Yellowstone Season 3 Episode 4 Recap With Spoilers “Back to Cali”

The third episode of Yellowstone‘s third season left off on a bit of a cliffhanger with Jimmy apparently seriously injured after being thrown from a horse in the rodeo arena while, on the Dutton family side of things, the politics of things have gotten even more complicated with Governor Perry deciding that Jamie needs to be appointed interim attorney general, leaving John in a position to need to replace Jamie as livestock commissioner. In Season 3’s fourth episode, “Going Back to Cali”, we find out Jimmy’s fate and things get more complicated where it involves the Yellowstone. Here’s what happened.

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

What Happened in “Going Back to Cali”?

After his serious injuries last episode, Jimmy wakes up in his hospital bed with John Dutton sitting nearby reading the newspaper. Jimmy asks what day it is and John makes some jokes about it being the hospital’s payday. Jimmy’s medical bills will be substantial because his injuries were many and serious, including compression fractures in his neck and back, bone fragments by his spine, a hip replacement, and more. Jimmy is lucky to be alive, but he’s worried how he will pay for it. John tells Jimmy not to worry about the bills if he promises not to go back to the rodeo. Jimmy can’t promise that so John tells him to learn to rope.

At the Painted Horse Casino, Rainwater and Mo meet with a lawyer to find out if what Ellis is doing with a cease and desist is legal and if there is a case. The lawyer thinks it’s just meant to tie the tribe up in court for a long time if they fight and that Ellis doesn’t actually want the land, but they also don’t want the casino to be next to their planned community. Rainwater lays out the two possible futures he sees for the area — one where people live with the land rather than on it and a more bleak one where everything just becomes a concrete world. When the lawyer leaves, Mo says that Rainwater needs to fight fire with fire and he agrees and puts in a call to Angela Blue Thunder.

Elsewhere, Beth has an idea to short Market Equities, but Bob isn’t so sure because it’s risky and provocative. Beth talks him into it, believing that they don’t actually have permits for the airport yet. At the Yellowstone, Governor Perry shows up to see John, but he’s at the summer camp and she has to go up there on an off-road vehicle. When she gets there, she says she’s there to ask Kayce to be livestock commissioner. She speaks with Kayce and explains the situation, with her also explaining that she needs Jamie for something different and she wants to keep Montana as it is. Kayce reluctantly agrees.

Perry ends up staying the night at the camp with John while, elsewhere, Beth spends the night at Rip’s place. The next morning, it’s awkward all around at camp as well as at Rip’s as, the evening before Beth had suggested Rip should call her “wife”. Rip and Beth talk about it and have a vulnerable moment in which Beth confesses to him that she can’t have children. Elsewhere, Roarke finds out from television that Market Equities Group’s stock has had a massive slide and discovers bad press about various bad investments in Montana and realizes who is behind it. At the casino, Rainwater meets with Angela who isn’t happy with him about how he’s managing the casino’s money. She ends up agreeing to help him.

Kayce, Monica, and Tate have family time. Rip and Lloyd finish up some auction purchases and move the cattle into trailers, but the wranglers — including Teeter — spot trouble in the form of bikers who have cut the ranch’s fence and are having a cookout. The bikers are told that they’re on private land, not the national park and the group’s leader has questions about why the sign says Yellowstone. A fight ends up breaking out. Rip and Lloyd show up and tip the fight in the wranglers’ favor, ultimately driving them off. They realize that when the bikers come back to retrieve their motorcycles, they’ll probably start something and when they do, John is waiting for them.

After menacing the bikers — along with backup from Kayce, Ryan, Rip, and Lloyd — John tells them that if they ever come back, he will put their bodies in the holes he made them dig. He makes them say they’re going back to California and they swear they will never return. The bikers leave. John ends up telling Kayce about the plan to build an airport and Kayce asks what he’s going to do about. John doesn’t know yet but tells Rip to take down his tent at camp. His summer is now over.