Two episodes of Yellowstone in one night? That’s what dreams are made of! Entitled “The Sting of Wisdom”, this installment of Taylor Sheridan’s Western saga begins with John Dutton’s (Kevin Costner) first day on the job as the Governor of Montana. Unsurprisingly to Beth (Kelly Reilly), Jamie (Wes Bentley), and his new assistant Clara (Lilli Kay), John’s first order of business is to halt Market Equities’ construction of an airport on the Dutton land. He grows increasingly frustrated as Jamie explains to him the various legal and political hoops they will have to jump through to stop the project and describes all the bridges they’ll burn along the way. It seems that political power is as tricky as John always assumed it would be.
Written by Sheridan and directed by Stephen Kay, this episode brings together multiple plot lines beyond John’s first day in office. It shows the devastated Kayce (Luke Grimes), Monica (Kelsey Asbille) and Tate (Breckin Merrill) struggling to pick up the pieces after the accident and Monica’s miscarriage. It switches to the gang at Market Equities plotting to destroy the Duttons, and then to Beth working to keep Jamie in check. Finally, back at the Yellowstone, Rip (Cole Hauser) teaches Carter (Finn Little) a cowboy lesson and deals with a huge mistake that could put two of our favorite Bunkhouse boys in prison and jeopardize the future of the Yellowstone.
Not enough action for you? This episode also solves the mystery of Kayce’s Season 4 vision quest and takes viewers on a trip to Beth’s favorite watering hole. Among all these goings-on in the second episode of Season 5, five scenes are particularly notable.
DECLARATION OF WAR
By now, everyone in the entire state of Montana knows that John will do anything and everything to protect his ranch. Acting on his campaign promise from the Season 5 premiere, John orders Jamie to write up an executive order that revokes all state permits and ceases all state funding for all of Market Equities’ Paradise Valley development projects. As the State’s attorney, Jamie cautions John: “By signing this order, you are signing a declaration of war.” Fed up, John snarls back: “As we speak, they’re raping the land our family has bled into for over a century. We’re already at war.”
As he sits down to sign his first executive order in front of the press and news cameras, John proceeds to give a rousing speech about what freedom means. He reminds his constituents that the projects he is stopping would raise their taxes and force them “to decide if they can even afford to live in a place that they call home.” He ends with these stirring words: “That’s not progress in my mind. That’s an invasion, and the invasion is over today.” Pretty convincing, no?
WILL JAMIE BE SARAH ATWOOD’S FRIEND OR FOE?
If there was ever a worthy opponent for Beth, it is Dawn Olivieri’s high-powered corporate shark, Sarah Atwood. One wonders why Market Equities CEO Caroline Warner (Jacki Weaver) didn’t call on her services in Season 4. Could it be that perhaps she’s a little wary of Sarah? From the moment she steps off the company’s private jet, Sarah is laser-focused on her surroundings, but you can bet she still has time to flirt with and then cut men down to size.
As the team at Market Equities watches John revoke the state’s funding and permits for all of their Paradise Valley development projects, Sarah keeps her cool. Just like Ellis Steele (John Emmet Tracy) in the Season 5 premiere, she notices a sullen-looking AG Jamie dutifully signing John’s executive order. “That’s the Governor’s son? This is like doing business in Utah,” scoffs Sarah. As she peers closer to the screen, Sarah purrs, “this son doesn’t look up to this fight. Think I’m gonna start with him.”
MONICA REMEMBERS KAYCE’S VISION
One of the most heartbreaking aspects of Episode 2 is Kayce and Monica dealing with the loss of their son, John. As they come to grips with their grief, Monica brings up what Kayce saw during his vision quest in the Season 4 finale. All Yellowstone fans were no doubt holding their breath when Kayce returned home and mysteriously told Monica, “I saw the end of us.”
“When you said you saw the end of us, is this what you saw?” Monica asks her husband quietly. Shocked, Kayce responds: “No, baby. I never saw this coming. This won’t be the end of us.” Monica asks, “What will?” To which Kayce replies, “I have to choose the end of us. I will never choose that.” Cryptic, but comforting, I guess?
THE DEERFIELD CLUB BELONGS TO BETH
Anytime Beth stops in at the Deerfield Club for a meeting or a drink, Yellowstone fans know to expect the unexpected. From a drunken night out, which turned into a traumatic ride home with Jamie in Season 1 to a memorable standoff with Roarke (Josh Holloway) in Season 3, Beth is notorious for making things interesting. That and (we can assume) tipping big have endeared her to the staff at the establishment. So, it makes perfect sense she would set up John’s meeting with the Park County commissioners at the Deerfield Club in this episode.
Before their arrival, Beth sits at the bar enjoying a few drinks when an out-of-towner tries relentlessly to pick her up. In an unusual act of kindness (ha!), Beth snaps at him, “Buddy, this is your one chance to leave me alone with your self-esteem intact.” When he eggs on her, Beth proceeds to just demolish him in a truly glorious takedown. It is reminiscent of a scene at the Deerfield Club in the Season 4 premiere when she encourages a woman at the bar after she is treated poorly by her husband. “You have all the pussy and half the money,” Beth purrs at her, urging her to not take his shit. When the woman later puts her husband in his place, Beth smiles and takes a drink. Her influence.
IT JUST HAD TO BE WOLVES
While herding the cattle, Rip, Lloyd (Forrie J. Smith), Ryan (Ian Bohen) and Colby (Denim Richards) find a dead cow that has been eaten at by wolves. While Ryan and Colby doubt that wolves actually killed the animal, Rip tells them to get their depredation tags and camp out that night to kill the wolves that he believes attacked their herd. It seems like a good plan, until Ryan and Colby accidentally kill two wolves with GPS tracking collars that have wandered into their property from the neighboring Yellowstone National Park. Rip, Ryan and Colby unsuccessfully try to get rid of the collars by dropping them back in the park, but one wonders what troubles this incident will cause the Yellowstone in the future.
Could two dead wolves potentially have the power to bring down the Yellowstone? In Season 4 Episode 9, Mo Brings Plenty identifies the wolf as Kaycee’s spirit animal. Throughout the series, Kaycee has had several memorable encounters with wolves including when Kayce and Monica have sex in Season 3 Episode 2 and when Monica tells Kayce she’s pregnant in Season 4 Episode 8. The recurrence of the wolf motif this season is a bit ominous for the Duttons.