‘Yellowstone’ Goes off the Rails With Another Death & Kayce Threat (RECAP)

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[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for Yellowstone Season 5 Episode 12, “Counting Coup.”]

Kayce Dutton (Luke Grimes) held a child at gunpoint in the latest installment of Yellowstone, and that’s just one of the inexplicable things that went down in the episode. The other shocking moment that has left us scratching our heads is the death of one of the ranch’s cowboys that we’re not sure had to happen at all, especially with only two episodes left in the season (and the series overall until confirmed otherwise).

The episode began with a phone call between lovebirds Teeter (Jen Landon) and Colby (Denim Richards) in the present-day timeline (thank goodness the Texas flashbacks seem to be over and done with). They said “I love you” to each other for the first time ever on this call, which apparently should have been read as a bad omen.

Rip (Cole Hauser) and Beth (Kelly Reilly) had decided to sell all of the Yellowstone’s horses and cattle to try and raise the funds needed to save the ranch instead of selling off a piece of its land. There was one “maneater” horse that the team struggled to control. The horse started bucking at Carter (Finn Little) when he tried to enter his pen to refill a water bucket. Colby rushed in to take his place and save the teen, but he was bucked several times in the process. It only ended when Carter shot and killed the horse himself in an attempt to save Colby, but it was too late. The blows to his body killed the cowboy sooner than Carter could intervene.

With only two episodes to go, it doesn’t make sense to kill off a cowboy (and notably, the only Black character in the supporting cast) just to build Carter’s character. Surely, there were other ways to give Beth and Rip’s adopted teen son a meaningful arc that didn’t involve the needless sacrifice of a character who’s been there since day one and had a bright future with his partner ahead of him. This is now the third major death in just four episodes of Season 5 Part 2 (only the second episode didn’t feature someone getting killed off), making this death extra unnecessary.

Colby died heroically saving a kid, but the story didn’t need him to. The bunkhouse plotline would have been better served by having the team get involved in the investigation into John’s murder, continuing to help safeguard the ranch’s future, or getting bittersweet but happy endings by moving on to new employment. The selling of the horses and cattle and Colby’s death did, however, give reason to bring the cowboys down in Texas back to Montana. The offloading of the animals would’ve been enough reason for them to come back.

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In the aftermath of Colby’s death, Beth opened up to Carter by revealing her previous pregnancy and how it affected her relationship with Rip. It was odd that Beth told her kid that she got pregnant in the room he was sitting in, but that’s beside the point. This was the first time in a long time that Beth opened up to someone new about that pregnancy. Rip doesn’t even know that she did get pregnant with his child when they were teens. The younger Beth told him she was taking a test, but she lied and said it came back negative. In truth, she had an abortion and Jamie had her sterilized without her consent or knowledge. Sharing this with Carter is hopefully a sign that Rip will soon learn the truth about what Jamie did to Beth, something that needs to be addressed before the series ends.

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And now, over to the avenging John Dutton (Kevin Costner) plot. With Sarah’s (Dawn Olivieri) murder confirming her involvement in John’s death, Kayce’s veteran friend (played by Will Trent‘s Jake McLaughlin) helped him identify the man Sarah hired, Grant Horton (Matt Gerald). Kayce was in a lethal mood the entire episode. All Monica (Kelsey Asbille) had to do in this episode, meanwhile, was cook and worry about her husband.

The episode ended with Kayce “counting coup” (where the episode gets its title), a Native American battle tradition that entails a warrior performing an act of bravery that intimidates an enemy without killing them. Kayce found Grant in his hometown as he and his young daughter were leaving a soccer game. Kayce got into the backseat of their car next to the girl and held a gun to her head to threaten the father. Kayce warned that he knew all the details of his life and that he wouldn’t hesitate to kill them all if Grant and his company tried to hurt his family again. Terrifying a child in this way was clearly meant to show Kayce’s dangerous mental state, but it was still a bit much.

Jamie (Wes Bentley) was barely in the episode at all, even though his girlfriend was murdered in the episode prior. The detective leading the investigation into John’s now-suspected homicide came to Jamie’s house to look into Sarah’s death. Jamie’s defensive response has now made him a suspect where he wasn’t one before. He shredded documents in a panic, ones that would presumably reveal the new plans for the airport lease and his connection to Sarah and Market Equities. But that’s all we got of Jamie in this installment.

This episode further deepened the divide between Kayce, Beth, and Jamie, but now there are only two episodes left to bring their sibling civil war to its conclusion. Hopefully, “Counting Coup” was the last time we’ll hear from the hitman agency so that there are no further obstacles stopping what’s bound to be a deadly final fight between the Dutton siblings from taking place.

Another noteworthy moment: Taylor Sheridan himself returned as horse-trainer Travis, who Jimmy (Jefferson White) now works for. Rip called Travis to break the news of John’s death and recruit his help in selling their horses. He also asks Travis to tell Jimmy the bad news. It was ironic to see Sheridan, whose reported feud with Costner is said to have caused the actor’s departure from the series, react to John Dutton’s death onscreen.

Yellowstone, Sundays, 8/7c, Paramount Network