Yellowstone Season 4 was a bit uneven (spoilers)
I finished watching Season 4 and was surprised by all the plot holes, illogical character behaviors, and disappointments.
- We're 6 months or so after the coordinated attack on the Dutton's and we're not sure if everybody is alive. We are teased with the prospect of bad news and fear that Kaycee might be dead. Nope, just a cabin is burned down. Everybody survives the bullets and bombs due to some remarkable plot armor. Beth was severely burned but not remotely phased by it, snapping back very quickly.
- Thomas Rainwater serves an important role in IDing the attacker but is mostly Native American window dressing for the remainder of the season. Kayce gets mired in this with his mountaintop arc which is also mostly filler.
- Market Equities makes a job offer to Beth who negotiates a controlling stake in Schwartz & Meyer. There is a clear conflict of interest as the daughter of John Dutton, and she demonstrates a misguided focus on crushing the Schwartz & Meyer CEO. She takes the job and starts pulling the pin on proverbial hand grenades shortly after. Caroline Warner is surprised by this outcome?
- The Jimmy 6666 arc is decent, but odd. He "broke his word" with John Dutton and has to go away. Well, this wasn't much of a betrayal. John just didn't want him to get hurt again and made him promise not to rodeo again, a promise he breaks. Big deal. Regardless, off he goes to Texas to perform grueling labor as part of his SECOND spinal cord injury rehabilitation (!)
- Jimmy's coming-of-age arc seems rushed. He learns to say "yes sir" a lot and is quickly upgraded from loser to cowboy. He makes the brisk 22-hour drive back to Montana, shakes hands, and immediately drives back. This seems odd until you realize they are setting up a sequel show "6666". Ok, now it makes sense. Well, except for the fact that branded cowboys aren't allowed to leave the ranch.
- Beth is a great character, but was really dislikable this season. She takes a young boy Carter under her wing. Her initial kind behavior is soon replaced by mind games and enslavement of him in total squalor working long hours for zero pay. She even mocks him for the futility of crying right after enjoying a cry herself at Cowboy's song.
- There's trouble in the bunkhouse! There's an interesting protocol at Yellowstone for dealing with fights. Rip will break up the fight, randomly pick one offender, and severely beat him. Then, the two offenders must battle like gladiators nearly to death. This must be done even if one of the offenders is recovering from a severe stabbing injury. Then, the winner of the fight is severely beaten by Rip one last time for good measure. I'm not making this up, folks. Oh, then they have to do the usual ranch work the next day.
- Jaime's father Garrett is revealed as the ringleader of the coordinated attacks. This is odd because he had limited interaction with Jamie prior to this, and it seems implausible that Garrett could conclude this is a reasonable action. I guess this lack of dots was necessary to keep the Reddit sleuths off the case??
- Beth is angry at John for engaging in yet another gunfight at a local restaurant. The writers realized that this could be a watershed moment in John's gubernatorial campaign, but this is somehow lost on slash-and-burn Beth??
- I like Beth, but any honest writer has her going over the cliff at the end. She didn't even bring a gun. Come on!
= new reply since forum marked as read
"SNAKE SCENE"
aka "perfect crime." (as long as one had good aim-- as anywhere other than a direct hit to the jugular, carotid and face would likely be survivable)...
And those old coolers are (unfortunately) often strewn about from those discarding them, so virtually untraceable. Of course, there is the issue of capturing the snake, so maybe not the absolute perfect crime.
That's the option where Beth spills all to Rip and Rip sends the Manson family after him.
So, one phone call to John mitigates that risk. "Hi Dad! Say, Beth says Rip is going to kill me. Can you remind him that he shouldn't be killing any Dutton's? Thanks Dad!"
