Of all wildcats in the modern Wild West, Beth Dutton (the fierce Kelly Reilly) should know better than to tempt fate. “We’re free now, baby,” she coos to her cowboy soulmate Rip Wheeler (Cole Hauser) in the tranquil opening moments of the anything-but-tranquil Yellowstone spinoff Dutton Ranch. Cuddling under the Montana stars, she exults in the peace and quiet, having weathered so many storms during Yellowstone‘s five tumultuous seasons.
But Mother Nature is one bitch even Beth can’t conquer, and before the opening credits roll, a fiery tragedy uproots these survivors, sending them and their young ward Carter (Finn Little) south to Texas to start anew. After a quick time jump, they’re back in business, establishing an upstart Dutton Ranch in the burg of La Paloma.
And so begins the true continuation of the Yellowstone saga. (Her brother Kayce’s adventures as a U.S. Marshal on the CBS procedural Marshals may as well be in a different universe.) For many fans, Beth and Rip’s torrid relationship was the backbone of that series, with the cutthroat corporate shark drawn to the burly Man in Black, each ruthless in their own salty way as they bridged a cultural divide between Dallas-style soap-opera melodrama and the rugged traditional Western.
Lauren Smith/Paramount+
All of these elements are in play in Dutton Ranch as they soon become embroiled in new intrigues involving La Paloma’s reigning dynasty, the Jacksons of the 10 Petal ranch, led by the formidable matriarch Beulah (the great Annette Bening). Her face may be framed by wide granny glasses, but Beulah’s the opposite of a pushover, coldly telling her new bunkhouse foreman, “I will not tolerate disappointment.” From the first moment she locks horns with Beth on a business deal that quickly goes sideways, we find ourselves eagerly awaiting their next juicy encounter. Beth’s assessment of her new adversary as a “grizzly in Gucci” is almost, but not quite, a sign of respect.
The Jacksons, not unlike the Duttons, have their share of secrets and headaches, including a very dark horse named Rob-Will (Jai Courtney) who’s the rotten apple of his mother’s eye, and she’ll go to great lengths to smooth over his many misdeeds. It doesn’t hurt that they have a near-monopoly over local businesses, including a successful slaughterhouse (which could conceivably become this series’ version of Chekhov’s gun), with the local authorities in their pocket.
Seeing the Dutton brand as an underdog is a new vibe, and it’s also an adjustment to see Beth in a slightly more humbled state, even telling Rip of their fresh start, “I want it simple.” He wisely reminds her, “You can’t chase peace. You got to live it,” to which she responds, bearing scars of her past battles, “What if the world won’t let us?”
As fans well know, the world of Yellowstone is rarely peace-forward, and no road to riches comes without significant bumps and violent detours. Created by showrunner Chad Feehan, Dutton Ranch hews closely to the Taylor Sheridan formula of colorfully profane dialogue and gut-wrenching plot twists, setting a tone of heightened drama tinged with a melancholy wistfulness for the way things supposedly used to be.
Though Beth is still a barracuda when it comes to strong-arming restaurateurs in big-city Dallas to sample her grade-A beef, this series reveals her softer side, when she bonds with Everett, a quietly compassionate local veterinarian (Ed Harris, underplaying masterfully) and rests her maternal gaze on wayward teen-age Carter. Rip likewise bears his soul when he welcomes onto his skeleton crew Zacharia, a repentant ex-con who found faith behind bars (Marc Menchaca, playing against his usual villainous type).
No Yellowstone spinoff, or Sheridan show for that matter, would be complete without a vixen stirring up trouble. And sure enough, it doesn’t take long before young Carter finds his own Beth in a spitfire named Oreana (Natalie Alyn Lind) who leads him merrily into a whirlwind of temptation, testing what Beth describes as his “pure heart.”
Who is she fooling? Purity is a rare commodity in the Yellowstone-verse, and as Beth and Rip take the measure of the uneven playing field within their new community, with initial setbacks that would put lesser mortals on their heels, it’s immediately clear that we’re in for a rocky ride.
Just how we like it.
Dutton Ranch, Series Premiere (two episodes), Paramount+; 8/7c, Paramount Network
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