Ramifications and complications are rife in Yellowstone’s The Apocalypse Of Change episode. So far: more questions than answers.
SPOILERS LIE AHEAD.
“This is suffer and survive. You will hate it here”
Reports from the US suggest that the ratings for last week’s return of Yellowstone – which I talked about here – drew in record ratings. All for a chapter of the story without its leading man. The novelty factor clearly kicks in of course, with many of us just wondering what Kevin Costner-less Yellowstone looks like. Now, the onus switches to how the story’s going to close out with the other five episodes of season 5.
The Apocalypse Of Change isn’t the most subtle of episode titles, not least because it’s more about talking about changes rather than making them. On the surface its opening looks quieter. Well, apart from an encounter with a rattlesnake to remind Rip and his crew that they’re not on safe ground, in more than one sense. Turns out there’s no shortage of snakes in the grass. The metaphors are writ rather large.
It’s a flashback needed to get Rip and Beth back in the same scene anyway, and ends up with them lying in bed discussing interesting stories they found in the local paper together (er, something like that). Back in the present day, Rip isn’t there to temper Beth in any way, and she’s not in a good mood.
For a moment, the happiest of the Dutton siblings looked like being Kaycee. Settling into his new home with Monica and Tate, he looked almost, well, happy. He’d escaped the Dutton ranch for a new life, and then, yep, he finally caught up the bombshell news from last week. A quick chat with his son, a phone call from his sister, and he’s pulled right back into the Dutton Centre Of Gravity, or the DCOG as I’ll never refer to it again.
This episode though was less about Kaycee, more about Beth and Jamie. Even without the death of their father, there’s five seasons’ worth of tensions to explore. With the death of John, and with Jamie’s involvement in that? Well: yikes.
I’ll come back to those two though. It’s worth throwing in that there are other characters who thus far are in the background, who might just move to the fore. Lloyd, for instance, is left to ponder the future of what they’re doing – there’s always been a ticking clock on the ranching way of life from the start of the show – and there’s a chat in there about whether it’s worth going to prison for stuff.
Then? Perhaps the most notable livewire might be Piper Perabo’s Summer, who Beth now seems to simply dislike rather than hate. She’s free from her sentence, mourning the loss of John and, well, who knows what next? It feels like a bookmark (one other bookmark: Rip’s comment that he’d never left Montana before. Is his future away from the state?)
Still, no doubting the star attraction of the episode: the moment when Jamie and Beth come face to face. I love moments when these two come together.
Jamie is the most interesting thread for me at the moment. The man in the suit with blood on his hands, moving through the corridors of power, and yet in absolute in fear of his sister. The way Beth has basically treated him for five seasons is the undercurrent to their relationship, but the power dynamic when the pair of them are in the room? It’s all Beth isn’t it.
Yet! It’s Jamie who has the power when she’s not about (assuming he’s not on his knees at the time), and the threat from Beth of a final confrontation we get here might just be the tipping point. Kelly Reilly and Wes Bentley are on superb form when they get to play scenes together, and they didn’t disappoint.
When he’s with his sister? She’s slapping him across the face. When he’s not? He’s moving fast to dismantle the John Dutton empire, and place himself in the Governor’s office. Never mind the skeletons he has that are there to come back to haunt him. He’s got powerful allies, he’s weak as piss, and has emerged as the most dangerous operator in the show.
Although Kaycee’s special forces chum might have something to say about that…
The Apocalypse Of Change might just have better been called Talking About The Upcoming Apocalypse Of Change, in truth. But for The Episode After The Episode Everyone Was Waiting For, it was a solid 50 minutes of television. May the clouds continue to gather.
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