Yellowstone has had to keep a lot of plates spinning in the back half of Season 5, which may or may not lead into a sixth season, largely dealing with the aftermath of killing off John Dutton in the midseason premiere. It’s been a mixed bag, especially after such an extended hiatus, but I still have faith the creative team will stick the landing. That said, I have a long-running complaint to holler about regarding the final episodes: Tate’s story is still kinda pointless.
I fully understand that Taylor Sheridan had to reconfigure any original plans that were thrown into disarray due to Kevin Costner’s exit, and that it’s ostensibly hard for a show about grown-ass folks to consistently give teen characters meaningful story arcs. But I dare say the back half of Season 5 has watered down Breckin Merrill’s character nearly to the point of parody.
Tate Has Been Through Major Traumas
Viewed through a different lens, Tate Dutton has already lived through the kind of backstory that would serve as a comic book or action hero’s origin tale, and has been front and center for several of Yellowstone’s most brutal moments.
He was kidnapped by white supremacists, and later rescued in the Season 2 finale in a wildly dramatic fashion. He justifiably killed a dude who attacked Monica, and had full-on PTSD after the fact. He defended himself from a rattlesnake. (Teeter would have said “fuck nar” to all that.) The kid even found dinosaur bones on the ranch, even though that plotline went nowhere.
Despite these various events not being super-connected in a way that can be reflected on with one visual image like Kayce’s wolf, I still think they should have had an over-arching impact on Tate’s brain in a way that set him up for an exciting and potentially deadly-for-others conclusion. I think that should have been the case even before John’s death was written in, and I believe it even more so because he should want to help avenge his grandfather’s death.
Tate’s Story Now Revolves Around Moving Furniture And Hating Romance
If Season 5B actually is setting Tate up as a main character in any upcoming Yellowstone shows like 6666 or the Michelle Pfeiffer-starring spinoff The Madison, then it’s doing the worst job possible. We’re just a couple of episodes away from wrapping up, and we’ve literally only seen Tate do three things, with the first two happening multiple times already.
- 1. Help Kayce and Monica move furniture and boxes into their new-in-flashbacks home.
- 2. Moan and groan every single time Kayce and Monica embrace, kiss, or show any semblance of affection for one another.
- 3. Look sad and confused when Kayce talks to him about John and the ranch.
I get the first one well enough, since a big part of this particular family’s story has been about transitioning from place to place in lieu of a permanent home. It’s important to show that Tate is invested in making it their own, since he pretty much doesn’t ever go anywhere else at this point.
But hearing him tell his parents multiple times to “get a room” when they start to kiss is quite possibly the worst thing about the entire 2024 TV schedule. Tate is 16 years old, and should feasibly be more worried about making out with other people himself rather than griping about Kayce and Monica. Not to sound like I’m shaming Tate in that way. It’s perfectly fine if he remains a kiss-free virgin for his entire life, so long as we don’t have to hear him whining about 0.5 seconds of lip-locking.
Whenever Kayce asks Tate what he wants to do with his life, the teen points out that he just plainly expected to be working on the ranch, but that he also has a vision of himself as a fly fishing guide. Not exactly the most bombastic future for anyone, even if it was meant to be a touching reminder of the times Tate and John fished together. But viewers need to see something play out that’s a little more drastic than either of those options.
There’s a decent chance that Tate’s importance as an heir will become more focused by the end, since he could very well be among the seventh generation who are meant to own the land before the indigenous tribes take it back. (As referenced in 1883’s finale.) But do I actually think he’ll factor into those events in a meaningful way? Not exactly.
As such, I’m really hoping Taylor Sheridan and Brecken Merrill will shock the shit out of me by delivering some huge twists and turns for Tate in the final two episodes. Find out when episodes hit Paramount Network on Sunday nights at 8:00 p.m. ET.