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Perhaps someone might discover that pit of bodies?
And there might be interesting ramifications for their crimes?
Something that might have ultimately shown how these binaries are intractable, unsolvable, quintessentially American quagmires?
He could have written a big exciting ending!
But at basically every turn, he chose to … not do that.
1.Make Sheridans character, Travis, look cool in front of everyone.
2.Avoid any potential drama whatsoever regarding the fate of Yellowstone Ranch.
This is an important one.
How to negotiate the desires of the Dutton family versus the Broken Rock Reservations traditional right to this land?
Youd assume some dramatic tension would be almost unavoidable here, but no.
Everyone is fine with this right away.
But hes evil and no one cares about him and hell be dispatched shortly.
3.Let Rip figure out how to dig a grave.
An excavator is mentioned.
4.Shoot unedited funeral sequence for John Dutton, who is dead.
Were gonna need to hear the entire Ashokan Farewell.
Were gonna need to see each rose get placed on the casket one by one.
Plus, Rip got to ream out the poor preacher who suggested doing a prayer.
(Why was the preacher even there?!)
5.Let Rip figure out how to fill in the grave.
How does this work?
Rip asks about the casket-lowering mechanism.
Then he picks up a shovel.
Then he moves the little fake-grass matting away from the grave.
Then he tells the preacher he will be using the shovel.
6.Cook meat with Gator.
Gator, author ofThe Official Dutton Ranch Family Cookbook, shows up for the post-funeral meal.
What are you making?
Rib eyes, he says.
Beans, sourdough biscuits.
Like the fate of the ranch, this sequence carries a high risk of being inherently interesting.
Rip dumps the body in the same place the Duttons have always dumped bodies.
No one finds Jamies body or any of the bodies.
No one asks about the flimsy cover-up move of setting Jamies car on fire.
Thats it, thats the scene.
9.Make Sheridans character, Travis, look cool in front of everyone again.
Every time Travis says something, everyone shakes their head with begrudging fondness.
10.Dismiss the remaining Yellowstone Ranch employees with a wad of cash.
By the way, I promise not to say anything about the huge pit of murder victims!
11.Concert scene!
Wilson plays an entire song, which takes three minutes and 14 seconds, not counting applause.
12.Dismantle Yellowstone Ranch one board at a time.
The sale of the Dutton ranch goes smoothly with no negotiation.
Members of the Broken Rock Reservation start taking it apart immediately.
Theres a shot of the Yellowstone Ranch sign being removed from the road leading up to the ranch.
Members of the Broken Rock Reservation drum and sing.
Its just like the end ofKillers of the Flower Moonexcept exactly the opposite in every way.
13.Let Kayce buy a cow.
He goes to an auction to buy a cow.
Probably he buys more than one, but we see only one.
14.Voice-over thesis statement.
My father was told they would come for this land, and he promised to return it.
Nowhere was that promise written.
It faded with my fathers death but somehow lived in the spirit of this place.
Men cannot truly own wild land.
To own land, you must blanket it in concrete.
Cover it with buildings.
Stack it with houses so thick people can smell each others supper.
You must rape it to sell it.
Raw land, wild land, free land can never be owned.
But some men pay dearly for the privilege of its stewardship.
And if they falter, find another willing to keep the promise.
15.Ending scene that fundamentally contradicts the closing thesis statement but no matter.
Both Kayce and Beth now have their own ranches made up of land they own.
Beth finds a bar.
Rip agrees to go with her to the bar.
Everyone who has watched this episode also decides to find a bar.
