Yellowstone Finally Revealed John Dutton's Fate In Season 5B Premiere, And I Really Didn't Think They'd Go There Already

Major spoilers for everyone who hasn’t yet seen Yellowstone’s Season 5B premiere, so be warned!

Holy shit, y’all. We’ve been waiting nearly two years for Yellowstone’s final Season 5 episodes, and I’m pretty sure every imaginable hypothesis has been considered concerning how the western would explain Kevin Costner’s John Dutton either being absent or suddenly returning after all the behind-the-scenes issues. But now TV’s most dramatic batch of cowboys and cowgirls is back on the Fall TV season, and there’s no longer any need to make wild guesses. Now we know: John’s as dead as a doornail. Or a horseshoe nail, as it were.

Let's dig into how the Paramount Network hit set up its final chapter ahead of the spinoff The Madison and other upcoming Yellowstone shows.

Yellowstone Killed Off John Dutton By Suspected Suicide

While some series likely would have waited until the final moments of the midseason premiere to pull the blood-spattered bathroom rug out, Yellowstone dropped its biggest blow on viewers before the opening titles even started. Beth and Kayce arrive at the Governor's Mansion to find it surrounded by caution tape and police, and after it's clear that no one truly gives a shit about them walking around inside, they both bear witness to one of their worst nightmares.

As they see, John is found on the floor of the bathroom with a gun nearby, and blood spattered against the wall, and presumably at least one more sign of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. When the dust settled in the hours after the body was found, the story that went public is that John committed suicide. I was legitimately shocked by all of these details coming to light already, but of course nothing was really as it seemed.

But John Was Almost Definitely Murdered

Having not watched the previous Season 5 episode in a while, I wasn't automatically thinking about Jamie and Sarah's prior conversation about having a third party enter the fray in order to take the elder Dutton out of the picture. But that detail was hammered home during the flashback sequence in which Sarah visited a security-heightened site and met with a suspicious-looking gent named "Grant."

Though nobody mentions John or Jamie by name, Grant does refer to "Mr. Dutton" and the "Attorney General," and is roughly as explicit when laying it out that his team will make it look as if the Dutton patriarch killed himself, despite Sarah questioning another path of execution. Logistically, his reasoning made sense, but he clearly has no idea how unbelievable a scenario that is for this family.

I'm not entirely sure how I feel about Yellowstone introducing a super-secret organization of assassins that are capable of murder under the guise of accidents. But for the sake of this weird-ass final half-season, I'll buy in with whatever's currently in my wallet. If they're capable of knocking the power out at the mansion so that surveillance cameras are unusable, they must be pretty formidable.

How Heavily Will Jamie Pay For What He's Done?

Beth might not be a detective, but she pulled off part of a Clue-esque victory by immediately blaming Jamie for John's death, despite the physical evidence she saw with her own eyes. And even though Kayce is initially hesitant to fall in line with her suspicions, he did seem well on his way to being convinced by the end of the premiere.

But is there any way to actually prove that Jamie was responsible at this point? Sure, if Sarah fesses up to others and explains everything she did, that would probably have an impact, but given her career position and presumed disinterest in going to prison, I doubt she'd squeal.

Barring any of that, it'll likely come down to Jamie crumpling under pressure and giving himself up, but I don't think Beth or Rip would even let him get that far into it before ripping his throat open, though Kayce might let him finish at least one sentence first. Which is to say, I can't imagine a scenario where Jamie ends this season going off to prison for his crimes instead of taking an ill-fated ride to the train station.

Also, I imagine there will be whiskey-soaked riots if Yellowstone ends without Beth going full-ham on Jamie's face and torso and genitals and limbs, so even if there's a last-minute twist that reveals John accidentally shot himself while dropping a deuce in the toilet, Beth will at least still get to avenge her unconceived children in a most lethal way.

Stay tuned for more twists and turns from Yellowstone when new episodes air every Sunday night on Paramount Network at 8:00 p.m. ET. Here's hoping CBS is able to air more of the current season via broadcast.