The 'Yellowstone' Finale Ended the Series the Right Way
Take a breath and let it sink in: We just watched the final Yellowstone episode. There comes a time when every television show must end, of course, but the Western family epic felt like it could have lasted forever. There’s still a chance that the rumours are true—that Yellowstone continues with a spin-off following Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly) and her husband Rip (Cole Hauser). But even if we’re tuning in for the premiere of Yellowstone: The Next Generation by this time next year, we’ll always remember that tonight was when Yellowstone as we knew it came to an end.
In a lengthy, 90-minute-long finale, the final Yellowstone episode wrapped everything up as best as it could for its legion of devoted fans. Those who stuck around through season 5’s uneven moments were treated with good graces, thankfully. We witnessed the Yellowstone ranch’s survival. Creator Taylor Sheridan also got out of his own way and brought the story back to themes of family legacy and sacrifice. Beth even beat the living shit out of Jamie (Wes Bentley) until he died. For a moment, Yellowstone fans received true resolution. Ask anyone in the cast, and they’ll tell you that Sheridan mapped out an ending from the very beginning. The finale just felt like it snuck up on him this season.
Regardless of how you feel about today's episode, we have to feel lucky that we received anything resembling an ending at all. The series went on hiatus for nearly two years after a feud between Sheridan and Kevin Costner led to the lead actor leaving the show. There was a very good chance that Yellowstone was done right then and there. Costner never returned. When the show did air again, his character was unceremoniously killed off-screen. For a month after John Dutton's demise, the series beat around the bush—angering many fans with embarrassing cameos and painfully obvious product placement for the 6666 Ranch. It felt like a show that either didn’t know it was about to end or had no idea how to say goodbye. So, it did both.
That’s why it’s so tough to treat this season 5 finale as a worthy ending for Yellowstone. As I mentioned before in my recap of Yellowstone’s mid-season return, the phrase “John Dutton’s off-screen death” should have never entered our reality. “If fans got the final act they deserve, we would never have seen a man who is obviously not Kevin Costner lying dead on his bathroom floor,” I wrote. “And if John ever took his final breath on-screen, you’d bet it would have made every eye in America shed a tear.”
It's possible that last week’s funeral rectified a little bit of the fans’ collective disappointment. The local pastor speaks of John Dutton as “a man who dedicated his life to preserving our way of life.” He even calls ranchers the “keystone” to humanity’s survival. I’ve always viewed the Yellowstone ranch as the dying last breath of manifest destiny—and John Dutton as the last guardian standing at the gates. I couldn’t tell you why he left for certain, or whose fault it was. It doesn’t matter anymore. It’s just a damn shame that of all the people Costner could have fought with, he beefed with the arbiter of his character’s fate: the writer.
So, Yellowstone ends on a bittersweet note. As Beth says in the finale, “the first thing my father will do in his grave is roll over.” Thanks to Kayce’s (Luke Grimes) tax-loophole discovery, the Dutton family realizes that the only way to save their ranch is to give it away. Kayce meets with Thomas Rainwater (Gil Birmingham) and Mo (Mo Brings Plenty). He was our number-one suspect to help the Dutton family by purchasing their ranch. It’s a welcome reveal that Sheridan didn’t throw fans a curveball.
“When my ancestors came here, the land sold for $1.25 an acre,” Kayce tells Rainwater. It wasn’t their land to sell or purchase. It was Indigenous lands. So, “that’s the same price I offer you,” he says. The Dutton family can’t afford the inheritance tax. Changing the land into a protected reservation is the only way to preserve it. It’s also what the fans have always wanted. Kayce and his family carve out their own land in the eastern part of camp. Rainwater can’t ever sell it, Kayce tells him. That’s the deal. “We can’t sell our land,” Rainwater informs him. There are laws against that. Then, he tells Kayce that he once told his father the land would eventually belong to him. “He took it as a threat,” Rainwater says. It was a prophecy.
The rest of the finale takes place during a formal funeral for John Dutton. Beth tells his coffin that “we won,” even though “it breaks her heart” that she had to lose him to do it. She also adds a “I will avenge you,” for good sport. Beth speeds back home and throws her heels on the lawn. It’s murder time. She grabs a big ol’ knife and bear spray. (Notably, no gun.) Rip isn’t there to stop her, because he’s burying John. He promises to take care of his daughter, who is racing off to avenge him.
When Jamie arrives back at home, Beth bashes him in the head twice with a crowbar before slamming his face with bear spray. Their fight is campy and insane. With Beth bloody and on the ground, he spouts his plan to tear down their family name and turn it into an airport. She has a better secret for him. They sold the ranch to the reservation for $1.1 million. As Jamie chokes Beth to death, Rip arrives and helps her finish the job. He holds Jamie steadily as Beth drives the knife through his chest. “How bad are you hurt?” Rip asks her. Really bad! Before they call 9-1-1, he leaves to dump Jamie’s body off at the train station. There’s a pile of dead bodies over in Wyoming somewhere. Pray the cops never find it.
So, Beth smokes a cigarette and waits for the ambulance—happy that the rumored spin-off seems secure. She purchases a smaller ranch to run alongside Rip outside of Dillon, Montana. I guess that’s where they’re headed next. Meanwhile, Teeter (Jennifer Landon) arrives in Texas to join Jimmy (Jefferson White) and Travis (Sheridan) at the 6666 Ranch. Ryan (Ian Bohen) attends a Lainey Wilson concert. Then, the series ends with a dozen trailers for 1923 season 2. A voice-over monologue from 1883 even closes one of the final scenes. Yellowstone will never die.
Cowboys love to pack up and keep it moving. That’s kind of their thing. Still, I don’t know what’s left for Beth and Rip to explore—especially after tonight wrapped the Dutton family saga in a neat little bow. In an interview with People, Houser teased that the plan is to, “see what happens over the next year or so and we’ll see what’s next.” Until that day arrives, let’s just celebrate that tonight won’t end in more anger.
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