Yellowstone
By The Editors
PlannedMan

“Yellowstone” is a monumental drama of ranchers stuck fighting old enemies on the ascent and new opponents of progress.

Yellowstone

Highlights


The adversarial entities and elements are epic.

The Dutton Family characters are as colossal as the plot.

The Dutton characters’ relationships are an excellent, familial example of generational love and instruction.

Yellowstone—the TV show—is now in its third season and on Hulu. It’s also a PM must-watch. Every character is an Alpha—particularly the women—and the interchange between these characters has produced the best series in years. That’s saying a lot, as we are decidedly living in a second Golden Age of Television.

The privately owned, Rhode Island-sized parcel of land is set at the Dutton Ranch/Yellowstone in Montana. The patriarch’s ordering principle of the ranch, John Dutton—Kevin Costner plays the role perfectly—is not to lose an inch of ranch to the forces surrounding him. However, the adversarial entities and elements are epic.

The Biggest: ranching itself. It’s “a [horrible] business where you are lucky to break even.” Add to the mix encroaching, land developers driving up the tax bill. There’s also the American Indian problem—natives with casino money and sovereign-nation status wanting to take back the land once theirs. It’s a monumental drama of ranchers stuck fighting old enemies on the ascent and new opponents of progress.

All of the above, simultaneously with the deep bench of Dutton Family characters being as colossal as the plot.

One son, Jamie, was sent away, to Harvard Law School, simply because his father needed a trusted lawyer—but Jamie had no intention(s) of passing the bar. His reason’s a good one: “Lawyers are knights of the modern order, and the law is the sword.”

An investment-banker daughter: Elizabeth, who returned home to help her father troubleshoot his enemies, is the strongest, believable, female character I’ve ever seen presented on television.

Kayce Dutton is a cowboy’s cowboy—a Special Forces combat vet who carries with him scars of wars and his father. But this Dutton soldier’s balanced out by his strong-willed, American Indian wife with a PhD and their great kid, Tate.

John and Tate’s relationship is an excellent, familial example of generational love and instruction—the grandfather-grandson bond is crucial in the American family.

This is not a one-and-done endorsement. We are going to unpack this series. …just giving those late starters a heads up to binge-watch this in earnest.

A+
a-

More From Yellowstone


Yellowstone
Follow Yellowstone