with baby John. In the Native way, baby John will have a horse to accompany him into heaven. Rip decides that he, Lloyd and the rest of the bunkhouse crew will help prepare the graves. This scene is season highlight for me, beautiful to watch everyone come together for Kayce and Monica.
John & Lynelle make it to their lunch date, only for him to complain to Lynelle that he doesn’t understand the job of Governor. I’m sure Lynelle is thrilled to be leaving her job to a man who constantly complains about how much he hates it, after a single week. She gives John a crash course in public relations, informing him that if Beth is convicted he could pardon her, but it would be the end of his political career. Lynelle also points out that John should have an environmental advisor to help deal with the NGO. John, only now realizing he can use his powers as Governor to get people out of jail and solve his little advisor problem, decides to use them for his favorite environmental activist out of prison. Big sigh. John. Lynelle is right there, man! What are you doing?
Beth and Jamie squabble outside the jail over how Beth is going to get home, and Jamie gives up and lets her into his car.. only he forgot he has a baby car seat in the back, and Beth doesn’t know about Jamie Jr. Until now. Kelly Reilly is mesmerizing in this scene as she conveys the hurt, betrayal and pain of seeing Jamie gain the thing he helped take from Beth. This scene is reminiscent of their car fight scene in season 1. Beth fully loses her temper and hits Jamie until he stops the car and she jumps out, anger radiating from every inch of her body.
Beth correctly guesses that Christina is the baby’s mother, and Jamie confesses they named the baby after him. He tells Beth taking her to the clinic is the greatest regret of his life and desperately chases her down the road on foot, begging her to calm down and get back in the car. She only gets angrier, telling Jamie she will take the child from him and rob him of fatherhood as he doesn’t deserve it. Fear crosses Jamie’s face as he stops chasing Beth and instead returns to his car. For a moment here he genuinely considers killing his sister, and it’s only that she sidesteps his car at the last second that he misses hitting her with his car.
Long-time fans of the show will remember Beth warned Jamie in season 2, episode 8 that one day, he would find someone that would love him. And that she would take that thing from him. It seems that time is coming up fast.
John arrives home at the ranch (and Beth somehow beat him home?) to find Kayce, Monica and her family holding their ceremony for Baby John. Beth stands in the trees, watching from a distance. John joins her, and is upset nobody told him about the ceremony happening today. John asks his daughter how jail was, and Beth calls Jamie a “loudmouth pussy” for ratting her out. “Impulse control,” John says, “find some.” Love these little father/daughter chats.
Once the ceremony concludes, Beth slips away up to the house and John approaches the burial site. Rainwater tells him now is not the time, but they need to talk. He invites John to the Reservation the following day to discuss the jobs lost by John cancelling the airport project. John accepts the invitation. He then quietly sits next to Monica, who sits alone beside Baby John’s grave. He shares a sad yet beautiful family anecdote and tells her he knows how she feels. A rare scene between John and Monica as the two hug and share their grief over losing sons.
It wouldn’t be Yellowstone without some cowboy scenes! In a break from the sadness and drama, Rip and his men help a neighboring ranch with their branding. “The Good I’ll Do” by Zach Bryan plays over a classic country scene of the ranchers driving their cattle up to the yards and sharing the workload.
In a decision I cannot fathom, John has Summer released from prison and invites her to stay at the ranch. She points out it’s not a good look for a Governor to grant clemency to a woman and let her “shack up” with him in the Governor’s mansion, and John says it’ll be purely professional. This lasts all of 5 minutes. I find Summer’s character unnecessary when there’s already so many storylines going on this season, and personally feel Lynelle is a much better match for John both personally and professionally. I think this decision will bite him in the ass.
That night, Jamie is on his date with Sarah at the Deerfield Club. The two get hammered at the bar and discuss how to “manage the best path forward,” not realizing Beth is lurking in the shadows across the room. She watches as the two disappear into the bathroom together. Beth sneaks in, grabs Sarah’s wallet from her handbag and takes a photo of Sarah’s license while Sarah and Jamie are busy in the club shower. Stay classy, Jamie!
Back at home, Beth can’t sleep. She googles Sarah Atwood, but cannot find her and suspects Sarah may be using a fake name. To top off a rough couple of days for Beth, she enters the kitchen to find Summer free from prison and back in her father’s bed. The two exchange barbs but Beth’s heart isn’t really in it. Being around 3-4am, she decides she’s not interested in starting the new day sober. She takes her cigarettes and some alcohol out to the front porch and quietly processes the events of the last two days.
What a rollercoaster of an episode! I’m pleased Beth finally found out about Jamie’s child as it was way overdue. Even more so is the talk between Beth and Rip about the abortion – surely that needs to happen this season, too. What will Jamie do to protect his little family? We haven’t seen Christina and the baby yet this season, but Jamie may send them far away from Beth. If he’s smart, he will.
