The Screen Scribe

Taylor Sheridan has crafted an immense career as a prolific writer, director, and franchise creator. With a portfolio of critically acclaimed shows like 1883, 1923, Lioness, and Landman, Sheridan has more or less been keeping Paramount+ ticking over with his creative prowess. The crown jewel of these is most definitely Yellowstone, a neo-Western drama set in the Montana Yellowstone National Park following the trials of the Dutton Ranch and its family of cowboys. Yellowstone falls in that bracket of generational cultural shows like the Sopranos, Breaking Bad, and Game of Thrones and has cemented itself in the public zeitgeist. With that in mind, I genuinely did not think I would find another show this year that could compete with A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms for best TV show of the year. Boy was I wrong, and delighted, when Dutton Ranch completed its first season last week.

Dutton Ranch is a direct sequel to Yellowstone, following the family of Rip Wheeler, Beth Dutton, and their adopted son Carter as they move to Texas following a tragedy in Montana and beginning a new life. In the midst of gambling their life savings on founding a new ranch in South Texas, Beth, Rip, and Carter become embroiled in the brutal realities of setting up shop in Rio Paloma, home of the 10 Petal Ranch and its matriarch Beulah Jackson, who will go to any lengths to protect her family and ranching empire.

With the decline of binge watch releases and the uptick in weekly episode releases (somewhat defeating the actual original purpose of streaming platforms, but that’s a conversation for another time), having a show of this calibre to look forward to every week is simply a joy. Generally my reviews follow a format of negatives followed by positives. However, my negatives are few. Two really. The first is I was disappointed the first season only ran for 9 episodes. It could have ran for 9 more and I genuinely would’ve kept watching. The second gripe is the handling of Carter’s character. His arc seemed both messy and stagnated, too adjacent to the central narrative, and after witnessing what happened in the cliffhanger ending, it was obvious his entire development was centred around just positioning him to be in that one place at that very moment. A McGuffin of sorts, a catalyst to generate narrative drive going into season 2. I understand it, but from a writing perspective I found it quite lazy and a disservice to the fine character work done with Carter in Yellowstone.

Those, however, are small issues. Dutton Ranch as a whole takes the best of Yellowstone and builds on it and even at times surpasses it. Corruption, brotherhood, family, drama, set against sweeping vistas and a simmering soundtrack, all the hallmarks that established Yellowstone as a cultural phenomenon. Currently sitting at an 89% Tomatometer score, the Dutton Ranch hands the spotlight to fan favourites Rip and Beth, while introducing new players in the tight knit community of Rio Paloma, South Texas. The casting is phenomenal, drafting in Ed Harris, Jai Courtney, Natalie Alyn Lind, and Annette Bening, who all deliver powerful, rounded, emotional performances that compliment the ever magnetic Kelly Reilly, and the quiet gravitas of Cole Hauser. It’s a slow burn narrative, carried by the stellar performances and engaging characters while the central mystery unfolds, and when the shit hits the fan, my God, it delivers in blood, bullets and buried bodies. While I have yet to dip into the other spin-off Marshalls, Dutton Ranch is quality television, and I genuinely miss it now that it has concluded its opening season.

While Taylor Sheridan was not the creator of this show, with that credit going to Ched Feehan, massive kudos is due to the man who created and continues to roll out shows of this quality. In a time where Hollywood is more comfortable churning out soulless, corporate, test audience drudgery, it is entirely refreshing and heartening to see that projects like this can still be made. If you’re a Sheridan fan, a Yellowstone fan, or simply a fan of neo-Westerns, Dutton Ranch is well worth the watch, and sits up there with Knight of the Seven Kingdoms for the crown of best show of the year thus far.

5 / 5 ✨ from the Screen Scribe.

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