Yellowstone season 2 episode 6 recap: Jamie makes a desperate move

Yellowstone season 2 episode 6 kicks off with another flashback, with the younger John Dutton (Josh Lucas) talking with a teenage Jamie (Dalton Baker) about what he wants to do with his life. Jamie says he wants to be like John, but John has other plans. He applied to Harvard for Jamie so he could become a lawyer, calling them the "swords of this century," which is the best way Jamie can help the ranch. Jamie is hesitant but doesn't question John.

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Back in the present, Jamie (Wes Bentley) is once again doing his father's bidding. Now fully aware of Jamie's involvement with Sarah Nguyen, John (Kevin Costner) tells him to find out what she wants and if that is publishing a story that could destroy the ranch through John, be his lawyer and sue her into oblivion.

This order is going to put Jamie in a difficult spot later. Read on for a complete breakdown of Yellowstone season 2 episode 6, "Blood the Boy."

New partners

Malcolm (Neal McDonough) and Teal Beck (Terry Serpico) meet with Rainwater (Gil Birmingham), insisting he partner with them over Dan Jenkins (Danny Huston). They're not subtle about it either, threatening to not license slots to the tribe's casinos and doing anything else they can to hinder his new project if he doesn't work with them. Rainwater holds his ground though, unwilling to give in to them.

However, another character already knows the danger the Beck brothers pose. Sheriff Donnie (Hugh Dillon) pulls John over to warn him about getting involved with the Becks. He reveals he got in debt at one of their casinos and couldn't pay, so now they basically own him (they were the ones who sent him the bullet in episode 5). John won't back down though, telling Donnie he needs to be on John's side again if he wants to make it through the impending fight.

To help with that, John visits Dan, plowing past bodyguard Torry (Wolé Parks) to burst into his office. John blames Dan for his casino bringing the Beck brothers into the valley, but suggests that he, Dan and Rainwater meet to figure out how they can deal with the Becks together.

Jimmy finds his talent

Jimmy (Jefferson White) is still desperate for money to pay off his debt to the goons hounding him. Lloyd (Forrie J. Smith) suggests he try bronc riding, recalling that's the only thing Jimmy has shown any ability to do at the ranch; he'll even spot him the entry fee.

Jimmy practices and shows some promise. Rip (Cole Hauser) notices and worries Jimmy is going to get himself killed, warning him you don't see any old rodeo cowboys because there aren't any. But Jimmy has a new kind of confidence and is desperate, so Rip just tells Lloyd to look out for him.

At the rodeo, Jimmy has to overcome his nerves as he readies for his first ride on a massive horse. But he can't quit now. The moment is a blur for him but he stays on for all eight seconds and wins the competition. That not only gets him some money, but also a commemorative belt buckle. Jimmy beams. Even Lloyd sheds a small tear of pride for Jimmy.

Back at the bunkhouse, the other cowboys can't help but be impressed by Jimmy actually pulling off a win. Jimmy wants to show Avery, but they tell him that she picked up and left.

Jamie's desperate decision

Jamie meets with Sarah (Michaela Conlin) deep in the woods, once again trying to rescind his permission to be quoted. He tries to convince her what he said wasn't even true, that he could be disbarred for violating attorney-client privilege and that it would hurt his family. Sarah doesn't care, believing his family deserves to lose everything and she'll be happy if she's the one to take it from them.

She turns to leave. Jamie, not knowing what else to do, charges after her and bashes her head against her car. He seems shocked by his own actions, but knows he can't stop. He chokes her until she is dead, saying he is sorry while he does it.

Jamie then turns to Rip to help him cover it up. Rip recruits Walker (Ryan Bingham) to help, only telling him he just needs to drive a car. Rip tells Jamie the only sure way to get rid of this problem is to get rid of Jamie, so he stresses not to put him in that position. Then they put Sarah's body in a kayak and Jamie pushes her into the river so it looks like a drowning.

Walker figures out that Rip just made him an accessory to murder. However, Rip points out that Walker moved Sarah's car and touched the kayak (Rip and Jamie were wearing gloves), so it's his prints they'd find. Rip says he'll let Walker leave the ranch now and that he'll drive him to the train station himself.

Killing to survive

Monica (Kelsey Asbille) and Martin (Martin Sensmeier) are making out at her apartment. However, Monica stops it before it goes any further, still conflicted about where things are with Kayce. Martin asks if Kayce is a bad man? Monica says no, but he does bad things and she's afraid he'll break her heart. Martin points out that if her and Kayce's marriage is going to die, it'll die, but to end it to try and avoid that pain actually means Monica is the one breaking hearts.

At the ranch, Kayce (Luke Grimes) spots Rip getting ready to take Walker to the train station. Kayce says that he'll do it. As Kayce starts to pull over after crossing into Wyoming, Walker gets suspicious and readies his knife. But first, he tells Kayce that people haven't evolved from their animal instincts and that we are still the meanest thing on the planet, all he wanted to do was try and be different from that.

Kayce agrees with him, but Walker infers killing him wouldn't be different. Kayce decides to let Walker go, so long as he keeps everything that happened at the ranch to himself, and if he ever comes back to the Yellowstone, Kayce will be running things and it will be different.

That night, John sees a report about Sarah Nguyen's death, with the news calling it a drowning. He finds Jamie in the house, drinking. While Jamie says he had no choice, John says of course he did, but hurting himself never entered Jamie's mind. Elsewhere, Christina (Katherine Cunningham) also sees the news report and seems immediately suspicious.

The next morning, John, Kayce and Tate (Brecken Merrill) go hunting. They are sure to make it clear to Tate about the significance of taking a life, telling him to always be sure before he pulls a trigger, because killing is the one thing you can't undo. Then when Tate shoots his first buck and is unsure how he feels, they explain that everything on Earth kills to survive and someday something will kill them too, be it a bacteria or a bear.

Yellowstone season 2 episodes are available to stream on Peacock in the US and Paramount Plus in the UK.