Yellowstone Season 2 Episode 10 Recap With Spoilers: “Sins of the Father

The penultimate episode of Season 2 of Yellowstone ended on a grim note with young Tate missing. Now, in the Season 2 finale, the stakes are higher than ever for the Dutton family as their showdown with the Becks has now taken a very deeply personal turn. Here’s what happened in “Sins of the Father”.

Fair warning: Spoilers for Yellowstone beyond this point. Read only if you want to know.

What Happened in “Sins of the Father”?

We start with a flashback of John and his father, John Sr. as they go out for one last ride. The two have a heart to heart talk and, over the course of the talk, the elder Dutton breaks down as he talks about missing John’s mother and brother. He also tells John he loves him, something John says only took the man ninety years to say. The two hug. IN the present, John says his life has been a series of losing what he loves and he’s not going to lose this.

At Dan’s, shortly after calling in that everything is quiet, his bodyguard is shot dead. Intruders get into Dan’s house and while he’s able to be alert enough to get a few shots off initially, he ends up shot. He manages to get outside where he’s shot again and then the assailants leave while Dan lies on the ground dying, telling himself he has every right to be here before dying. At the ranch, John gets the family together for a meeting. He tells Beth she has to walk away from what they’re doing because someone will need to be there form Tate when he comes home. The sheriff goes to Dan’s and investigates the crime scene and then goes to the Yellowstone. He tells John that the Becks have off-duty officers as security and they happen to be the sheriff’s cousins. John tells him to order them to stand down. However, the sheriff also warns John that in order for their plans to look legitimate, John’s going to need a warrant for the cattle crimes. John does just that and gives it to Kayce.  The next morning, Kayce promises Monica he will kill both Becks and he’s going to get Tate back.

At the Becks, Malcom is being driven away and is pulled over by the sheriff who demands he open the trunk. Malcom threatens the sheriff after they have a tense exchange and while the sheriff lets Malcom go, Malcolm calls his brother back at the house and warns him that the sheriff is no longer on their side. The Sheriff calls John to tell him that Tate wasn’t in the car. John then calls Rainwater and tells him that he should stay on the reservation. Rainwater sends someone to help John deal with the Becks. Then, once off the phone, John tells Kayce to “do it”.

At the Becks’ house, Kayce gives the remaining sheriff stationed outside the warrant which lets Kayce enter the property unaccompanied. He goes into the house, finds Teal on the toilet and shoots him twice in the stomach and demands to know where Tate is. Eventually, Teal tells him that Malcom used the Montana Free Militia for the kidnapping as well as their base camp location. Teal says no one ever fights back against them and they weren’t prepared for the Duttons. He begs for his life and says he doesn’t want to die on the toilet, but Kayce doesn’t care. He kills him, then fires Teal’s gun a few times, drops it by the body, and leaves him there on the toilet. Kayce updates John.

At the ranch, Beth and Jamie go outside with John and he hands Beth an envelope and tells her to amend the family trust. He tells her to read what is in the envelope and execute it. She does and doesn’t tell Jamie what it says. Beth then goes to find Rip and she takes him to a field and a large house in it inside a fence. She then reads the letter to him. John’s letter says he thought he had let his great-grandfather down by not having enough sons to carry on the ranch, but then he realized he has enough after all and tells Rip that he means it — meaning that property — is his. Rip is deeply moved that John called him his son.

Kayce comes back and John tells him to go get Rip. Rainwater’s help is also there. A plan is made on how to deal with the militia and that night, when it’s dark, they arrive at the camp. After some prep — including a ritual for Rip’s horse from Rainwater’s man — they begin. Rip rides up and gunfire begins to be exchanged, militia members end up shot or arrested. The livestock agents get into the building and take control of the situation and Kayce starts asking about his son but the man who tells him he knows where his son is, kills himself before telling him.  Outside, a man approaches. John shoots him and it turns out to be Malcom. He shoots Malcom in the arm then and tells him that he’ll get him to the hospital if he tells him where Tate is. Malcom eventually caves and tells him that Tate is being held in Whitefish. John calls for a helicopter, but Malcom realizes he’s going to die and John gives him the choice of if he wants company or wants to die alone. Malcom chooses to die alone.

In Whitefish, sheriffs working with the livestock agents break down a door and take out the white supremacists that have Tate. They shaved his head and the kid is freaked out and it takes him a moment to understand he’s being rescued when Kayce shows up, but he’s going to be okay. Back at the Yellowstone, everyone gets word that Tate has been rescued. Beth goes outside and talks with Rip, telling him she thinks they’re going to lose the ranch and she can’t wait. She does wonder what he’ll do, but he thinks he’ll just work at a different ranch. She says she’ll sleep for a year and he tells her that if she wants some company to let him know. She says she will. As she turns to head back to the house, she sees her father on the porch crying, but she doesn’t go to him.