Yellowstone Season 4 Episode 3 Recap: New Beginnings and Loose Ends
“There are times when good persons must do truly evil things.” From the brutally efficient killing of the remaining militia to John’s confrontation with Chester Spears, the mastermind behind the orchestrated assassinations last season, this grim wisdom, imparted by John to his son Kayce at the beginning of episode 2, was grippingly realized throughout ‘All I See Is You.’
By the end of the episode, it was unclear if they could continue to think of themselves as “good” or as men eager to go to any length to protect their homeland.
The first episodes of Yellowstone season 4 had the tough task of presenting new stories while also resolving existing ones, and the drama stopped after the show’s action-packed start, leaping from occurrence to incident with little immediate connection. By episode 3, though, the timeframe, tone, and focus are all engagingly consistent.
The plot strands from episode 2 are seamlessly picked up and braided together, with events taking place over the course of 24 hours – from sundown to nightfall – and centered around the Dutton ranch.
ABOUT THIS EPISODE
- Episode 3 (of 10), ‘All I See Is You’
- Written by Taylor Sheridan
- Directed by Guy Ferland
★★★★
Kayce met John shortly after the militia’s rapid and effective reaction, saddling up and lamenting the current state of their life. As Jimmy unwillingly went with Travis to the Four Sixes ranch in Texas, leaving a dissatisfied Mia behind, the bunkhouse crew prepared to tell Jimmy farewell, while Rip and Beth fought about the best method to raise 14-year-old Carter. Meanwhile, when Mo and Chief Rainwater revealed who ordered the Dutton family hit, John had to “take out the trash.”
Except for Colter Wall’s Sleeper on the Blacktop on the soundtrack, the opening 2-minute sequence was a barrage of violence with no dialogue or music. During that time, a SWAT team led by Kayce viciously dispatched the remaining militia men paid to exterminate the Duttons. This narrative of retributive justice has a frenzied intensity to it, cutting between episodes. The criminals were gunned down one by one in their homes or cars, while we kept cutting to John, who was staring contemplatively into the fireplace: the “nice man” whose will Kayce had mercilessly imposed.
With John presented as some kind of Godfather-like mafioso in the opening montage, Episode 3 frequently reminded us of the Duttons’ ultimate dominance over Yellowstone. The local police force helps to maintain this dominance. Apart from the power that their presence confers, nothing they do appears to be legitimate.
A flash of red and blue filled the roadway as a police cordon barred the passage of two of the criminals; and, after one of them lunged for a revolver, Kasey fired a hail of shots like a scene from Scarface on the two men. The goal of the game was retribution, not justice, therefore there was no intention of escorting anyone quietly down to the station.
Isn’t it true that total power corrupts absolutely? Perhaps. The show shakily maintained that Kayce and John were honest men who were merely doing what they had to in order to safeguard their land and family. Kayce, on the other hand, is seen abusing and even exaggerating his authority in considerably less high-stakes scenarios. The Livestock Commissioner wields unexpected power over the Yellowstone police, as evidenced by his barking commands to the sheriff to pursue his father’s assailants in episode 1. A Livestock Commissioner can’t possibly be more powerful than the town sheriff, right?
Emmett Walsh pays him a visit in his office later in episode 3. The man is enraged because his next-door neighbor, a “California son-of-a-bitch,” had installed cattle grids all along his easement, making transporting his livestock a nightmare and costing him a fortune. He’s at a loss on what to do. As a result, Kayce asks Emmet what he would like him to do about it, and Emmet euphemistically replies, “I don’t know.” Something.”
Kayce, like Rip, has become a bit of a fixer, and his hesitant countenance indicates that he understands that force will be required. He’s at the Peterson Ranch a few moments later, hurling its annoying owner Ralph (Jonathan Kells Phillips), who’s only growing llamas for the tax benefit anyway, on the ground and bound him with cable ties. When an enraged Ralph threatens to call the cops, he responds by shouting that he is the cops and that he doesn’t need a warrant.
In Kayce’s opinion, the Wild West still exists, and legal process is just another layer of red tape. Plus, people like Ralph — wealthy, entitled city dwellers who have no understanding what it’s like to live in the country – exemplify a contemporary world whose push into the Midwest threatens to wipe out everything the Duttons hold dear.
Surprisingly, the law in Yellowstone appears to favor corruption. Later in the episode, John arrives for a covert meeting with Chief Rainwater, who is keeping Chester Himes – the man who orchestrated the hit on the Duttons – imprisoned in the boot of his car, and he’s being escorted by a Brocken Rock cop. He drives away before the battered informant is revealed, ostensibly to avoid being implicated in the crime.
YELLOWSTONE SPOILER-FILLED RECAPS
While the Duttons’ vigilantism does not appear to result in any criminal charges, their ethically questionable acts had a personal cost. Kayce arrived home after bundling Ralph beneath one of his own cattle grids to discover that his wife Monica and son Tate hadn’t left their room all day. He found a weary Monica sitting on the floor, waiting for a severely traumatized Tate to emerge from under the bed, after taking two plates of food upstairs. “He’s not going to come out today.” She sighed and said, “He’s worse today.”
It’s the first time fans have seen Monica and Tate since they were raped in their home during the dramatic opening of episode 1, and Tate is now mentally and emotionally wounded, having been kidnapped by the Beck brothers last season as well. Rather of calming down his son, Kayce dragged him out of the room. And, despite the fact that he instantly calmed down, Monica becomes enraged and starts into a tirade about Yellowstone’s “evil” and Kayce’s “evil.” Despite the fact that John and Kayce are thought to be honest men, their immoral deeds have put their families in jeopardy on numerous occasions. What exactly do they mean when they say they’re “good”?
While John and Kayce provided moral mirror images of one other throughout the program, there were also interesting parallels between Jimmy, a rodeo hopeful, and Carter, a 14-year-old. Their scenes were full of quietly moving moments in which they grappled with the grim determinism of their circumstances and the limited chance of exerting control over their life.
As the bunkhouse awoke to the news that Jimmy was departing, there was a solemn atmosphere. After breaking John’s word and injuring himself during the rodeo, John informed him that he would be joining Travis on the road to promote Yellowstone. Mia, his loyal lover, exasperatedly reminded him that “everything in that place is trying to bite you, stick you, or sting you” when he told her he was going to Texas. He glumly stated that he had no choice but to leave.
He is in a lot of suffering because he is unable to choose himself, or “grow up,” as Rip puts it. Despite his bemusement at his predicament – feeling obligated to John as his sole family – a hurt Mia pointed out that he could have chosen to be with her. After his accident and physical therapy, she was the only person who showed him unwavering support. She told him that “your only other choice is fucking done with you” and stormed out of the bunkhouse after failing to see this.
John, too, felt a sense of duty in this. After Mia turned down Jimmy’s reconciliation attempt, John followed him into the barn to inform him that his exile was a chance, not a punishment. “Love doesn’t walk that simple,” Mia says, therefore she won’t leave him. If she does, what will you do? She was never his in the first place. When Jimmy questioned as to who made the decision about when he’d return, John said, “You do.” It serves as a reminder that, even if Jimmy’s alternatives appear restricted, it will be his own decisions and actions that propel him back to the ranch and Mia.
It was a bittersweet moment as Jimmy left on Travis’ trailer. Travis treated him with contempt even before they left, calling him “Jerry” instead of Jimmy and demanding that he make himself useful since “this ain’t no f—king Uber.” Travis and his team grieved his every breath, seeing him as a burden. As a result, it was heartbreaking to witness Jimmy exchange a long glance with Mia as she tearfully watched them drive away, with All I See Is You’s dark, emotional lyrics playing on the soundtrack. However, it’s unlikely that this will be the last time we see Jimmy this season.
In the meantime, Carter had a pleasant conversation with the philosophical Walker, who inquired as to what had led him to the ranch. “Life took away a lot of my options,” he explained. Rip and Beth clashed shortly after over their differing approaches to raising Carter. It was endearing to witness Beth’s more protective, lenient personality emerge in comparison to Rip’s tough-love. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a gross miscalculation. Carter tried to take advantage of the situation by offering to buy the youngster a new hat, jacket, and boots, and Beth was left devastated and angered by his ingratitude.
She wisely told Carter of the four possibilities accessible to him if he sought a life of financial wealth after an encounter with an intrusive mother made her doubt her parental qualifications. He couldn’t inherit a fortune, and he wasn’t smart enough, in her judgment, to be a career criminal, so his only option was to work extremely hard, keep learning, and be willing to fail. What about the fourth option? That wasn’t worth the aching in my jaw.
Then, as darkness struck, John drove into Wyoming with a bloodied Chester in the boot, whom Chief Rainwater had entrusted to him. As he peered deep into the blazing flames of the hearth, the scene gave a fascinating bookend to the introduction sequence, emphasizing the satanic nature of John’s activities.
As he was personally tasked with murdering the guy responsible for the attacks on his family, our expectations about John’s character were toyed with. He had a loaded rifle and stood above Chester, but he dropped it on the ground. Chester became agitated when he instead pulled out a knife. Rather than going all Quentin Tarantino on him, John helped him get out of his clutches.
For a brief moment, it appeared that John might release him. No. “We’ll have ourselves an old-fashioned shoot out,” he suggested as a more moral solution to his predicament. It was a calculated risk. Chester was gunned down by John after firing the first shot, and he slumped backwards into the canyon, becoming fresh meat for the cayotes. As Caravan of Fools played us out, the song warned that this season’s cycle of risky actions and violence could lead to disastrous repercussions.
Our Verdict
Although it is still early in the season, this episode has already proven to be the most enjoyable of the season. The focus on the characters’ interpersonal problems – particularly Jimmy and Mia’s hesitant parting and Beth and Carter’s evolving mother/son interaction – resulted in some truly emotional moments and a mournful mood, especially when Kayce noticed life for the Duttons was swiftly changing.
While we still don’t know who ordered the attack on the Duttons, the mystery has grown in a possibly surprising manner. The fact that the hit was delivered to a man in Deer Lodge prison before reaching Chester – neither of whom were known to John – suggests that the Duttons are up against an unknown foe. Given how the show has lowered suspicions of Market Equities, Chief Rainwater, and John’s adopted son Jamie in recent episodes, this seems increasingly likely.
Yellowstone season 4 trivia
- We got a peek inside Mo’s home life, Rainwater’s right-hand man (played by Mo Brings Plenty). And the actresses that played his wife and child were his real-life partner Sara Ann and son Jernyce!
- Buck Taylor, who played unhappy farmer Emmett Walsh on Gunsmoke, made his fifth appearance at Yellowstone. He most recently appeared in the season 3 episode “The World is Purple.”
- Did you recognize Emmett’s obnoxious Californian next-door neighbor? Jonathan Kells Phillips was the character that made his debut appearance in the series. Condor, The Americans, and True Blood have all featured the actor earlier.
- This episode was dedicated to country singer-songwriter John Prine, who died of COVID-related complications in April 2020, and whose 2018 song Caravan of Fools was played over the end credits.
- Guy Ferland is back to direct Yellowstone for the fifth time. The filmmaker has produced episodes of Sons of Anarchy and The Walking Dead alongside Joel Schumacher.
