Yellowstone Season 5 Premiere Recap

Y 'all... lets talk about last nights Yellowstone premiere. Two episodes in one night and we are already freaking out. Taylor Sheridan what are you doing to us?!

Episode 1: One Hundred Years Is Nothing

We walk into the first scene of what seems like an already tense John Dutton, the new Governor of Montana, and some things that viewers have already picked up on. Jamie cannot help but hide his disappointment, Rip yelling at anyone and everyone, Beth's smart mouth, Kacey and Monica drama and the weather. Why are we hype focused on the weather being such a big player? Well John Dutton's inauguration is set in January, in Montana. Let us say that again. January in Montana and it's sunny and warm? But let's move on.

Governor of The Great State of Montana: John Dutton. A title only a 5th generation Montana rancher who is "For the land" should be holding. But what do we think about Jamie's attitude toward all of this? Clearly he's upset but do you think there is any happiness for his fathers win or do you think he may end up pushing his limits much deeper than last season? John also was very honest with his intent on not running again in 2026, right off the bat.

As we continue to watch the episode, everyone seems to be in high spirits preparing for the inauguration party, and even a glimpse of John letting his adult children know that he is still their father and he still is the boss *ahem Beth, looking at your girl*, was interesting to see. Moving into the evening of the party, we see Austin, Texas Country band, Shane Smith and The Saints and newcomer Lainey Wilson, give us a little tease as Ryan's new love interest!?

As the party rolls on, Beth runs off to her own cowboy, Rip, who’s sulking on the hillside. He’s not having any of the party. Instead, he’s worried for the future of the ranch. “When I look down there, ten years from now worries me,” he tells his wife. Rip clearly isn't a fan of Johns absence from the ranch.

“What was the name of the emperor that played the fiddle when Rome was burning?” he asks Beth.

“Nero?” she answers.

“This reminds me of that,” Rip groans. “He’s gonna lose this place". What's to say this attitude is a telling sign of the end of the Dutton ranch.

So what now? Kacey is gone at work and a very pregnant Monica and Tate are driving erratically on their way to the hospital because of increasing labor pain she is experiencing and then bam! Bison in the middle of the road. This leads to the a very heartbreaking scene of Monica in the hospital bed next to Kacey and the horrific family tragedy in the loss of John Dutton IV. In this moment, though at a tragic time, maybe we saw a glimpse in Monica and Kacey's attitude towards John and the ranch legacy, after all we never saw that coming. But we can only hope.

Episode 2: The Sting of Wisdom

As we are trying to heal from the already intense pain we feel for Monica and the sadness she and Kacey feel, we move into Tate and a moment with his father and how he hopes that they will try again.

At the ranch, Rip, Lloyd, Walker, Colby and Ryan find a mother cow that’s been slaughtered by wolves. But Ryan doesn’t think wolves did it… Something else is at play here. Regardless, Walker and Ethan retrieve a stray calf from the scene, and Rip sends the rest after the wolves to get them off the ranch. And of course these wolves seem to be playing an omen to the show.

Meanwhile, at the local airport, its time to meet Sarah Atwood, Market Equities newest bully. Sarah makes her appearance. In the same instance, Jamie heads for his father, John, in order to turn in the bill he’s drafted that will cancel the airport and resort to be built on Dutton land. Jamie informs them both that John, as governor, is “signing a declaration of war.”

“We’re already at war,” John states. Game time. Heading out to address the press, John speaks on “freedom” and its definition before signing the bill’s executive order revoking the continuation of the build for both the resort and airport.

In leu of the new movement Governor Dutton has now placed, Carter, the ranches youngest member rides John's personal horse while gathering cattle and ultimately makes the mistake none of us want to be part of, a fall resulting in the horses broken led and end of his boss's good horse. It seems that this isn't the end of a long, difficult journey for the ranch as we all hoped.

Now, remember the omen we talked about briefly? The wolves. This is just another day in the life of ranch work it seems for these guys. Colby and Ryan have taken the predator's out. As they approach to tag the wolves, they discover the wolves are wearing GPS collar. This is as bad as it gets. These are Yellowstone National Park wolves, and they’re dead. If the public finds out that Yellowstone cowboys have “murdered” national park wolves, then it’s all over for Governor John Dutton. Let alone the flashback we saw about what happens when you start messing with John Dutton's cattle. It all seems to be one thing after another.

Due to the accidental kill by the two well known ranch hands, a plan ensues and they have to take the GPS collars off the wolves and move like a pack. Rip, Ryan, and Colby fix the wolf collars to logs, then toss them down river. “Don’t tell a f*cking soul,” Rip tells them. but then again, once an omen, always an omen.

Back the ranch, Clara, the new Governor assist greets John in the morning, marveling at his ranch. “Where does it end?” she asks. “You can’t see that from here,” he tells her. John explains to her that it will take everything they have to protect it. It’s taken everything he and his family have. And there’s so much more to come.

But before the episode ends, the wolves’ GPS collars, still tied to logs in the Yellowstone River, become stuck in a gathering of logs. What is to come in next weeks episode can only tell what happens then.

What are your thoughts? We totally want to hear!