Warning: This story contains spoilers from Season 5, Episode 10 of “Yellowstone.”

After “Yellowstone” killed off its main character, Kevin Costner’s John Dutton, you knew there was hell to come. Not just with fans, who cried foul over what the show had done to their beloved patriarch, but also on screen, where the Dutton clan suspected who killed their father and began bringing their chickens home. In this week’s episode, titled “The Apocalypse of Change,” viewers got to see the beginning of that process, fights, tears and all.

The episode starts off a bit confusingly, with the Texas ranch dealing with rattlesnakes in Teeter’s (Jenifer Landon) tent and a bat-from-hell-like Beth (Kelly Reilly) coming to chase Rip (Cole Hauser) away . It’s not really clear what period you’re in: is Rip back in Texas after the funeral? This is still six weeks ago, but when you see how carefree Beth is, it becomes pretty clear that we’re still living in the old days.

As we watch Beth and Rip spend a weekend at a pretty nice hotel in Amarillo with its own speakeasy, we learn not only that there is in fact a line of 6666 Ranch vodka products in real life, but also that Rip had the state Never left Montana before. (You’d think he’d at least been in Wyoming.) Beth tells him that if they weren’t chained to the ranch, they could see the world, and he tells her that he chose those chains. It’s clear that the show is meant to be romantic, this cowboy from the homeland loves the country so much that he never wants to take a minute away from it, but instead it feels a little sad. We can’t really see Rip touring the Louvre or even enjoying Italy all that much, but maybe he would love a quiet week of horseback riding in Hawaii. With what’s going to happen this season, he’ll probably need some time.

He certainly won’t spend any time in prison, even if he avenges John’s death, because as he tells Lloyd (Forrie J. Smith), “Going to prison for the rest of our lives won’t solve anything.”

Back at the big house, we learn that Summer (Piper Perabo) was still camping out, naively convinced that she had received a governmental pardon that somehow also required house arrest. This part of the episode feels a little strange, as if ‘Yellowstone’ realized it needed to wrap up its storyline and character but couldn’t figure out how to do that now that Costner is gone – Beth acknowledged this all too well when she saw into the house and says she literally forgot Summer was there. We see her and Beth trading barbs before she leaves for God knows where, from a nice looking airport, so have a safe trip, summer. (There’s never any point in asking “why” with “Yellowstone,” because the show lives in a universe without consequences and sweeping generalizations, but why does Market Equities even need to build a new airport when there’s already a new-looking airport there? )

We also get to spend some more time with Kayce (Luke Grimes), Monica (Kelsey Asbille), and Tate (Brecken Merrill), who are renovating their ranch house in a pre-murder world. Everything is roses and moonshine until it isn’t. Scenes later, we see Kayce coming home to that same little family, who has been waiting for him since they heard about John. The timeline is quite confusing here: where did Kayce spend the night? Hasn’t he called home or spoken to them since he left the governor’s mansion about 24 hours earlier? – but it’s fun to watch the crew collect the cars. We soon find out that they are all moving to the main building because “there is still a lot to be done.” But to be fair, if they’re planning on waging all-out war with a private equity group that can hire ruthless mercenaries, it’s probably best that the Duttons aren’t just spread out over thousands of acres anyway.

And they go to war with mercenaries, because as Beth discovers when she makes an unannounced visit to Jamie’s (Wes Bentley) office, he’s such a chicken that he can’t even look her in the eye when she talks about their problems. dad. He’s all bluster and bravado when Sarah Atwood (Dawn Oliveri) later talks to her Market Equities boss, perhaps emboldened by Beth and Sarah’s very tough-looking office fight. (Why didn’t Jamie’s secretary call the Capitol Police when her boss was punched with the door open a few minutes earlier? But we digress.)

Once Beth is done making plans and making calls, Jamie tells the stock group that he will reinstate the group’s lease on Dutton’s land, a plot that first surfaced far too long ago to have any consequences. Market Equities is clearly looking to buy the ranch and Jamie says his family can’t afford to run the ranch, so it’s a win-win. On the other hand, Jamie also thinks that Beth will fight him in court for about a year before he finally loses and gives in, an argument so absurd that it seems as if he has never met his real sister, despite what viewers watch for a few moments saw before. Regardless, Market Equities likes what they hear and tells Jamie that they will support him for governor should he decide to run. Then left alone in his office with Sarah, Jamie takes her advice to “feast on the wealth of (his) conquests” quite literally, with a sex scene so steamy it’s almost shocking that they can air it on regular cable. broadcast.

While a lot of this episode is really setting the stage for what’s to come – we haven’t even been to John’s funeral yet, after all – it does let us know the consequences of what everyone is playing for. Kayce’s friend (“Will Trent” star Jake McLaughlin) suggests that the attack on John must have cost “$40 to 50 million.” While Kayce, in turn, seems to be doing everything he can to avenge his father’s death, one has to assume that whatever revenge they take will have to be self-made, as the Duttons supposedly can’t afford to even have their own to keep the ranch running.
With only four episodes of “Yellowstone” left, it’s probably also safe to assume that whatever Taylor Sheridan creator has in store will be explosive and deadly.

“Yellowstone” airs Sundays at 8pm ET/PT on Paramount Network.