‘Yellowstone’ Season 5 Recap: Beth Goes Wild

In Episodes 4 and 5 of TV’s No. 1 hit, Kevin Costner’s John Dutton is upstaged by the pugilist daughter he envies

Kevin Costner sitting inside a vehicle wearing a sunglasses, a suit and sunglasses in Yellowstone

Kevin Costner as John Dutton in "Yellowstone."

Paramount Network

Fred Schruers,

AARP

Published December 05, 2022

In last week’s Season 5, Episode 4 of the ratings stampede that is Yellowstone, Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly), the two-fisted daughter of Montana’s new governor, John Dutton (Kevin Costner), and the most exciting character on the show, punched out a tourist at a bar for flirting with her man, explaining, “Some bitch from California tried to f--- my husband, so I beat her with a beer bottle.”

Her brother Jamie, Montana’s attorney general, sprang her from jail. But when she spotted a child seat in Jamie’s car, she erupted with hatred, almost causing their car to crash. Years back, when she was a pregnant teenager, Jamie had taken her for an abortion that included an unneeded hysterectomy, and she’s never forgiven or forgotten it. She has him under her thumb, because she has evidence that he killed a man. “You had my womb cut out of me, and God gave you a boy? I’m gonna take him from you!” she warns, then thumbs a ride to the funeral of Monica and Kayce Dutton’s son, the most moving scene of the season, with a masterful inserted shot of birds beating wings over a winding, dully shining river, one of several visual grace notes by ace cinematographer Christina Alexandra Voros.

If you think Beth has learned her lesson and calmed down in this week’s Episode 5, “Watch ’Em Ride Away,” you don’t know Beth. When John invites Summer (Piper Perabo), the West Coast invader who’s advising John about how to placate Montana environmentalists, to a Dutton family dinner with a meaty menu, he warns Beth to be nice. This works about as well as when Beth’s patient ranch hand husband Rip (Cole Hauser, who continues to impress) pleaded, “OK, Beth, let’s put the crazy away.” Summer is a love interest of John’s, and Beth thinks she’s just out to take their land, like everybody else. And also that Summer is a “hooker” and a “hairy hippie giving syphilis to their sofa.”

So when righteous vegan Summer complains about the doves on the menu (“You’re serving the bird of peace for dinner?”), Beth invites her outside for a chat. “You smug, spoiled, 40-year-old adolescent! You are everything that is wrong with this place,” snaps Summer. “The only thing wrong with this place is you’re in it,” says Beth. They trade haymakers, and Beth loses a tooth. Summer grins. But the next day, Beth jestingly asks Summer how she’s feeling. “Like I got hit by a truck,” says Summer. “How about you?” Says Beth, “Like I got hit by a Prius.” Rip has the line that sums up the Beth-Summer relationship — and maybe the state of the nation these days: “Do you think you’re going to beat the other one into respecting your opinion?”

Another woman likely headed for a black eye from Beth is Sarah (Dawn Olivieri), the Dutton-threatening Market Equities rep who’s had a fling with Attorney General Jamie. She’s shady, but not slyer than Beth — who does some research and discovers that Sarah isn’t even her real name. It looks like she may be wooing Jamie to make him ineligible to represent Montana in litigation against Market Equities. Jamie says their relationship is unprofessional. So Sarah takes off her dress. She’s a honey trap that keeps getting stickier.

And Yellowstone just keeps getting more addictively watchable.

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Fred Schruers, a longtime writer for Rolling Stone, Premiere and the Los Angeles Times, is the author of Billy Joel: The Definitive Biography and co-host of The Buried Lede podcast.

‘Yellowstone’ Season 5 Recap: Beth Goes Wild

In Episodes 4 and 5 of TV’s No. 1 hit, Kevin Costner’s John Dutton is upstaged by the pugilist daughter he envies

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