When last we left off with Yellowstone, Kacey (Luke Grimes) and Beth (Kelly Reilly) were the last Duttons standing. And both had seemingly worked their way toward a happy ending. Kayce was living with his family in East Camp, starting his new ranch.
Meanwhile, Beth and Rip (Cole Hauser) had set up their own smaller place, the new Dutton Ranch, taking Carter (Finn Little) along for the ride. But not everything turned out as it appeared, as both siblings moved on to their own spinoff.
Marshals debuted first, revealing that Kayce’s wife died, his ranch was a struggle, and he needed a fresh start as a U.S. Marshal. Now, Beth is getting her second act in Dutton Ranch, which debuted with a two-episode premiere, starting with "The Untold Wait," on Wednesday, May 13. And, like her brother, that idyllic potential happy ending is quickly adjusted.
A fiery change
As we open, Beth and Rip are, indeed, living their best lives on their new ranch. They ride out into the wilds of Montana, enjoying some peace and even sleeping under the stars. But life has a way of turning on the Duttons, and it does here, too. A massive thunderstorm wakes them up, and quickly Rip notices that there is a massive fire, likely sparked due to a lightning strike. He scrambles to cut fences for the herd while Beth heads to the house.
Beth reaches the house and collects Carter and their horses on a trailer. She races away with him toward safety while Rip does his work in the fields. Once they are set at the rally point for those displaced by the fire, she leaves Carter and the trailer and heads back. She finds Rip, who is carrying a calf he’s saved. He’s smoky and bedraggled but alive. That’s more than can be said for their ranch, which has burned to the ground. There will be no happy ending in Montana.
Flash-forward six months, and they are now at a new spread in Rio Paloma, Texas. They are again building a cattle ranch—now in a place where presumably no one knows the Dutton name and brand—while building a new life. For Carter, that means trying to fit in at high school. For Beth and Rip, that means navigating a whole new world of politics and danger. And it’s going to be an adjustment for them all.
Carter makes a friend
We begin with Carter at school. There is a rodeo that night, and Beth has encouraged him to have some fun. But that would require making friends. He’s lightly mocked by a group, including the girl he’s sweet on, Cassie (Jessica Belkin). But after school, she asks to meet him at the rodeo. That seems to be a promising sign.
So, Carter shows up that night with flowers and spends a good deal of time waiting. When Cassie does show up, she wants him to get her a drink since he looks like he’s of age, even if he’s only 19. Carter obliges, and it turns out the drinks are for Cassie and her real friends. He’s just been used. Dejected, Carter heads home when he sees a damsel in distress.
He leaps into action, using his fists to end the dispute with her boyfriend. That, naturally, lands him in jail. But the Sheriff (Josh Stewart) cuts him loose. Turns out the girl he helped, Oreana (Natalie Alyn Lind), used a connection to spring him. She’s also interested in Carter and seeing him again. So, it took a while to get there, but Carter seems to have made a friend.
Rough business
Meanwhile, Beth and Rip are trying to make a go of it in Texas. For Beth, that means finding a place to slaughter and service her herd. She goes to the local spot and finds a less-than-warm reception from the owner, Beulah Jackson (Annette Bening), who owns the biggest ranch in the area. She and her sons—Joaquin (Juan Pablo Raba) and Rob-Will (Jai Courtney)—are the power players here. And they will be a problem for Beth and Rip that moves beyond finding a place to slaughter their herd.
Rip and his hand, Azul (J.R. Villarreal), get a similarly warm welcome from a drunk Rob-Will. He tries to pick a fight, likely reeling from the fact he started his day murdering a ranch hand that knew too much. He’s spoiling for more fights, but Rip is able to diffuse the situation in his own way. Still, it’s clear there is no love lost between Rob-Will and Azul.
Things begin to look up a bit as Beth makes friends with a local vet (Ed Harris). That involves her stepping in for a badly injured horse, which will cost a fortune. But they seem to be of the same mind when it comes to livestock and a way to approach the world. That happy moment is short-lived as Rip closes the episode with a startling discovery—Rob-Will has used his empty field as a burial site.
This is the first of two episodes to drop today, and it’s a good opener. It has to do a lot to pick up the threads of where Yellowstone ended and move them to a new location, then introduce a new world and set of characters. But unlike Marshals, this feels a bit more like the Yellowstone we’ve known and loved. That gives me hope that this will be more of an engaging continuation of the story. Either way, it’s nice to have Beth and Rip back on our screens.
Dutton Ranch streams Fridays on Paramount+. Join us as we recap all the action of this first season. Have a comment or a theory about the Dutton Ranch premier? Post it in the comments below!
Add us as a preferred source on Google