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Eve Crosbie
- Warning: There are some spoilers ahead for "Yellowstone" season five, episode five.
- Beth and Summer came to blows before the Duttons took off into the mountains on a mission.
- Here are some details you may have missed on the episode, including a reference to "1923."
The opening sequence of the episode parallels that of season five, episode one.
Just like the first episode of the new season, the episode begins with a flashback to Beth (Kelly Reilly) and Rip's (Cole Hauser) teenage years.
Young Beth (Kylie Rogers) is caught in a rather awkward situation as young Rip (Kyle Red Silverstein) and the cowboy she hooked up with,Rowdy (Kai Caster), saddle up to go out into the mountains with her father (Josh Lucas).
It's something between a memory and a dream, as in the next scene we see Beth rousing from her bed and expressing guilt over her past behavior to Rip — again, just like in the first episode.
We've still not got the full story of what happened between Beth, Rip, and Rowdy, so it seems likely that viewers can expect more flashback scenes — and thus more sleepless nights for Beth — in future episodes.
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Tate's request to go fishing with John during the spring branding has more meaning than you might think.
When Kayce (Luke Grimes), Monica (Kelsey Asbille), and Tate (Brecken Merrill) arrive at the ranch for dinner the night before the spring branding, the youngster asks his grandfather: "Think we could sneak in some fishing?"
John (Kevin Costner) replies: "Not this trip, grandson," leaving Tate crestfallen.
Audiences will know that Tate has found comfort in his fishing trips with his grandfather over the last few years since moving to the ranch. It was how the two first bonded in season one and, in season three, viewers saw John take Tate fishing to help him deal with the trauma of his kidnapping.
Tate's request to go fishing could indicate that he isn't coping all too well with the loss of his baby brother, and that he perhaps feels like he can't turn to his parents — who are, of course, grieving themselves — for consolation.
As audiences saw elsewhere in the episode, Monica comes across Kayce crying on their porch and realizes that she "never bothered to ask" how he was feeling about the loss of their baby. With this in mind, it seems likely that no one has asked Tate how he is feeling either.
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John is thinking about his ancestors, who viewers are about to meet in the new spinoff series "1923."
"First Duttons to settle this valley, fighting was all they knew," John tells Rip (Cole Hauser) in their fireside discussion after dinner. "It's how they got here, how they kept the land once they did."
It's prescient that John mentions his forebears, given that viewers are about to learn just how the first generations of Duttons made their home among the Montana mountains — and kept it — in the new prequel series "1923,"which premieres on December 18.
The series will star Harrison Ford as Jacob Dutton, and Helen Mirren as Cara Dutton, and follow their struggle to survive against historic drought, lawlessness and prohibition, and an epidemic of cattle theft.
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John says of his sons, Lee, Kayce, and Jamie: "I got one child I miss, one child I pity, and one I regret." It's not clear which he pities and which he regrets.
This line also comes during John and Rip's chat the night before the cattle branding. John doesn't explain which child he is referring to in each instance but viewers can confidently ascertain that it's Lee, his eldest son, who died during the season one premiere who he misses.
As for which son he pities, it's possible that he is referring to Kayce, given that he recently lost a child. His pity could also come from the fact that Kayce, as a young boy, watched his mother die. At the same time, he might regret the way he treated Kayce in the past, and the wounds the two will never be able to heal.
It's more likely, though, that he is referring to Jamie as the son he regrets, and that regret might be that he ever adopted Jamie and raised him as his own. Indeed, elsewhere in the episode, John tells Clara that he only has one son, making it obvious that John doesn't recognize Jamie as his at all.
However, there is also a case to be made for John pitying Jamie, because he is not related by blood to the rest of the family, meaning that no matter what, he'll always be treated differently.
If you were wondering what John makes of Beth, his only daughter, he adds to Rip afterward: "But that girl, that child, I envy."
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Beth might have won the fight against Summer, but she is the one to lose something in the aftermath.
Beth and Summer (Piper Perabo) take to the lawn outside the Dutton house to fight during John's ill-fated family dinner, before being interrupted by Rip, who suggests that instead of rolling around on the ground like children, they take turns to trade blows to the face until one of them wants to stop.
Summer is the one to relent. Beth helps her to her feet and schools her on how respect is given and earned in her house. They then return to the dinner table.
Although it's Summer whose injuries concern John, as she is looking far more bruised and bloodied than Beth, when the two women are left alone, Beth spits out a tooth that Summer seemingly managed to dislodge during their brawl.
This could give us an indication of just how much of an impact Summer will have on things at the ranch, and even suggests that she might get the better of Beth in the end.
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Kayce and Monica could end the season with another baby on the way.
Before Kayce and Tate head out on horseback for the cattle branding, Monica tearfully instructs her husband: "Take care of our boy, he's the only one we've got."
"Yeah, we're gonna fix that," he replies as he tenderly strokes her face, hinting at the fact that the couple is going to try again for a baby sometime soon. She smiles at him, indicating that some of the pain of losing their child is starting to heal and that the two could be ready to try again for another baby fairly soon.
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The speech John gives at the end of the episode will sound familiar to viewers.
"We'll ride up along Mount Chisholm and push them down to Lewis Creek, and hold them in the meadow overnight," John tells his team of cowboys before they set off into the night. "If we're lucky, we'll get them all in one drive. No way to get a camp up there, so it's empty stomachs and cold backs for a couple days. Yee-haw."
At the start of the same episode, a younger John is shown delivering a near-identical speech, but to a much smaller crowd of cowboys.
"We're gonna trot out to Mount Chisholm, set camp there, and drive them down to Lewis Creek. Them old dries are gonna wanna double back on you. Just keep moving south and we'll hold them in the meadow and push them down into the river," he says in the flashback that opens the episode.
The mirroring here gives the audience a sense that history is going to repeat itself, so it'll be interesting to learn what, if anything, happened during the earlier cattle branding mission and what lies in store for the Duttons during the present-day one.
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The episode ends with a dedication to a valued member of the "Yellowstone" crew who died earlier this year.
A post shared by Tim Reynolds (@tsreynolds1955)
As the screen fades to black after John and the ranchers head out on their branding trip, an in-memoriam message appears on the screen before the credits start rolling.
"In memory of Timothy Reynolds," it reads, referencing a technician who worked on the series as an electrician and best boy, and who had been part of the show since its very first episode of season one, according to IMDb.
Reynolds, whose other credits include "Hereditary" (2018) and "Yellowstone" co-creator Taylor Sheridan's "Wind River" (2017), died in August 2022 at the age of 66. His cause of death has not been shared. The inclusion of the tribute in the closing credits shows that Reynolds played a significant role in bringing the show to life.
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