Some harsh realities arise when watching Yellowstone season 2. It’s an intense chapter for the Duttons, as their conflict with Dan Jenkins (Danny Huston) intensifies, with Dan and Thomas Rainwater (Gil Birmingham) partnering to build a hotel and casino adjacent to the Yellowstone National Park. The proposal presents new challenges for John Dutton’s (Kevin Costner) family, with Kayce (Luke Grimes) and Monica (Kelsey Asbille) facing turmoil in their marriage and a pervasive sense of unrest.
Yellowstone season 2 also introduces the Beck Brothers. The developments put pressure on Kayce as he assumes the Dutton Ranch’s operations, butting heads with Rip Wheeler (Cole Hauser). The eventful outing results in numerous deaths in Yellowstone season 2’s finale. It sets up a tense third season as the family recovers from Malcolm’s (Neal McDonough) and Teal’s (Terry Serpico) attacks. While it’s an essential outing, parts of Yellowstone season 2 stand out after watching Yellowstone season 5.
Avery Doesn’t Have A Proper Yellowstone Ending
The Cowgirl Vanishes In Yellowstone Season 2
Looking back at Yellowstone season 2, Avery (Tanaya Beatty) doesn’t have a proper ending. Avery is the first female cowboy in the Dutton Ranch’s bunkhouse. Avery has some great scenes in Yellowstone season 2, like when she wins a game of “cowboy poker,” achieving the status of last man standing when they let a bull into the pen. That said, at some point in the chapter, Avery vanishes without explanation.
When Jimmy Hurdstrom (Jefferson White) gets home from his first rodeo win, he’s excited to tell Avery, but the other cowboys inform him that she has left. Later, Avery reappears in Yellowstone season 4, but the storyline doesn’t provide a satisfactory conclusion. Avery gets entwined in a random story about how she’s always had a crush on Kayce, which makes Monica act unhinged.
Monica & Kayce’s Separation Story Is Hard To Watch
Kayce And Monica Separate In Yellowstone Season 2
After Kayce returns to the ranch, Monica and her husband navigate relationship issues in Yellowstone season 2. Monica lives with her grandfather, Felix Long (Rudy Ramos), and the couple separates for the better part of the season. The storyline is difficult to watch, and its melodrama fuels claims that Yellowstone is a soap opera.
Monica puts distance between her and Kayce, eventually taking a job at the university that comes with housing. Monica is recovering from an injury and begins a brief fling with her physical therapist, Martin (Martin Sensmeier), ultimately cheating on Kayce. The whole story is bad, and Monica’s reasoning for shutting Kayce out isn’t worth the drama.
Rip Is Way Too Hard On Walker
Rip Tries To Kill Walker Multiple Times
He eventually changes, but Rip is a bully in Yellowstone season 2. Wheeler is tough on Ryan Bingham’s Walker, an ex-convict he picked up at the prison to work at the ranch. Rip decides he doesn’t like Walker’s attitude, holding a grudge against him. In season 2, Rip is still just the ranch handler with leather gloves who does John’s killing for him.
We see Rip start to change in Yellowstone season 3.
Rip is unreasonably cruel to Walker. At one point in Yellowstone season 2, Rip tries to trample Walker with a horse. Then Wheeler wanted to take Walker to the Train Station, but Kayce intervened. We see Rip start to change in Yellowstone season 3, as he exhibits more duality after John gifts him a house, and he formally begins a romance with Beth.
The Duttons Don’t Treat Rip Like Family
Rip Knows He Isn’t Part Of The Clan
Another harsh reality about Rip is that the Duttons don’t treat him like family. In Yellowstone season 2, episode 2, fed up with her father’s treatment of his most loyal ranch hand, Beth tells Rip that he could go to another ranch. Wheeler tells Beth that he would never consider going anywhere else because, despite them not returning the sentiment, Rip sees the Duttons as his family.
John Dutton says the following in his letter to Rip when he gifts Wheeler a house on the ranch in Yellowstone season 2’s finale: “My great grandfather had a dream. All of his sons on the same road. The same ranch. Working toward the same goal. That dream survived a hundred years. Until me. With me it died. I didn’t have enough sons. They just kept dying or quitting. Then one day, not too long ago, I realized that I have enough sons after all.”
Sadly, Rip’s experience contrasts with Jamie Dutton’s (Wes Bentley). We learn later that Jamie was adopted, so Rip and Jamie were both adopted sons of John. Jamie got to live in the house, whereas Rip was confined to the barn and bunkhouse. John rights his wrong in the finale, giving Rip his own home, but Wheeler’s comments show how he has internalized that the Duttons don’t see him as their own.
Dirk Hurdstram Has One Of Yellowstone’s Saddest Deaths
Ray And Blake Beat Jimmy’s Grandfather
Jimmy’s grandfather, Dirk Hurdstram (Stanley Peternel), had one of Yellowstone’s saddest deaths. Dirk is targeted by Jimmy’s old buddies, Ray (Lane Garrison) and Blake (Ryan Dorsey) in season 2, after they run into Hurdstram junior. They coerce Jimmy into doing their dirty work, but when he refuses, the meth afficianados beat Jimmy’s grandfather to get Hurdstram to pay the $8,000 he owes.
While Ray and Blake don’t intentionally murder Dirk, they senselessly beat him and leave him for dead. The injury causes Dirk to stroke, making Jimmy’s old associates directly responsible for his death. What’s worse is that Hurdstram Senior’s death comes when Ray and Blake visit him a second time, after Jimmy enters the rodeo, earns the $8,000, and pays his former associates back.
The Beck Brothers Are Yellowstone’s Fiercest Villains
Malcolm And Teal Beck Are Ruthless
John Dutton and his family come up against a lot of foes in Yellowstone, but Malcolm and Teal Beck are the fiercest. The Beck brothers kill a significant portion of John’s herd, dropping clover into the field and killing droves of cows, costing John half a million dollars, compromising his ability to keep the ranch. The brothers also kidnap Tate, using John’s grandson to get under the ranch owner’s skin.
While the family faces many villains, the Beck brothers had a profound impact on the Dutton family, causing them significant and irreparable harm.
Tate’s kidnapping was horrific; Malcolm and Teal hired a far-right group to abduct Kayce’s son. The event traumatizes John’s grandson for years to come, causing Tate to stay in his room for days on end in the following season and hide under the bed. While the family faces many villains, the Beck brothers had a profound impact on the Dutton family, causing them significant and irreparable harm.
The Yellowstone Ranch Hasn’t Turned A Profit In 6 Years
The Dutton Family Couldn’t Afford Their Operation
In Yellowstone season 2, episode 4, Jamie reveals one of the harshest realities of the entire series: the Dutton Ranch hasn’t made a profit in six years. The topic of money comes up after the Beck brothers kill a few hundred cattle, costing the ranch about half a million dollars. The revelation informs the severity of the family’s struggle in season 2, but also foreshadows their downfall.
In Yellowstone season 5, Beth urges her father to change his business model, telling him it doesn’t work. John resisted his daughter’s financial advice, but Beth turned out to be right. In Yellowstone season 5, John’s kids don’t have the money to pay the inheritance tax to keep the ranch after their father’s death, showing just how high the stakes were that the Dutton family had excess cash on hand.
Beth Is Awful To Everyone In Yellowstone Season 2
John’s Daughter Is Particularly Mean
Beth is one of my favorite characters in the Yellowstone franchise. That said, she is particularly antagonistic in season 2, ensnaring the entire clan in her relentless monologues and threats. Beth acts controversially toward Jamie and her father in the outing, and while that’s pretty normal for her, she also comes after Kayce, with season 2 showing the worst of Beth’s mean streak.
After Rip and Kayce fight in front of the other cowboys, Beth tells Wheeler that she wishes he had beaten Kayce so severely that he would want to leave and never come back. The sentiment is quite harsh and follows Beth’s angry plea for Kayce to leave the ranch, as she believes he will ruin it. That said, Beth cools off in Yellowstone season 3 as she leans into her romance with Rip, revealing her gentler side.
Agent Hendon Was A Bad Livestock Agent
James Jordan’s Steve Hendon Is Unhinged
It’s clear upon reflection that Agent Hendon (James Jordan) is an unhinged livestock agent, often acting erratically during his patrols. Hendon shoots a kid in the second season, despite Kayce being midway through de-escalating the situation. While the scared teen had a gun pointed at the officer, Hendon wasn’t calm during the altercation, and he took a life unnecessarily.
There are other factors, like the sheriff’s failure to respond. Still, Hendon has other concerning moments, like when he kills two men in the back of a civilian’s horse trailer while trying to rough them up a bit. Contrasting Hendon’s shortcomings, Taylor Sheridan redeemed James Jordan’s awful Yellowstone characters with his role as Dale in Landman, the executive producer’s follow-up to his Dutton saga.
Dan Jenkins’ Death Was Bittersweet
Dan Wasn’t So Bad In The End
Finally, it must be said that Dan Jenkins’ death in Yellowstone season 2’s finale was bittersweet. While he was a villain, Dan’s goals were benign compared to some of the other antagonists who opposed the clan. After the Beck brothers came after John and Dan, respectively, the men team up with Rainwater to take down their common enemies, making them, briefly, allies.
Watching Jenkins’ death feels far from a victory.
Especially since Dan was beginning to get along with and understand the Dutton family, watching Jenkins’ death feels far from a victory. Contrasting the Beck brothers and the Market Equities suits, Jenkins was just one man, acting short-sighted, not maliciously. Dan’s death, therefore, feels exceptionally vulnerable, as he is alone in his home and was more humanized than Yellowstone’s other villains.
