the Yellowstone cast looking down over a mound of dirt in a poster for the series
Image via Paramount
The ten Yellowstone episodes that are bangers from start to finish are also among the highest-rated ones on IMDb; though the five seasons weren’t created equal and some stood out more than others, it was very often the individual episodes that won people over the most. These are those ten episodes, which you can rewatch without context anytime, or if you’re watching for the first time, get excited about.

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Yellowstone

Release Date
2018 – 2024

Network
Paramount Network
10 “Daybreak”
Season 1, Episode 1
The cast of Yellowstone season 1, episode 1, “Daybreak” sit on horses and look at something off-screen.
Image via Paramount
Episode one introduces all the main and the side characters pretty well, giving us a glimpse of who they are. If it’s true what they say and first impressions are the most accurate, this episode was meant to be a sign of how the rest of the season (and the show) will move forward. Without looking too much forward and taking it as is, in its entirety, episode one is a banger from start to finish and among the ten best.

9 “Three Fifty-Three”
Season 5, Episode 11
Jamie Dutton (Wes Bentley) on the phone hearing bad news in the ‘Yellowstone’ episode Three Fifty-Three.
Image via Paramount Network
Though season five was not well-accepted and people found it incredibly underwhelming, it still had some banger episodes. In the second part of the final season, episode 11, titled “Three Fifty-Three” takes the title of the season’s biggest banger. It’s the episode in which viewers finally see the end of Sarah Atwood (Dawn Olivieri) and her reign of psychological terror over Jamie, who fell under her influence and began unraveling after falling for her. Sarah was the biggest antagonist, working from the shadows, and many were relieved to see poetic justice delivered, as much as cheering on a character’s death can be relieving.

8 “The Unraveling: Part 1”
Season 1, Episode 8
Kayce and Monica talk as Monica sits in a wheelchair with a bandaged head in Yellowstone Season 1, Episode 8.
Image via Paramount
Another great episode from season 1 is episode 8, titled “The Unraveling: Part 1.” The season finale was divided into two episodes, and though Part 2 has a higher rating, the first part is a start-to-finish banger that shows us why we’re meant to cheer for the Duttons in the first place. It’s also an episode that shows John’s fatherly instincts in some ways and how they transferred into Kayce; it also tells us more about Rip (Cole Hauser) and his origins and gives us insight into how Beth likes to take care of loose ends (with blackmail and politics, more or less).

7 “Phantom Pain”
Season 4, Episode 2
Kayce, John, and Jamie standing outside in cowboy hats in Yellowstone.
Image via Paramount
Season 4, Episode 2, “Phantom Pain,” is one of the best episodes of the season (and the show) because it shows a more mellow side of life on the ranch and of the Duttons, which is funny because Beth and Jamie can be seen screaming at each other somewhat at the beginning. This is an off day for them, though, and the most important plotline here is that Beth meets a troubled teenager, Carter, and decides to take him in after he tells her about witnessing the death of his drug-addict father. Since Beth can’t have children (from one of the more controversial moments of Yellowstone), adopting Carter and treating him like a son is a way for her to find the motherhood she never got from her own mother, either.

6 “I Killed a Man Today”
Season 3, Episode 8
Monica leaning on a car and looking at the distance in Yellowstone, Season 3, Episode 8, I Killed a Man Today.
Image via Paramount
Season 3 is Yellowstone’s strongest and most exciting, mainly because of so many things that happen throughout. From episode 8, “I Killed a Man Today,” until the season finale, “The World Is Purple,” we start seeing more than just the Duttons facing challenging times. Monica (Kelsey Asbille), Kayce’s wife, engages in one of the most intense and dangerous missions in the entire series, becoming prey for a serial killer who stalks and murders Native American women like her. We watch as Monica willingly enters the truck of a stranger and later fights for her life, only to see Thomas Rainwater (Gil Birmingham) rescuing her from the killer, revealing that was the plan all along.

This is far from a field day for Monica, whose trauma is slightly glossed over, but she speaks to Kayce, and they reveal each other’s secrets. Many people cheered on Monica leaving Kayce and thus leaving the show, but this moment between them was heartfelt and a mellow point between intense events, showing that the two actually are meant to be together. The ranch is attacked once more, and the action continues; the episode shows us the battle for Yellowstone is nowhere near over.

Season 2, Episode 9
Monica with tears in her eyes after an altercation in the boutique in Yellowstone episode Enemies By Monday

Image via Paramount Network
Season 2, Episode 9, “Enemies By Monday,” is one of the best episodes of the show because we get to see Beth be a little more iconic, and she and Monica finally spend some time together as the only two Dutton women in the show. Monica gets strip-searched by the police involuntarily after being accused of stealing at a clothing store; the episode creates tension just in the racist remarks from the clerk, capable of making us fume at the injustice shown on screen. Monica calls Beth for help, and Beth, being Beth, makes a mockery of the cops and the clerk. This is incredibly satisfying to watch, though it also points to frequent racism against Native American people.

The episode continues to be very intense, since John bonds with Kayce and Monica’s son Tate throughout, though the seemingly nice events don’t really foreshadow anything positive. Kayce and John make moves against their enemies, the Beck brothers, and those moves provide extra tension in the episode. With Tate disappearing at the end of it, we understand that is the true escalation of the conflict with the Becks.

4 “Sins of the Father”
Season 2, Episode 10
John (Kevin Costner) and Sheriff Haskell (Hugh Dillon) talk beside a car in Yellowstone’s Season 2 finale.
Image via Paramount
Kayce shows off his skills as a former Navy SEAL by leading an operation into one of the Beck brothers’ homes; his leadership is firm and his drive for revenge massive, so we get to see him become a force of nature in this episode. His guidance is exciting and makes the episode a lot more intense. Kayce, of course, finds his son, but not before killing a bunch of people; while we watch, we do get the feeling that they absolutely deserve it, and this makes the episode one of the best of the entire show.

3 “Resurrection Day”
Season 2, Episode 7
Beth sits at her desk using her laptop and looking to the distance in Yellowstone episode Resurrection Day.
Image via Paramount
Malcolm Beck (Neal McDonough) visits Beth in her office and threatens her; the next evening, Malcolm sends henchmen to kill her and her assistant, though Beth puts up a mean fight. She’s feisty and aggressive the entire time, but while she’s getting hit, she manages to contact Rip for help. Rip arrives in the nick of time and kills the man attacking her; the couple instantly become the coolest people in the show because of how beautifully they stand up for themselves and each other.

2 “The World Is Purple”
Season 3, Episode 10
Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly) looks sad in the Season 3 finale of Yellowstone, The World Is Purple.
Image via Paramount Network
The season 3 finale, titled “The World Is Purple,” is another escalation of events that are overtaking the Yellowstone ranch. With some expectations of John Dutton dying, this finale teased that event sooner rather than later; he gets fatally wounded in what’s best described as a drive-by on the highway. More deadly events take place as Kayce is attacked in his office by armed men, and a bomb gets sent to Beth’s office; they all survive, spoiler alert, but the threat was very real at this point, too.

1 “Half the Money”
Season 4, Episode 1
Kevin Costner as John Dutton sitting, leaning on his car wounded in Yellowstone Season 4, Episode 1.
Image via Paramount
After a long wait and seeing the Duttons getting shot up and attacked left and right, the expectations were high for Season 4, Episode 1, “Half the Money.” Well, the episode delivers and fulfills everyone’s expectations; John, Kayce, and Beth are very much alive, though John and Kayce are pretty banged up. The episode opens with Kayce fighting back against his attackers, once again giving us that Navy SEAL prowess from the show’s most underrated character. Kayce is seen ready at all times with his gun and wearing camo, showing that the service can’t be that easily taken out of him.

The episode also introduces Tate as a character with a little more agency (though his progress slows down later), since he saves his mother, Monica, from an assailant by shooting him. Rip delivers divine retribution via rattlesnake, showing us why he’s the coolest dude on that ranch at all times, and we see a lot of conflict awakening between Beth and Jamie once again. The episode is a brilliant high after a long wait, and it was one of the greatest examples of why Sheridan and Yellowstone still got it, four seasons in.

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