The fourth episode of Yellowstone‘s third season saw Jimmy on the road to recovery form his rodeo injuries while the Dutton’s conflict with Market Equities began to heat up. This episode, viewers discover the origin of the strife between Beth and Jamie while things get even more complicated for the future of the Yellowstone ranch. Here’s what happened in the episode.
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Fair warning: Spoilers for Yellowstone beyond this point. Read only if you want to know.
What Happened in “Cowboys and Dreamers”?
The episode opens with a flashback and teen Beth goes to Jamie for help. She’s discovered she’s pregnant. Jamie drives her to the reservation but she won’t tell him who the father is. Once they arrive at Indian Health Services, Jamie goes inside to find out what the next steps are. Beth and Jamie chose the clinic because if they went to Planned Parenthood the situation might get out. Jamie is told that anyone who has an abortion at the clinic also has to be sterilized. Later, Beth goes to see who got her pregnant. It’s Rip. She tells him the test was negative and breaks up with him.
In the present, Beth gets up in the middle of the night and Rip gets up with her. She tells him that she had a bad dream and doesn’t want to talk about it. When pressed, she tells him that she’s made two decisions in life out of fear that cost her everything. While she cries, Rip holds her and tells her “not everything.”
Elsewhere, Jamie takes the oath of office to be Attorney General. After, John makes Jamie repeat the final line, which he does, but leaves off “so help me God”. Jamie makes him do it again. On another ranch, rancher Boyd Nelson heads out into a field with horses grazing, pulls a paper out of his pocket, looks at it, and then shoots himself in the head. Sheriff Haskell then calls Kayce as he’s the livestock commissioner and tells him about Boyd’s death. He asks Kayce to head to the Boyd’s ranch.
Haskell gives Kayce the paper and it’s a formal notice of intent to foreclose. Kayce realizes that the bank will take the horses and Boyd left kids behind. Kayce suggests that they take the horses off the property and then take them to Billings to sell because if they aren’t there, they can’t be taken by the bank. He wants to get the money for the kids, but Haskell tells him it’s not legal — though Haskell says he will look the other way if Kayce does it, but if the bank finds out it would be an issue. Kayce decides to talk to his dad first.
Back at the ranch, Rainwater and Mo arrive to speak with John and discuss their “mutual issue” — Ellis. John reveals that the Attorney General is the one who determines eminent domain and he’s not worried about that now and he’s also not worried about the governor siding with developers. Rainwater, however, is concerned that if the governor doesn’t side with Ellis she won’t be reelected. John questions why Rainwater isn’t more supportive of an airport close to the planned second casino and Rainwater explains that he doesn’t really want another casino, he wants the land to be like it was before white men came. Rainwater wants he and John to combine their forces to take on Ellis since they both want the same thing for different reasons and John agrees.
Roarke tries to manage the issue with Market Equities stock and orders someone to make a major trade, but as he heads out to fish, he finds out that the company has lost yet another point. Back at the ranch, Rip, Colby, and Ryan find a buffalo in an adjacent field as well as two men on horses. Rip explains that he’s concerned about the buffalo being an issue for the Dutton’s cattle, but the other men tell Rip to worry about keeping his cows on his side of the fence. A fist fight ensues with one of the men pulling a gun on Rip. Ryan gets involved and pulls out his badge. Things settle down but the man — who identifies himself as Wade Morrow — tells them to tell John hi for him.
Roarke meets with Beth at a bar. He compares Schwartz and Meyer’s shorting of Market Equities to a terrorist attack. Beth isn’t ruffled. Roarke says that the Duttons will eventually lose their land and that they should just give up and get wealth now. Beth doesn’t disagree but says John doesn’t and so a fight is on. She also leaves him with a warning: “you are the trailer park; I am the tornado.”
Kayce meets up with John and explains what he wants to do about Boyd’s horses. John agrees with him and says that he will help him. Gathering wranglers from the ranch and another one, they head out and gather up the horses and get them down the mountain. The horses end up sold at auction for $16,000 and when Kayce tells Boyd’s widow that he hopes it helps with the funeral, she says she’s not having one for him because he took a coward’s way out.
Jamie calls up Randy Harper to tell him he’s the new attorney general, essentially cementing that the issue with the two dead suspects in custody is now a non-issue. Jimmy is released from the hospital and goes back to the bunkhouse with his girlfriend Mia and her friend Laramie in tow. An impromptu party breaks out. Outside, John tells Kayce he broke the rules for the right reasons. When Kayce asks if they should go join the party, John says he can’t but he hopes it is different for Kayce. John goes inside. Kayce takes his place on the porch.
