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This article contains spoilers for Yellowstone season 5 episode 12.
The future of Yellowstone has never been more uncertain. Whether the crown jewel in the Taylor Sheridan TV universe lives for a sixth season with a skeleton crew cast, continues on to spinoffs and sequels, or simply ends in a couple more weeks still remains to be seen. However the way this second half of season 5 has played out, it would appear co-creator and writer Taylor Sheridan feels as if he has another five seasons already officially announced.
While there have been some surprises this season, episodes have mostly meandered, stretched out an already familiar plot, or wasted time with unneeded masturbatory cowboy introspection. Sheridan has shown he can deliberately pace out a project in films such as Hell or High Water, and television limited series such as his Yellowstone prequel 1883. For those projects he clearly had a beginning, middle, and end in mind the minute he began writing. So why has he been treading water for the majority of this half of Yellowstone’s potentially final season?
Whatever the reason is, it’s over now. “Counting Coup,” which could go down as the third-to-last episode of this show’s successful run, is the finest return to form for Sheridan and Yellowstone in a long time. Let’s break down why this episode should be considered one of the most impactful, emotional, and memorable in the show’s tenure.
Yellowstone Recaptured Real Stakes, Not Just “What Might Be”
As Sheridan has often reminded audiences in the second half of season 5, much of the world depends on the cattle industry’s steaks, but these stakes are the more delicious kind when it comes to the perpetuation of a great television show.
Threats to the Yellowstone Ranch have been hovering over the heads of the Duttons and, by proxy the audience, for years. When this season and ultimately the show concludes (whether those two dates coincide), it could finally be a sad conclusion to that story, and the ranch may no longer belong to the Duttons. But because those threats have been so constant over the years, they’ve run the risk of losing all meaning.
In “Counting Coup,” Sheridan gives us such a simple yet impactful stake and it represents the first time in a long time when the audience can become truly emotionally invested.
With the ranch crew distracted by questions of the future, and the news of John Dutton’s (Kevin Costner) death, it was another character’s death that made an impact. Rip (Cole Hauser) and the crew begin to put a few small plans in motion in order to quickly raise money to hold back the proverbial wolves from taking the ranch. Carter (Finn Little), who very much looked up to John, tries to lose himself in the work. He makes the mistake of trying to give a wild buck some water by himself, and when the angry animal traps the kid, Colby (Denim Richards) steps in. Colby helps Carter escape, but is repeatedly kicked by the horse. Colby doesn’t survive his injuries.
In a season that could be the last, it wasn’t the loss of one of the show’s A-listers that was the most impactful, but rather an unassuming fan-favorite. It was personal. It was intimate. The plot doesn’t revolve around how Market Equities is going to buy out the land, or spend time in a government official’s office packed with lawyers, it is simply about putting in the work, and the brevity of life itself. It seems to mirror the show’s fate perfectly.
Colby’s Death Brings the Ranch Together
The show has always built itself on the unwritten cowboy sense of justice, which often includes bloody vengeance, but Sheridan allows the audience a reprieve for the most part from all the animosity and anger with this week’s show. Granted, there will still be a final showdown between Jamie (Wes Bentley) and his siblings, but for now, it can wait.
Several cast members turn in their greatest performance of this season with the news of Colby’s death. When Rip first discovers that Colby didn’t make it, Hauser beautifully conveys the emotion that Rip rarely shows on screen. Young actor Little mirrors that anguish, as both characters feel a tremendous amount of responsibility and guilt.
When Ryan (Ian Bohen), who is arguably Colby’s true better half, gets the phone call of his best friend’s death, it is heartbreaking, and that’s even before Ryan shares the news with Colby’s true love, Teeter (Jen Landon). Teeter and Colby confessed their love to each other openly for the first time in the early goings of the episode, which makes it even more heart wrenching. It is such a different, and much-needed tonal shift compared to the rest of this season. Even Jimmy (Jefferson White) has a beautiful moment when the episode started when he first hears about John’s death. It was a great reminder of the amount of respect, and yes, love, Jimmy had for John and his legacy.
The episode was never about what torture Beth (Kelly Reilly) is planning for Jamie or how Rip needed to tear the world apart after Colby’s death, it was an episode full of moments where everyone focussed on loving and supporting one another. It was an episode that reminded the audience how much of a family everyone on the Yellowstone Ranch is.
It even gives Beth an opportunity to show actual depth of character by often being the one who was engaged in matriarchal behavior. It was something fans have wanted from Beth ever since she made Carter cry by reminding the kid she’s not his mother. She gave him what he always wanted, and it was both what Carter and the audience wanted to hear. It finally gave us some hope.
Things Are Not Going to Be the Same
Would an episode of Yellowstone be perfect without some sort of cathartic violence? Of course not. Yet the danger of deploying violence is a similar one to the never-ending tension between Beth and Jamie. Don’t let the moment feel unearned, and most importantly, don’t let it be boring.
In an episode where character growth is available in spades, it is particularly impactful to see Kayce (Luke Grimes) go very dark. Kayce almost never delves into the dark parts of his soul, perhaps always trying to separate himself from his father, but this was an all new level.
Kayce finds the man responsible not only for John’s staged suicide, but for the murder of Sarah Atwood (Dawn Olivieri), the very woman who hired him. Kayce corners the man, Grant Horton (Matt Gerald), and for just an instant, he’s the most intimidating he’s been since arguably the first season. It’s strange how quickly one can forget that Kayce was a Navy Seal, but as he pins Horton down in his own car, gun pointed at his young daughter, we see a much different side of Kayce. Despite him not killing Horton, the lengths Kayce goes to ensure his family safe, coincidentally came from a place of love, much like the emotional motivation of all characters in this episode. But it quickly reminded audience members that this is very much the end game.
“Counting Coup,” like all near-perfect episodes, not only changes the audience’s perception of the show but creates hope for a deeper, more satisfying ending.
New episodes of Yellowstone season 5 premiere Sundays at 8 p.m. ET on Paramount Network, culminating with the finale of December 15.
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