Yellowstone is the most popular TV show in America, but somehow also a well-kept secret. When the first episode of the penultimate season was shown on American television a few years ago, more than 12 million people watched live. For context: the first episode of Succession‘s penultimate season brought in 1.4 million live viewers and Rivals opened with 940,000 and then fell sharply.

But Yellowstone – back for the final series next week – has not been loved by critics. It’s not showered with awards or excitedly hailed as Shakespeare for our times, partly because the show is undeniably messy. But besides the fighting and the fucking and the drunken cowboys branding each other with cattle prods, Yellowstone actually has