Yellowstone: Season Three

I’m going to start this review with a PSA right up front for newcomers to “Yellowstone”. After reading some of the 1-star reviews here it must be said that this series is an adult drama that features a LOT of profanity, sexual situations (and yes, occasional nudity), extreme violence, and bloodshed. It is not “Gunsmoke” or anything like the sanitized Westerns of the 50’s, or a soap opera like “Dallas” in the 70’s. So no matter how much you loved Kevin Costner in “Dances with Wolves”, this is nothing like that and his character, John Dutton will likely disturb you. Do yourself a favor and do not watch “Yellowstone” if you are easily offended or are the sensitive type. Also, the vast majority of negative reviews have nothing to do with the content of the show but are issues with downloading/streaming, ordering it by mistake, or whining about being unable to binge watch the whole series at once and having to wait until after each episode airs before it can be accessed. So in other words, they have no merit regarding the content of the program. With all the disclaimers out of the way, “Yellowstone” returns picking up shortly after the shocking conclusion to season two and for the first few episodes things are pretty quiet…which fans know won’t last. In fact, given how season’s one and two played out this time around the start of season three is actually boring which is not a word one associates with this series. Things start to pick up some in episode three and four however so hang in there. As usual the Dutton Ranch is threatened by yet another greedy land developer intent on destroying the family’s lifestyle by building an airport to be followed by a ski resort and subsequent city on the Yellowstone. One of this season’s villains is Roarke Morris (played by Josh Holloway) who winds up butting heads with the feisty Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly). Jamie Dutton (Wes Bentley) ends up replacing John as Livestock Commissioner and almost immediately is immersed in a crisis when one of his agents goes rogue. It’s all good when in the next episode he’s appointed Montana Attorney General leaving brother Kacey (Luke Grimes) to take of the Commissioner gig. Since it’s Kacey you know there’s going to be trouble and there is almost immediately when he’s called in to investigate cattle rustlers. He manages to find them with little effort and in one of the most ridiculous scenes ever, Kacey on horseback lassos one of the bad guys around the neck through the open window of his truck as he tries to escape. I’m no cowboy but seriously? We meet some new characters this time around besides the previously mentioned Roarke. Joining the boys in the bunkhouse is Teeter (Jen Landon). If you have seen the series “Deadwood” and remember Calamity Jane (how could you forget her?) Teeter is clearly her direct descendant. This Texas transplant is more than a match for the cowboys and her fluency in profanity is eye watering. Unfortunately her accent is so garbled that she could be speaking Klingon for all you’d know- she practically needs subtitles. Ranch hand Jimmy (Jefferson White) meets a girl at a rodeo, Mia (Eden Brolin) and her friend Laramie (Hassie Harrison) and next thing you know the pair of barrel racers are at the ranch riding and partying with the gang. The girls don’t have any real back story and their presence doesn’t do much to advance the plot besides complicate Jimmy’s life. Besides, the May-December relationship with the grizzled hand Lloyd (Forrie J. Smith) and 25 year old Laramie is just plain creepy. The problem is that Season 3 really does not compare with what we’ve come to expect from “Yellowstone”. The writing team seems to lack focus and the plot feels like a disjointed mess. Lots of what happens just appears to be random stuff stuck in for no good reason- like the weird bunkhouse buffalo riding excursion. Episode 6 (which inexplicably is only 37 minutes long) centers around a missing young Native American woman on the reservation and the search for her. We don’t know anything about the young lady and when her remains are found at the bottom of a ravine there’s no explanation of how she came to be there. We do learn how she met her fate in a later installment but this brief sub plot felt tacked on to me. Maybe Taylor Sheridan wanted to shine the spotlight on this real-world plight that happens with alarming frequency, but he’s already covered this ground in his superb film “Wind River”. MAJOR SPOILERS: There are some big reveals this season, for example we finally learn the reason for the animosity between Beth and Jamie. She apparently became pregnant as a teen and asked for his help when he took her to a reservation clinic for an abortion but their policy included sterilization too leaving her unable to have children. In another out of the blue bombshell Jamie discovers he’s actually the adopted son of John Dutton which causes him a fair amount of anxiety. He tracks down his biological father who it turns out has a sinister past and is a murderer. In another rather sudden turn of events Beth proposes to Rip (Cole Hauser) and gives him a ring. The other nemesis for the Dutton’s is Roarke’s boss at Market Equities; a reportedly heavy hitter named Willa Hays (Karen Pittman) who flies in after Roarke finds his overtures to buy Dutton land thwarted by Beth. Again, we have zero character development and she has about a dozen lines and never really feels like a threat, just like Roarke. C’mon, last season Malcolm Beck sent a hit team to Beth’s office to rape and kill her and executed her assistant while having white supremacists kidnap Kayce’s son Tate vs. Willa Hays who tries to crash the stock of Beth’s employer and gets her fired…not so scary. And then we get to the season ending tenth episode and all heck breaks loose. I’m not going reveal anymore other than to say that three major characters are left in life threatening situations that are not resolved. Sort of a “who shot J.R.” x3 cliffhanger for those old enough to remember that “Dallas” season ender. I continue to wonder to what happened to the ranch helicopter that was in so many scenes of season one it was practically a character and had a SAG card? We saw it once in season two and while the wind sock is still in some background shots at the ranch, no helo. Also, Yellowstone Dutton Ranch is the first farm or ranch I’ve ever seen that has no dogs. Dogs are pretty useful on farms and ranches and that an outfit this size wouldn’t even have a Chihuahua strikes me as odd. When all is said and done I have to say that Season 3 of “Yellowstone” is a bit of a disappointment and I hope the writers get their act together for Season 4 due out summer 2021. The cinematography is spectacular and the cast is wonderful but they need something more to work with than they had in this outing. The finale redeemed this season somewhat, but the slow burn we had to endure to get there was nowhere near as engaging as viewers have come to expect from this show. Bottom line; “Yellowstone” is one of the best shows on television right now and I will be more than ready to saddle up next year for what comes next.

We like the series very much. We bought the video so we could have it at our cabin in Montana so our company could watch it.

Buenísima serie

Great show

ESperando la prpxima temporada

A real lover of Yellowstone, so glad to add this to our collection!

The bomb

My husband watched all 4 seasons, which means it was good

Esta series es sin igual en mostrar las relaciones buenas y malas dentro de una familia que vive en un rancho maravilloso en Montana. Los secretos del pasado llegan a ser las acciones del presente.

ケビン・コスナーが好き早く字幕つきのDVDが出ないかな

Terrific show just love the characters and the story has so many twists and turns it's like the Duttons have so many enemies, hard to know who is your friend. Gosh now have to wait until June for S4.

Una de las mejores series q he visto! Y llego super rapido!

I wont write a review, that will spoil it, love it all, great show, where it is filmed fabulous, cant wait till season 4