Spoilers below for the Season 5 finale of Yellowstone, so be warned if you haven’t yet watched.
Without a doubt, Yellowstone’s return with Season 5’s final episodes has been one of the biggest events of the 2024 TV schedule, even if reactions have been mixed regarding how the Kevin Costern-less season has handled John Dutton’s death and the aftermath inspiring several upcoming Yellowstone series. No matter one’s feelings, Taylor Sheridan’s co-creation has now officially closed out its fifth season with a big and deadly finale. (Here’s how to watch!)
Thankfully, Yellowstone did indeed pay off on one long-promised death, while also boosting my spirits with a surprise reveal that could potentially shake up our expectations for the 6666 spinoff, which could really use a behind-the-scenes update or two at this point. Let’s take a closer look — though from a safe, DNA-safe distance — at one of the western drama’s most ruthless and gripping hand-to-hand brawls.
Beth Finally Murdered Jamie, But Only After A WWE-Esque Kitchen Brawl
With Beth and Rip’s spinoff already set to carry Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser’s characters into a new arc or two, I had the innate fear that Sheridan would make an ill-advised call to stave off murdering Jamie so that the heated sibling feud could extend into the continuation series. That fear built up after Jamie’s only early scenes were entirely about his press conference speech.
Thankfully for all involved, except for maybe Wes Bentley, Jamie Dutton did indeed meet his maker with a broken face, a deep stab wound, and pepper spray still burning his ever-shifty eyes. And Beth didn’t waste a single second after leaving John’s burial to drunkenly hit the road with Jamie in her crosshairs.
I probably would have been disappointed had Beth quickly taken Jamie out without him realizing what was happening, No such worries with this ep, however. Jamie was barely in the door after his public address before Beth rearranged his face with a tire iron and covered most of his torso in pepper spray. Which then led to one of the most frightening Yellowstone visuals imaginable: Jamie’s bloody face completely covered in milk.
Nearly as horrifying is the brutality of Beth and Jamie’s fight, with the older brother getting way more wallops on Beth’s face, even if he was only using his weak and stupid Jamie fists. (Take that, ya dumb corpse.) But it turns out Beth had a reason to let Jamie beat the shit out of her, even if he likely took it further than she thought, since she needed as many bodily injuries as she could incur to sell her story to the cops.
That said, Rip supposedly left an hour after Beth did, but was able to burst into Jamie’s house in the nick of time and stop him from choking her to death. We’ll let that one go, since Beth was waiting in the house before Jamie got home, but still.
In any case, the episode ended with Beth and Rip at their new property outside of Dillon, seemingly without any worries about Jamie’s wrapped-up body or incinerated vehicle being found. I have to wonder if that safety will be threatened in the upcoming spinoff, or if they’ll have other worries to contend with.
I Love That Teeter Gets A Happy Ending, And Hope She’s In The 6666 Spinoff
For a much happier ending, we turn to Jen Landon’s Teeter, who has been dealing with more than her share of emotional on-screen moments tied to Colby’s truly tragic death-by-horse in “Counting Coup.” She’s been down to some low depths that not even card-game shenanigans could completely shake her out of at first, and didn’t seem to have a clear future to follow her time cowboying it up at the Yellowstone, which was sold off to Rainwater.
However, Jimmy and Emily’s return for the funeral gave Teeter a chance to carve a new path forward for herself by traveling down to Texas to try her hand working with…errr…for Travis. Not that the gig seems like it would be easy in the slightest, since Travis is a strict sumbitch whose natural instinct is to troll his employees into submission, but it’s a step in a positive and grounded direction that she didn’t have before.
Teeter has been one of my favorite Yellowstone regulars since she arrived, and is one of the few TV characters whose dialogue I actually enjoy putting closed captioning on to decipher. Landon makes the character feel completely lived in despite only getting a few minutes an episode at most to show off her skills. I’ll miss her the most if we don’t ever touch base with her again, but…
I’m really hoping that Teeter’s story conclusion means Landon will be revealed as a new addition to the 6666 cast, since Yellowstone‘s flagship ending means the ranch-based spinoff has more of a reason to exist and carry on these characters’ stories. All this time, I’ve been wholly thinking Ryan Bingham’s Walker would be the only other Yellowstone regular joining Jefferson White’s Jimmy in Texas, and it seems like that could still happen with his and Laramie’s story feeling pretty open-ended.
But while it’ll be great to see them again and all, Teeter getting a happy ending is quite possibly my favorite thing about Yellowstone‘s final six episodes. So for that, and for plenty of other memorable moments across all five seasons, I thank Taylor Sheridan and all the widlly talented cast members for keeping us in the Duttons’ lives. And also for killing off Jamie, for all of the obvious reasons.
It’s unclear when the entirety of Season 5 will be available to stream with a Peacock subscription, but it’ll likely happen before the next season of a modern-day Yellowstone spinoff airs. 1923 Season 2 is set to hit the 2025 TV schedule on February 25, with the Michelle Pfeiffer-starring The Madison coming at some point later.