Those tuning into “Dutton Ranch” expecting to pick back up where “Yellowstone” left off may need to adjust their expectations slightly. The new entry to Taylor Sheridan’s modern Western extended universe is decently entertaining, but is lacking the momentum of the flagship series — and takes place in an entirely new setting.
It’s not a flop, but you’ll need to come in with an open mind to showrunner Chad Feehan’s slower-burn approach — and hope the payoff is worth it.
“Dutton Ranch” departs from its Montana roots completely by following “Yellowstone” characters Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly), Rip Wheeler (Cole Hauser) and their informally adopted son Carter (Finn Little) down to Rio Paloma, Texas, for a fresh start after their ranch back in Montana is destroyed by a fire. Starting over in Montana is expensive and they’ve been there, done that (and buried a few bodies along the way) — they get a tip about an Angus ranch down south with a decent reputation that holds promise for their new life.
Beth and Rip snatch the land from under the Jackson family’s thumb, the local big dogs in town that seemingly have a monopoly on the ranching industry, led by matriarch Beulah Jackson (the Annette Bening), who quite quickly rubs Beth the wrong way. Beulah’s family has their own demons, though, including a very scary loose cannon of a son, 10-Petal Ranch foreman Rob-Will (Jai Courtney), who helps cover up a murder with fellow cowboy Chet (Hart Denton) in the pilot.
“Yellowstone” used to grapple with existential questions about how a family could survive on expensive land that is constantly sought after for some kind of exploitation or corporate development — and how this was intertwined with a clear-eyed understanding of Indigenous land sovereignty (i.e., who the land really belongs to). This brought in pulse-racing storylines and massive shoot-out scenes, while always having peripheral storytelling about the nearby Native community.
“Dutton Ranch” sets up something of a ranch-to-ranch standoff instead, but with our ragtag group trying to make do with what they have, which isn’t much — it’s made clear that Beth and Rip have poured pretty much their entire savings into making this new life work.
In the four (out of nine) episodes provided to critics, “Dutton Ranch” sets up something of a slow burn, which can’t help but make everything feel sanded down when compared to “Yellowstone,” especially when it comes to Beth.
Here, she’s much more hands-on than she’s ever been before, wrangling cows on the ranch like she’s one of the cowboys. But her edge, the kind of off-the-rails explosiveness we’ve come to know from her character, is replaced with unexpected patience and a steely confidence.
Whether or not Feehan and his writing team caved to Beth’s haters or decided that after murdering her adopted brother and losing both her father and sister-in-law, she had evolved and found some kind of zen in her life, the result is less exciting to watch. This was once the unpredictable woman who yelled “I hope you die of ass cancer” in another woman’s face. That said, Reilly still delivers a very watchable performance with the material she’s given, and the show simply wouldn’t work without her. Hauser also remains a delight to watch on screen, but Rip is a man of few words who wouldn’t be able to anchor the show without his counterpart.
This mellowing of the “Yellowstone” tone bleeds into the rest of the show — by the end of the fourth episode, it’s still unclear what the central conflict is, aside from financial survival. Beulah is thus far too sympathetic to be a straightforward villain, and the pilot’s murder gets relegated to a bookmark (at least for now).
We are definitely signing up for a slower burn that is more invested in building out new characters, like the two cowboys on the Dutton Ranch: Azul (J. R. Villarreal), whose father used to work on the ranch before him, and Zachariah (Marc Menchaca), who returns to the ranch after being released from prison. To “Dutton Ranch’s” credit, these characters do feel more fleshed out than the peripheral cowboys on “Yellowstone,” who rarely got much to do other than throw out one-liners and rough-house with each other.
It’s tough to judge a show’s entirety from four episodes, though. The slower pace aside, there is still plenty here to enjoy: “Dutton Ranch” definitely invests in Carter, who is coming into his own as he starts dating Oreana (Natalie Alyn Lind) and navigates whether or not to finish his high school education at 19 years old.
Ed Harris is also fantastic as Everett McKinney, the local veterinarian who becomes a helpful ally for Beth and Rip, and whose past is deeply intertwined with the town. Scenes he shares with Bening are magnetic, their first time working together since the 2013 romantic drama film, “The Face of Love.” Some viewers might also get a kick out of country music artist Morgan Wade recurring as Carol, the local bartender (although she doesn’t get much to do except crack open beers, at least so far).
Based on these first few episodes, it’s not totally clear what “Dutton Ranch” wants to achieve as a series away from the lush mountains of Montana, and might need to pump up the conflict going forward if they want fans to stick around. Hopefully by investing so much in its characters and slowly building out this world, “Dutton Ranch” will have a strong foundation to navigate twists and turns in the future — without Feehan, who was reportedly fired from his showrunning duties due to interpersonal conflict on set.
Nonetheless, it is always a pleasure to spend time with Beth and Rip. It is completely understandable why Sheridan felt these two characters could anchor their own spinoff, and it does feel there is more promise here than “Marshals,” which waters down “Yellowstone’s” edge with the simplicity of a case-of-the-week format and some clunky writing. “Dutton Ranch” is definitely more polished, but without being steeped in “Yellowstone” nostalgia, it’ll need more juice to really get going. Luckily, the promising cast makes a strong case for tuning in.
“Dutton Ranch” premieres Friday, May 15, on Paramount+ and Paramount Network.
