“Yellowstone” recap: The long goodbye

Yellowstone's season 5 finale has finally arrived, and while the future of the series remains uncertain, tonight’s episode, titled "Life Is A Promise," marks the end of the Dutton saga as we've known it since it saddled up over six years ago.

With about 90 minutes to tie its various narrative threads into a neat bow, the episode wastes no time. Making good on his not-so-subtle suggestion of sabotaging the pipeline, it seems Rainwater (Gil Birmingham) has found 100 or so Broken Rock Reservation volunteers to steal the literal pipes and sink them into the river.

The next day, Rainwater tells Mo (Moses Brings Plenty) of the fight they still have ahead of them, but seems satisfied with the attention his peoples' actions will bring them. The two discuss this en route to the Dutton ranch, where Kayce (Luke Grimes) has summoned them. When they arrive, Kayce lays out the details of the business proposition he hinted at last episode, which would essentially see him and Beth giving away the ranch in order to save it.

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He offers Rainwater the land at a mere $1.25/acre, but with two strict conditions: Kayce retains ownership of the east camp ranch that he and his family have been living on, and Rainwater must promise to never sell or develop any of the land. The pair perform a blood ritual with pocket knives, and a relieved Kayce embraces Monica and says, "We're free now."

Back at the ranch proper, Beth (Kelly Reilly) informs Rip (Cole Houser) she's purchased them an old, remote place near Dillon, Mont., where they can start anew with a "small house" and a "big barn." It's not all happy trails, however, as the Dutton daughter soon gets the call that her dad is ready to be buried. Rip offers to dig the grave, which Beth wishes to be near her mother's.

Before Rip and the cowboys grab their shovels, the ranch boss checks in on his workers' future plans. We learn Teeter (Jennifer Landon ) will work for Travis (Taylor Sheridan) at the Bosque Ranch in Texas, while Ryan (Ian Bohan) plans to take some time off to wander a bit. Rip concludes the meeting by handing all his ranch hands a beefy yellow envelope.

With John Dutton's (Kevin Costner) grave dug, the cowboys return to the bunkhouse to clean up and don their Sunday best for the funeral. Rip and Lloyd (Forrie J. Smith) hang back a bit, and the former invites the latter to join him and Beth in Dillon. The aging wrangler appreciates the offer, but kindly declines. Rip says his door will always be open to his old friend.

While everyone at the ranch prepares to say their final goodbyes to the Dutton patriarch, Jamie (Wes Bentley) prepares the press conference speech his ex Christina (Katherine Cunningham) had coached him on. He intends to praise his deceased father, while connecting Sarah (Dawn Olivieri) to his murder, all while making himself look like a hero — and victim — in the process.

After downing two stiff drinks, Beth races her car to the ranch's cemetery, where a small group, including family, the ranch hands, Lynelle (Wendy Moniz,) Rainwater, and Mo have gathered. She heads to the barn, where John's coffin is waiting to be moved to the burial site. She cries over her dad's casket, but tells him, "We won," referring to the ranch being preserved. At the service, the priest urges her to put a flower on the coffin, but Beth has more words to share with her deceased dad. She leans close to the casket and whispers, "I will avenge you."

She wastes little time keeping that promise, skipping the post-funeral family gathering to quickly trade her black dress and heels for comfier clothes, a can of mace, and a length of sharp steel. Rip is finishing up at the burial site, putting his former boss and friend in the ground, and saying his own goodbyes. After promising John he'll love and protect his daughter, he's immediately called upon to do just that, as Beth speeds away in her car.

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As Ryan is leaving the ranch, wishing his friends a fond farewell, it dawns on Rip where Beth is headed in such a hurry. He grabs up Lloyd, and the two take off after her. Meanwhile, Jamie is also on the move, listening to the news report about the presser he just concluded. He's receiving positive feedback from the media, and — as his smug smile would suggest — feeling pretty proud of himself.

Rip finally reaches his wife on her cellphone, and insists she stop her car and rethink what she's about to do. But the fiery, determined Dutton daughter isn't hearing any of her husband's sound advice. She not only  intends to keep her final promise to her father, but also recruits her husband to help carry out whatever she has planned.

Still riding the high of his successful meeting with the press, Jamie arrives home. Before he can celebrate, however, Beth approaches him from behind and rearranges his face with a tire iron. She follows up the brutal whacks with a shot of mace to the eyes. What follows is a rib-cracking, throat-throttling throwdown between the two siblings.

Beth gets it as good as she gives, with Jamie frequently gaining the upper hand, literally, to pummel her face and knock her to the edge of consciousness. But it's not all flying fists, as the two also do some verbal sparring. Jamie plans to pin John and Sarah's murders on Beth, and expose the Dutton clan's darkest secrets. He also rubs in his plans to turn the ranch into a tourist destination. When Beth informs him of the land's recent sale to Rainwater, Jamie becomes even more enraged.

As the brutal, bloody melee continues, Beth takes a kick to the head, but retaliates by stabbing her hated brother in the foot. Just as it seems Jamie is about to choke the last breath from his sister, Rip and Lloyd arrive and join the fray. It appears the former is about to finish Jamie off after pulling him off his wife, but Beth tells him to wait. She takes her knife, drives it into Jamie's chest, and makes him look her in the eyes. As he succumbs, Beth reminds him of her promise — that she'd be the last thing he ever sees.

Bruised and bloodied, she instructs Rip to get rid of the body — presumably at the "train station" —  before sitting on the couch and lighting a cigarette. Beth isn't the only one making good on promises, as Rainwater is meeting with Kayce to go over the final paperwork of the ranch sale. He explains that the land has been declared a protected "wilderness area," where people can only travel by foot or horseback. He promises to never change the land and to retain its purity.

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Moved to tears, Kayce walks outside. But he's shedding happy tears, as he's finally free of the ranch and his family's troubled past. He tosses his livestock commissioner badge to the wind in celebration. He also spots a wolf foraging nearby. The animal appears to be the same symbolic creature from his previous visions. Mo informs him the animal is making a home and, although previously a vision exclusive to Kayce, can now be seen by everyone.

When we return to Beth, she's strapped to a gurney and being treated by emergency responders. Detective Dillard (Rory Cochrane) is also on hand. She reports that she came to confront Jamie about not attending their father's funeral. She then accused him of his murder, causing the attorney general to become violent. She claims to have been knocked unconscious by her attacker and, when she woke up, he was gone. Suffering from a punctured lung, among other injuries, she advises Dillard to track her dad's killers by investigating Sarah's LLCs, as well as any large-sum, offshore wire transfers.

We next catch up with Jamie's fresh corpse, which is being unceremoniously tossed into a ravine by Rip and Lloyd. The pair next drive the victim's SUV to a remote spot, douse it in gasoline, and ignite the evidence. The next day, Beth watches the news of Jamie's impending impeachment — and the discovery of his torched vehicle — from her hospital bed. Still in tough shape, she pours a bottle of smuggled Tito's Vodka into her smoothie.

Before signing off, the show catches us up with cowboys Teeter and Ryan one last time. The former is now in Texas working alongside Jimmy while being berated by new boss Travis, and the latter is at a cowboy bar catching a packed country music show. He's bought a ticket to see his estranged flame Abby (Lainey Wilson), who he surprises after the concert. Ryan admits he made the wrong decision, choosing his job in Texas over her, and playfully volunteers to work for her as a roadie.

Back at the Dutton estate, things are more bittersweet than happy. Kayce and Beth take one last walk around the grounds, while Rip and Lloyd remove the ranch's entry sign. Rip offers it to Kayce, but the wistful cowboy declines, saying he's going to start his own brand. In the next scene, we find him bidding on a lot of 300 heifers at a cattle auction with Tate.

We next see the Broken Rock Reservation residents moving onto the Dutton ranch, doing some renovations, removing the iconic "Y" logo from the barn, blessing the land, and generally making it their own. Some of the kids quickly get up to no good, vandalizing the graves of the Duttons. But Mo immediately steps in to set them straight, speaking of the sacrifices the Dutton family made to save the land.

One of the headstones belongs to Elsa Dutton (Isabel May,) star of Yellowstone spin-off 1883. The finale packs few surprises, but we do get the unexpected return of this beloved character in the form of her familiar narration. As the camera pans over the stretching ranch, Elsa speaks of her family's arrival on it 141 years prior, as well as the fact seven generations of Duttons called it home.

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As the episode comes to a close, we see Kayce, Monica, and Tate one last time. The family's in their east camp ranch, happily attempting to herd the 300 cows Kayce just secured at the auction. We also see Beth and Rip at their new, comparatively humble ranch in Dillon. Rip and Carter are tending to the cattle, while Beth watches her boys enjoy the good cowboy life.

She playfully informs her husband of a bar in town, one that doesn't allow tourists, and even has hitching posts outside. As Rip saddles a horse for his wife, Willie Nelson's "My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys" kicks in, and the credits roll on what may very well be the final episode of Yellowstone.

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