It’s time to return to Yellowstone.
Yellowstone Season 5 picks up a year and a half after the Yellowstone Season 4 finale.
We were saved from the agony of John’s campaign, which sets us free of suffering through something that feels a little too close to real life. Instead, we jump right into the good stuff when all that’s left is the celebration.
But John’s ascension to the highest seat in Montana won’t come without its struggles.
John’s run hasn’t brought people together, and it’s a severely divided land that John oversees, all with the hope that he can salvage the ranch and put an end to the invasive species known as man in his otherwise perfect world.
In the first two episodes shared with critics, there’s no getting around the urgency with which John must act or the toll it will take on his supporters.
John can declare war with his signature, and he’s desperate enough to do it.
To his right and left are his warring children, Beth and Jamie. Even with Jamie firmly under Beth’s thumb, he’s not eager to allow his father to make mistakes that could cost him merely because he doesn’t know how to play the game. But expect Beth to exercise her control to her advantage.
We simply do not know how they will bolster their father’s governorship or whether anyone will get caught in the crossfire of their disparate relationship.
When we talked to Wes Bentley, he shared a little bit about the situation with Beth and how he’ll be a benefit to John in his administration and possibly still a thorn in his side.
Keeping Jamie in line comes easier to Beth a year and a half into her marriage to Rip. She’s as cynical as ever, but she’s not maneuvering out of pain any longer.
Rip and Beth are exactly where they’re supposed to be, and knowing they have a home and each other to lean on has changed them both for the better.
Whether their love will be strong enough to let Carter into their world again remains to be seen, but the transformed young man is still at the ranch and earning his spurs as he works alongside the wranglers.
Still, there’s this shoe that we are all waiting to drop. If Jamie pushes Beth’s buttons, she’s got two aces in the hole — murdering his father is one, of course, but the implications of what he did to Beth decades earlier could be catastrophic.
Cole Hauser shared a little insight into Rip and Beth’s marriage but shut the door on talking about that other shoe. In some ways, what wasn’t said is deafening.
Kayce is still carrying with him the warning he received about the end of his life with Monica, and it doesn’t take too long to learn a little more about it.
Kayce is on the outside of the family at the start, although there are harbingers of how he’ll be pulled more firmly into John’s new role sprinkled throughout the first two episodes.
There are a few new faces on the canvas, but mostly familiar faces returning. As you can imagine, Rainwater is feeling the pressure of John’s election.
In the wake of it, he doesn’t know quite where things stand with regard to the reservation, and the first two episodes don’t do anything to suggest he’ll get a handle on it quickly.
But Angela Blue Thunder returns, and with her comes an ominous feeling harkening back to her first appearance. She will be trouble — it’s just a matter of how much.
By the time the sun sets on Yellowstone Season 5 Episode 2, the stage has been set for the battle between John, representing the State of Montana and the Yellowstone ranch, and everyone else, including Rainwater, Market Equities, and the federal government.
This isn’t a small fight on John’s hands, and the storytelling scope is widening as vast as the land that John is trying to protect.
Yellowstone Season 5 is going big, and the air is thick with tension. Get ready for another great ride.
The new premieres with double episodes on Sunday, November 13, beginning at 8/7c.
Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a staff writer and critic for TV Fanatic. She’s a member of the Critic’s Choice Association, enjoys mentoring writers, conversing with cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of television and film with anyone who will listen. Follow her on Twitter and email her here at TV Fanatic.
:quality(85):upscale()/2026/05/27/720/n/1922564/8e14f8036a1719329379c5.86726960_.jpg "Ciara Miller and the Art of Dressing for Revenge")
