User Reviews

Having watched "1883" and all the episodes of "1923" that have been released so far, it seems like I really should start the main show proper. This season is, essentially, a big budget, well-acted soap opera, with the trials and tribulations of the Dutton family taking centre stage.

John Dutton (Kevin Coster) is the current custodian of the Yellowstone Ranch in Montana, that has been in his family for around 150 years. Despite their disfunction, stemming from the death of matriarch Evelyn (Gretchen Mol), the Dutton family dominate the local area. His eldest son Lee (Dave Annable) is being groomed to take over the ranch, Jamie (Wes Bentley) is the family lawyer and is being prepped for politics, Beth (Kelly Reilly) is a financier and willing to do anything to protect her father. Only youngest son Kayce (Luke Grimes) has rejected the life, living with his wife nearby having returned from the Navy. John fights, with all the tools at his disposal, to keep his land as his enemies conspire against him.

What I liked was that, despite the rhetoric that the show is for a conservative audience, it's not "old time values" propaganda. Being a cowboy, frankly, looks awful. With death and injury, a near constant risk and the crushing, all-consuming boredom of it is very real. There are no real heroes and villains in the show either, Dan played by Danny Houston and Thomas Rainwater, played by Gil Birmingham, conspire against John, but their white-collar plotting doesn't match the actual murders committed by people at the Yellowstone. John in particularly attempts to motivate his children by providing or withholding affection, he conspires with, and against them and he manipulates local authorities to his benefit.

It is a melodramatic soap opera, at heart. Each episode seems to see some member of the cast dying, or being seriously injured, or placed in mortal peril. It's "Dallas" with better production values. It's an enjoyable time though and if, as the current reading suggests, the show is yet to hit its stride yet, then that bodes well.

(Also, I'm asking real questions about myself related to how I feel about Beth. I'm going to put it down in red hair and smoky eye makeup, and definitely not her personality. )

Wow! These people are all messed up. The human race in a nutshell. Love it!!!

Greetings from Lithuania.

I highly enjoyed season 1 of "Yellowstone". Setting and locations in which it takes place is breathtaking and is like a character itself. Acting was very good, as well writing, story and directing. There were some over top scenes in my opinion, but as a whole it is realistic show, and i love the whole country setting - its a refreshing one.

Overall, i will definitely keep watching it now. I'm invested into these characters and their lives. Very good season one.

Omg - best ever. Amazing. Costner so good - Kelly ahhhh omg please more !!!

Excellent story line good new actors beautiful woman brings awareness to the indian people as well as the somewhat Still wild west

Fabulous acting, incredible scenery and Beth is my type girl. A must

This was a show that so many people had individually told me to watch. And for the entire first season, I was really trying to get into it and find something that would make me fall in love with the show, and it just never happened. I have not been gripped by any aspect of the show yet, and maybe it's me, but I was holding out hope that this finale would actually ignite something and make me realize the genius of this show then. And while that didn't happen, I will say that the finale was a genuinely good episode full of good emotion.

These two final episodes had a lot of things riding on it, as this show has desperately tried to come up with something reminiscent of a conflict, often throwing a lot of darts at the board and hoping that something actually stuck. It's clear that John Dutton has a lot of enemies, but it's all been so spread and the threat hasn't really felt genuine. However, his enemies are starting to find their footing and are beginning to understand that they work better together, and that may actually be the thing that gets Dutton fired up. This episode certainly has him on the edge, and it's nice to see that come across again, as that is where Kevin Costner really gets to pull his magic and do some great work as Dutton. The rest of the family also gets into the meat of their storylines here, although I can't help but feel like the characters of Kayce and Beth are coming across as light packs in comparison to what's going on with John and Jamie. The visuals are still as astonishing as they've always been and the visual aesthetic of the show really grew on me as it went along. It's clear that there's great care put into the making of this show, but I wish that the writing would get the same amount of care. It seems like Taylor Sheridan is focusing more on writing in the next seasons, not directing as many episodes, which may be the answer to the show's problems.

"The Unravelling, Pt. 2" gives us the real check game that we've been wanting, although it still feels like Dutton's enemies need to show up more. There's great intrigue in the main family, but there are also some characters who really need to have some more time dedicated to them in the coming seasons.

When i lived in montana, great falls was the largest city with 106,000 population and then anaconda closed the black eagle smelter and the population sank to about 83,000 in 5 years, making billings the largest city ... even today bozeman only has 45,000 population making it very small by metropolitan standards ... i'm sure there were land owners that protected their holdings by force if necessary ... i knew many big land owners, one had a ranch that encompassed the better part of 3 counties east of the highwood mountains and others didn't want strangers on their land unless invited ... i was never refused permission to go on an owners land because i observed their rules and conditions ... rule number one was close all fences behind you, notify the owner of poachers or problems like cattle roaming ranges .. rule number 2 was leave the range in better condition than you found it, meaning burying trash that others carelessly left behind ... rule number 3, if you were hunting, share some of your game with the rancher and his family and you will always be invited back .... i find the series yellowstone hyped up to make an interesting story where there is none .... the scene that ruined it all for me was when rip shot the grizzly with a 30-30 winchester at close range ...its just unrealistic and that popgun wouldn't stop a charging animal like a mature grizzly without having serious damage done to the shooter ... i've been with grizzlies close up enough to smell them and it still rattles me ... i think the worst over the top performance was given by kelly reilly ...

The first episode of the season was promising, but every episode after that just kept going down hill until these last two episodes!! These really hit bottom!! Who writes this stuff? Beth is probably the worst character created!! She has every rich girl beat with childish ways!! Let's not forget John! Never thought I would see Kevin play a roll like this!! Jamie is probably the best character in this series!!

BS-du-jour: "You know what a tie is? It's a leash your master cut 'cause he knows you're not going anywhere." I bet Costner thinks it's "deep".

I expected the series finale to go out with a bang. The template was set by Dallas and the Who Shot JR storyline. This went nowhere near those heights.

Here at the end. John Dutton reminiscences that the dinner table was full of his family. He quickly forgets his part in tearing them apart.

The politically ambitious Jamie Dutton is now the black sheep. Having to hand his gold credit card and pick up truck because he upset daddy.

Meanwhile Beth Dutton is the golden girl based on her abilities to pick up strangers at a bar.

As for Kayce Dutton, he makes a late bid for his father's affections. He leaves Dan Jenkins hanging around. A man Dutton's posse abducted in broad daylight in town.

The cinematography was good but at times this really is cheesy as some of its glossy predecessor soaps.