'Yellowstone' Season 3 Episode 8 Review: Is the Dutton family drama overshadowing antagonists this time around?
Spoilers for 'Yellowstone' Season 3 Episode 8 'I Killed a Man Today'
What to do, what not to do anymore — that has always been the pertinent question on 'Yellowstone', but in Season 3, this query has a new meaning amid plenty of family drama. The Dutton family has had the massive land in Montana for seven generations. That is not easy, given how everyone around them is only scheming to grab what is theirs.
On one side, there is this constantly pressing matter of outside threats — the Indian reservation, land developers and corporations, vultures are waiting with bated breath to make their move on the vast land, putting to use every tool at their disposal. Through the last two seasons we have seen just how vicious these battles can get and how they often become bigger than the very man fighting for that land. Threats are made, blood is shed and no repentance is expressed.
In Season 3, this very battle that the Duttons have been fighting for generations gets somber. Through the first two seasons of the Paramount hit show, these battles were rather temporary. Outsiders waltzed in and made their interest in the land clear, offered the patriarch John Dutton (Kevin Costner) any amount of money for that land, and then things turned violent, even leading to the brutal deaths of multimillionaires, which is rather expertly taken care of.
One would say that this was the show's charm — a seasonal anthology that saw Costner's larger-than-life cowboy character fight all adversities to keep intact what is his. This meant that every season would have seen new villains keen on making offers and land grabbing and their stories would end at John's hand in the conclusion of the season.
But Season 3 is taking this to a new level. This time around, there is a lot more family drama on the show than we have ever seen before. Revelations about Jamie's (Wes Bentley) true parentage highlight how things would have been different in the wilderness of Montana, but more importantly, they also shed light on John's character. Jamie's revelations have also brought to light the undulating familial structure.
Add to that the odd couple that is Monica (Kelsey Asbille) and Kayce (Luke Grimes). In the latest episode, the two holier-than-thou characters take extraordinary steps to protect and preserve.
Each of the characters in 'Yellowstone' are increasingly becoming territorial, especially now with threats. With this latest season, the creators have made it amply clear that Season 3 is actually setting the stone for a long family saga. The tale is not flippant, it is the foundations of a drama that is going to go on for several seasons to come.
'Yellowstone' airs on Sundays at 9 pm ET/PT on Paramount Network.