‘Yellowstone’ returns without Kevin Costner : NPR

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Costner's departure just adds to the drama.</b> </div> <div id="wrapper"> <header class="contentheader contentheader--one"></header> <section id="main-section"><article class="story"><a id="mainContent"></a><div class="slug-wrap"> <h4 class="slug-tag"> Review </h4> <h3 class="slug"> <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/126355748/culture/">Culture</a> </h3> </div> <div class="storytitle"> <h1>How 'Yellowstone' writes off Kevin Costner's towering patriarch</h1> <input type="hidden" id="titlenx-s1-5186652" value="How 'Yellowstone' writes off Kevin Costner's towering patriarch" /> <input type="hidden" id="shortTitlenx-s1-5186652" value="How 'Yellowstone' writes off Kevin Costner's towering patriarch" /> <input type="hidden" id="modelFullUrlnx-s1-5186652" value="https://www.npr.org/2024/11/11/nx-s1-5186652/yellowstone-paramount-kevin-costner-taylor-sheridan-season-5-part-2" /> </div>  <div id="story-meta" class="story-meta has-byline"> <div class="story-meta__one"> <div class="story-meta__one-inner"> <div class="dateblock"> <time datetime="2024-11-11T12:57:22-05:00"> <span class="date">November 11, 2024</span><span class="time">12:57 PM ET</span> </time> </div> <div class="program-block"> Heard on <a href="https://www.npr.org/programs/all-things-considered/2024/11/11/all-things-considered-for-november-11-2024">All Things Considered</a> </div>  </div>  </div>  <div class="story-meta__two"> <div id="storybyline" class="storybyline-wrap linkLocation"> <div class="bucketwrap byline"> <div class="byline-container--block"> <div class="byline byline--block byline--has-link" aria-label="Byline"> <div class="byline__photo"> <a href="https://www.npr.org/people/243254424/eric-deggans" rel="author"> <picture><source srcset="https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2013/11/05/eric-deggans_-credit-carrie-pratt_simply-blue-studios_sq-4bf857281bd30e9fa721c05bee5d21f6ccd27b07.jpg?s=100&c=85&f=webp" class="img" type="image/webp" data-template="https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2013/11/05/eric-deggans_-credit-carrie-pratt_simply-blue-studios_sq-4bf857281bd30e9fa721c05bee5d21f6ccd27b07.jpg?s={width}&c={quality}&f={format}" data-format="webp" /><source srcset="https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2013/11/05/eric-deggans_-credit-carrie-pratt_simply-blue-studios_sq-4bf857281bd30e9fa721c05bee5d21f6ccd27b07.jpg?s=100&c=85&f=jpeg" class="img" type="image/jpeg" data-template="https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2013/11/05/eric-deggans_-credit-carrie-pratt_simply-blue-studios_sq-4bf857281bd30e9fa721c05bee5d21f6ccd27b07.jpg?s={width}&c={quality}&f={format}" data-format="jpeg" /><img src="https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2013/11/05/eric-deggans_-credit-carrie-pratt_simply-blue-studios_sq-4bf857281bd30e9fa721c05bee5d21f6ccd27b07.jpg?s=100&c=85&f=jpeg" class="img" alt="Eric Deggans" data-template="https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2013/11/05/eric-deggans_-credit-carrie-pratt_simply-blue-studios_sq-4bf857281bd30e9fa721c05bee5d21f6ccd27b07.jpg?s={width}&c={quality}&f={format}" data-format="jpeg" /></picture> </a> </div> <p class="byline__name byline__name--block"> <a href="https://www.npr.org/people/243254424/eric-deggans" rel="author"> Eric Deggans </a> </p> </div> </div> </div>  </div> </div>  </div>  <div id="primaryaudio" class="storylocation linkLocation"> <article id="resnx-s1-5254338-1" class="bucketwrap resaudio" aria-label="audio-module"><div class="audio-module"> <h4 class="audio-module-title">Yellowstone returns</h4> <div class="audio-module-controls-wrap" data-audio='{"uid":"nx-s1-5186652:nx-s1-5254338-1","available":true,"duration":216,"title":"Yellowstone 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class="bucketwrap image x-large"> <div class="imagewrap has-source-dimensions" data-crop-type="" style=" --source-width: 800; --source-height: 533; " > <picture> <source srcset="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/800x533+0+0/resize/1100/quality/85/format/webp/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F01%2F26%2F364c59a74940b73e14a1e5304ab9%2Fys-509-060524-sc27-em-00075-r-05e6e46a76d61e2e.jpg" class="img" type="image/webp" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/800x533+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F01%2F26%2F364c59a74940b73e14a1e5304ab9%2Fys-509-060524-sc27-em-00075-r-05e6e46a76d61e2e.jpg" data-format="webp" /> <source srcset="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/800x533+0+0/resize/1100/quality/85/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F01%2F26%2F364c59a74940b73e14a1e5304ab9%2Fys-509-060524-sc27-em-00075-r-05e6e46a76d61e2e.jpg" class="img" type="image/jpeg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/800x533+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F01%2F26%2F364c59a74940b73e14a1e5304ab9%2Fys-509-060524-sc27-em-00075-r-05e6e46a76d61e2e.jpg" data-format="jpeg" /> <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/800x533+0+0/resize/1100/quality/85/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F01%2F26%2F364c59a74940b73e14a1e5304ab9%2Fys-509-060524-sc27-em-00075-r-05e6e46a76d61e2e.jpg" class="img" alt="Finn Little as Carter and Cole Hauser as Rip Wheeler." data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/800x533+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F01%2F26%2F364c59a74940b73e14a1e5304ab9%2Fys-509-060524-sc27-em-00075-r-05e6e46a76d61e2e.jpg" data-format="jpeg" /> </picture> </div> <div class="credit-caption"> <div class="caption-wrap"> <div class="caption" aria-label="Image caption"> <p> Finn Little as Carter and Cole Hauser as Rip Wheeler. <b class="credit" aria-label="Image credit"> Emerson Miller/Paramount </b> <b class="hide-caption"><b>hide caption</b></b> </p> </div> <b class="toggle-caption"><b>toggle caption</b></b> </div> <span class="credit" aria-label="Image credit"> Emerson Miller/Paramount </span> </div> </div> <p><em>(Be warned: This review discusses details of Sunday's </em>Yellowstone <em>episode, Season 5, Ep. 9, "Desire Is All You Need.")</em></p> <div class="hr"><hr /></div> <p>It took about five minutes for viewers who showed up for the new episode of Paramount Network's hit series <em>Yellowstone</em> on Sunday night to learn how they would write off Kevin Costner's towering patriarch John Dutton.</p> <p>Early on, police filled the mansion where Dutton was living, as governor of Montana. Viewers couldn't see Costner, but there was a body shown next to a handgun in a pool of blood. The verdict was obvious: Suicide by gunshot.</p> <p>But since fans had seen Dutton's son Jamie (Wes Bentley) conspiring with his girlfriend in a previous episode to have professionals kill his father, another cause seemed imminently possible. (To be fair, Jamie suspected the elder Dutton might come after <em>him</em>, first.)</p> <aside id="ad-backstage-wrap" class="ad-wrap backstage" aria-label="advertisement"> <div class="ad-header "><span>Sponsor Message</span></div> <div id="ad-backstage-Arts___Life_Television_TV_Reviews" class="ad-config ad-backstage has-refresh-enabled" data-ad-config='{"network":"\/6735\/","site":{"desktop":"n6735.NPR","mobile":"n6735.NPRMOBILE"},"zone":"Arts___Life_Television_TV_Reviews","targets":{"testserver":"false","isPodcastEpisode":"false","storyId":"nx-s1-5186652","program":"All_Things_Considered","agg":["1069977606","126355748"]},"location":"backstage","deferred":false,"isBetweenContent":true,"overflowCount":null,"hasRefreshEnabled":true,"isOutstreamVideoEnabled":true}'></div> <div class="ad-footer "></div> </aside> <p>Kelly Reilly, as Dutton's flame-haired, volatile daughter Beth, makes that connection right away, later unleashing a wave of anger-fueled grief likely to earn an Emmy nomination.</p> <p>The biggest question left: Will Beth and sibling Kayce (Luke Grimes) take vengeance on Jamie?</p> <p>Still, heady as this western-flavored soap opera seems, it pales in comparison to the real-life drama which required this plot twist in the first place.</p> <div id="resg-s1-33719" class="bucketwrap image x-large"> <div class="imagewrap has-source-dimensions" data-crop-type="" style=" --source-width: 800; --source-height: 533; " > <picture> <source srcset="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/800x533+0+0/resize/400/quality/85/format/webp/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fb2%2F10%2F528962354fbcbd009fc2d7e05a98%2Fys-509-052024-sc18-19-20-em-00335-r-44219613efe9052b.jpg 400w, https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/800x533+0+0/resize/600/quality/85/format/webp/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fb2%2F10%2F528962354fbcbd009fc2d7e05a98%2Fys-509-052024-sc18-19-20-em-00335-r-44219613efe9052b.jpg 600w, https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/800x533+0+0/resize/800/quality/85/format/webp/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fb2%2F10%2F528962354fbcbd009fc2d7e05a98%2Fys-509-052024-sc18-19-20-em-00335-r-44219613efe9052b.jpg 800w, https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/800x533+0+0/resize/900/quality/85/format/webp/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fb2%2F10%2F528962354fbcbd009fc2d7e05a98%2Fys-509-052024-sc18-19-20-em-00335-r-44219613efe9052b.jpg 900w, https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/800x533+0+0/resize/1200/quality/85/format/webp/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fb2%2F10%2F528962354fbcbd009fc2d7e05a98%2Fys-509-052024-sc18-19-20-em-00335-r-44219613efe9052b.jpg 1200w, https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/800x533+0+0/resize/1600/quality/85/format/webp/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fb2%2F10%2F528962354fbcbd009fc2d7e05a98%2Fys-509-052024-sc18-19-20-em-00335-r-44219613efe9052b.jpg 1600w, https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/800x533+0+0/resize/1800/quality/85/format/webp/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fb2%2F10%2F528962354fbcbd009fc2d7e05a98%2Fys-509-052024-sc18-19-20-em-00335-r-44219613efe9052b.jpg 1800w" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/800x533+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fb2%2F10%2F528962354fbcbd009fc2d7e05a98%2Fys-509-052024-sc18-19-20-em-00335-r-44219613efe9052b.jpg" sizes="(min-width: 1300px) 763px, (min-width: 1025px) calc(100vw - 496px), (min-width: 768px) calc(100vw - 171px), calc(100vw - 30px)" class="img" type="image/webp" /> <source srcset="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/800x533+0+0/resize/400/quality/85/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fb2%2F10%2F528962354fbcbd009fc2d7e05a98%2Fys-509-052024-sc18-19-20-em-00335-r-44219613efe9052b.jpg 400w, https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/800x533+0+0/resize/600/quality/85/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fb2%2F10%2F528962354fbcbd009fc2d7e05a98%2Fys-509-052024-sc18-19-20-em-00335-r-44219613efe9052b.jpg 600w, https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/800x533+0+0/resize/800/quality/85/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fb2%2F10%2F528962354fbcbd009fc2d7e05a98%2Fys-509-052024-sc18-19-20-em-00335-r-44219613efe9052b.jpg 800w, https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/800x533+0+0/resize/900/quality/85/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fb2%2F10%2F528962354fbcbd009fc2d7e05a98%2Fys-509-052024-sc18-19-20-em-00335-r-44219613efe9052b.jpg 900w, https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/800x533+0+0/resize/1200/quality/85/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fb2%2F10%2F528962354fbcbd009fc2d7e05a98%2Fys-509-052024-sc18-19-20-em-00335-r-44219613efe9052b.jpg 1200w, https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/800x533+0+0/resize/1600/quality/85/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fb2%2F10%2F528962354fbcbd009fc2d7e05a98%2Fys-509-052024-sc18-19-20-em-00335-r-44219613efe9052b.jpg 1600w, https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/800x533+0+0/resize/1800/quality/85/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fb2%2F10%2F528962354fbcbd009fc2d7e05a98%2Fys-509-052024-sc18-19-20-em-00335-r-44219613efe9052b.jpg 1800w" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/800x533+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fb2%2F10%2F528962354fbcbd009fc2d7e05a98%2Fys-509-052024-sc18-19-20-em-00335-r-44219613efe9052b.jpg" sizes="(min-width: 1300px) 763px, (min-width: 1025px) calc(100vw - 496px), (min-width: 768px) calc(100vw - 171px), calc(100vw - 30px)" class="img" type="image/jpeg" /> <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/800x533+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fb2%2F10%2F528962354fbcbd009fc2d7e05a98%2Fys-509-052024-sc18-19-20-em-00335-r-44219613efe9052b.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/800x533+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fb2%2F10%2F528962354fbcbd009fc2d7e05a98%2Fys-509-052024-sc18-19-20-em-00335-r-44219613efe9052b.jpg" class="img" alt="Kelsey Asbille as Monica Long Dutton, Brecken Merrill as Tate Dutton, Luke Grimes as Kayce Dutton." loading="lazy" /> </picture> </div> <div class="credit-caption"> <div class="caption-wrap"> <div class="caption" aria-label="Image caption"> <p> Kelsey Asbille as Monica Long Dutton, Brecken Merrill as Tate Dutton, Luke Grimes as Kayce Dutton. <b class="credit" aria-label="Image credit"> Emerson Miller/Paramount </b> <b class="hide-caption"><b>hide caption</b></b> </p> </div> <b class="toggle-caption"><b>toggle caption</b></b> </div> <span class="credit" aria-label="Image credit"> Emerson Miller/Paramount </span> </div> </div> <h3 class="edTag">Clashes between star and showrunner</h3> <p>Sunday night's <em>Yellowstone </em>episode marked the return of Season 5, which has aired in two parts. The first half premiered way back in November 2022; the writers' and actors' strikes of last year created some production delays for Part 2.</p> <p>But Costner, committed to his self-financed Old West film trilogy <em>Horizon</em>, also reportedly clashed with <em>Yellowstone</em> co-creator and showrunner Taylor Sheridan and network producers. This was like Godzilla versus Kong – an Oscar-winning star of one of the biggest shows on TV pitted against the guy who seems to be creating every original show on Paramount+ that isn't a <em>Star Trek</em> spinoff or <em>Frasier. </em>(Sheridan talks about the controversy to <em>The Hollywood Reporter</em> <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-features/taylor-sheridan-yellowstone-interview-1235519261/"><u>here</u></a>.)</p> <p>Eventually, <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/kevin-costner-yellowstone-season-5-1235928928/"><u>Costner confirmed</u></a> he wouldn't return for the fifth season's second half. So it's small wonder the star's taciturn family leader was written off in dramatic fashion for this episode, setting the stage for a war within the family over control of the sprawling Yellowstone Dutton Ranch.</p> <aside id="ad-secondary-wrap" class="ad-wrap secondary" aria-label="advertisement"> <div class="ad-header "><span>Sponsor Message</span></div> <div id="ad-secondary-Arts___Life_Television_TV_Reviews" class="ad-config ad-secondary has-refresh-enabled" data-ad-config='{"network":"\/6735\/","site":{"desktop":"NPRSecondary","mobile":"NPRMobileSecondary"},"zone":"Arts___Life_Television_TV_Reviews","targets":{"testserver":"false","isPodcastEpisode":"false","storyId":"nx-s1-5186652","program":"All_Things_Considered","agg":["1069977606","126355748"]},"location":"secondary","deferred":false,"isBetweenContent":true,"overflowCount":null,"hasRefreshEnabled":true,"isOutstreamVideoEnabled":false}'></div> <div class="ad-footer "></div> </aside> <p><em>Yellowstone</em> has succeeded as a lushly-produced family soap opera centered on the ranch, its cowboys (and cowgirl) and Dutton's fight to preserve both the homestead and the way of life which maintains it.</p> <p>On Sunday, that meant uncorking an episode hinting at the future of the show without the patriarch who once was the series' focal point. A mid-episode time jump six weeks into the past, before Dutton's death, ensured there wouldn't be a funeral scene Sunday – exposing another time worn element of the soap opera, stretching out the drama.</p> <div id="resnx-s1-5186652-100" class="bucketwrap internallink insettwocolumn inset2col "> <div class="bucket img"> <a class="imagewrap" id="featuredStackSquareImage1135768475" href="https://www.npr.org/2022/11/10/1135768475/the-wide-open-spaces-and-soapy-tropes-of-yellowstone" data-metrics-ga4='{"category":"recirculation","action":"story_recirculation_click","clickType":"inset box","clickUrl":"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2022\/11\/10\/1135768475\/the-wide-open-spaces-and-soapy-tropes-of-yellowstone"}' ><picture><source srcset="https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2022/11/15/yellowstone_ep309_cm_072_r_sq-3c40a4bdac8a31500a7fe1483f05c5b009a29ac8.jpg?s=100&c=15&f=jpeg" data-original="https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2022/11/15/yellowstone_ep309_cm_072_r_sq-3c40a4bdac8a31500a7fe1483f05c5b009a29ac8.jpg?s=100&c=100&f=jpeg" data-template="https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2022/11/15/yellowstone_ep309_cm_072_r_sq-3c40a4bdac8a31500a7fe1483f05c5b009a29ac8.jpg?s={width}&c={quality}&f={format}" data-format="webp" class="img lazyOnLoad" type="image/webp" /><source srcset="https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2022/11/15/yellowstone_ep309_cm_072_r_sq-3c40a4bdac8a31500a7fe1483f05c5b009a29ac8.jpg?s=100&c=15&f=jpeg" data-original="https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2022/11/15/yellowstone_ep309_cm_072_r_sq-3c40a4bdac8a31500a7fe1483f05c5b009a29ac8.jpg?s=100&c=100&f=jpeg" data-template="https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2022/11/15/yellowstone_ep309_cm_072_r_sq-3c40a4bdac8a31500a7fe1483f05c5b009a29ac8.jpg?s={width}&c={quality}&f={format}" data-format="jpeg" class="img lazyOnLoad" type="image/jpeg" /><img src="https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2022/11/15/yellowstone_ep309_cm_072_r_sq-3c40a4bdac8a31500a7fe1483f05c5b009a29ac8.jpg?s=100&c=15&f=jpeg" data-original="https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2022/11/15/yellowstone_ep309_cm_072_r_sq-3c40a4bdac8a31500a7fe1483f05c5b009a29ac8.jpg?s=100&c=100&f=jpeg" data-template="https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2022/11/15/yellowstone_ep309_cm_072_r_sq-3c40a4bdac8a31500a7fe1483f05c5b009a29ac8.jpg?s={width}&c={quality}&f={format}" data-format="jpeg" class="img lazyOnLoad" alt="The wide open spaces (and soapy tropes) of 'Yellowstone'" loading="lazy" /></picture></a> <div class="bucketblock"> <h3 class="slug"><a href="https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510282/pop-culture-happy-hour">Pop Culture Happy Hour </a></h3> <h3><a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/11/10/1135768475/the-wide-open-spaces-and-soapy-tropes-of-yellowstone" data-metrics-ga4='{"category":"recirculation","action":"story_recirculation_click","clickType":"inset box","clickUrl":"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2022\/11\/10\/1135768475\/the-wide-open-spaces-and-soapy-tropes-of-yellowstone"}' >The wide open spaces (and soapy tropes) of 'Yellowstone'</a></h3> </div>  </div>  </div>  <h3 class="edTag">'Yellowstone' soars depicting the cowboy life</h3> <p>Instead, we got a heavy dose of the cowboy lifestyle, watching Cole Hauser's Rip Wheeler lead a crew from the Yellowstone Ranch down to Texas with a load of livestock. <em>Yellowstone</em> is often at its best when it's showing us a modern version of the cowboy's life we rarely see on big TV shows – illuminating the lives of working class men and women living lives filled with hard work, endless open skies and a very demanding culture.</p> <p>Of course, Sheridan can't resist poking at the people who aren't a part of that culture – like a moment in Sunday's episode where Rip lets a well-scrubbed little boy pet the horses he's shepherding, before telling a young couple with wild hair and scruffy looks to buzz off.</p> <p>When the couple asks why they can't pet the horses, too, Rip unloads on them like they cut him off in traffic. "You do it once, and you're being nice…you do it a second time, and you're being a petting zoo," he says angrily. "This ain't no f***ing petting zoo."</p> <p>It's tough to know what they did to earn his anger besides looking like a couple of Gen Z kids on their way back from Coachella.</p> <p>It's tempting to call <em>Yellowstone</em> prestige TV for red states — featuring a high-quality elevation of traditionalism and rural lifestyles, while positioning characters from urban centers and each American coast as interlopers and villains. The show's focus on whiteness deepens that feeling, with almost no Black or Latino characters and Native American storylines often <a href="https://www.hcn.org/issues/54-5/indigenous-affairs-art-on-yellowstone-and-the-white-desire-to-control-the-narrative/"><u>at the edges of the series</u></a>.</p> <aside id="ad-third-wrap" class="ad-wrap third" aria-label="advertisement"> <div class="ad-header "><span>Sponsor Message</span></div> <div id="ad-third-Arts___Life_Television_TV_Reviews" class="ad-config ad-third has-refresh-enabled" data-ad-config='{"network":"\/6735\/","site":{"desktop":"NPRThird","mobile":"NPRMobileThird"},"zone":"Arts___Life_Television_TV_Reviews","targets":{"testserver":"false","isPodcastEpisode":"false","storyId":"nx-s1-5186652","program":"All_Things_Considered","agg":["1069977606","126355748"]},"location":"third","deferred":false,"isBetweenContent":true,"overflowCount":null,"hasRefreshEnabled":true,"isOutstreamVideoEnabled":false}'></div> <div class="ad-footer "></div> </aside> <p>But, like many of Sheridan's shows, a significant theme involves resisting modernity and upholding old ways — especially the tradition of Dutton's family holding onto all the land they've controlled for generations — without a lot of sentiment spared for the Native Americans they likely had to push aside to take it over in the first place.</p> <p>"You know, in 30 years from now, nobody's going to be doing this," Rip says, drinking with his cowboys in Texas, railing against a future he imagines will include wind farms across the land and beef imported from Brazil.</p> <p>(The show even found time for a touching cameo by legendary spurs and horse bit maker Billy Klapper, who <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/billy-klapper-yellowstone-spur-dedication-b2644933.html"><u>died in September</u></a> at age 87. Sunday's episode was dedicated to him.)</p> <p>Ultimately, the core drama at the heart of Sunday's episode felt more than a bit like a ramped-up, modernized version of <em>Dallas</em> – featuring a wealthy, powerful family at war with itself, as control of the ranch and the state of Montana hang in the balance.</p> <p>It's too early to tell if <em>Yellowstone</em> can maintain its momentum without the movie star who helped build its success. But Sunday's episode revealed bold moves; if Costner's departure does make the show falter, it's going to go down – like its characters – fighting hard.</p> </div> <div class="tags"> <ul> <li><a class="tag tag--story"href="https://www.npr.org/tags/630862527/paramount">Paramount</a></li> </ul> </div>  <div class="share-tools share-tools--secondary" aria-label="Share tools"> <ul> <li class="share-tools__service share-tools__service--facebook"><button class="fbStorynx-s1-5186652" data-share-facebook='{"storyId": "nx-s1-5186652" }' data-metrics-ga4='{"category":"share","action":"share","clickName":"facebook"}' ><b class="share-tools__service-name">Facebook</b></button></li> <li class="share-tools__service share-tools__service--flipboard"><button class="storynx-s1-5186652" data-share-flipboard='{"storyId": "nx-s1-5186652" }' data-metrics-ga4='{"category":"share","action":"share","clickName":"flipboard"}' ><b class="share-tools__service-name">Flipboard</b></button></li> <li 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‘Yellowstone’ returns without Kevin Costner : NPR