Spoilers below for those who haven’t yet watched the Season 5 finale of Yellowstone, so be warned!
I think most Yellowstone fans would agree that Beth and Jamie’s bloody brawl in the series finale was as violently brutal and deadly anything on the 2024 TV schedule, even if the fight actually deserved a full episode’s runtime. Of course, the final ep wasn’t just dedicated to that catastrophic sibling rivalry, but also to figuring out the Duttons’ final plans for the ranch they could no longer afford to keep. Which is where Kayce rose tallest, choosing to utilize intelligence over vengeance.
Well, for the most part, that is. Because whenever Luke Grimes’ character actually sat down and laid out how he wanted to transfer the land from Dutton ownership to Rainwater, Mo and the Broken Rock Reservation, he rather quickly and hilariously flubbed his own math. Not when it came to the money or anything, thankfully, but rather the amount of stipulations he had for the deal. When explaining himself to Gil Birmingham’s tribe leader, Kayce said:
When my ancestors came here, land sold for $1.25 an acre, back when it was your land. Even though you didn’t sell it, that’s what it sold for when they took it. And that’s the price I offer you. Under two conditions.
So far, so good, right? Everything seems to be in line with what Kayce's intentions are. And then what are those two intentions?
East Camp, I keep for my family. And you can never develop the Yellowstone, and you can never sell it.
So let's see. He gets to keep the East Camp, that's one. And the second is that no one can develop on the Yellowstone ranch, thus eliminating Market Equities' airport and luxury resort goals. Oh, and they can't ever sell it. [Delivers A+ impression of Sesame Street's The Count] Which is three. Three stipulations. Ah-ah-ah!
Okay, so I realize I'm maybe being a stickler here, but it's kinda weird, right? I realize in some people's minds, Kayce addressing what can't be done to the ranch amounts to one stipulation. But what if he was only against selling it, but was cool with Broken Rock members building their own developments on the land? So yeah, it's three stipulations.
I can't be the only Yellowstone viewer whose brain went immediatley to Monty Python's "Spanish Inquisition" sketch.
Obviously this moment doesn't water down the importance of the scene or anything, and doesn't undercut the sado-masochistic way Beth handled the Jamie problem. But it's perhaps a sign that someone else should have read through the script with numbers in mind.
Regardless of how the counting went, the offer itself was still a powerful one. Rather than fully gifting the land to the indigenous natives, hearkening back to the 1883 finale in which Tim McGraw's James Dutton was told by Graham Greene's Spotted Eagle that the Montana lands would inevitably revert back to tribal ownership in seven generations.
While we thought that was going to involve some major threats and violence between natives and the Duttons' youngest generation, the actual result was far more peaceful. Which is pretty much the best way to ensure there are enough characters to survive making it to one of several upcoming Yellowstone shows planned for the future.
While Yellowstone episodes can be streamed with a Peacock subscription — though currently only through the midway point of the fifth season — all of the show’s spinoffs and prequels are available via a Paramount+ subscription.
