SPOILER ALERT!: “When I find myself in the position of therapist, this family’s fucked.”
That is Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly), who has spent most of the long run of Yellowstone distinguishing herself as the toughest person on the Dutton Ranch. In tonight’s ‘Counting Coup‘ episode, she spends the episode in full nurturing mode. And there is a lot of things that need healing.
No, the family worm known as Jamie Dutton is still breathing air with two episodes left. You’ll recall his seductive girlfriend, Sarah (Dawn Olivieri), the Market Equities lawyer, ended last episode by being ventilated in her car by assassins to cover up the botched contract killing of John Dutton (Kevin Costner). We don’t even spend much time with Jamie, except for a visit by two police detectives who want to know what Sarah left behind in his house, because they believe she was a targeted killing. When Jamie (Wes Bentley) cops an attitude and tells the detectives they need a warrant and that he is the Montana Attorney General, they let him know they will get the warrant and return, with all the flashing lights and inquiring media that will follow. As soon as they leave, Jamie races upstairs and feeds every document he can find into a shredder.
No, this episode seems largely about how John Dutton’s death is impacting the cowboys on the ranch. We begin with a conversation between Colby (Denim Richards) and Teeter (Jen Landon), one in Texas and the other in Montana. He lets slip that he loves her, though we knew that when he protected her from some ornery Dutton enemies in Season Four.
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The staff buzzes about what might happen to the ranch, and a touching moment comes when Rip tells his horse trainer/broker pal Travis (series writer and co-creator Taylor Sheridan) that John Dutton is dead. Rip doesn’t have the heart to tell Jimmy Hurdstrom (Jefferson White) the news, so Travis takes on the responsibility. He’s been giving Jimmy the business for careless horse training, so when pulled aside, Jimmy thinks he’s done. Instead, he’s given a week off, to deal with the trauma. Jimmy says he’ll take a weekend, but Dutton was the one who believed in him, and so he’ll honor his memory by becoming the best cowboy he can become.
So, the bad news comes when Colby attempts to save Carter, who disobeyed orders to stay out of the stable of a particularly ornery horse that kicked over its drinking water. Carter is cornered, and Colby is kicked twice by the irate black horse, and dies instantly. Boy, do things just keep getting worse at the Dutton Ranch or what? Rip (Cole Hauser) blames himself for not being there. Things couldn’t get much worse, could they?
Kayce, who last episode sniffed out the fact that John Dutton was murdered in the governor’s mansion in a clumsily staged hit meant to look like suicide, uses his contacts to unearth a full report on Grant, the special forces guy who met with Sarah and authorized John Dutton’s killing.
We see Grant playing the good dad, on the soccer sidelines with his daughter. Kayce slips into the back seat with the young girl, and trains the business end of a machine pistol at her as he commands his father’s killer to drive. It’s a little disappointing that Kayce doesn’t interrogate the frightened driver into divulging how the hiring went down. Instead, Kayce lets Grant know he knows where every member of his family lives, and could bring death to his doorstep. He then whacks Grant in the head, which is where the episode gets its title, “Counting Coup,” a Native American term for extracting a piece of someone’s soul. Maybe Kayce felt he’d gone far enough pointing the gun at a child, and he’ll give Grant a ring when he’s good and ready. Beth tells Kayce once again, she must be the one who takes Jamie to the train station.
After all the mayhem Jamie has created, it’s just a matter of time before he gets his. That horse that killed Colby wasn’t buried, but is left to serve as a snack for the wolves nearby. It’s certain that how ever James gets his in the next two final episodes, his remains likely will not be placed on the ranch with the rest of the Dutton clan.