Yellowstone Season 4’s finale begins with Rip waking up in bed without Beth, and never slows down. Beware of major spoilers ahead!
What a finale. Events begin, thankfully, with Beth and John making good after their fiery argument. Rip reminds Beth of her own promise to him, and what it means if she breaks it.
With a few powerful words, Beth and John are back on the same side as the sun rises over another Montana day. But she’s far from done hurting as she takes her pain out on Carter, reminding him she’ll never be his mother. From there, Beth moves to get the full rundown on prison from Walker. She’s readying to make a bold move “just for me” – and won’t let anyone, including Rip, talk her out of it.
Over on the Broken Rock Reservation, Kayce is beginning his spiritual journey. But his ethereal experience pales in comparison to Jimmy’s entry back to the Dutton Ranch. Vet tech Emily has come to Montana with Jimmy, and they’re engaged. And Mia is there to find out at the same time as everyone else. A raucous brawl between Jimmy’s two loves rocks the bunkhouse, and Jimmy is forced to tell Mia he took her at her word and moved on.
John Dutton makes his way into the conversation as it ends, and greets Jimmy “back home.” As the young man shows his boss the prize horse he’s brought back, he swears he’s going to pay John back everything he owes him (for past medical expenses). But John smiles and tells his ranch hand he doesn’t owe him a thing.
“Texas was good for you, Jim.” Indeed it was.
‘Yellowstone’ Season Finale: The Return of Lee Dutton
But once we return to Kayce’s journey into the spiritual plane, things go from wild to absolutely shocking. Kayce’s long-dead older brother, Lee Dutton, appears to him – beckoning to be let into his prayer circle. But Kayce heeds Mo’s words and won’t let Lee in.
It’s then that the eldest Dutton son turns into a bloody specter; threatening Kayce with his own destiny. Before long, the spirit of Avery crawls on top of him before Kayce fights her off with a scream.
Just as intensely, Beth and Caroline Warner’s Yellowstone rivalry finally comes to head and it’s as vicious as you’d expect. Caroline knows of all Beth’s double-dealings and accuses her of corporate espionage. It’s personal now, Caroline makes it clear she won’t rest until she’s destroyed the entire Dutton empire and Beth is rotting in jail.
And right on cue, Beth makes her own trip to jail to visit Riggins, the man who passed the Dutton assassination order along from Garrett Randall. She disguises herself in a sultry outfit for a conjugal visit and learns from a defeated Riggins that he spoke to Jamie Dutton and revealed to “the lawyer” who ordered him to pass along the assassination attempts: Jamie Dutton.
Now Beth knows. And she’s positively seething.
Rodeo in the Round, Wedding in the Yard
Back on the Dutton Yellowstone, the ranch hands get into some ol’ fashioned rodeo work, and Emily fits right in. Jimmy finally catches up with his surrogate father, Lloyd, too, in a touching exchange.
“You goin’ back to Texas, ain’t you?” Lloyd asks. With tears in his eyes, he knows he’s not going to get to keep his young protege around.
Beth then shows up in her same conjugal outfit and demands that her father, Rip, and Carter come outside. She’s brought a priest and it’s time to get married. But first, Rip needs to go get something: it’s Lloyd, his best man. With his inclusion, the priest goes through the motions, and Rip finally gets to give Beth his mother’s ring.
“It’s yours now. And so am I.”
John then takes the priest that his daughter kidnapped at gunpoint back to his church, and we roll back into the spirit realm with Kayce as he shouts at an invisible figure in the distance. Kayce has a powerful flashback to his NAVY SEAL days, and we experience the horrors of modern warfare through his eyes. He then wakes to the cries of coyotes; safe.
Back in town, Summer and John have their day in court. And the judge gives Summer his full mind. She’s sentenced to over 16 years in prison, and she’s mortified. But John isn’t having it. He marches into the judge’s office (his old friend, Mitch), and fights for what is “right and fair,” not what is “legal.” He’s able to give Summer a second chance through persuading his old friend.
The Options: ‘Yellowstone’s Greatest Rivalry Comes Full Circle
But nothing that came before compares to the ending of Yellowstone Season 4’s finale. Jamie has a visitor, and it’s Beth.
Before long, she’s placed her pistol in front of Jamie’s computer and demands the truth. Beth wrings the truth out of Jamie, gets him to admit Garrett Randall’s role, and lays it all out for him.
Then, Beth lays out her two options for Jamie. 1.) She goes to the authorities and both Jamie and his biological father rot in jail. Or 2.) She tells her husband, Rip, everything, and Rip kills Garrett with his bare hands… Then rips Jamie limb from limb for him allowing Beth to be sterilized during her abortion as a teenager.
Jamie begs for mercy on his knees. He literally grovels before his sister. And it is then that she presents him with an “Option 3.”
Yellowstone Season Finale: ‘To the Edge of the Cliff’
At the end of Kayce’s spiritual journey, he finally meets his wolf protector in human form. He follows her “to the edge of the cliff.”
Kayce sees two paths in her company, and he must choose which to walk. Then, he awakes. And Mo is waiting to take him home. He’s survived.
Monica comes to his side on their new ranch. “What did you see?” she asks her husband.
“I saw the end of us,” he replies coldly.
Back on the ranch, Jimmy walks to the edge of his own cliff, and says goodbye to everyone before he heads back to Texas.
Then, “Option 3” comes full circle. Jamie pulls up to his ranch and confronts his biological father. With a poignant speech, Garrett tries one last time to manipulate his son. But Jamie does what he should’ve done days ago – and shoots Randall in the head.
Like the rest of his family, Jamie takes the body to the train station. There, Beth is waiting and takes a photo for permanent blackmail. “Now you’re mine,” she tells Jamie.
In the Yellowstone Season 4 finale’s final moment, John fights back tears as he learns from Beth that Jamie is still alive. But what is done had to be done. John then rides off into the sunset… And the wait for Season 5 begins.
