Yellowstone season 2, episode 4 recap: Only Devils Left

In last week’s episode of Yellowstone, Kayce continued to follow in his father’s footsteps in spite of everyone but his father’s misgivings, Jamie dropped out of the race for Montana Attorney General, and Rainwater and Jenkins announced their joint business venture, leading new enemies to rear their heads.

“Only Devils Left,” the fourth episode of Yellowstone‘s second season starts at night. The cows are out to pasture and someone is throwing bushels of hay to them, which they eagerly eat. The next day Kayce, Rip, and Jimmy are riding horses around the ranch. Kayce sends Jimmy ahead and Kayce asks Rip about Jimmy’s and the other cowboy’s backgrounds.

Jimmy notices one of the cows in the pasture looks funny. The cow is suffering from bloat. Rip and Kayce are perplexed, there’s nothing in the field for the cow to eat that could have caused the issue. Then Kayce notices the herd in the lower field is dead from the same malady. That’s hundreds of cows gone. Not cool.

After the credits, we pick up with John, Jamie, and Beth. They’re waiting in the Governor’s office for someone. It’s Cassidy Reid, John and Beth’s Attorney General pick. With Jamie out of the race, she’s running unopposed, so the office is hers.

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Jamie gets a call about Yellowstone’s cows and he and John return to the ranch. John quickly realizes the pasture is a crime scene and calls in livestock agents and the Sheriff. John claims he knows who did it, they just have to prove it.

At the land where their casino will be built, Thomas Rainwater and Dan Jenkins meet before the groundbreaking ceremony. Jenkins brings up the Beck brothers, the men who threatened to withhold the liquor license from their casino project in the previous episode.

Rainwater says it’s not an issue. Once his Tribe annexes the land, the Becks won’t have any control over what they do. Dan tells him that wasn’t part of their deal but Rainwater insists that not only is it but it’s priceless to Jenkins because it means they don’t have to go through the government for permits.

Jenkins’ colleague points out that sidestepping regulations will put Rainwater and Jenkins in danger. Rainwater responds that he has a bodyguard and indicates Jenkins should get one too.

Rainwater takes to the stage and annexes the land in the name of his Tribe. Jenkins’ colleague tells him that the moment Rainwater annexed the land, their agreement was invalidated. Jenkins could lose everything. Jenkins says if Rainwater keeps his word it’ll be fine, but his colleague points out that’s not a business strategy.

The Becks watch Rainwater on TV from their office. They realize Jenkins didn’t get their message and they need to find another way to get their displeasure across to him.

At the ranch, the Sheriff hasn’t found any evidence that the cow deaths were intentional. Jamie explains the scenario the Duttons believe occurred. The Sheriff tells him even if it was a crime, he doesn’t have the manpower to investigate further. So John cajoles him into deputizing Kayce so he can investigate further.

John instructs Jamie to find the evidence they need to prove who killed the cows. Once he does, he instructs Kayce to bring the individual to him.

Later, Jamie works through John’s papers and notices the ranch was put in a trust with Kayce and Beth’s names on it. At that moment the reporter who planned to write the expose on John calls to verify some facts. Jamie doesn’t pick up but looks nervous as Beth walks in.

Jamie asks Beth about the trust. They fight about the merits of it and of their roles at the ranch. Beth has invested over half the ranch’s money through the trust and Jamie is furious because he doesn’t believe she’s considered the risk. The ranch hasn’t made a profit in 6 years and tying up that money messes the whole place up. He demands she pull out of the investments she made. Beth thinks Jamie’s plan is to get John to trust him by getting him to lose faith in her.

Somewhere on Yellowstone, Ray and Blake, the two men who Jimmy refused to shop for at the home & garden store in last week’s episode, approach an old man. They beat him up and tell them to let Jimmy know he has a week to get them the money he owes.

Later, Jimmy finds the man who asks how much Jimmy owes. It’s far more than he has but Jimmy says he’ll take care of it. Avery observes the exchange and asks if it’s because of what they did. Jimmy says it’s because of what he did.

The Beck brothers come to see John at Yellowstone’s main house but Rip finds them first. He approaches the brothers aggressively and their security attacks him, resulting in an altercation with guns drawn.

John rides up on a horse and knocks one of the bodyguards down. Rip holds the other’s gun on the Becks. Jamie realizes what’s happened and runs out. Before he can, the Becks introduce themselves. They want to discuss a problem they and John have in common.

John says he wants to take the meeting alone and bars Jamie from coming with him but he lets Rip tag along.

The Becks lay out the issue with Jenkins and Rainwater’s casino and what it will do to the ranches in the area. The brothers want to fight the pair outside the lines because they don’t think Jenkins has the stomach for it. John assures them Jenkins does and says he doesn’t need partners to fight.

The Becks tell him to think of them as the perfect allies because their businesses don’t step on John’s toes. Plus, when the Becks fight, they win. John appears unmoved. Malcolm Beck asks him just to consider it.

As the Becks depart, Jamie tells John that working with the Becks is a deal with the devil. John counters that all the angels are gone. At least the Becks admit they’re devils.

Monica’s physical therapist comes to her class to see her teach. Afterward, he compliments her lesson but points out that if she only teaches the tragedy of Native Americans, they’ll only seem tragic. He encourages her to bring her students to the Reservation to learn more about Native American culture. Monica likes the idea. He then invites her to walk to the rec center with him for their session. Monica claims she has a faculty meeting so she’ll have to reschedule. She nervously plays with her wedding ring.

A little later, Monica calls Kayce. She tells him she’s lonely. He asks if she wants him to come over. She says she does but he can’t. He tells her he loves her and she responds that she wishes that was all it took.

John, Jamie, and Beth meet with the attorney general-elect, Cassidy. Beth tries to corner Jamie in front of Cassidy. After Cassidy and John leave, Jamie asks Beth what she’s doing. Beth tells him she plans to get him disbarred.

At dinner, which Cassidy is also attending, Beth manipulates things to make Jamie sit next to her. Then she stabs him with a blunt knife. He excuses himself. Beth lies and tells Cassidy Jamie’s actions are due to celiac disease.

Meanwhile, Kayce goes to see Monica despite being told not to. They sleep together and afterward Tate comes in. He’s thrilled to see his father back home.

The next morning Kayce goes with a livestock agent to track down the people who killed Yellowstone’s cows. Over the radio, they get a call about another ranch with a dead cow that seems to have died from predation. They wait for the Sheriff but there aren’t any deputies available.

So they go to see the rancher next door alone. He also has a dead cow but his neighbor has accused him of being the one killing his cattle and making it look like wolves did it. At the ranch, Kayce notices something in the barn. He finds the tool the rancher used to hack up his and neighbor’s cow.

The agent arrests the rancher but the rancher resists. As they scuffle the rancher’s son runs out with a shotgun drawn. Kayce starts to defuse the situation. But the agent quickly draws his gun and shoots the rancher’s son dead to Kayce and the rancher’s horror.

At Yellowstone, the ranch hands prepare to burn the field with the dead cows to get rid of the clover that killed them when John is called out to the ranch where the teenager was shot. When he gets there, John asks Kayce if the shooting was justified. Kayce says it was justified but questions if it was right.

The Sheriff arrives and he and John come to blows. John says what happened is the Sheriff’s fault because he denied Kayce and the agent’s requests for back-up.

Later, the Becks watch the tragedy on the ranch being reported on the news. Malcolm Beck smiles and claims he knows how they can help John.

John returns to Yellowstone and instructs Rip to burn the field. John watches as it lights up.

For a complete summary of what happened in the previous episode of Yellowstone, read our recap. And you can stream season two’s fourth episode on Paramount Network.

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