Dutton Ranch Recap: One Head of Cattle After Another

Dutton Ranch
Start with a Bullet
Season 1 Episode 4
Editor’s Rating ★★★★
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There’s a certain predictability to the plots in a Taylor Sheridan production — a kind of slow, relentless grind from crisis to crisis, punctuated by occasional eruptions of violence. Some might call this formula comforting. Others might say it’s tedious. I go back and forth. But I do have to nod appreciatively and tap my cowboy hat whenever one of these shows actually surprises me — like, say, when in the fourth episode of a drama about a cattle ranch, the heroes have to slaughter and bury their entire blighted herd. 

And sure, this would count as a capital-C “Crisis,” of the sort the Yellowstone franchise is known for. But it’s such an unusually outsized setback for Beth and Rip — and it comes so soon. In Dutton Ranch’s first episode, the couple’s entire Montana spread burned to the ground. Now, in just episode four, their new operation has already lost its inventory to foot-and-mouth disease. What does the showrunner Chad Feehan have in store for the rest of this season? What’s left?

The unexpectedly high level of devastation elevates this week’s Dutton Ranch over what we’ve seen so far in this series. But I also appreciated that an episode with a crushing tragedy at its center has a vibe that could be described as “soulfully chill.” There’s a long stretch of the episode dedicated to the actual process of putting the cattle down, as safely and humanely as possible. It’s fascinating and haunting, and not unduly gruesome or sensationalized. The whole sequence matches the tone of the conversation Azul and Zach have about it, in which Zach explains how he maintains his faith in the face of such senseless loss, adding, “If it’s all for nothing, it might be too bitter a pill to swallow.”

It’s also a smart decision by Feehan and his writers (including this episode’s credited screenwriter, Hilary Bettis) to balance the grimness of the cattle-slaughter with some colorful Carter adventures. Beth and Rip’s adopted son blows off school yet again — a habit bound to have some repercussions for him later this season — and instead goes looking for work. He gets hired for the day by Dwight White (Ray McKinnon), who warns him that he won’t pay much but will “throw in victuals.” When Carter hesitates, Dwight says, “Rule one, two, and three: Don’t turn down free food.” 

McKinnon is one of our great character actors (and writers and directors, when he gets the chance), and while he may or may not become a regular on Dutton Ranch, he sure leaves an indelible impression here. Dwight watches Carter lug heavy stuff around his property for a couple of hours, all while delivering a running monologue about his checkered past. I could honestly listen all day to McKinnon, as Dwight, tell the story of how on his 19th birthday, he had “a nasty wreck after ingesting three bottles of Boone’s Farm.”

When Dwight gets bored with supervising Carter, he gives the young man a beer. “Best part of working is stopping,” he explains. Then they both just drunkenly goof around for the rest of the day and into the night, ending with a trip out to the cage where Dwight keeps his pet cheetah, Xena. (“Amazing the things you can get off the internet these days.”) It’s a fun digression. Yes, it’s arguably inessential — unless, like me, you believe that making entertaining TV is always essential.

I’d also add that on a basic narrative level, the Dwight interlude illustrates just how annoyed the 19-year-old Carter is at being transplanted from Montana to Texas, and how he’s resisting his mom’s plan for his life. At the end of the episode, after he realizes that Beth encouraged him to stay out late to spare him from the bad scene back at the ranch, Carter flips out and calls her a liar. (It’s my understanding from watching a lot of old westerns that no one likes being called a liar.) 

This dynamic between Beth and Carter is fascinating. These two aren’t bonded by blood, and they haven’t even really known each other that long, given that Carter was already a teenager when Beth took him in. Beth isn’t maternal by nature, and as is evidenced by her undying affection for Rip, she clearly admires men who make their own way in the world, and who don’t reflexively bend to the will of authority figures. So it’s hard for her to be too angry with Carter. 

You can see that in the way Beth reacts when she finds Oreana in Carter’s bed at the start of the episode. She doesn’t yell at him. She doesn’t even yell at her — not even when she butts into their conversation about him needing to go to school with a petulant, “Isn’t he old enough to decide for himself?” Instead, Beth drives Oreana home and listens to her explain why she’s drawn to Carter. Then Beth gives her a calm, clear warning that if she hurts her son, then Beth will “make your life a living hell.”

Oreana’s reaction is notable. “Beulah beat you to it,” she says. We get a sense of what she means immediately when Beulah punishes Oreana for her running around by taking away her credit cards and grounding her from driving her truck. Beulah assigns one of the 10-Petal security goons to keep an eye on her granddaughter, and when Oreana tries to sneak out anyway, that goon shames her into stopping by telling her, “Unlike you, there are some very real consequences for me if I fuck up.” 

Overall, this is one of the best episodes yet for Annette Bening as Beulah. She has a touching scene with Ed Harris’s Everett, in which she bemoans the state of the Jacksons’ family legacy, with Oreana being a trainwreck and Rob-Will back in rehab. Everett has known the Jacksons for a long time and tries to reassure her, reminding her that Oreana’s father used to be “a decent kid,” and that “Good people don’t lose all their good.” 

You could call this a unifying theme for this episode: the question of whether something rotting from within can be salvaged or must be wholly eradicated. (This doesn’t quite work with the Dwight/Carter storyline, but hang with me.) Rip makes the call to eradicate. Then, when he finds out from Beth that the cattle-broker who sold them their new bull forged the medical clearance documents, Rip pays that lowlife a visit and sets his trailer on fire. 

Again, this is very Yellowstone for Rip to have an excessively violent response to an irritating obstacle. But here’s what’s different: I have absolutely no idea what’s going to happen next on this show. Beth tells Rip that she’ll do whatever she has to do to get them out of the fix they’re in, suggesting that we could be seeing the return of Ferocious Beth sooner rather than later. But Rip replies, “This isn’t on you to fix,” suggesting that Ferocious Beth may need to stay in mothballs a bit longer.

So then… what? I’m stumped. But damn it… I’m also intrigued. 

The Last Round Up

• Everett and Beulah hint at a deeper connection in their past. Nothing’s directly clarified in the episode, but Everett does speak wistfully about someone named Levi and a tire swing in his backyard that he can’t bring himself to cut down. Make of that what you will. 

• We also get a melancholy scene between Beulah and Joaquin, who notes how tired she looks and asks her to give him more of her responsibilities. (“Wish I could, Kino,” she sighs.) I mentioned last week that I find all the hemming and hawing about the nature of the Jacksons’ dirty business annoying, mainly because I’m more interested in the why of their criminality than the what. In last week’s episode, Beth’s butcher mentioned that a lot of local ranches had been bought out and/or shut down over the past few years. Maybe the Jacksons drifted into crime to keep their business going. Is this Beth and Rip’s future?