After an event rattles the state of Montana, nothing will ever be the same.
Warning: There will be scads of Yellowstone Season 5, Episode 9 spoilers here, so proceed at your own risk.
Here are some random thoughts prompted by “A Desire is All You Need,” Season 5, Episode 9 of Yellowstone.
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- Damn! Didn't see that coming! Killing off John Dutton before the first commercial? That’s pretty damn cold, Taylor Sheridan. No wonder the press did not receive our customary advance screener for this particular episode.
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- Of course, that was a pretty efficient way of picking up the Season 5A storyline without Kevin Costner around anymore. Ruthlessly efficient, but efficient nonetheless. After that smashmouth opening, it really wasn’t surprising that John was nowhere to be found in the extended “Six Months Earlier” flashback that filled most of Episode 509. It’s obvious that, to quote the Montgomery Gentry song, John is “gone like a freight train, gone like yesterday, gone like a soldier in the Civil War — bang! Bang!”
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- Even Jamie appeared devastated by the news of John’s death — in the opening scenes, anyway. Maybe he just tried to forget the pact that he made with Sarah Atwood at the end of Episode 508. But rest assured: Sarah reminded him pretty damn quick once the flashback concluded and we were back to the present day.
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- And speaking of Jamie: Did anyone else think it was odd that Jamie, the state’s Attorney General, announced his dad’s demise, and not the lieutenant governor?
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- Not surprisingly, Beth knew Jamie was the guilty party — or at least one of the guilty parties — as soon as she heard the bad news about her father’s apparent “suicide.” “Not only did Jamie kill the man,” she wailed. “He’s killed everything our father’s ever done.” Kayce was a tad skeptical at first, figuring — not without just cause — Jamie was too weak to ever do such a thing. Beth had a ready reply: “He sure as hell found somebody who could.”
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- Meanwhile, off in Texas, where Rip and other wranglers have driven the cattle for a kinda-sorta quarantine: Hey, look! There’s Jimmy, still gainfully employed at the 6666 Ranch! Does this mean that Taylor Sheridan may finally be ready to give us the long-promised 6666 spinoff from Yellowstone?
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- Have to admit: We were pretty dang impressed by the scene in which Sarah cold-bloodedly negotiated with the agent for professional killers skilled in arranging fatal “accidents.” Very suspenseful stuff, especially when the agent reminded her that she would never be able to claim she had no role in snuffing John Dutton: “Your presence here is committing the murder.” But she shouldn’t worry too much: It won’t look like murder. “Suicide offers the highest reward, and the lowest risk.” Well, maybe not a risk for him. But we’ll see if karma comes calling on Sarah.
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- Long before Beth called with very bad news, Rip appeared to be in an atypically melancholy mood. It didn’t take much — like meeting an aged manufacturer of custom-made spurs who’s among the last of his kind, or encountering folks who want to regard the animals he’s transporting as some kind of petting zoo — to fuel his worst fears. “Thirty years from now,” he told the other wranglers as they gazed at the night sky, “nobody’s gonna be doing this.” Indeed, it might not take that long.
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- Seems like Sheridan was planting a couple of items that will pay off with major plot developments in the not-so-distant future. First, Chief Thomas Rainwater and Mo mulled the worst-case scenarios that might play out if an oil pipeline is built underneath their tribe’s primary source of water — unless that construction is stopped. (Rainwater: “This is the hill we die on.” Mo: “I’m ready.”) Elsewhere, Kayce, Monica and Tate examine the new home where they’ll reside in a far corner of the Dutton family property, and note: “Petty far from everything out here.” Yes. Maybe too far from everything?
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- Beth and Kayce are all in with the idea of taking bloody revenge on Jamie. But will they, too, seek a contractor for the killing. Or will it turn out to be a DIY project? Stay tuned for further developments.
