Of the three western series beginning with the story of pioneer James Dutton and his family’s legacy, “Yellowstone” is the weakest in terms of structure and acting, despite a few great performances. The prequel “1883” was more pure drama, depicting pioneering settlers with an astonishing reality, the heroine in the limited series, a daringly brave lady carving a way of life, and a way to live in nature for what’s best in man, Isabel Day playing Elsa Dutton preserved the tactile subtleness of substantive living, even through sacrifices and danger, where all is equitable and free - the show’s main characters adhering to a moral structure and tradition of modesty. In my past review of the limited series 2nd prequel “1923”, I write about the superb realism bent on a just order, the cowboy order of things, free spaces and wild nature in harmony with a dream, to rest among the stars and the land whole. Perhaps inspired by Native Americans, the new cowboy, like Ted Williams, John Wayne, Roy Rogers and Clint Eastwood was duty-bound by honor to put the word brave in home of the brave. It’s what we all aspire to if we live with nature and do what’s right, even if not technically legal. He is at once against authorities that gather for profit without catering to the ramifications. The “Yellowstone” series set in the 21th century began with acts of brutality which in the end comes close to heading in the right direction before death with only several characters adhering to what is right - a break from the cowboy ethic to the good ole boys’ rule of reckless brashness. The lead role in the 5 season Yellowstone series, John Dutton comes off as a cowboy mafia soap opera committing atrocities to keep the biggest ranch in Montana building a legacy to keep his promise to his father, to never let the ranch go.
Yellowstone entertains from start to finish despite adding several unrealistic plot points, and denying common sense approaches and occurrences although it stays true to a realistic approach. The acting in this series, topped by Kelly Reilly playing Beth Dutton, was not enough overall, and towards the end suffered some sluggish directions, showcasing horse sales got in the way of a thrilling ending scenes instead used to show how important being a cowboy is, working the land to feed people. The biggest dilemma of the series, a pipeline headed under a reservation’s water was left with unresolved after criminal vigilante action; its consequences ignored.
Reilly tore through the fabric of her own psychosis, a symptom of living with the utmost truth and hard hand of justice, the cowboy creed distorted. Beth Dutton’s character on paper sounds like a dysfunctional egotist, but she cried like an Apache during fight scenes and sought solace in quiet moments within herself, although seemingly over the top, her choices are sublime and suspenseful in a poetically abstract way, taking her promises like a cowboy cliche of fabricated honor. She adds a surreal drama like Julia Schlaepfer’s bad choices as Alexandria Dutton in 1923 yet only with Harvey Dent’s two face streak of cruelty, its examination worth the effort in order to expose gluttonously cathartic ironic grandeur to bare all of its ugliness and test the boundaries of self-respect - a tough love redefined from a “cowboy” not a “lady cowboy”, like her mother, the backbone of necessity though from Beth warped and overly harsh. She was obsessed with winning, the end result always justifying the ugly means yet clinging to whatever good beauty she could find. Beth adored good people and wanted to make a place for them away from the harsh reality of human setbacks and sin, with no patience for erroneous behavior, especially any that taints the aura of majesty that can only be productive if it is feared. She is described as an assassin for quickly seeing the faults in others and using it to punish them for their own good, to strip evil cowardness or ill repute of its false dignity, forcing rebirth in humility. Her victims are left of their own devices exploited to triumph over their worth. The worth of everything is questioned, and the most flawed character in terms of danger is the only one that can articulate the proximity to goodness which defines us but in the end she could not save her adopted brother, because she let her anger cloud her judgement. With all her appeal Reilly’s acting was so good we forget her major flaw - how her cruelty and relentless thirst for revenge made him into a monster.
The ending of the series set forth a definition of good-natured living, the cowboy as a citizen, middle class empowered rancher. Beth choosing a home where she could visit the local pub on horseback away from tourists. Her legacy’s giant 140-year-old Dutton ranch was too much to hold against the might of development without affordable housing or inclusionary zones, raping the resources of the state’s modest cowboys. Gentrification without inclusion leaves us divided and angry, poor or worse, incapable of living. John Dutton’s son Kayce, played modestly by Luke Grimes, at one point when estranged he suffered on the reservation struggling to make ends meet on his small piece of land he rented with his distractingly beautiful wife, Monica, acted with delight and enchantment, by Kelsey Asbille. Kayce Dutton almost loses his identity crossing the line slightly, but through and through Kayce is the consummate role, carrying the banner for our true American identity as a fearless super soldier who would die for what is right. He could have been rich but instead chose the American Dream, a neglected American identity. One that is fair and yet sacrificing for the greater good of things.
Yellowstone as a whole could have been much better. Kevin Kostner, who portrayed John Dutton, wasn’t up to showing us how cruel the mistakes were, the failure to reach out when needed and speak. The role seemed unreal, fabricated perhaps because Kostner played him too gently. Almost as if Kevin Kostner’s face, much like Gimes’, is too kind and welcoming to get at a complex redemption. John Dutton, a man who used ruthless tasks for the greater good was at time a tyrant masking himself with unwritten rules. In contrast the many faces of Dawn OlivieriI, marvelously playing Sarah Atwood, a corporate fixer seductress who takes John Dutton’s adopted son and turns him into Macbeth whose character, Jamie Dutton, lacked a realistic redemption which in the end was denied for empty power, out of character as if the climax of his cruelty was also his demise. One of the other failures of the Yellowstone series is not bringing this character back from evil’s final embrace but in a fairy tale sense it certainly entertains. Olivieril’s eyes in turn mastered the perplexity of the dilemma, true to herself, her American dream of excess and elitism. John Dutton’s American dream was that of conquest, his son Kayce’s, that of a regular cowboy that just wants to love his immediate family, something his father could not hold together because of his tormented acts. His daughter Beth turning the drama to stage level for a show of absurd truths, her tongue constantly looking to change people’s mind with ridiculing sarcasm. Beth’s American dream is the most refreshing climax of the series, abandoning millions not just for her on a modest ranch in the coldest parts of Montana away from the ill effects of corruption and greed, but in spite of it, yet we don’t know how much she has tucked away with that Bentley in the barn; the righteous American is not cruelly gluttonous over excess and luxury, especially the kind that exploits. I can’t wait for the next limited series, “1944” but there is so much more Yellowstone could delve into, this time hopefully with a proper perspective, never losing its grip on what’s right.
The late great American writer James Baldwin wrote and spoke about our nation not being able to attain the American dream because it had no identity without embracing the diversity that shaped us. He talked about how we hate history because we cling to nostalgia instead. During his time there was great political upheaval and violence because of racism and our war in Vietnam but that nostalgia he talked about at the very least kept us mostly rooted in a general understanding of liberty and human rights despite blatant racism unlike today. While politicians always lied or subterfuged to get their agenda through, today and I’d argue since Sarah Palin something else is eroding at what little nostalgia we have that forms a basis for democracy as mendacity and false propaganda in the form of alternate realities have become commonplace place among non-racist Trump supporters. They cling on to MAGA talking points playing into this false dichotomy that is now leaving us vulnerable to authoritarianism at the whims of “project 25”; its agenda of cruelty to serve white elitists. Perhaps it’s time to discover some nostalgic news from our past that can help shape a neglected American identity, never fully formed in the minds of our forefathers. Most people don’t know that the “bill of rights” was not in the original constitution. For this reason, Patrick Henry railed against the first constitution’s ratification, and the people demanded it be included until it was a year and a half later in 1791. As I’ve written many times in this blog, the founding of modern democracy began with two schools of thought. Before Palin’s embrace of fact less rhetoric we were republicans vs democrats having evolved from aristocracy vs reasoned logic. John Adams wanted Washington to be a king and he even suspended the free press because he envisioned a nation where good men of character would make the right choices based on traditions and norms. Thomas Paine and Ben Franklyn on the other hand wanted reasonable laws that served all the people, catering to their wants and needs. I can respect John Adam’s and legacy republicans’ conservative views as much as I disagree with them because that was part of who we are; the cowboy protecting the open spaces against development while welcoming his good faith neighbors as long as they didn’t change their way of life, as long as they earn it with respect and kindness. But that way of life is threatened just as opportunities for all sought by progressive thought is being threatened with political and judicial violence. Neglecting to regulate greed and corruption is violence and apart from the physical pain and hardship it causes it is also eroding the very core of our existence, albeit as Baldwin said an incomplete dream. That pledge of allegiance we made every morning as kids is in jeopardy, “…indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
We're losing our identity, to love and respect all beliefs and cultures, enriching our society, strengthening democracy, and empowering every individual (something that terrifies the corrupt.) All because the con for don and project 25 is so deep they are using all they can, as many narratives as possible, to create an alternate reality based on imaginary erroneous objectives built on lies - be white like us cause we don't share - no poor people allowed - no loud culture making noise next door - dominion over freedom- land over liberty - tradition over reason - mansions over community- elitism over lunch trucks and taco stands - what kind of country do you want? What a handful of forefathers got aristocrats to approve by divine force of will or what the racist aristocrats had in mind - for white men to rule all?
Theres no such thing as DEI hiring. There are only tax incentives for businesses that hire disabled people and veterans. Theres no funding for immigrants in extended Obama care subsidies. Massive cuts in Medicaid will force hospitals to raise health care costs for all because of emergency care. Migrants help the economy; they are consumers who pay taxes without federal assistance. Presidential executive orders are meant to be emergency measures mostly affecting only the administration’s cabinet procedures. The facts go on and on constantly ignored or misunderstood by the public because news outlets merely report news as it happens, it doesn’t refer to them every time they are challenged by lies and hidden agendas.
To the non-racist Trump supports I say, democrats are all ears over your concerns and your way of life but the current group of republicans in power are mute to them as farmers and ranchers alike wait for subsidies, and soldiers are forced to wage war on migrants for cruelty’s sake to discourage people from coming to America. Targeted tariffs properly passed by congress could help ranchers and farmers instead of the blanket taxes that help wall street volatility gains. Orangestone, a big ranch of graft, is killing the cowboy way of life.
