DUTTON RANCH S1 E8 Recap: Whiskey Limits

Sometimes, life can make you feel like a stranger in a strange land.

Dutton Ranch S1
The first eight episodes are now streaming on Paramount Plus. The nine-episode series also airs Fridays on the Paramount Network at 8pm ET/PT. The next episode debuts Friday, June 26.

Note: spoilers ahead.

My recap of Episode 7 concluded with the arrival of Rob-Will (Jai Courtenay) in the office of his mother, Beaulah (Annette Bening). In their meeting, Rob-Will threatened to kill his adopted brother, Joaquin (Juan Pablo Raba), unless Beaulah changed her planned announcement to instead declare that Rob-Will would take over the ranch upon her retirement.

Bealuh, worried that her 'bad seed' of a son would carry out his threat, did exactly as Rob-Will commanded, shocking and dismaying everyone -- except for Rob-Will, and Oreana (Natalie Alyn Lind), who only minutes before, had cleared the air with the now-drunk Carter (Finn Little), by calling him a steer, rather than a bull, like Harrison. Oof! (BTW, Carter is a mean drunk.)

Stealing a bottle of hard liquor from behind the lawn bar, Carter heads into the house, where he glares at all the trophied animal heads on the wall and gets an idea on how to express his extreme displeasure. Beaulah makes her stunning announcement, prompting Joaquin to beat a hasty retreat, followed by a gloating Rob-Will. Visiting Chicago business Zane frowns with great displeasure. (Now we know why he made the trip.) It's safe to say that the news is not greeted warmly by the crowd.

Carter returns outside, hoisting a giant, extremely valuable trophy animal head, which he promptly smashes into the ground. As Rip is hustling him off the property, Beaulah grabs the back of her neck and crumples to the ground.

The episode then flashes back to where it began. Young Beaulah (Rebeca Robles) lies on a bathroom floor, in tears. The results of a pregnancy test are on the sink, confirming that not only was she viciously attacked, but it was a sexual assault. She asks Mariano for a ride "somewhere," which turns out to be the location of her rapist. Telling Mariano she only wants to inform the man that he will be a father, she instead shoots him dead.

Emerging with a smile of satisfaction, young Beaulah tells Mariano: "Found my other boot."

Note: more spoilers ahead.

Having suffered a major medical emergency, Beaulah is evacuated from the 10-Petal Ranch by helicopter. Oreana is comforted by Everett and Beth. Rip escorts the drunken Carter home, stopping briefly when the boy must vomit. The lesson? "Don't drink and ride."

In the morning, Beth and Rip muse over their adopted son. Rip feels he will be alright, considering all the pain he has already endured in his 19 years. Beth concludes: "We need to teach him how to be unbreakable."

Joaquin, who was heading out of town, returns at Everett's urging. "Your family needs you, son." Oreana is relieved, though Joaquin looks uncertain.

Beth rouses Carter out of bed and summons him to the porch. Over coffee, he admits that he has quit school; he "hated it." Beth is not happy about his decision. Then she delivers a new commandment: "Carter, I want you to be happy. But I need you to be ready. Ready for the hard parts when they come, and they're coming."

Chastened by her straightforward talk, Carter admits that he wants to be a cowboy, like Rip and like her father. OK, says Beth. Go to work. Today. "Cowboys don't get a day off because they're hungover."

From there, the episode heads straight into major spoiler territory, so I'll put a pause on my recap until next week, except to comment on the development of Carter.

First appearing in Yellowstone, Season 4, Episode 2, Carter was the 14-year-old son of a drug-addicted father who died in hospital. Beth took him in and brought him to Rip; the two bonded, but it was never an especially tight bond. In time, Beth and Rip married, and Carter had a new family.

Dutton Ranch began with events that prompted the new family to move from Montana to Texas. Carter, as he says in this episode, 'grew up along the way' but 'no one noticed.' Indeed, Carter has been the forgotten member of the family, with Beth and Rip hoping that completing his final year of high school, even though he was a year older than everyone else, would keep him busy while they figured out their new life.

Of course, things did not go as they planned. They had to put down all the cattle on their new ranch, due to disease, and took employment where they could find it, which led them to 10-Petal Ranch, and to Beaulah and her dysfunctional family. Carter was never happy at school, feeling like a stranger in a strange land, and his first serious attempt at a romantic relationship with Oreana ended in disaster.

His birth certificate may say that he is 19, but he has certainly experienced more than his share of the adolescent blues. He needs to grow up. Where will he do that?

Back in April, before the show premiered, it was confirmed by Variety that creator and showrunner Chad Feehan would not be returning for a potential Season 2, a decision that was reportedly made while Season 1 was in post-production.

A couple days ago, Paramount Plus announced that the show had been renewed for Season 2, with a premiere date to be determined.

So, first we'll see where the season finale leaves things. Then we'll wait to see where the series goes under a new showrunner. Hang tight!

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