The Madison Finale Addresses A Real-World Problem Caused By Taylor Sheridan's Yellowstone

• Television
• Drama Shows

The season 1 finale of "The Madison" feels more like your average Taylor Sheridan series than the rest of the show. Liberals are punched, love triangles are formed, and no-good out-of-towners are given a thorough, good telling off by Ben Schnetzer's Montana Sheriff Van Davis. The latter is more than just a classic Sheridan moment, however, as it speaks to a real-world issue caused by "Yellowstone," i.e. the show that launched the multi-hyphenate's television empire: people flocking to Montana, particularly Californians.

"Yellowstone" had become the most-watched show on TV by 2022, four years after it premiered in 2018. Unfortunately, the neo-Western's popularity sent swarms of tourists to Montana, and the locals aren't too pleased about that, at least according to "Yellowstone" and "Marshals" star Luke Grimes. During the Kayce Dutton actor's appearance on "The Joe Rogan Experience" (via People), the podcast's host observed that "Yellowstone" prompted a lot of people to move to The Treasure State. "That's true, yeah," Grimes replied. "And they're not happy about it." The actor went on to recall how he had friends from California come to visit him at his home in Montana. "We went on a hike and we were in their car," he explained, "and they had, you know, Cali plates. And we get off the hike and someone had written 'go back' in the dust on their car."

If "The Madison" season 1, episode 6, "I Give Me Permission," is anything to go by, it seems Sheridan is at least aware of the issue. Indeed, the season 1 finale features a Californian couple getting frisky as they drive on though an Montana valley, only to be pulled over by Sheriff Davis and chastised for their lack of care.

Taylor Sheridan takes an obvious shot at out-of-towners in the Madison season 1 finale

Despite the fact it was originally announced as a spin-off, "The Madison" isn't actually connected to "Yellowstone." Still, the season 1 finale, with its more melodramatic tone, makes a strong case for it being part of that same universe. The truck scene in particular feels like vintage Taylor Sheridan. As anyone who's watched the similarly popular "Landman" will know, the man can't resist a scene that involves oral sex on the road. It's hard to keep track of how many times Billy Bob Thornton's Tommy Norris has been set upon by Ali Larter's Angela Norris while driving the freeways of Texas, and now Sheridan has managed to shoehorn that same trope into his harrowing exploration of grief with "The Madison."

The scene in question depicts a man driving through rural Montana in a truck with California license plates. Meanwhile, his girlfriend is having her way with him while a car carrying a family approaches. Unfortunately, for the couple, Sheriff Van Davis isn't far behind and pulls them over. At this point, Sheridan makes a point of lingering on the couple's home state, with the Sheriff calling into dispatch and reading out the California "ADVENTUR3" vanity plate. "Are you serious?" comes the reply from dispatch, to which the Sheriff replies, "You can't make this stuff up."

This is an obvious shot at out-of-towners, and when it transpires that the car is registered to a Chad Michaels of Santa Barbara, the name alone feels like yet another shot from Sheridan. As the Sheriff converses with the couple, he points out how they were headed straight for a family of four, causing Chad's smug smile to fade briefly.

Is The Madison all that different from Yellowstone?

"The Madison" initially seemed to be different from "Yellowstone" in that it portrayed city folk as human beings rather than land-grabbing scum. But the season 1 finale seems designed to remind fans that Taylor Sheridan is still very much on the country folks' side. The California couple is depicted as careless and smug throughout, and they seem to have been inserted as a way for Sheridan to not only acknowledge the impact of "Yellowstone" on real-world Montana, but also as a way for him to say sorry for polluting the state's serene plains with gaggles of tourists.

In fairness, the couple in this scene get off lightly. Sheridan could have easily had them hauled off to jail or, worse, crash their car and add yet more tragedy to a show already steeped in sadness. As it stands, this feels like a jab from the "Yellowstone" creator — a light tap to let fans know that while he's written a show that's seemingly sympathetic to big city folk, he's also no supporter of those lousy Commie-fornians encroaching on Big Sky Country.

Interestingly enough, this moment also confirms something fans might have already suspected about "The Madison." While the show is ostensibly Sheridan's way of extending an olive branch to city-dwellers, who've previously been demonized on his shows, from the beginning, "The Madison" has depicted the rural U.S. as much more authentic and important. It is, after all, only once the Clyburn family arrive in Montana that they begin to see the error of their ways, with Sheridan seemingly suggesting that big city folk can only be truly redeemed by embracing the cowboy lifestyle. It will be interesting to see how that ethos plays out in season 2.

"The Madison" is streaming on Paramount+.