Top 10 Yellowstone Moments That Shocked Everyone
Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re looking at the most disturbing, impactful, and all-around bold scenes in the ever-unpredictable “Yellowstone.” This means some serious spoilers lie ahead. Which “Yellowstone” moments caught you with your guard down? Ride into the comments.
#10: Beth vs. Summer
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“Watch ‘Em Ride Away”
John’s activist nemesis-turned-girlfriend Summer Higgins has had particular trouble winning over Beth. John hopes they can bury the hatchet over a family dinner. But when Summer repeatedly condemns the vegan-unfriendly menu, Beth decides to face tensions a different way. The dinner party steps outside to watch both women throw down in an insanely brutal fistfight. Audiences figured it was only a matter of time before Beth handled this feud in typically gritty fashion. Still, nobody expected the moment of catharsis to be one of the most purely violent on the notoriously hardcore show. While this fight didn’t completely settle the beef–so to speak–the victorious Beth seems to respect Summer for putting up for her principles.
#9: Monica Takes Action
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“I Killed a Man Today”
Monica Dutton is usually a passive, even moral figure beside her in-laws’ twisted frontier justice. But she can no longer wait for police to deal with a string of sexual assaults and murders targeting Native American women. She deliberately fakes car troubles on a remote road to lure out an apparent good samaritan. He’s revealed to be the killer when the two get into a heated fight, ending with the hidden Mo shooting the man with a sniper rifle. Monica’s role in this execution marked one of the most dramatic character shifts in “Yellowstone.” Even with so many innocent lives avenged, both Monica and fans are haunted by her going full Dutton.
#8: Tate's Abduction
“Sins of the Father”
The Becks make a fatal error in their ultimate effort to intimidate their business rivals. It isn’t long before the Duttons track down the Neo-Nazi militia hired to kidnap Kayce's son Tate. Raising stakes with child endangerment is a pretty standard trope, of course. While Tate’s thankfully unseen torture pushes the envelope, what makes the abduction so shocking is how it ultimately plays out. Kayce and company rescue Tate in a characteristically unheroic massacre. Afterward, the child and his family must reckon with PTSD. It was a fittingly bleak way to mature the innocent Tate into the Dutton family business. His abduction still epitomizes “Yellowstone’s” ability to escalate conventional drama with brutal realism.
#7: Jamie Stops Sarah
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“Blood the Boy”
Jamie’s cutthroat skills are usually limited to legal battles. He seemed to find an unbeatable foe in Sarah Nguyen, a journalist who infiltrated Jamie’s political campaign to uncover his family’s corruption. Even John recommends a lawsuit to suppress the disturbing exposé. But with Jamie being more concerned about his statement in the story, he strangles Sarah to death in a fit of panic. Rip’s ability to make it look like an accident saves Duttons from trouble once again. Still, Jamie was the last person expected to get blood on his hands. It’s less surprising that he did it for strictly selfish reasons. If anything, his remorse for defending the Dutton name would further alienate him from this clan of killers.
#6: Fight in Beth's Office
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“Resurrection Day”
Beth Dutton is one of the toughest characters to break on TV. The Becks at least accomplish that when they send masked henchmen to bust into her office after hours. The intruders kill Beth’s assistant, before directing more sexual violence at Beth herself. Just then, a concerned Rip rides in for one of the most grisly killing sprees “Yellowstone” ever delivered. The incident marked a turning point in the show’s brutality and Beth’s characterization. It took a long time for her to push down that trauma. Rip’s rescue may affirm his and Beth’s relationship, but Western fans have never seen a “damsel in distress” scene quite so distressing.
#5: Patricide
“Grass on the Streets and Weeds on the Rooftops”
Jamie wasn’t seeking a relationship when he confronted his biological father about killing his mother. He ultimately forms a genuine bond with Garrett Randall, going along with his scheme to orchestrate Jamie’s inheritance of Yellowstone Ranch. Only after Beth uncovers this betrayal does her adopted brother beg forgiveness for his own survival. The black sheep returns to the flock on one twisted condition. While Garrett peacefully contemplates nature and fatherhood, Jamie shoots him in the back of the head. One of “Yellowstone’s” most darkly poetic deaths marks the ultimate low in Jamie’s cowardly efforts to protect himself. His identity and integrity completely lost, he returns to the Duttons with a strictly transactional relationship and thoughts of revenge.
#4: Debranded
“Meaner Than Evil”
Once a ranch hand with the Yellowstone brand, Wade Morrow became an enemy of John Dutton’s after he was fired for stealing. Their initially petty feud becomes lethal when Morrow colludes with Roarke Morris to bring down the Duttons. His attempt to kill two of John’s hands sealed one of the show’s most hard-to-watch fates. Rip hangs Wade from a tree, but not before ordering Walker to carve the Yellowstone brand from Wade’s flesh. This scene wasn’t just controversial for its graphic violence. Rip righteously torturing someone to death became a symbol for the warped morality of the show’s antiheroes. Their already disturbing brand also took on a more sinister meaning.
#3: Hit on the Duttons
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“The World Is Purple”
“Yellowstone” has delivered many hair-raising cliffhangers. Nothing tops how Season 3 goes out, with a particularly sizable roster of enemies. As Beth’s assistant opens a package delivered to her office, it explodes. Meanwhile, Kayce engages a band of armed intruders, and John is left for dead by a drive-by shooter. It wouldn’t be until the start of Season 4 that audiences learned that all the Duttons survived. It wouldn't be until the end of the season when we learn that the attack was ordered by an associate of Garrett Randall’s. Initially holding Roarke Morris responsible, Rip sics a rattlesnake on him while he’s fishing. That episode closer was shocking enough. Still, it’s hard to get over the finale that threw the Duttons’ fates into question.
#2: Losing John Dutton IV
“One Hundred Years Is Nothing”
One shock going into Season 5 is that Kayce and Monica are in a good place, with their second child on the way. That heartbreakingly changes by the end of the season premiere. Monica goes into early labor while Kayce is on the job, and has to drive herself to the hospital at night. She and passenger Tate narrowly survive the car’s collision with a wandering buffalo. The little one, who was to be named John, does not. This tragedy would haunt the entire Dutton family. Some fans even believe it foreshadows the doom of John III’s legacy. His grandson’s brief life shows that even after five uncompromising seasons, “Yellowstone” can still deliver devastating character drama.
Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.
The Assassination of Dan Jenkins, “Sins of the Father”
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The Land Developer’s Unlikely Alliance with the Duttons is Cut Short by the Becks’ Hitman
Breaking Lloyd’s Hand, “I Want to Be Him”
Rip Ends the Petty Lloyd-Walker Feud By Putting His Friend in His Place
Dirk Hurdstrom's Death, “Enemies by Monday”
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Jimmy’s Debt to Some Drug Dealers Viciously Falls on His Grandfather’s Head
Sheriff Haskell's Death, “No Kindness for the Coward”
A Diner Stick-Up Gives the Crooked Lawman His Honorable Last Stand
Governor Dutton, “Keep the Wolves Close”
John Announces a Wild Scheme to Preserve His Land for Good: Montana’s Highest Office
#1: Why Beth Hates Jamie
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“Cowboys and Dreamers”
“Yellowstone’s” third season was full of shocking character revelations. Jamie's discovery that he was adopted is surely the most consequential. But it was a natural dramatic progression after a flashback revealed the foundation of his and Beth’s hostilities. When a teenage Beth got pregnant by Rip, Jamie took her to the reservation to have the pregnancy terminated without record. Beth didn't know that this Native American clinic still practiced compulsory sterilization, but Jamie did. He permanently robbed Beth and Rip of a family to protect the Dutton name. The couple were ultimately able to move past Beth’s confession and find a surrogate son in Carter. Still, in knowing the depth of Jamie’s cruelty, audiences understand Beth’s crusade to rob him of a family.
