Editor’s note: The below recap contains spoilers for Yellowstone Season 5 Episode 9.

It’s been two years in the making, but Taylor Sheridan’s premiere neo-Western drama Yellowstone is finally back, and the Season 5 Part 2 premiere, “Desire Is All You Need,” takes the Paramount Network classic in a completely different direction. With the departure of Kevin Costner in between both halves of Yellowstone’s potentially final season, we weren’t too sure how the series was going to deal with John Dutton going forward. But Sheridan and company didn’t keep us waiting, instead giving us the answer we’ve all been waiting for since Costner first announced that his time on the series was done.

‘Yellowstone’ Kicks Off Season 5 Part 2 With a Literal Bang
Image via Paramount Network

After a nice, somber opening, where Lloyd (Forrie J. Smith) watches the sun rise over the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch, we’re interrupted instantly by Beth’s (Kelly Reilly) arrival at the Governor’s mansion in Helena. Kayce (Luke Grimes) soon joins her, and the two force their way inside to discover that their father, Governor John Dutton, is dead. To make things worse, it appears as if John, on the morning of his own impeachment trial, killed himself in his bedroom. This isn’t easy news for either Beth or Kayce to hear (or see, for that matter), and the former breaks down completely in her brother’s arms. Of course, Beth believes Jamie is truly responsible, but is so overcome by grief that she cannot yet do anything about it.

Elsewhere in Montana, Jamie (Wes Bentley) hears the news himself on TV before receiving a call confirming the horrible news. Shocked and unable to fully keep his composure, he relays what he knows to former Governor Lynelle Perry (Wendy Moniz) before addressing the press, confirming to the world that the 26th Governor of Montana, his father, is dead. As Beth and Kayce listen to the press conference on the radio, driving on some back country road, Beth forces her brother to pull over. She breaks down in a nearby field and calls her husband, Rip Wheeler (Cole Hauser), telling him the urgent news. “Baby, I need you to come home now,” she says, and he immediately drops everything and heads back to Montana.

Half of the Yellowstone Dutton Cowboys Are Down in Texas
Image via Paramount Network

But where is Rip? Well, if you remember from the end of Season 5 Part 1, he, Walker (Ryan Bingham), Teeter (Jen Landon), Jake (Jake Ream), and Ryan (Ian Bohen) left the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch to move their stock down to Texas after some of the cattle are found with brucellosis. Camping out at the Four Sixes Ranch (6666), they’ve reunited with Jimmy Hurdstrom (Jefferson White) as they look after their herd. But despite Kevin Costner’s exit, most of “Desire Is All You Need” doesn’t focus on the Dutton patriarch’s death. In fact, most of the episode takes place six weeks prior to these events, following different stories from where we left these characters after “A Knife and No Coin.”

Down in Texas, the Dutton cowboys long for the mountains of Montana. After teasing Taylor Sheridan’s next Western project, Walker sings a sad song one night as they look longingly at the stars, and no one wants to talk about love after having to leave their loved ones behind. We don’t get a lot from Jimmy this time around, other than his former Dutton co-workers harping on his lack of intelligence (they do seem to bring out the worst in him sometimes), but if Season 5 Part 2 continues to flashback to the weeks in between both haves of Season 5, then we’ll likely get a bit more. If you’re wondering what everyone else back at the Dutton Ranch is up to, Lloyd, Carter (Finn Little), and Colby (Denim Richards) struggle to find a lot of work to do…

Kayce’s Family Still Has Nothing to Do on ‘Yellowstone’
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As per usual, Kayce and his family have moved yet again. After relocating from the Broken Rock Indian Reservation to their home on the ranch, these Duttons then moved back into town, and then back to the ranch, and then to their own plot of land closer to Billings. But after losing their child (also named John Dutton) at the beginning of Season 5, Kayce has brought Monica (Kelsey Asbille) and Tate (Brecken Merrill) — who is frighteningly now of driving age — to their latest new home at the Dutton Ranch. Unlike some of their previous abodes, this one is a fixer-upper, and so far removed from the rest of the ranch that it’s been abandoned for generations.

As is often the case on Yellowstone, this is the only moment we get from Kayce’s family in the entire episode. While Kayce himself is in most scenes with Beth in the present, the past is the only time we see Monica and Tate, and even then, just for this scene. They decide collectively as a family that this is the home for them, and that’s the end of it. Oh, and Kayce sees a wolf in the yard, potentially alluding to his vision of “their end” from the end of Season 4. On a side note, Beth’s only scene in the flashbacks involves her weaseling her way out of community service by being a menace? I get that these community service officers likely don’t want to deal with someone as unhinged as Beth, but that’s definitely not how that works…

Sarah Atwood Is Responsible for John Dutton’s Murder on ‘Yellowstone’
Image via Paramount Network

One major development that we get in the “six weeks earlier” section of the premiere is a better understanding of what actually happened to John Dutton. Though Yellowstone dances around actually showing John during this time period, everyone around him gets their time of day (except for Piper Perabo’s Summer, who is nowhere to be found). About midway through “Desire Is All You Need,” we catch up with Jamie’s lover/Market Equities lawyer Sarah Atwood (Dawn Olivieri) as she makes good on the conversation we last left her on at the end of “A Knife and No Coin.” Sarah travels to meet with series newcomer “Grant Horton” (Matt Gerald) — though that’s likely not his real name — who offers a more professional solution to the Dutton problem.

Grant makes it clear that Sarah is the one responsible for this killing. “Your presence here is committing the murder,” he tells her, revealing that his organization has obtained a sex tape of her and Jamie (still Montana’s acting Attorney General) that will get leaked if she tries to put the blame back on them. Though Sarah would rather John be killed via a simulated heart attack rather than an apparent suicide, Grant explains that this is the cleanest option, one that will draw less attention from law enforcement. Unfortunately for Sarah, he seems to have underestimated Beth Dutton.

Thomas Rainwater Decides to Fight Back Against the Oil Pipeline
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We also don’t get much from Chief Thomas Rainwater (Gil Birmingham) and his right-hand man Mo (Moses Brings Plenty), but we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention their quick scene near the end of the flashbacks. As Rainwater and Mo look out over the pipeline construction that has begun on the Broken Rock land, they note that the pipeline will run underneath the lake. This would make things easier to cover up if it were to burst. “This is the hill we die on,” Rainwater explains, teasing an upcoming battle between the people of Broken Rock and the out-of-state intruders invading their native lands.

Related Is ‘Yellowstone’ Season 5, Part 2 Streaming? Here’s How To Watch the Final Season John Dutton may face his toughest trials as family tensions rise.

‘Yellowstone’ Is (Finally) Setting Up a Showdown Between Beth and Jamie
Image via Paramount Network

Jumping back to the present, we catch up with a distraught Jamie, who returns home with tears in his eyes. Met by Sarah, he admits that he thought John killed himself out of guilt and grief over everything that happened between them. But we know that isn’t the case. After Sarah reveals that their conversation at the end of “A Knife and No Coin” was the catalyst for John’s assassination, she urges him on to greatness. “Lions don’t die of old age. Lions die in the jaws of younger lions, and you are the younger lion,” she explains to the younger Dutton. In the end, he comes to terms with this, even though he still seems conflicted, now having lost not just one but both of his fathers.

On the Dutton Ranch, Beth and Kayce discuss their next steps. Beth, as hell-bent as ever on killing her brother, tells Kayce that they need to deal with Jamie, though the youngest Dutton isn’t so sure. “Go look him in the eye if you have to, Kayce,” Beth finally says. “Look him in the eye, and then come home and help me decide how to kill him.” Just then, Rip pulls up to the ranch, and he and Beth reunite in the yard, crying as the episode comes to an end. It’s hard to imagine how Yellowstone will press on without John Dutton, but now that it has to, we’re excited to see what comes next.

‘Yellowstone’s Return Is a Reminder That the Series Is All About Legacy

More than anything, this Yellowstone return reminds us that the Taylor Sheridan-led series is truly all about legacy. As Beth, Kayce, and Jamie all wrestle with their respective places in the Dutton family line, the show pays tribute to real-life Western and cowboy heroes as well, particularly with the appearance of the late Billy Klapper. Klapper was a legendary Texas loriner (a bit and spur marker) who actually died this past September. With his appearance in “Desire Is All You Need,” Klapper’s legacy as a cowboy has been enshrined by Yellowstone, which dedicated this premiere in his memory. “When he’s gone, we’re all out of legends,” explains Dusty Burson, one of the Four Sixes cowboys, to Rip in the episode. “There’s nobody trying to be the next one.” This is the whole meaning of Yellowstone. It applies not only to real-life legends like Klapper, but to in-universe characters like John Dutton, and perhaps even the Western genre as well. No doubt, we’re in for quite a ride for Yellowstone’s next five episodes.

Yellowstone Season 5 Part 2 airs Sundays on Paramount Network. Previous seasons can be streamed on Peacock.

Yellowstone returns with a bold new direction following Kevin Costner’s controversial departure.ProsYellowstone finds a bold way to write off John Dutton (and doesn’t keep us in suspense).Watching Rip and the cowboys down in Texas is delightful.The Jamie/Beth plot is finally moving forward. ConsAs usual, there’s not much for Kayce or his family to do.Yellowstone needs to better utilize their Native American cast.

A ranching family in Montana faces off against others encroaching on their land.Release Date June 20, 2018 Creator Cast Kevin Costner , Finn Little , Brecken Merrill , Gil Birmingham , Denim Richards , Ian Bohen , Danny Huston , Kelly Reilly , Forrie J. Smith , Cole Hauser , Kelsey Asbille , Wes Bentley , Jefferson White , Luke Grimes , Ryan Bingham Seasons 5 Story By Taylor Sheridan Network Paramount Streaming Service(s) Paramount+ , Peacock Franchise(s) Yellowstone Expand

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