Tough love, tough men and women.
Dutton Ranch
The first five episodes are now streaming on Paramount Plus. The series also airs Fridays on the Paramount Network at 8pm ET/PT.
As I noted in my review of the first four episodes, Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly) and her husband Rip Wheeler (Cole Hauser) have relocated to South Texas with their adopted teenage son Carter (Finn Little) after fire destroyed what was left of their family's legendary Yellowstone Ranch in Montana.
As owner of a small cattle ranch in the fictional town of Rio Paloma, they have already run afoul of a big ranch in the area, owned by Beaulah Jackson (Annette Bening); Beth had a minor run-in with her over the slaughterhouse that Beaulah owns, which is resolved when new family friend Everett McKinney (Ed Harris), a Navy veteran and the local veterinarian, helps Beth find another, more amenable slaughterhouse.
The biggest conflict in Episode 4, however, was that Rip and Beth made the difficult decision to shoot their entire herd, after an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease. Carter, who has begun a relationship with Oreana (Natalie Alyn Lind), is not happy that he was kept ignorant about the decision. Sure to complicate things further is that Oreana is Beaulah Jackson's granddaughter, and the son of the ornery Rob-Will (Jai Courtenay).
Episode 5 begins with Rip making another difficult decision. Since all their cattle are gone, they need to do something to pay the bills, so he seeks employment as Beaulah's ranch manager, at Everett's suggestion. Rip brings 25 years of employment as the Yellowstone's ranch manager on his resume; Beaulah promptly hires him.
On his first day, Rip exercises his management style, to the disgruntlement of some of the cowboys, and the begrudging respect of others.
Beth searches for new ways to make money with their ranch without cattle and just a few horses. She has a quiet talk with the recently paroled ranch worker Zachariah (Marc Manchaca), wherein he pledges his loyalty. Beth is heartened when Everett brings back the horse that she saved from early termination.
Carter, who has skipped school, enjoys a little time with Oreana, feeding the cheetah owned by Carter's new boss Dwight Knight (the always welcome Ray McKinnon). Later, Dwight offers Carter advise, in a sweet heart-to-heart talk. It's good timing, since Carter will soon be looking for a new after-school job.
Speaking of heart-to-heart discussions, Rip and Beth separately meet with Beulah. Each meeting is less a meeting of allies than each one sussing the other out. Both meetings come to wary agreements.
The other Yellowstone spin-off series, Marshals recently concluded its first season, and it's safe to say that Dutton Ranch already has exceeded it. For one thing, the pacing and atmosphere is more reminescent of the mothership show. Though neither show hesitates to kill people, Dutton Ranch does so with greater meaning, serving as punctuation marks for individual sequences, and does not hesitate to kill both good and bad characters.
In that way, it's ruthless, which helps it to stand out in the crowded streaming-service series scenery.
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