Yellowstone Season 5 returned with a bang, not a whimper. Episode 9 entitled “Desire Is All You Need”—written by Taylor Sheridan and directed by Christina Alexandra Voros— starts off with a sequence that all fans have been anticipating and dreading: one revealing the fate of John Dutton (Kevin Costner). There have been years of speculation about what would happen to the Dutton patriarch after Costner exited the series, but no could have guessed that Sheridan would begin Part II with the alleged suicide of the Governor of Montana on the morning his impeachment trial was set to begin. While some of the people around him reluctantly believed that that suicide was the explanation for the bloody scene at the Governor’s mansion, Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly) immediately has an alternative theory about the truth behind her father’s death. “It was Jamie,” Beth angrily whispers in Kayce Dutton’s (Luke Grimes) ear. “I’ve seen him do it.”
Elsewhere, Jamie Dutton (Wes Bentley) is emotional and in shock when he receives the news of his estranged father’s death. He is the one who makes the announcement to the people of Montana, which further enrages Beth. “Suicide?” questions Beth to Kayce. “Not only did Jamie kill the man; he killed everything our father has ever done. Everything he has achieved. Everything he has left to us. Every memory. He just killed ’em all.” When Kayce shares his doubts that Jamie is “capable of it,” Beth quickly replies, “I know what he’s capable of it.”
The episode cuts back to six weeks earlier, when Rip and the Bunkhouse boys are taking the herd to Texas after a brucellosis outbreak, when Kayce, Monica Dutton (Kelsey Asbillie) and Tate Dutton (Brecken Merrill) are moving into East Camp, and when Beth is “finishing” community service. Most importantly, the episode follows Market Equities’ fixer and Jamie’s girlfriend Sarah Atwood (Dawn Olivieri) as she hires Grant Horton (Matt Gerald) and his shadowy firm to kill Governor Dutton. When Grant shows her surveillance footage of her and Jamie having sex, Atwood understands the threat, saying “if anything leaks or evidence leads back to us in any way, you will make it look like we committed the murder.”
“Your presence here is committing the murder,” Grant corrects her. “We provide logistical solutions to conflicts you do not have the capacity to resolve on your own.” He continues: “It’s not the axe that chops the tree; it’s the man who desires the tree to be chopped. Whether that man chops it himself or hires another, the result is the same, and it all begins with one person’s desire.” Sarah tells him to proceeds, though she is initially skeptical about the suicide cover. “John Dutton is the opposite of a quitter,” says Sarah.
Later in the episode and back in the present day, Jamie returns home devastated. While he’s sobbing, Sarah emerges from the bathroom in lingerie holding champagne. When Sarah reveals she set up the assassination, Jamie is stunned. “We discussed this and you said go forward,” says Sarah annoyed. “This is what you said that you wanted.” “I said it, I didn’t…and then we never discussed it again,” stammers Jamie. “Who are all these tears for?” asks Sarah. “They’re for me,” replies Jamie. “I thought he did it because of me and the hearing.” Sarah assures him that he is “shielded” from this, but Jamies doubts her sentiment that he has “won.”
At the ranch, Beth reveals to Kayce that Tate is the beneficiary of the Yellowstone Ranch trust and that Kayce is now the executor. “Our bigger problem is Jamie seeking to revoke the conservation easement,” says Beth. Kayce continues to doubt their father’s suicide and to doubt that Jamie could have been involved with an assassination. “That gutless piece of shit can’t do anything on his own,” says Beth. “Anything, but…he sure as hell found somebody that could.”
Let’s break down the 5 important moments from the episode that will have repercussions throughout the rest of the season.
After Beth breaks into his home and assaults him in Season 5, Episode 8, for impeaching their father, Jamie and Sarah did have a conversation about his “Beth” problem. “I think she’ll try to have me killed,” Jamie rightfully predicts. “Do you know anyone or is there a group that has experience with this kind of situation?” When Sarah suggests assigning himself a security detail instead, Jamie insists he wants to “play offense.” Knowing what this means, Sarah says there are firms she can hire that will make it look like a “heart attack or a car accident.” “Tell me what you want and I with meet with them,” says Sarah. “If you’re going to go after her, you might just…maybe…” continues Sarah, obviously alluding to the thorn in Market Equities side, John Dutton. “Yeah, that’s what I was thinking too,” says Jamie.
So, did Jamie want John dead as well? Audiences know he wanted to get rid of Beth, but Sarah is the one who suggested that they expand their target list. Given this previous conversation and the events of the Season 5 Part 2 premiere, Sarah is the true mastermind of John’s murder, but Jamie is complicit too. Beth will need to be very careful about how she proceeds .
Long before John’s death, Kayce, Monica, and Tate arrive at their home in East Camp on the Yellowstone ranch next to the Reservation. Fans will remember that John gave Monica the property when he asked if she would allow Kayce to run the ranch while he was in Helena and Rip was in Texas with the cattle. “There’s an old house there that needs a little work,” said John in Season 5, Episode 8. He added: “The ranch can’t be Tate’s someday if the ranch isn’t here.”
Looking forward to his family’s future at East Camp, Kayce surveys the landscape from the porch. He’s happy until he spots a wolf, watching him, on the horizon. Yellowstone fans know that wolves follow Kayce around because they are his spirit animal, according to Mo Brings Plenty (Mo Brings Plenty). Throughout the series, Kaycee has had several memorable encounters with wolves, including when Kayce and Monica have sex and when Monica tells Kayce she’s pregnant. However, with dead wolves causing problems for the Dutton ranch since early Season 5, the recurrence of the wolf motif forebodes trouble for the Duttons.
Remember when Beth kicked the shit out of the girl who hit on Rip at the bar, caused a brawl, and got arrested for aggravated assault in Season 5, Episode 3? Who could forget? After some fancy lawyering, Jamie, in the very next episode, was able to get her charges reduced to disorderly conduct requiring only some community service.
Well, in the Season 5 Part 2 premiere, the audience sees Beth on a highway cleanup crew begrudgingly fulfilling her community service. As she smokes a cigarette, her sheriff supervisor (played by Deadwood‘s W. Earl Brown) scolds her for lighting up because it is a fire hazard. Beth pulls out another cigarette and a flask in defiance. “How many hours you got left?” asks the supervisor. “18,” says Beth. “Let’s say we call it even after today,” replies the man wearily. Smart man.
Amid the chaos of the Season 5 midseason finale, Rip and the Bunkhouse Boys prepared to take the herd down to the Texas for the winter to escape the brucellosis outbreak. In Season 5, Episode 9, we see in a flashback that the crew successfully made the trip, thanks to help from horse trainer Travis Wheatley (Taylor Sheridan). He called in a favor to real-life cowboy Kory Pounds who enlisted the men of the 6666 to transport the cattle while Rip and the crew drove separately with their horses. “I’ve got you pastures to the south,” says Kory to Rip as he warns him of all the dangers Texas has to offer.
Before the men of the 6666 ride off, the Bunkhouse Boys don’t miss their chance to mess with Jimmy Hurdstrom (Jefferson White), who moved from the Yellowstone Ranch to the 6666 per John’s orders. They share a nice reunion before Jimmy is forced to ride off after Kory, who has left him in the dust. Classic Jimmy!
In Season 5 midseason finale, John gives his support to Thomas Rainwater (Gil Birmingham) and the Broken Rock Reservation as they make plans to protest the proposed federal government pipeline. “Running a pipeline beneath the drinking water of an already strained and impoverished community may be progress for the owners of the pipeline or owners of whatever runs through the pipeline or for those receiving it, but it could lead to disastrous effects for the land and the people this pipeline runs beneath,” John declares in an impassioned speech before government officials and the people of Broken Rock.
Before John’s assassination in Season 5, Episode 9, we see Thomas and Mo standing and watching the pipeline being installed on the Reservation. “If their pipeline explodes on us, poisons our water, who will know?” asks Thomas. “Who will tell the world?” “We tell the world,” Mo replies quickly. “World doesn’t listen to us, Mo,” says Thomas. “This is the hill we die on.” The two men can only look at each other. “I’m ready,” says Mo firmly. So is Thomas.