There are two things that have to happen during Yellowstone Season 5, Episode 11, titled “Three Fifty Three.”
Then, there’s at least two twists and turns to watch out for. Sunday’s episode title is telling. Don’t expect another cowboy episode.
If you recall last week, Beth Dutton has just confronted Jamie Dutton, who couldn’t even look her in the eye. So she slapped him three times and then slapped Sarah Atwood on the way out of the building.
Jamie then met with Sarah and Ellis, the slimy lawyer for Market Equities and assured them he was prioritizing their interests. More slaps are on the horizon!
Yellowstone: Season 5, Episode 10 Recap:
The episode begins with a gripping scene that finds Teeter awake, but unable to move because a rattlesnake has slithered onto her chest as she slept. Rip takes care of business, and ultimately this moment doesn’t seem to matter other than furthering the progressive slip of Teeter’s well-being.
Keep an eye on her.
After Beth Dutton’s meeting, she tells her brother Kayce what happened and he calls an old Navy SEAL friend named Cade McPherson (actor Jake McLaughlin) to help him figure out who actually pulled the trigger to kill John Dutton.
That answer is the first thing we should learn on Sunday.
A battle between the agency and the Duttons is sure to get messy, and if history is any indicator, it won’t end well for the agency. See the Beck Brothers’ masked men sent to kill Beth during Season 2, and everyone sent to kill the family at the end of Season 3, at the behest of Garrett Randall.
Two more subtle, but important things happened during Episode 10: We learned that neither Beth nor Kayce really want this ranch, and Tate — Kayce’s son who is the heir — is on the fence. What happens if this group of Duttons will the war that’s looming, but decide to get out of the cattle business?
Yellowstone Season 5, Episode 11 Preview:
That brings us to the second thing that should happen this week: Chief Rainwater will return after sitting out an episode.
We predict his pledge to help and that Tate is half-native will put him in position to gain the land as the season wraps. This all means everything Jamie and Sarah are working toward falls apart.
Here come those twists and turns:
Consider two competing paths forward for Yellowstone. The first is as it seems, with Sarah and Jamie on a collision course with Beth and Kayce (and Rip). That’s clean and easy and should prove satisfying.
But has Yellowstone every been clean and easy?
Good is always good and bad is always bad — this show hasn’t featured any double-crossing, really — but Jamie’s intentions have always been foggy. He shifts and arguably puts his weight behind the highest emotional bidder.
Perhaps he snapped when he learned Sarah Atwood had his father killed without him signing off on it — see our plot hole theory from Ep. 9 — and is now working to set up Market Equities. He was remarkably calm and collected during the meeting with ME, wasn’t he?
Maybe too calm?
Plus, the trailer for Season 5 Part 2 of Yellowstone has shown us his relationship with Sarah will soon fracture, and that state authorities will soon figure out Governor Dutton’s death was a murder, not a suicide.
I think that happens this week because of the episode’s title. Three fifty three or 3:53 is the time of death of John Dutton. We’re going to return to the scene of the crime.