Dutton Ranch Episode 2 Reveals The Replacement For Yellowstone's Train Station
by Joe Roberts · /FilmThis post contains spoilers for "Dutton Ranch" Episode 2.
The main characters on "Yellowstone" did some downright heinous things, which often ended in bodies being dumped in a remote location known as the Train Station. But when the show came to a close, Cole Hauser's Rip Wheeler and Kelly Reilly's Beth Dutton seemed to leave all that darkness behind. Now, the spin-off "Dutton Ranch" has thrown them back into the fire, with Beth and Rip relocating to Texas only to start making new enemies. Thus, with more drama afoot, Rip was always going to need a Train Station replacement, and at the end of Episode 2, it appears he found the perfect spot in the form of an abandoned mine.
On "Yellowstone," the Train Station was a dumping ground for the bodies of the Duttons' victims, and it ended up being the final resting place for Wes Bentley's Jamie Dutton after he was killed by his own sister. That essentially means the Duttons have left a mass open grave in the Montana wilderness, but nobody seems to be all that bothered about it. That said, Rip's new choice of dumping ground suggests he might have been thinking about the benefits of a more clandestine approach to his body disposal routine.
At the end of "Dutton Ranch" Episode 1, Rip discovers the body of Nakoa DeCoite's Wes, the former foreman of the 10 Petal Ranch. Wes' body was buried on Rip's property after Jai Courtney's Rob-Will shot him dead in a moment of murderous paranoia. Later, Rob-Will and his brother, Joaquin (Juan Pablo Raba), try to recover the body but find it has been moved. At first, it remains unclear what Rip has done with Wes, but at the end of Episode 2, our questions are answered.
The mine shaft is almost certainly the new Train Station in Dutton Ranch
The previous "Yellowstone" spin-off "Marshals" already set up a return to the infamous location known as the Train Station. Luckily for Luke Grimes' Kayce Dutton, his Marshal team just missed the spot on their visit to Montana's real-life "Zone of Death." With Beth and Rip now in South Texas, they've left their Montana dumping ground far behind them, but "Dutton Ranch" Episode 2, titled "Earn Another Day," proves that Rip isn't above keeping the grim tradition alive.
"Earn Another Day," sees Rip recruit Marc Menchaca's Zachariah Moss, a cowboy and ex-con who will now serve as one of Rip's new ranch hands. On the way back to his ranch, though, Rip spots another opportunity. When Moss steps out for a bathroom break, Rip eyes a sign for a mine shaft and seems intrigued. Later, we learn why.
As "Earn Another Day" draws to a close, Rip lays in bed with Beth but soon leaves and heads to the stables, where it turns out he's been storing Wes' body in a padlocked freezer. As an ominous drone plays, Rip hoists the body onto his shoulders and into his truck before driving to the mine from earlier in the episode and hurling Wes' body into the shaft. It's a drawn out sequence that seemingly highlights the importance of the mine as being more than just a convenient one-off place to dump a body. The whole scene feels like it's signifying Rip and Beth's descent back into the darkness and establishing the importance of the mine as a location. What's more, with Moss watching from his bunk as Rip leaves, there will no doubt be some major issues on the ranch moving forward.
You can stream "Dutton Ranch" on Paramount+.