Yellowstone Season 1 Episode 7 Recap With Spoilers: "A Monster Is Among Us"

Monica's condition is serious and things are tense for the Duttons in Season 1 Episode 7's A Monster Is Among Us.

By Nicole Drum

We're getting close to the end of the first season of Yellowstone on CBS and this week, since there's just one NFL game, fans tuning in tonight get two episodes. The evening kicks off with Season 1, Episode, 7 "A Monster Is Among Us" and it comes at a complicated time for the Duttons. Dan Jenkins is making moves to bring John Dutton down while last episode left off with Kayce Dutton's wife, Monica, in grave condition after she collapsed outside their home. It's going to be a rough way forward for everyone at this point. Here's what happens in the episode.

Fair warning: spoilers for Yellowstone beyond this point. Only read on if you really want to know!

What Happened in "A Monster Is Among Us?"

John notices a bus of foreign tourists in a field that just so happens to be very close to a bear. The tour's guide won't make her group leave even when John Dutton tells her that they are all trespassing on private property, prompting the tour group to argue that John needs to share his property with people. Things change quickly when John fires his rifle into the air, sending the tourists scrambling back to their bus. He tells them that in America, we don't share land.

At the hospital, doctors work on Monica and she has surgery having suffered an subdural hematoma. Things don't look good for Monica and the doctor tells Kayce that he can't promise she'll recover from the brain surgery, but her surviving the surgery itself and her age is reason to hope. Tate freaks out about not being able to see his mom, which in turn prompts hospital staff to hold Tate down which in turn causes Kayce, who sees his son in distress, to punch someone. They both get kicked out until things calm down.

Jamie works with his political aide, Christina, on his campaign for Attorney General. She warns him that the campaign will be difficult but worthwhile and Jamie admits that his goal is just to get more power so he can protect his family and others so that the state is no longer "hemorrhaging" their resources to other states.

At home, John is disappointed his kids didn't come to the Stockman's Dinner and while Jamie explains he was working on his campaign, John says that the people at the event are voters, too. However, he also notes that things felt a little strange in the room to him. Beth is not present — she's otherwise occupied. In a flashback, it's Christmas and everyone is waiting on Beth so they can open presents. Their mom, Evelyn, finds Beth crying in the bathroom having started her period and after Evelyn tells everyone else to start on presents, she spends time with Beth, reminding her that despite men treating her like she's weaker n ow, she's stronger and that she will be hard on her from now on to make her more of a man than most men will ever be the same way her mother did for her.

In the present, Beth tries to ride Kayce's horse, but gets thrown a few times before Walker explains that horses respond to body language and emotions and when Beth tries again and lets the horse know things will be fine with her body language, the ride goes much more successfully. John and Rip walk from a distance, impressed by Walker as a "horse whisperer".

Rainwater and Jenkins work on their agreement and struggle to come to terms over the financing issues. Rainwater leaves and tells Jenkins to call when he's really ready to be a partner. After he leaves, Jenkins schemes to find a way to turn his percentage of the profit turn into a percentage of ownership of the casino, ultimately landing on the idea of owning the hotel while Rainwater owns the casino to get around licensing issues.

John goes to medical appointments and is nervous, though his bloodwork looks good. At the ranch, Jamie sees a man looking through a window and after a tense moment, discovers he's there to serve court papers. Rip, Walker, and Jimmy go looking for the bear and that ends up not going well because they didn't bring a gun so when they charge the bear, it charges them back. Walker eventually deals with the bear and rescues Jimmy, who climbed up a tree, but Jimmy's horse is gone. Later, Rip goes back out for the bear, this time with a gun, but also ends up finding two people on the side of a cliff in danger. Rip tells the woman that if she takes the rope he throws to her and as she tries to put the rope around both of them, she falls and dies. The man then refuses to take the rope and also falls to his death.

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Monica wakes up and can speak but is having issues with motor skills. Tate gets sent back to the ranch with John. Rainwater tells the boy who hit Monica that if she dies, he'll be charged with manslaughter. At the ranch, John is in serious pain. Beth figures out something isn't right with John, who ends up going to the bathroom and throws up blood. The episode ends with everyone in a bad place. Monica is struggling both with motor skills and her memory, Rip goes to call for a sheriff but no one answers, John thinks he's dying and tells God he's not ready. The cowboys try to relax at the end of a hard day.

Yellowstone airs Sunday nights on CBS. The first four seasons of the series are also available to stream on Peacock. 

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