Spoilers for Yellowstone Season 3, Episode 2 entitled “Freight Train and Monsters” are discussed below.
Yellowstone dropped a Season 3 bomb on Beth when she learned that Josh Holloway’s new character, Roarke, is essentially the point man in acquiring her family’s land, and she learned what he actually wants it for. Goodbye to the late Dan Jenkins’ initial dream of a ski resort! Hello to a sky resort, airport, and – wait for it – an entire city!
To be expected, Beth confronted Roarke over the shocking news, and they exchanged some more hilariously sparky banter. After that conversation, I think Beth more fully realized that the machine that is coming for the Duttons’ land is too big to fight. Of course, being the Beth that we all love, she likely will not stop trying to save the ranch from outsider interesting as Yellowstone Season 3 continues.
I have to admit that things do not look good at all for Yellowstone’s titular ranch. In fact, things have never looked grimmer. Could Kevin Costner's John Dutton sell off a part of it in a bid to keep the rest safe? Maybe, but Josh Holloway was not kidding around about Roarke being a “threat” to the Duttons in Season 3, so it remains to be seen how far he'll go to take control.
Roarke made his point pretty clear during his flirtatious talk with Beth, who was all business, and for the first time since Yellowstone began, it seems like John Dutton is facing an impossible-to-beat adversary. Roarke is running point on a money machine that is impossible to beat. Unlike last season’s adversaries, however, it really is nothing personal, even if the Duttons would all take the loss rather personally.
Roarke's backers are a calculated group with eyes set squarely on John Dutton’s land, and Roarke is primarily the face of everything. If John thinks that “getting rid” of him would solve all of his problems (as it seemed to be teased), there is another person right behind him. Hopefully, that is good news for the longevity of Josh Holloway’s presence on Yellowstone beyond Season 3.
As I said last week, I hope he sticks around for the long haul. Josh Holloway’s Roarke may be working to upend everything the Duttons’ own, but he is doing it with impeccable charisma that the actor's fans expect to see. All of which makes him a delightful adversary. There is a reason to think that he could personally be outmaneuvered, but it has nothing to do with John eventually strong-arming him into submission in Season 3.
For now, this game is mainly Beth’s to win. (Or to lose, in a worst-case scenario for the Duttons.) John’s devoted daughter is already all over it, as this episode of Yellowstone can attest. One trailer for Season 3 showed her telling Roarke that she is “the tornado” and he is the “trailer park,” so you know she is getting fired up to take him down and totally tank his endgame plans.
Watch Josh Holloway’s Roarke continue to stir up trouble for the Duttons throughout this summer as new episodes of Yellowstone air on Sunday nights at 9 p.m. ET on Paramount Network. If you want to catch up on Beth’s past exploits, you can stream Yellowstone when it becomes available on NBCUniversal’s upcoming streamer, Peacock, which launches nationally on July 15.
