Listen, I wasn't expecting a Thanksgiving episode of Yellowstone because I know better. This show is about vengeful killing, roping steer, and letting Beth say the word "f*ck" as many times as possible in the course of one hour. But in the spirit of the giving season, I'm going to say that this week's episode was a Thanksgiving attempt, because it was full of family and good will and a bit of environmental nihilism. What better way can we honor the time since we came to America and decimated the land?
At the end of last week, we left a (curiously? earnestly? we don't know yet!) Dutton-committed Jamie in charge of looking into the attacks on the family ranch via a tip about a local inmate. That query led to the bad news that it's pretty likely that Jamie's biological dad was responsible, so Jamie's loyalties are really about to be tested. But that's only one part of the drama that unfolds this week. Let's dive in.
John Dutton and a Few Bad/Good Women
I think there are four types of ways to navigate the world: You're either intrinsically good or bad, and, as such, you either strive to do good or bad. In the case of John Dutton, I believe he's a good man who is trying to do good but also does a lot of bad. This is best illustrated by the time he shares with two women: his daughter Beth and that pesky tree hugger, Summer Higgins.
John Dutton, a good guy trying to do good things but very often doing bad—very bad—things.
Beth (bad person who does bad things) has signed on to work for Market Equities with the sole purpose of destroying the company from within. She immediately fires Bob from Schwartz & Meyer, along with his assistant. ("You’re fired, too, you nosy bitch," landed perfectly.) Though I love her, she is not good! John sort of lets her operate as she wants with minimal involvement. This is unlike his interactions with Summer Higgins, who is leading a protest of unethical animal farming. John presses charges and has the whole lot thrown in jail, but then the next day, he bails Summer out. She's as confused as I initially was, but John tells her that he freed her because she believes that what she is doing is right—that's something he can respect. It seems to parlay pretty nicely into his mutual respect of the Broken Rock reservation, too.
But John does point out that whether it's through ranching or otherwise, "there will come a time when Earth sheds us like dead skin, and it will be our fault." I never had it on my Yellowstone bingo card for John to be highlighting the issue of unsustainable farming practices.
Jamie and the Three Generations of Yikes
Jamie interviews Riggins and agrees to give him immunity if he'll answer whether or not his father was behind the killings. Meanwhile, Jamie's father is back at Jamie's place, fielding a whole other generation of problems. So when Jamie gets home to confront his father, he's surprised that Christina is back, baby. Also, with a baby. So Christina is back with a baby, baby. And Jamie having a son is surely going to change how he moves forward with roasting the hell out of his own dad. This spells full blown fiasco, somewhere.
The bunkhouse’s most sympathetic character has finally arrived in Texas.
Bunkhouse Rules
I'm simply not invested in the bunkhouse, but I know it matters to some people, so here we are. Lloyd is still at the bottom of the metaphorical totem pole, getting saddled (no pun intended) with saddle duty alongside Carter, who isn't much higher than Lloyd in the pecking order following that little outburst at the Tractor Supply. The two bond, and damn if Lloyd doesn't need a friend, especially considering that he saw Laramie and Walker doing the deed under that big Montana sky. The stars at night, are big and bright (clap, clap, clap, clap) when you're banging in the heart of Montana!
Jimmy, who is still an idiot, is officially at Four Sixes ranch and has a loose understanding of who George Strait is, and for the time being, I'm going to let that lie and not even explain the context of how he's doing down at the 6666 because I'm still mad at him for getting himself sent there in the first place.
