‘Yellowstone’ Season 4 Finale: Beth & Jamie Face Off — Who Dies? (RECAP)
Spoiler Alert
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the Yellowstone Season 4 finale “Grass on The Streets and Weeds on the Rooftops.”]
Yellowstone Season 4 was building to a key moment in the finale: Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly) pulling out a gun in a room with Jamie (Wes Bentley), who she is so certain is responsible for the attempts on her family’s lives. And oh, does “Grass on The Streets and Weeds on the Rooftops” deliver in that regard — in a way that we did and didn’t see coming.
Meanwhile, Kayce (Luke Grimes), perhaps the Dutton the most on Jamie’s side (which, to be fair, isn’t saying much), continues his vision quest and has quite the experience when it comes to one of his visitors. And Jimmy (Jefferson White) returns to the ranch a cowboy — as everyone can see — and with a couple surprises both for the others and himself.
As for Summer (Piper Perabo), who was arrested while protesting the airport on Beth’s behest, John (Kevin Costner) tries to talk to the judge, only to be blindsided when he makes an example of her rather than take the plea deal of a suspended sentence. Refusing to see Summer do serious time (at least 14 years, if she’s a “model inmate”), John confronts the judge and talks him down to eight months on the appeal.
And while it may not have ended on quite the bang of Season 3, this finale certainly left us eager to see what’s next and once again showed that it’s a real shame it doesn’t get any Emmy love (especially for Costner, Reilly, and Bentley). Read on to find out who survived and who pulled the trigger.
Beth Plans
Following John telling Beth she had to leave, Rip (Cole Hauser) finds her packing in the middle of the night. He reminds her of the promise they made to each other and warns, “you break your promise to me, it stays broken.” So, she goes to see her dad and apologizes, agreeing to “your ranch, your rules.” Furthermore, “I’d like to stay,” she admits. “This is your home, you don’t need my permission to live here,” John tells her. But she does, and he gives it.
Speaking of homes and families, when Carter (Finn Little) greets her with, “morning, momma,” her first response is “hey, baby,” only to stop and tell him he can’t call her that. “You’ve been acting like it,” he says. No, she’s his friend, she corrects him, “I’m nobody’s mother, ever.” Poor Beth!
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Beth then finds Walker (Ryan Bingham) to question him about prison, including conjugal visits, and Rip clocks their conversation. If she needs something taken care of, he’ll do it, he tells her when he follows her to her car. She knows, but this one is just for her, Beth tells her fiancé.
When Beth stops by her office, Caroline (Jacki Weaver) confronts her about her role in the airport protest and talking to the media after. “I am going to rape your f**king ranch to death, and you, you little bitch, are going to prison,” Caroline warns. “Needless to say, you’re fired.”
As it turns out, Beth’s research into conjugals is because she uses the pretense of one to question Riggins about trying to kill her, John, and Kayce. That’s when she finds out Jamie visited him.
By this point, John and Rip have no idea what she’s up to, so they’re shocked when she comes home and orders them (and Carter) to join her outside … where a priest is waiting. “There’s something that I gotta do to tomorrow, and I want to be a married woman when I do it,” Beth tells John. “I don’t give a s**t about the wedding. I just care about the marriage.” (There’s something just so amusing about John’s “that’s a priest. We aren’t f**king Catholic.” Maybe it’s because of everything else that’s happened and is happening on this show.) Rip’s in, and he fetches Lloyd (Forrie J. Smith) to be his best man.
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John walks his daughter down the aisle, Rip sort of follows the traditional vows (but in a very Rip way), and Beth doesn’t even bother to say anything more than “f**k yes, I do” before she’s kissing her husband. Then to her surprise, Rip puts his mother’s ring on her finger. It’s hers, “and so am I,” he proclaims. As they’re celebrating, that’s when John finds out that Beth kidnapped the priest at gunpoint (“it was just a little” pistol, she explains) because of course she did. How much do you love that? (Fortunately, he’s not pressing charges.)
Jamie’s Choice
Beth then goes to Jamie’s office and orders him to access the Bureau of Prisons website. When he refuses, she takes out a gun. “I have done everything I need to do to never see this world again, Jamie,” she warns. “I am prepared. I will ruin my life today, and I swear to god, I’ll f**king kill you.” It’s actually pretty easy for her to log in herself for him since he uses autofill. (Really, Jamie? For the Bureau of Prisons? We’re sort of not surprised.) She shows him that she visited Riggins, and Jamie spills that he knows his father hired him and even held a gun to his head. Why didn’t he pull the trigger? Because, she says, deep down, it’s what he always wanted. But Beth also has some harsh words for the man she once called her brother. Garrett (Will Patton) may have told him he did it because he loves him but “he wants what everyone who has ever attacked us wants: he wants the land.”
And so Beth gives Jamie a choice: “Option 1, I tell my father. He will call the governor and he will have you both arrested. Your spineless, woman-murdering father will instantly say it was your idea. You know that, right? He will cut an immunity deal and he will testify against you. You will be charged with attempted murder times three and will spend the rest of your life in jail, which, actually, it won’t be that long because you’ll probably commit suicide after your first rape. Option 2, now this is a good one. I tell my husband what your father did, and he will kill him. And then I’ll tell my husband that you had his child cut from me and then you had me sterilized so he can never have a family of his own, and you, no matter where you hide, he will find you, and he will tear you apart with his bare f**king hands.” As she goes to leave, Jamie falls to his knees, begging her. “There is a third option,” she allows.
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And so Jamie goes home, where he finds his dad has packed. Garrett’s worried about leaving him, though. “Don’t you let those f**king Duttons deceive you into thinking you’re a bad man. You’re a good man, son. And I love you,” he says. “I love you, too, dad,” Jamie replies before shooting Garrett in the head, killing him. And then he breaks down, crying.
But what he didn’t expect is for Beth to be there to take a picture of him getting rid of his father’s body. Option 3 is worse, she tells him, because now, he’s hers.
When Beth gets home, John’s waiting with a simple question: “Did I lose a son today?” “He was never your son, dad,” Beth argues. “He’s a disappointment and my greatest failure, but I raised him and I love him as much as I’ve tried not to,” he admits. She tells him Jamie’s still alive, “but now you own him.”
Kayce’s Path
As Kayce’s vision quest continues, among his visions are flashbacks to his time as a SEAL and his late brother Lee (Dave Annable), who was killed back in the series premiere. “Let me in, I can help you,” he tries to tempt Kayce, who refuses. “I’m your brother, let me help you!” (We’re not the only ones glad to see Lee back, even if it’s not really him, right?)
But it seems the right choice was not letting him in, since it’s later that Kayce once again sees the wolf and then seemingly the animal in the form of a woman, who guides him on his journey. He sees two paths, he says, and she tells him he has a tough choice, one he must make on his own. When he returns home, he tells his wife Monica (Kelsey Asbille) he saw “the end of us.”
Jimmy’s Future
Jimmy returns to the ranch — and he’s not alone. He’s brought his fiancée Emily (Kathryn Kelly) with him, which does not go over well with his ex-girlfriend Mia (Eden Brolin). When a fight breaks out between the two women, he drags Mia outside and admits that he had a lot of growing up to do. He just didn’t do it before they met. His choice is clear.
As for his plan to work off what he owes John before rejoining Emily in Texas, the Dutton patriarch tells him, “the only person you owe is yourself. You don’t owe me a thing. … No matter what you decide or how it works out, you’ll always have a place right here.”
So where does Jimmy belong? Texas, he’s decided. “It’s just cattle and cowboys, all the way to the horizon,” he tells Lloyd, who knows he’s already a cowboy. And after that sweet conversation, all Lloyd does is tip his hat to Jimmy as everyone sees him and Emily off. “I’m proud of you,” Rip says. With that, Jimmy leaves the ranch behind … for good?
The Dish on the Duttons
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Comments are closed on this story.
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G
Beth made her choice, an abortion, and begged for it. afraid of her fathers vengeful wrath. She needs to own it.
17 4
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B
Exactly!! Agree! Beth has become exceedingly annoying, and the vile venom she spews out each week has become tedious.
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R
Abortion yes, sterilization no. Big difference.
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C
I don' t agree that Beth has to go. Beth and Rip are perfect together.😍
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P
Beth needs to be brought down a peg or two, Beth is a bratty rich girl that always think she knows about life when she doesn't know anything about anything except being angry...
Rip is the perfect compliment to her however Beth needs to be slapped a few more times..you would think that almost getting murdered twice would change a person's mindset and for Beth..nothing this is arrogance nothing more.
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R
The abortion is not why she hates Jamie, it's that he had her sterilized so she could never have kids
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P
I don’t get the hate for Jamie, sorry but Beth is nothing but a spoiled bully and some point it’s enough. Jamie did nothing to her. She needs to be told the hard truth. Rip knocked her up and she asked her brother to help and he tried to help her. He was about 16 or 17, for Peets sakes…it’s overkill with the hate for Jamie.
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G
I love BETH!!
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C
Great recaps for the season. Thanks
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P
The conjugal visit was ridiculous, it could not have ever happened like that. Nobody gets a conjugal visit that didn’t request it and it has to be a spouse or immediate family members. It was a dumb and unbelievable scene.
4
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G
Are you kidding me
She’s an amazing actress. She’s angry. She was blamed by her mother and everybody for her mothers death. Then her idiot brother has her sterilized. Who does that. Love her. She a wounded soul but viciously LOYAL
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G
The writers really dropped the ball on this one. When the prisoner said we was ordered to arrange the hit, she never asked by who.
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R
That's the point though - Beth is so blinded by her hatred of Jamie that she can't see past her conviction that he's behind all of this and question that it could be anyone else (we all know that it likely isn't going to be Randall at the top of this who was pulling the strings). Beth doesn't make the choices of someone trying to find the truth, she only wants to prove what she believes to be true. With the powerful enemy she's made with her newest ex-boss, she's going to continue to lose control of the chaos she continues to create.
18 4
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P
I agree completely about not trying to find the truth...just her truth! And in the end I hope it bites her in the butt.
I felt sorry for Beth when they told us why she has a hatred for Jamie but to have that much hatred for a "KID" that was put in a very awkward situation in the first place, there comes a point where people have to accept accountability for THIER actions and Beth simply does not. She should have been the one to talk to the judge not John about Summers sentence just shows you she has no remorse for what she does.
If Jamie had balls he would have thrown Beth out of his office, he does possess the power to completely ruin the Dutton family by being an Attorney General. Beth taking a picture means nothing when Jamie can single handedly bring the dutton family down yet no one acknowledges this...this is the bad story writing almost to the point where they are forcing Beth to be the end all be all...and I hope Taylor Sheridan built her up to only bring her down in season 5.
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P
Agreed, the writers a milking this story line that doesn’t make sense. Jamie does not deserve all this hate. Beth and Rip made their bed and should lay in it and leave Jamie alone.
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G
Me too
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G
Jamie made the right choice....
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P
He did if it were me I would have done the same thing....John Dutton is his dad, he raised him the best he could even after his wife died...hats off to John Dutton heck even sent Jamie to Harvard. John Dutton is alot of things but a bad provider is not one of them, I really loved the last scene of the finale where for the time John realizes his failure but acknowledges that he loves Jamie...that was awesome to see that...I hope Taylor Sheridan can development this in Season 5.
you can't pick your blood but you can pick your family...
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P
I love this show, especially Rip, but Beth needs to be toned down a bit. She is a bit to much for me
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C
Rip can’t stand up to Beth. Poor relationship and
she simply has. NO CLASS swears while getting married. Please replace her
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P
I wouldnt say replace her I would say she needs to be humbled big time...her "the world owes me everything for being sterilize" attitude is really starting to get annoying.
Corporate Espionage is a serious offense I don't see that working out for Beth, furthermore if she thinks that a photo of Jamie will control him she is as stupid as she looks, Jamie being Attorney General and a dutton no less means he knows about all the dirt on the duttons he could easily break that family...expose John Dutton and end he creditability.
We will see how Taylor writes this up but Beth really needs to bury the hatchet, being the biggest bear only means your the hunted and not the hunter...
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B
Exactly!! Agree! Beth has become exceedingly annoying, and the vile venom she spews out each week has become tedious.
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G
replace beth and the series falls.
15 1
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P
Sorry she is one tough girl an she needs to stay!
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