The second half of Yellowstone Season 5 looks set to be as explosive as ever after Jamie and Beth escalated their fight.
Fans of the modern Western will be disappointed to see that Sunday’s episode is the last we’ll see of the present-day Duttons until the summer as Yellowstone enters its mid-season break for the first time. Ardent fans will have their appetite quelled by the prequel series 1923 which continues on Sundays on Paramount+.
As Episode 8, “A Knife and No Coin,” began, we knew many of the Duttons and Yellowstone ranch hands were preparing to say goodbye, but we also said hello to an old friend now living in Texas.
Here’s what happened in Yellowstone Season 5, Episode 8.
Rip’s Loyalty
Episode 8 opens with a continuation of the flashback story we’ve been consuming during Season 5. In Episode 7, “The Dream is Not Me,” we saw a young Rip accidentally kill a fellow rancher during a fight. John agreed to protect him providing he pledges his loyalty to the ranch.
We see the fallout here as John drives Rip and Lloyd to dispose of the body. John asks Rip why he got so mad about insults towards Beth, which gives away Rip’s true feelings about the Dutton daughter.
Like many other ranchers we’ve now seen commit themselves to the ranch, Rip is branded with the Yellowstone symbol across his chest. He’s given a hero’s welcome upon returning to the bunkhouse.
After the credits, we revisit Jimmy Hurdstrom, now living happily at the 6666 Ranch with his fiancée Emily. He seems settled into his new surroundings, hard at work contributing to ranch life there. We’re likely to see more of Jimmy in the second half of Season 5, and potentially in its spin-off series 6666.
Goodbye Yellowstone
Back at the ranch, all of the hands are loading up their half of the cattle, ready to take them away from Yellowstone so they don’t get infected. Rip, Jake, Teeter, Ryan and Walker are the chosen ones who’ll be heading south for the winter.
Rip has a heartfelt goodbye with Beth, who gives him a cloth with her scent on it. They have a complicated relationship but Teeter tells a forlorn Colby that she loves him as she says goodbye. There’s more love on display at the ranch later in the episode as Carter seems to have also found some young love. Halie, who we met briefly a few episodes ago, helps him out with ranch work. Later on Lloyd calls him out for smiling ear to ear without knowing it.
Elsewhere, John has another heart to heart with Monica, who thanks him for his kind words and help as she dealt with her grief this season. He asks her if, whilst Rip is away and he’s in Olympia, if she’d be willing to let Kayce stay at the ranch to run things for a while. He offers them accommodation at East Camp, where she, Kayce and Tate will stay.
The negotiation happens without Kayce’s knowledge, who seems surprised but accepting when Monica tells him about where they’ll be staying.
As John prepares to depart from the ranch too, he sounds marginally shaken as he says goodbye to Kayce too. He earnestly tells his son he loves him, which leaves Kayce a little bewildered.
John departs the ranch, along with Clara, to fulfill more of his political duties as governor of Montana.
More Dutton Infighting
Meanwhile, at the Capitol building, Jamie takes the stand to give a speech to the Senate where he calls for the impeachment of his adopted father, Governor John Dutton. He cites the legal action Market Equities is taking against the state over the cancelation of the airport project.
John hears about this as he supports Chief Thomas Rainwater in opposing the pipeline being run through the Broken Rock Indian Reservation. John’s speech is interrupted once news filters through about attorney general Jamie’s action.
As they depart the event at the reservation so as not to cause a distraction from the issue, John’s assistant Clara runs him through Jamie’s speech. He informs her that despite Jamie seemingly having a weak argument, the truth won’t matter in this fight, menace will.
“I don’t know how to fight with menace,” Clara tells John.
“I’ll teach you,” John says to his assistant, perhaps setting her up to be his next protégé.
Beth hears about Jamie’s new plan from Summer, and is furious. She sets off immediately for Jamie’s house where she interrupts his time with his new partner Sarah.
As usual, their confrontation is vicious. She breaks her way into the house, and beats him over the head with a rock. During their argument, Jamie for once gets the upper hand, making some valid points about their father’s business model, which leaves Beth speechless. She then reminds him that she can blackmail him with photos of him disposing of a body. Jamie informs her that the body is buried in the “Train Station” where authorities would find bodies from generations of Dutton enemies. He suggests that Rip has been to the train station countless times—maybe we saw the first trip there at the start of the episode. Sarah comes downstairs and stares down Beth before she marches out.
Beth then travels to confront her father about what Jamie said. John doesn’t deny the claims. In order to get rid of their problem, Beth suggests they should also take Jamie to the Train Station. John considers it but doesn’t respond as the scene changes.
At the same time, Jamie and Sarah are having a similar discussion. Jamie asked Sarah if she knows anyone who can get rid of a problem for good. She informs him that she’ll set up a meeting which she’ll attend herself.
Season 5 of Yellowstone will now take a prolonged break, with the second half of the season scheduled to return to Paramount Network in summer 2023.
