For a time,Yellowstonewas a decent little TV show. There was good, soapy fun in its first two seasons, when writer Taylor Sheridan leaned into the pulpy neo-Western vibe and kept the drama high. As the series moved into its second half, though, it gradually lost its purpose—the pace dragged, the plot went in circles, and lead actor Kevin Costner left before the final half-season amid reported tensions with Sheridan.
Aside from receiving executive producer credit, Sheridan seemingly wasn’t involved in the making ofMarshals, the spinoff series that teleported former Navy SEAL Kayce Dutton (Luke Grimes) and a few others over to a formulaic CBS procedural bearing little resemblance toYellowstone.Dutton Ranchwould appear to be a similar case: another sequel series without Sheridan at the helm or even present in the writers’ room. (Though,to hear one of the stars tell it, “Taylor’s got his hands all over this show.”) For better or worse, his voice made the original show what it was. What does this universe look like without him?
More so thanMarshals,Dutton Ranchdoes feel intended as a direct continuation of its parent series, albeit with a slightly tweaked tone. The premiere quickly reintroduces the headstrong Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly) and her strong, silent husband Rip (Cole Hauser), who are still living a peaceful life with their adopted son Carter (Finn Little) on the remote Montana farm where they ended up at the end ofYellowstone—only to literally burn their old life to the ground a few minutes in. From there, the narrative jumps six months into the future, where it finds the family on the old Edwards Ranch in the small town of Rio Paloma, Texas, an hour from the U.S.-Mexico border.
Dutton Ranchisn’t just about watching Beth and Rip painstakingly rebuild their business, though there is plenty of that. The premiere introduces a new family of potential villains pretty quickly in the form of rival ranch owner Beulah Jackson (Annette Bening) and her two sons, the unhinged foreman Rob-Will (Jai Courtney) and his more measured attorney brother Joaquin (Juan Pablo Raba). Even before Beth and Rip set foot on the sprawling 10 Petal Ranch, the Jacksons are scrambling to cover up a murder. It’s only a matter of time until our friends get drawn into their web of violence.
To be fair, it takes a while for that inevitability to play out. Creator and showrunner Chad Feehan was fired just last month afterreportedlyclashing with Reilly and Hauser, among others, but his writing sensibilities don’t seem far off from Sheridan—the two share a general disinterest in slamming on the gas pedal when it comes to plot, along with an intense investment in the nitty-gritty of day-to-day work in a given milieu (a ranch,an oil rig, etc.). That’s not always a bad thing. In the four episodes provided to critics,Dutton Ranchfeatures a number of arresting images and admirably brutal turns, often related to sick animals and the particularities of managing a vulnerable herd.
Still, one can’t help wishing the show would get to the point a bit faster. By the end of the premiere, it’s clear how these two families intersect—there’s a dead body on Dutton land again, same as it ever was. But the stakes remain curiously low in the following few installments, with little direct follow-up to that violent turn. Rob-Will is the character with the most obvious wild-card potential, but he leaves the story only an episode in, gone for a trip and possibly set to return later in the season. That mainly leaves Beulah and Joaquin, the more rational operators, who spend the bulk of these four episodes doing damage control and only occasionally interacting with our leads. Both have potential, especially the ruthless yet sympathetic Beulah, played engagingly as always by Bening. (Beth calls her a “grizzly in Gucci.”) Joaquin is a bit too reminiscent of the late Jamie Dutton, though, evenbeforeBeth explicitly compares him to her brother.
Many of the show’s most interesting moments revolve around other supporting characters who gradually come to life: veterinarian Everett McKinney (Ed Harris), for example, who shares some history with Beulah and offers a warm presence to fill the Costner void in conversations with both Beth and Rip. Dutton Ranch foreman Azul (J. R. Villarreal) and reformed pariah Zachariah (Marc Menchaca) are both likable personalities, too. Much of the dialogue throughout skews either flat or pseudo-profound, but moments of simple companionship and private emotional processing sometimes lead to poignance, as when Zachariah looks out at the stars for the first time since leaving jail and utters a tearful “yeah.”
It’s even somewhat refreshing to see the tweaked versions of the characters we know—like this tempered, downbeat Beth, still chugging Tito’s and saying “fuck” a lot but with fewer over-the-top verbal scoldings. Part of that shift is an effect of losing Sheridan; after all, there are no longer any straw-man tourists from Los Angeles or New York around for Beth to bark at. (The man’s disdain for New York migrated over toThe Madison.) But she’s humbler all around, to the point that she quietly apologizes instead of fighting back when Carter calls her a liar late in one episode. Hearing Rip utter the sentence “I don’t like racist assholes” is a pleasant surprise in the premiere, too.
More often, though,Dutton Ranchmakes you twiddle your thumbs and wonder what exactly we’re doing here. Who needed to see Carter, theCousin OliverofYellowstone, in a more prominent role? The multiple scenes per episode dedicated to his school life and burgeoning relationship with Oreana (Natalie Alyn Lind) are borderline excruciating, up there with the Ainsley scenes in Sheridan’sLandman. This subplot, more than any other, feels spit out by a Taylor Sheridan AI: Oreana is a beautiful blonde bad girl from a powerful family who’s struggling to break up with a mean, philandering boyfriend and needs awkward new-kid-on-the-block Carter to rescue her.
When it comes down to it, what are we really getting from following this family at this stage in their lives? The answer is more of the characters we ostensibly love in a world we ostensibly love, and to some viewers, that will be enough to justify tuning in. For all the waysDutton Ranchdiffers from the show that preceded it, it’s ultimately just moreYellowstone, warts and all.
Source: Drudge Report
