TV Chat
Related: About this forumYellowstone 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!
hlthe2b
(106,365 posts)"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.
Shermann
(8,647 posts)...with the caveat that you CAN'T CHASE HIM DOWN. That leaves boot prints near the body.
Rip just had to deal with tracks on the other side farther down the river. FAIL
Srkdqltr
(7,667 posts)Shermann
(8,647 posts)This is a rant because Seasons 1 - 3 were better and got me hooked. Season 4 was bad, but not Game of Thrones Season 8 bad. It is in the danger zone however, and a mediocre fifth season could kill the show in my opinion.
There were many positives. The soundtrack is phenomenal and may be better than previous seasons. Costner is absolutely solid as John Dutton, he's the rock at the center of the show. There is just all this nuttiness in orbit around him.
Srkdqltr
(7,667 posts)I'm not fond of Costner.
But then I liked Wanda Vision.
madaboutharry
(41,358 posts)I think the writers got lazy. The season was full of cliches, filler rodeo scenes, and worst of all
BETH. Ugh, she turned into a pathetic psycho caricature of herself.
Not sure if I will bother with season 5.
Shermann
(8,647 posts)Her interactions with Jamie have been tiring since Season 1, never going anywhere. At least the Three Choices moved the plot forward (though the secret Third Choice was entirely predictable). There was something about the setup at the end that tipped me off that she was setting up a sting.
Soooooo now she and John have "leverage" over Jamie. Does that even make sense? Garret was an enemy of the family. John has called on his children to kill their enemies many times, he would certainly not turn around and use that against them. They all know where the bodies are buried. I think Kaycee has machine-gunned like 100 people down. Gah! She didn't actually tell John how the leverage worked. It's odd that he didn't ask considering this is his son the DA and she's been secretive and unreliable.
madaboutharry
(41,358 posts)The plot lines seemed to be written in a Swiss cheese factory.
This one was so ridiculous I literally laughed: Jamie kills his real father because Beth tells him to (as if that makes a lot of sense), take his dead father to the train station, and there, of course, is psycho Beth waiting with her iPhone to take pictures of him with the body so she can blackmail him for eternity.
This show started out with a lot of promise and it turned into a show about a family of murderers in cowboy hats.
And dont get me started on Rip, the long lost son of The Manson Family.
Shermann
(8,647 posts)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!"