Kevin Costner goes to the train station.

Costner, 69, left the hit ranch drama “Yellowstone” before the second half of Season 5 amid a flurry of rumors about an alleged feud with showrunner Taylor Sheridan.

Now in its fifth and final season, the show follows the Dutton family, owners of the largest ranch in Montana, including patriarch John (Costner) and his adult children Kayce (Luke Grimes), Jamie (Wes Bentley), Beth (Kelly Reilly ) and Beth’s husband, Rip (Cole Hauser). According to Paramount, 17 million viewers watched the first half of season 5.

Where the show left off, John was the governor of Montana and Jamie had a full-fledged villain working against his family.

The second half of season 5 premiered on Sunday, November 10 on Paramount Network (8 p.m.). While there are rumors of a possible season 6, Paramount has not confirmed or announced it.

How did the show handle Costner’s departure? Did it send John on a business trip? Did it take him to the “train station,” the show’s version where someone gets killed? Has it found another way around the Costner-shaped hole in the story?

Spoilers below at the “Yellowstone” Season 5B premiere.

The second half of the final season begins with an episode revolving around the death of John Dutton. Yes, it turns out that “Yellowstone” addressed Costner’s absence by destroying his character quickly and brutally. Ouch.

The episode opens with Beth getting out of her car at her father’s house, alarmed to see a swarm of police and ambulances outside. “That’s my dad, what happened, is this a crime scene?” she asks. She frantically calls her brother Kayce and tells him, “I don’t know anything, but I know he’s gone.”

When Kayce arrives, the brother duo enter the house. Officers with solemn faces say they don’t want to see it, but they go and have a look anyway.

There’s a body on the floor, a pool of blood and a gun on the floor, and blood splatter on the wall. John is dead from a gunshot wound, but his face cannot be seen (since it is clearly a doppelgänger, as Costner says). was not on set to film it).

As Beth and Kayce cry and hug, Beth says bitterly, “It was Jamie.”

The scene cuts to local newscasters reporting that John’s house is surrounded by police, and he has made no statement. A local news anchor says, “It seems increasingly likely that Montana’s 26th governor has died.” (While this anchor is right, no real anchor would say that before reporting more thoroughly and getting confirmation. Oh well).

“Yellowstone” then contacts Jamie, as he receives a phone call and looks sad. The audience doesn’t hear who called him or what was said, but it appears to be the news of John’s death. Since he is Attorney General, Jamie holds a press conference to inform the public that John has died. He becomes choked up and has difficulty pronouncing the words. Jamie’s emotions at John’s death seem genuine.

So it is not yet clear whether Beth is right that Jamie killed John.

The scene returns to Beth and Kayce. Beth is stunned to hear that John’s death has been ruled a suicide.

Beth repeats that Jamie did it. While Kayce agrees that it couldn’t have been suicide, he says, “I don’t think Jamie is capable of that.”

Beth becomes more hysterical and calls Rip, who is in Texas, and says, “Honey, they killed him. My dad.”

The episode is then cut back to six weeks earlier.

Sarah Atwood (Dawn Olivieri), the evil lawyer who sleeps with Jamie, meets a sophisticated assassin.

They discuss John’s murder. The assassin tells her that a staged suicide would be the cleanest way to do this as a staged heart attack is riskier as a toxicology report could catch them out.

After she gives him permission to act, the scene shows Jamie crying in his room.

Sarah enters his bedroom, dressed in lingerie and holding champagne glasses, ready to celebrate killing John. She is confused as to why Jamie is crying.

“We discussed this and you said we should move on,” she said.

So it turns out that Beth is more or less right, but not completely: John’s death is Jamie’s fault, but indirectly. He seems shocked and stunned that Sarah actually went ahead and booked the hit.

Jamie wasn’t the one who pulled the trigger, and he wasn’t the one who hired the hitman. His tears aren’t fake – especially since he started crying on his own before realizing Sarah was there. He doesn’t seem to triumph over John’s death.

The way the show sets it up, it looks like the last part of the episodes will be about Beth shooting Jamie, seeking revenge.

The episode ends with Rip coming home and Beth crying in his arms.

“Yellowstone” airs Sundays at 8 p.m. on Paramount Network.