The “Yellowstone” saga wants us to think that it’s prestige television, but it’s really an outlandish soap opera that requires us to suspend our disbeliefs and enjoy watching a bunch of cowboys get up to no good. That isn’t a criticism either, as Taylor Sheridan’s ever-expanding Western franchise is at its best when it’s over the top, outlandish, and violent. Despite being somewhat soapy, though, “Yellowstone” is peppered with enough nuggets of wisdom and thought-provoking ideas to make it seem more important than it is.
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Of course, it’s impossible to watch “Yellowstone” and its spin-offs — “1883” and “1923” — without riding a metaphorical steam engine through its myriad of plot holes while feeling simultaneously baffled by its ridiculous moments. Sure, it’s all part of Sheridan’s saga’s appeal as an entertaining trainwreck, but these shortcomings still deserve to be questioned. With that in mind, here are eight elements of the Paramount Network’s prize horse television franchise that don’t make any sense.
How do tax laws work in 1923?
No one ever doubted that the Duttons would keep their land in “1923,” but Donald Whitfield (Timothy Dalton) makes it difficult for them at spells throughout the series. Like every villain in Taylor Sheridan’s “Yellowstone” franchise, he hires some trigger-happy goons to fire shots at the family, which is standard practice in the Wild West. What doesn’t make sense, though, is how tax laws work in this universe.
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“1923” season 2 reveals that the family can’t afford to pay their property taxes, so Whitfield does it for them — without consulting his enemies or gaining their approval first — and gives Jacob (Harrison Ford) a window to pay him back or else the land will revert to him. That isn’t legal, right?
A random guy — no matter how rich he is — can’t just walk into a bank and alter a legally binding contract he isn’t part of. What’s more, the Duttons could surely visit the bank and tell the relevant parties that they didn’t agree to such a thing. Fortunately, they don’t have to find a financial solution for this predicament, as they settle their score with Whitfield by having Spencer (Brandon Sklenar) put a bullet between his eyes in the season 2 finale.
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Do magazine editors do their jobs in Yellowstone?
Jamie Dutton’s (Wes Bentley) heel turn in “Yellowstone” season 2 can be traced back to him working with journalist Sarah Nyugen (Michaela Conlin) on a report that risks burying his family for good. In short, the Duttons’ adopted son feels underappreciated and maligned due to his hate-filled feud with Beth (Kelly Reilly) and his old man standing in the way of his political goals. So he betrays them, only to have a change of heart afterward, albeit one that turns him into a monster.
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When Sarah refuses to withdraw the information Jamie provides for her feature, he murders her in cold blood and makes it look like a kayaking accident. Fair enough, these things happen in Montana, but no one enquires into Sarah’s death afterward — least not her editor, who should have been aware of the story she was working on from the get-go. Reporters providing information about their assignments to their higher-ups is a key part of the job, especially when it involves potentially slanderous material that could lead to legal dilemmas for the publication.
From the start, Sarah makes it clear that the Duttons are connected to all kinds of wrongdoing, yet her suspicious death raises no eyebrows among her closest professional confidants. Then again, logic doesn’t always exist in this universe when it comes to characters being killed, so why should it apply to a supporting player of all people?
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Adoption laws don’t exist in the Yellowstone universe
It’s a sad fact of life that people go missing every day, but it’s fairly common for the authorities to look into their whereabouts, especially when kids are involved. On “Yellowstone,” however, the Duttons take in random runaway kids without going through the proper legal channels, and that’s the end of it. No one in civilized society suspects the children are missing, and they’re officially free to work on the ranch.
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The family has a history of doing this, too. When a younger John Dutton (Josh Lucas) adopts the teenage Rip Wheeler (Kyle Red Silverstein) after finding him living rough, he just gives him a home. During their conversation, we also learn that Rip killed his abusive father and the authorities can’t find him, so one would think that their investigation would be more intense. It’s non-existent. What’s more, the show eventually covers up the plot hole by explaining that Rip has no legal documentation, essentially making him a non-entity who’s free to carry out his adopted dad’s dirty work.
Similarly, Beth and Rip adopt Carter (Finn Little) after he becomes an orphan, and no one bats an eyelid about this kid being missing. There’s no denying that the family’s heart is in the right place when it comes to taking in runaway teenagers, but the casual nature of the adoptions is questionable.
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Why does everyone suck at blackmail on Yellowstone?
The Dutton family commits a laundry list of crimes throughout “Yellowstone,” and Jamie often uses his skills as an attorney to cover them up. Therefore, it’s odd that he doesn’t use this knowledge of his family’s sordid history to immediately counter-blackmail Beth when she convinces him to murder his biological father, Garrett Randall (Will Patton), and films him disposing of his body so she can use it against him.
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Given that Jamie knows all about the family’s dark history and shares it with a reporter in “Yellowstone” season 2, he could easily call Beth’s bluff and force her to return to the drawing board. However, Jamie has an epiphany toward the end of “Yellowstone” season 5, when he eventually threatens to reveal the whereabouts of the “train station,” the mysterious spot where the Duttons dump their victims. It’s better late than never, but also a prime example of the sloppy writing that defines the later seasons of this series.
Ultimately, Jamie’s blackmailing of Beth begs the question of why didn’t he think of it sooner? Additionally, why would Beth try to blackmail a vindictive sibling knowing that he could expose every family member’s skeletons with one phone call to the authorities? You’d think that two people with this much skill in the art of manipulation and lying would know how to extort each other better.
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Why isn’t Spencer a wanted fugitive in 1923?
The most frustrating storyline in “1923” season 2 centers around Spencer Dutton’s quest to be reunited with his wife, Alexandra (Julia Schlaepfer), after they get separated at sea in Europe. During this time, Brandon agrees to deliver booze to Texas to get out of trouble with the Italian mafia, which brings him to Texas, where he encounters some corrupt law enforcement officers who force him into a bootlegging scheme.
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Instead of playing along, Spencer makes haste and escapes the corrupt cops by jumping onto a train, where he proceeds to kill some hostile folks in self-defense before jumping off and encountering Jennifer Carpenter’s Marshal Fossett, a character steeped in real-world history in Oklahoma. Fossett lets Spencert go after the authorities in Montana confirm his identity, but it shouldn’t make him a free man in the grand scheme of things.
There are corrupt law enforcement officers in Texas who, if they were smart, would be out to take Spencer down to ensure that he doesn’t squeal about their dodgy operation. However, we don’t hear from them again after Spencer boards the train to freedom, and his transgressions are seemingly forgotten about. The mafia doesn’t track him down either, even though he essentially stole from them by not completing his mission.
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Every character in 1883 has good dental hygiene
“1883” tells the story of the 19th-century Dutton clan and their accompanying wagon trail’s dangerous cross-country journey from Tennessee to Montana. Their perilous adventure sees them encounter bandits, rattlesnakes (who hide in the grass waiting for people to go to the toilet), tornadoes, and every other challenge the Old West can throw at them. These are all valid threats, sure, but why does everyone have perfect teeth, especially when faced with such difficult odds in the wilderness?
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No one goes into a show like “1883” looking for historical accuracy across the board, but Taylor Sheridan hired experts to help him create a somewhat authentic version of the Old West. But Sheridan and the hired historians failed to recognize that dentistry was still in its infancy in America during this time period, and the frontier wasn’t exactly populated with people boasting healthy gnashers.
We get that Sheridan probably wanted to embrace the cast’s more aesthetically pleasing qualities, and that’s understandable to an extent. However, giving the characters some plaque, stains, and missing incisors could have gone a long way in capturing a historically accurate feel of this era.
The law doesn’t really exist on Yellowstone
From the very first episode of “Yellowstone,” we learn that John Dutton (Kevin Costner) has the law in his back pocket. Meanwhile, “1923” shows how his ancestors established the livestock commission to always serve their best interests and turn a blind eye to their crimes. That’s all well and good, but would it have killed Taylor Sheridan to introduce some competent law enforcement officers who actually pose a threat to the Duttons’ organized crime empire?
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When you consider that the Duttons killed the Beck brothers — two rich real estate moguls — and got into a feud with a loaded corporation like Market Equities, it’s weird that they faced no significant threat from the law. One would think that taking out such powerful people would arouse the suspicions of the F.B.I. and other agencies who know how to connect the dots of criminal behavior. But alas, nada.
No matter how much these ruthless capitalists deserved the Duttons’ brand of cowboy justice, it’s strange that they’re impervious to the law’s hammer. Granted, the idea of the family encountering an honest cop was teased when Bill Ramsey (Rob Kirkland) became the head sheriff and vowed to run the department differently in season 4. Unfortunately, that storyline went nowhere and only gave us more unanswered “Yellowstone” questions to chew on.
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Why didn’t Kayce’s bomb explode?
One of the main reasons why “Yellowstone” lost its way was due to Taylor Sheridan forgetting about paying attention to detail. This shortcoming is clearly exemplified in season 2’s penultimate episode, when Kayce Dutton (Luke Grimes) plants a bomb in the Beck brothers’ airplane and we never find out if it goes off.
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The brothers don’t make their flight, and this segues into a plot that culminates with Kayce shooting one of the villainous siblings when he’s on the toilet while John takes out the other. While circumstances change, the bomb storyline was a big deal for a few minutes — one that was seemingly conjured up to highlight Kayce’s military background. By not revealing if it goes off, however, it makes Kayce look silly and creates more questions than answers.
Maybe this mystery will be addressed in Kayce’s “Yellowstone” spin-off that’s reportedly in the works. That said, this franchise doesn’t always care about making sense, so don’t be surprised if it forever remains one of life’s most lingering mysteries.
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