Yellowstone Season 5, Episode 10 Recap: “The Apocalypse of Change”

Here are some random thoughts prompted by “The Apocalypse of Change,” Season 5, Episode 10 of Yellowstone. Warning: There will be scads of spoilers here, so proceed at your own risk.

• • OK, we admit: We were caught a little off-guard by the opening minutes of this episode, which we didn’t fully realize was a dream/flashback until Beth awoke in her own bed at the Yellowstone Ranch not long after her father’s death. There was a bit of cheating here — Beth dreamed of incidents and dialogue she hadn’t seen or heard — but so what? It got the party started.

• • Besides, it was funny to see Teeter reacting to the rattlesnake that had slithered into her teepee. And even funnier  to hear Gator offering to fry one of the reptiles for dinner. Not surprisingly, Rip and the other cowboys passed on the exotic cuisine.

• • Jayce, Monica and their son Tate got to be happy for, oh, I dunno, maybe a whole ten minutes in their new home on a far end of the Yellowstone Ranch property. So of course things turned dark for them pretty quickly after the flashback ended, and they responded to the bad news about John Dutton’s “suicide.” No one gets to remain cheery on this show for very long, do they?

• • Speaking of John Dutton: The long-gone Kevin Costner still has first billing in the opening credits. Is this meant to suggest anything other than his continued status as an executive producer?

• • Beth knew immediately that Jamie had something to do with her father’s untimely demise, and she confirmed her worst suspicions by visiting her brother’s office, slapping the wimpy conniver a few times, and daring him to raise his eyes to her. (He didn’t.) Actually, she might have continued slapping a few more times — which would not have felt out of place, considering how padded much of this episode felt — had the ultra-sexy manipulator Sarah Atwood not shown up with her Market Equities boss to hash out what happens next with the company’s development projects in Montana. Beth didn’t get to do much physical damage to that viperish vixen — but she did imply that, like Jamie, Sarah would soon be on her hit list.

• • Jamie was seriously rattled by Beth’s threats. But all it took was some sexual healing from Sarah for him to get back with the program. Big surprise, huh?

• • Beth is undoubtedly capable of meting out revenge all by her badass self. But Kayce seems ready to bring in some subtractors to do the dirty work. Specifically, he phoned one of his former Special Ops buddies to do a little digging around and find out which military vets turned free-lance killers might have offed John. Maybe a few more trips to the train station are in store?

• • And just when we were starting to think we would never again see environmental activist Summer Higgins (Piper Perabo), there she was, wandering out of bed and confronting Beth, who informed her that her father’s young lover didn’t have to stick around anymore because she was no longer under house arrest. In fact, she wasn’t under house arrest in the first place — John just told her that to… well, enjoy her company. “In the immortal words of Gus McRae,” Beth said, “if a man isn’t willing to cheat for a poke, he doesn’t want one bad enough.” Frankly, we would never have figured Beth for a Lonesome Dove fan. But, then again, we would never have suspected that John was such a sly horn dog.

• • Lloyd to Rip: “We getting into this fight?” Rip to Lloyd: “If we can figure out who to fight, and how to fight ‘em.” Even after this dramatic exchange, however, Rip indicated he wouldn’t be doing anything too hasty: “Going to prison for the rest of our lives don’t solve anything.” It remains to be seen whether Beth and Kayce demonstrate similar restraint.

• • And there’s this to consider: There may be a special gubernatorial election to choose someone to fill the rest of John Dutton’s term. Does anyone seriously believe Jamie will make it to election day?