There’s a John Dutton-sized hole at the center of the story.
After Kevin Costner, 69, left “Yellowstone” amid rumors of a feud with creator Taylor Sheridan, the hit ranch drama returned last week for the second half of Season 5 by killing off his character, John Dutton.
John was fatally shot by a hit man, but it was staged to look like a suicide. His son, Jamie (Wes Bentley), was partly responsible, as his evil girlfriend, Sarah (Dawn Olivieri), arranged it, but Jamie was not directly involved.
Spoilers ahead for “Yellowstone” Season 5 episode 10, “The Apocalypse of Change.”
This week, following those events, everyone was still reeling from John’s death.
It was a slow hour, with not a lot happening – revealing that the show is a snooze without Costner.
snooze without Costner.
Much of the episode was spent on Rip (Cole Hauser) and his cowboys, like Ryan (Ian Bohen), reacting to the fact that there were snakes in their tents and having their 500th conversation about how being a cowboy is becoming an obsolete way of life.
During a scene when John’s daughter, Beth (Kelly Reilly), goes out to a bar, the molasses-paced episode even spends a long time lingering on Beth’s drink order. It felt like without Costner, the show was just killing time until it ran out the clock.
The main highlight was a tense standoff between Beth and Jamie. Beth was certain that Jamie had killed their father, so she went to his office to confront him.
Beth slapped Jamie in the face three times as he looked at the floor.
“Why can’t you look at me, Jamie? We both know why, don’t we,” she said.
Jamie stayed silent throughout their encounter. Before she left, Beth promised him, “Seeing me will be the last thing you ever do alive. I swear to god, Jamie. I will be the last thing on this planet your rotten f–king eyes will ever see. And I will be smiling.”
Beth then immediately called their other brother, Kayce (Luke Grimes), to tell him that she was more certain than ever that Jamie killed their father.
“It was him. He didn’t even deny it. He just stared at the f–king floor. He couldn’t even muster up a lie. He wouldn’t look me in the eye,” she told Kayce.
Kayce hadn’t bought the official story that John’s death was suicide. But he also didn’t believe Jamie had it in him to do it. After hanging up with Beth, Kayce reached out to some old contacts to try to find out which hit man took the job.
Kayce’s friend warned him that he needed to be “real careful sniffing around.” So, Kayce could be putting himself in danger by investigating.
Jamie also revealed that, since there will be a special election to replace John as the Governor of Montana, he’s thinking of running himself. And Jamie is ready to battle Beth over John’s will and the future of the ranch.
It’s doubtful that both Beth and Jamie will make it out of the season still alive – and sure enough, Grimes told The Post that the show’s ending will be “heartbreaking.”
“Yellowstone” airs Sundays at 8 p.m. on Paramount Network.
