Yellowstone season 2, episode 8 recap: Behind Us Only Grey
The camera cuts to Tate — based on the juxtaposition, he’s the one John loves the most. Tate’s watching as Kayce saddles his new horse in the paddock. Kayce works to tame the horse. Monica walks over and Kayce asks her not to have doubts about their current circumstances. She corrects him: she doesn’t have doubts, she has worries. Kayce asks her not to have those either. Monica tells him she has to leave, she’s going on a field trip with her class and she’ll be home late.
At the Livestock Commissioners’ office, John is still having his men search for the people who killed his cattle in episode 4. His deputy hasn’t found anything. So John asks him to look up Beck. He discovers Beck has three Cessna planes he could have used to commit the crime. John puts two and two together and tells his deputy he’ll take it from there.
That night, Monica takes her class to a hip hop concert featuring Native American artists. The music speaks to Native American oppression and empowerment and clearly makes Monica think.
Later on the ranch, Beth is lying in bed next to Rip when he finally wakes up. He examines her face and tells her he wishes the men would come back to life so he could kill them again.
Monica comes home and gets into bed with Kayce who’s still awake. He informs her that her not communicating with him won’t work. So Monica asks him what happened to Beth. Kayce answers her question by telling her John used to tell him stories about all the wars he had to fight to keep Yellowstone. He never believed him but he does now. There are people who will stop at nothing to get more. Monica responds that Yellowstone isn’t a home, it’s a prison. And they’re all prisoners.
Living at Yellowstone doesn’t feel like their family to her. Monica’s relatives lived in houses smaller than the room they’re in. Kayce tells her they can live in town if she’d prefer. He doesn’t care as long as they’re together. Monica thanks him.
Early in the morning, Rip gets up and gets dressed. He’s going back to the bunk house before he gets used to being in Beth’s bed. Beth notes that the doctor told him to stay in bed. Rip kisses her and informs her there are beds in the bunk house. Rip grunts in pain as he walks across the ranch.
In the bunk house, the cowboys are getting ready for work. Jimmy asks if he can borrow Lloyd’s truck so he can get the money he won from the rodeo in episode 6 out of the bank. Lloyd jokes that he wants to go spend it but Jimmy claims it’s for his grandfather.
Rip limps in and everyone watches him stagger to his bunk. Lloyd asks if he’s alright. Rip says no.
Jimmy if the first customer at the bank. He gets his money and drives to the home of Ray, one of the threatening men who he owes money. He drops off the money and tells Ray he needs to leave his grandfather alone now. Ray agrees they’re square on the money but insists Avery still owes him for spraying him with bear spray in episode 3. Jimmy asks how much that’ll cost. Ray says he should bring Avery over and they’ll figure it out. The implication is clear and Jimmy gets angry.
Ray laughs breaking the tension — sort of. He tells Jimmy he’ll take another grand and Avery’s off the hook too. Jimmy tells Ray he just gave him every penny he has. Ray notices Jimmy’s wearing the belt buckle he won at the rodeo. He points out that it looks like it’s worth something. So Jimmy leaves without anything he won at the rodeo but with the men off his back — at least in theory.
Back at the ranch, Monica and Tate are watching Kayce work with Tate’s horse. John walks up to Monica. He confesses that most days he doesn’t know why he bothers but then he watches something like Kayce with the horse and he remembers. He observes that Monica doesn’t like it on the ranch much. Monica counters that she loves what they’re doing at the moment, but how often do things like that happen.
Every day on the ranch is a fight and Monica doesn’t want her family to be a part of it. John asks her to give them a chance at Yellowstone. She agrees.
Rip hobbles over and John comments that he’s supposed to be in bed. John tells him to take it easy and Rip says he will but he’s clearly in pain. He asks if John has any painkillers. John sees Beth walking in the distance and genuinely thanks Rip.
John asks Kayce for a word and Rip agrees to take care of the horse while Kayce’s gone. John cautions Rip to take it easy again, and Rip informs him that Tate will look after him.
John tells Kayce about the Becks’ plane. Kayce asks where it is and John tells him. John asks if that’s useful information and Kayce says it is. Kayce wants to know how much John wants to know about what he does next. John says everything.
Kayce instructs John to set a meeting somewhere that’s too far for a man with a plane to drive. John counters that the retaliation needs to happen where they can control it — either the ranch or the reservation. Kayce tells him to set the meeting in Jackson Hole so they fly right over them. He also asks for the help of Dan Jenkins’ security guy. John isn’t sure about that idea. But Kayce figures if he’s involved Jenkins can’t use their actions against them. John agrees. Kayce says he wants it to be over, but John tells him it’s never really over.
At the paddock, Tate asks Rip why the horse runs. Tate thinks it might be fear but Rip says it’s simply instinct. Beth walks up and watches as Rip interacts with Tate. John comes over and comments that when you see Rip with Tate he’s just a big teddy bear. Beth wanders away.
She walks into the barn to find Jamie cleaning the manure out of the horses’ stalls. Hurt though she is, Beth is still horrible to Jamie. She tells him that despite her amazement that it could happen, at some point someone will love Jamie and Jamie will love someone and she can’t wait to take that from him. Beth sobs. Jamie says nothing. How heartwarming!
That night, a truck pulls up to a security booth at the edge of the reservation and asks the guard if the road leads to the park. The guard walks over to correct the driver, and the driver shoots and kills him. Uh oh.
At the main house at the ranch, Kayce and Monica are taking a bath together. Kayce is amazed that John convinced Monica to stay there. Monica says she doesn’t like their bedroom. The house is so big she wants kids in every room. It needs to have chaos to be a home. Kayce agrees.
Then Monica realizes the kids would all grow up and leave and the place would become a tomb again. But Kayce says that at that point they’d just give the ranch to Tate and his wife. Monica tells Kayce he has a lot of work to do.
John knocks on the door and instructs Kayce to get dressed. John goes to the bunkhouse and wakes Jamie, instructing him to get dressed too. Jamie goes to the truck waiting outside. He opens the passenger door and finds Kayce already inside with a gun. John instructs Jamie to get in the back.
They drive off and stop at the entrance to the reservation where the guard was killed. John informs Jamie he needs him to be a lawyer. Jamie looks relieved and John wonders where Jamie thought he was taking him.
Outside the Sheriff and the reservation police are arguing about whose jurisdiction the crime falls under. The man was shot on a county road but it’s tribal land. John, Kayce, and Jamie walk over. The Sheriff says it looks like something John did. John’s been clear about how he feels about the tribe’s new casino. John says he had nothing to do with it. The Sheriff says he knows. Rainwater walks up and declares they know who did it.
Everyone agrees it was the Becks even if there were no witnesses or other evidence. The investigation will stop construction on the casino. The Sheriff observes that the Becks probably are already planning what’s next so he recommends Rainwater make a public statement that he’s halting construction of his own accord to appease them. That won’t stop the Becks but at least it’ll slow them down long enough for Rainwater to figure out his next move.
The Sheriff then informs John that the Becks will take a swing at him next. John says they already did. But the Sheriff insists John should watch out, something else will happen. They could come on the ranch. John counters that nothing would please him more than them coming on his ranch.
John tells Kayce they need to take care of the Becks immediately. John calls Malcolm Beck who’s at home with Teal. They set a meeting in the square at Jackson Hole during the day. When Malcolm hangs up, photos of all of John’s loved ones can be seen on the table in front of him and Malcolm repeats the phrase “who he loves the most.” Clearly, the Becks are still coming for John, meeting or not.
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There are only two episodes left in season 2 of Yellowstone and the tension keeps ratcheting up. We’ll see if everyone makes it through the next episode alive…
To catch up on the explosive events of Yellowstone‘s previous episode, check out our recap. And you can stream the eighth episode of season 2 now on Paramount Network.