For the last five seasons, Yellowstone has been one of the most popular television shows. the Dutton family and their ranch have been the center of drama.
This clever twist on the Western genre gave us the modern story of cowboys and Indians and proved that network TV can still compete with streaming services.
The show was conceived by Taylor Sheridan, who quickly became one of television's auteurs, writing all the episodes and directing a number of them as well.
But all good things must come to an end.
Let's dive into the series finale of the hit TV show, Yellowstone.
The Plot of Yellowstone
Yellowstone
via Paramount Network
Yellowstone is a neo-western drama series that follows the Dutton family, led by John Dutton, played by Kevin Costner, who control the largest contiguous ranch in the United States.
Their sprawling Yellowstone Dutton Ranch in Montana is a constant source of conflict with those it borders.
In the fifth season, John became governor of Montana with the goal to keep land all over the state safe from interlopers and businesses trying to take over.
Each season brought a new nemesis trying to take the land, but in its final run, the show's enemies turned internal.
Jamie Dutton, John's son, and his girlfriend got a clandestien agency to kill John, make it look like a suicide, and then try to sell his family ranch to create expensive housing and an airport.
John's other living kids, Beth and Kayce, waged war against Jamie, but also wrre left with a huge conundrum surrounding the ranch.
With John dead, there would be almost no way for them to pay the inheritance tax on the land, and the evil corporations would win.
All of that took us to the final episode of the series.
The Yellowstone Ending
The final episode of season 5 was titled “Life Is a Promise”. It was one of the most emotional episodes of the series, where all paths converged in both violence and eventual peace.
In the finale, we have John Duton's funeral. While it happens, Beth swears she's going to avenge her father's death. and immediately after, she upholds that promise.
She grabs some weapons and heads to Jamie;s house, where she and him get in a bloody battle. It looks like Jamie will kill her but then Rip shows up and evens the score, so Beth can stab Jamie and get revenge for the family.
After Jamie is dead, Rip and Lloyd hide the body in the chasm where the ranchers have disposed of bodies their whole time out there.
A full circle ending.
After that, Lloyd and Rip burn Jamie's car. then they make it look like Jamie knocked Beth out and fled a crime scene.
The cops have no other leads to go on so all is fine. And they don;t know Jamie ids dead, so they assume he's on the run.
Meanwhile, Kayce and his family have come up with a way to save the ranch. He decides to sell the ranch to Chief Rainwater and the Broken Rock Reservation. they sell it for just a $1.25 an acre, which is what the first Dutton paid when they bought the land from the people who stole it from the Native Americans.
The conditions are that nothing is ever built on the ranch and it ever sells again. Thanks to some old reservation laws, this is possible.
So in the end, Chief Rainwater and the other Native Americans take over the ranch. but Kaycee and his family are allowed to keep the old side of the valley, where they settle down to become cattle ranchers nearby.
Beth and Rip move to west texas. Teeter heads to the 6666 ranch to work horses with Jimmy. Lloyd heads out to find some other cowboy work in the area. Ryan meets up with Laniey Wilson, who played his girlfriend in another season and restarts his romance with her, leaving cowboying behind him for love.
The finale also leaves several unanswered questions and sets the stage for potential spinoffs. Will Beth and Rip be successful in their new venture? What will happen to the Yellowstone Ranch under Native American ownership? And what else will happen with all these side character's we've come to know and love?
We end the series with the Broken Rock Reservation taking over the land, and protecting the Dutton's graves there.
The show ends with a beautiful voice over explaining the Dutton legacy and how much the land in Montana meant to them. And how they promised in 1883 to give it back some day, and how man cannot truly own wild land.
And how blanketing this land with businesses and concrete was disgusting.
But true men will be stewards of the land and promise to keep it pure.
I found this to be poetic. Yellowstone has never been sutling, and the finale put everything out in the open for you to judge and assess. But that's also what makes the show special and unique.
At the end of the day, it was a show about how important it is to believe in something, to take care of your family, and to be a steward of the earth.
I hope it comes back in some new form.
And like the Duttons, I mourn what was, and remain excited for what is to come.
Let me know what you thought of Yellowstone and the finale in the comments.
