Previously on Yellowstone, things grew more complicated than ever for the Dutton family in the wake of the deaths of Lee Dutton and Robert Long. Evidence started to tell the tale that there was a third party involved in the tragedy — and suspicion began to fall on Kayce Dutton for Robert’s death. Things also took a political turn for the Duttons, with Jamie announcing he is going to run for Attorney General and there were ominous things on the horizon as workers came close to a freshly dug grave. Things are about to get a bit messier for the Duttons heading into episode four, “The Long Black Train”. Here’s what went down in the episode.
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Fair warning: spoilers for Yellowstone beyond this point. Only read on if you really want to know!
What Happened in “The Long Black Train”?
Morning comes to the Yellowstone Ranch, but the calm of day is short lived. On the reservation, Thomas Rainwater comes to the scene as workers find the grave Kayce Dutton and the daughter of the kidnapped girl from last episode dug to conceal the remains of her attackers. Despite foreman complaints, Rainwater can prove the remains — bone and ash — are fresh and the area is sealed off, stopping work for the crew. On the ranch, the ranchers work to gather up the cattle and Jimmy’s horse is spooked by a helicopter being used in the search, throwing him. Jimmy is struggling with his new life and is told by the other ranch hands he needs to find his hat before he comes back. He searches for it and comes across a calf caught in bushes.
On the reservation, cleanup is underway at the home of Samantha Long and Monica realizes that while it looks like Samantha merely killed herself, she did so for her children to be taken care of — the family’s fridge and cabinets were empty and Samantha’s parents were the only people with enough money to help, though they hadn’t spoken in a long time. Monica suggests that Samantha may have seen her death as being the only way her parents would help and thus, her death wasn’t a suicide but a sacrifice to give her kids a better life. Later, with Kayce gone with Tate to visit John, Rainwater shows up and tells Monica he thinks all the recent deaths are connected and that Kayce needs to come see him.
At the ranch, John is trying to corral cattle and his horse reacts badly, prompting one of the men nearby to make a comment that John isn’t even supposed to be on a horse at all due to having had two feet of his colon removed recently because he has colon cancer. This revelation causes someone to question if John is capable of being cattle commissioner and John says he is — but warns the man not to tell anyone about his health.
John takes Tate to the river, but the boy falls in the river and ends up with an injury. He and John have a bit of bonding time before they get back to the ranch and Tate goes to the hospital to get treated for his injury. John struggles with what happened. Jimmy returns to the ranch with the rescued calf like a true cowboy, but quickly gets into a fight with Fred, another cowboy. Rip breaks up the fight and warns Fred that he will kill him if he ever hits one of the branded men again and then tells Jimmy that because of his brand, they are his family. Fred is kicked off the ranch and taken to the “train station” That ends up being code for Lloyd killing Fred and shoving his body off a cliff.
On the way home with Tate, Monica and Kayce are pulled over and Kayce is arrested. As for Beth, she is out, continuing her flirtation with Dan Jenkins. The end up at a bar where a man hits on Beth and Dan tries to stand up to the man but gets punched in the throat. Beth also ends up instigating another fight which leads to Dan getting punched in the face and when Beth taunts him about thinking he’d be tougher, he leaves and tells her she needs to stay with her people. Later, Beth is still at the bar, dancing and smoking and Rip shows up and the two dance.
Yellowstone airs Sunday nights on CBS. The first four seasons of the series are also available to stream on Peacock.
