7 Burning Questions After the ‘Yellowstone’ Midseason Finale
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
“Yellowstone” Season 5 has been slow, to say the least. So slow, in fact, that this season is actually being cut into two halves with the latter debuting this summer. The midseason finale tried to inject some necessary action into a rather lackluster season, mainly with Jamie (Wes Bentley) and Beth (Kelly Reilly) duking it out, but overall it was more a spinoff for the upcoming Taylor Sheridan spinoff “6666,” starring long-time cast member Jefferson White as cowboy Jimmy, than it was wrapping up any significant threads.
That being said, we were left with a few burning questions about what the second half of Season 5 could, and should, answer.
More from IndieWire
Wes Bentley Says 'Yellowstone' Character's 'Sadness Permeates My Life'
'Yellowstone' Season 5 Set to Return in Summer 2023 -- Watch Teaser
1. Beth’s killing Jamie, right?
Earlier in December I conjectured that Jamie was contemplating another murder—you know, to go with the previous two he already committed—but assumed he would attempt to take out his father, John (Kevin Costner). Instead, the finale ended with both Beth and Jamie individually contemplating the murder of the other after Jamie started impeachment proceedings against John. Wrong person, but still technically right: Jamie does have murder on his mind.
But, let’s be real, Jamie’s been a lapdog most of the series, and while he’s killed people it’s either by accident or at the behest of the Duttons. If anything, the odds of Beth offing her adopted elder brother seems like a more worthy possibility. Beth has always hated Jamie but this season she discovered Jamie’s secret son and, if anything, that has galvanized her to finally get rid of Jamie. Not to mention, Kelly Reilly is the show’s most popular character. So, if there’s a Dutton to be killed I don’t see it being Beth.
2. Is going back to the ranch a good move for Monica and Kayce?
The last four seasons have seen Monica (Kelsey Asbille) and Kayce (Luke Grimes) go back-and-forth on their relationship with the Dutton ranch. After the Duttons were attacked at the end of Season 3 into Season 4, Monica decided it was best for the family to move off the ranch and get their own home. Unfortunately, that did little to prevent Monica from suffering, as usual, and she ended up losing a child. So it was a tad shocking to hear how open Monica was to returning to the Dutton homestead once John needed Kayce to run it while the team traveled to Texas for a year.
ROGER SNIDER
The couple has had a rather muted story this go-round, outside of the season opener where Monica lost the baby. If anything, having them run the ranch will allow the back half of Season 5 to return to the eponymous Yellowstone while John is navigating government and Beth is breaking things. But will it end up doing Monica more harm than good? Monica’s always feel a bit frenetic in her thinking, though that could just be lazy writing, and after everything she endured (and blamed on her family’s closeness to John) it’ll be interesting to see if this time’s the charm.
3. Is John going to be removed from office?
I’d say yes if only because John seems so uninterested in the role. Honestly, this would give him a great out from having to do all the gladhanding and meetings he’s complained about since taking office this season. That being said, John’s removal from office would give the season a much-needed shot in the arm to tear the Duttons apart and craft a true war between Jamie and the rest of his family. It’d also just be interesting to see John Dutton fail at something. The man’s been successful at getting what he wants, how about knocking him down a peg?
4. Are any of Jamie’s skeletons going to come to light?
Jamie’s committing of multiple homicides aside, it was actually laughable hearing him tell Beth about leaving the ranch to his son because we haven’t seen Jamie’s baby since well back in Season 4. Has he been having visitation this entire time? Because all Jamie seems to be doing is scheming and getting naked with corporate Mata Hari, Sarah Atwood (Dawn Oliveri). It’d be nice to see one of the many things against Jamie finally come to light. Then again, with Beth trying to find something on Jamie to trump his knowledge of where the Duttons have buried their bodies, maybe it will all come out: his murders, his corruption, and his secret baby.
ROGER SNIDER
5. Will we ever be able to tell the difference between Laramie and Abby?
This was hard not to notice in the finale, especially during the sequence where Beth, Summer (Piper Perabo), Laramie (Hassie Harrison), and Abby (Lainey Wilson) were all sitting together. Actually, most of the Taylor Sheridan-crafted series have nearly all their main women characters rocking a similar look. But considering Laramie has been a side character since practically the show’s inception, it’s nice that she’s actually interacting with the other women of the Dutton universe, as oppose to just being the cowboy bunny bedhopping from character to character. As for Abby, we don’t know much about her outside of…she’s a singer. But, really, the scripts are gonna have to do more for these women, otherwise they’re just all going to meld into one big blonde ball.
6. When are the Broken Rock characters actually gonna see some action?
Thomas Rainwater (Gil Birmingham) has been sprinkled throughout this season, with the characters of the fictional reservation Broken Rock struggling to deal with a pipeline being built on their land. There’s been a lot of interesting story elements that have popped up, like the shout-outs of the President (whoever he may be in “Yellowstone”) visiting the reservation only to allow a pipeline. But their plot has always felt like a side element, even more so this season where there have been no new characters introduced and only a few tangential visits to them. It’d be nice to actually see them unite in some way with the Duttons plight like they did in Seasons 1 and 2.
7. Is Tate’s other arm ever going to see the light of day?
This is just a personal pet peeve: time goes so slowly in “Yellowstone.” Yes, Tate broke his arm in the car accident at the start of the season but it feels like he’s been hurt so long I can barely remember when he had two healed arms.
“Yellowstone” Season 5B will premiere on the Paramount Network this summer.
Best of IndieWire
17 HBO and HBO Max Original Series to Get Excited About in 2023
The Best True Crime Streaming Now, from 'Unsolved Mysteries' to 'McMillions' to 'The Staircase'
Sign up for Indiewire's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
