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Yellowstone-Season.jpg

We're Worried About the Fifth Season of 'Yellowstone'

By Dustin Rowles | TV | September 30, 2022 |

By Dustin Rowles | TV | September 30, 2022 |


Yellowstone-Season.jpg

I like Yellowstone. It’s a messy but entertaining drama, and I mean messy. It is budget Succession set on a ranch, only there are more shootouts, but they both pull the same levers. In New York, suits, money, and seats in a boardroom gain you power; in Montana, cowboy hats, money, and seats in a boardroom gain you power. The characters are different, but the aims are not. In Succession, the Roy family owns a media conglomerate. In Yellowstone, the Dutton family owns a ranch. In both cases, they’re willing to do damn near anything to keep those assets in the family.

It’s also why I’m a little dismayed by the trailer for the fifth season of Yellowstone, which opens by revealing that Kevin Costner’s John Dutton has won his bid to be Governor of Montana. In the world of Succession and Yellowstone, these families are the puppet masters. They control politics from behind the scenes. So, in a way, for John Dutton to take over the Governor’s Mansion feels a little like a demotion.

More than that, my concern is that the Governor’s Mansion is going to take Yellowstone away from the ranch, which remains the show’s biggest selling point. The goddamn animals are a metaphor for everything, and I worry that the Halls of Power will take focus away from the horsies!

But I do look forward to the mess, to Beth Dutton ripping out neck arteries with her teeth; to Cole Hauser quietly smoldering; to Luke Grimes … quietly smoldering; to Wes Bentley’s sniveling, weak-willed Jamie Dutton being bullied by his family; and to Kevin Costner walking off another massive heart attack like it’s a sprained ankle.

Yellowstone returns with a two-hour premiere on November 13th.