‘Yellowstone’ Season 5 Episode 11 Recap: What Happened?

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The following story contains spoilers for Yellowstone season 5, episode 11, “Three Fifty-Three.”


OH, BOY. THE bullets are continuing to fly in the back half of Yellowstone’s fifth season. On Sunday’s episode, we seemingly bid adieu to the flashbacks, getting a front row seat to the events that resulted in John Dutton’s death. And while that sets off a flurry of excitement around Montana, there’s something that feels extra final about these episodes. As Westerns love to point out, the main character is the land, and the Dutton ranch, after all of these years, seems to be the character in the most danger.

Oh, except for that character who caught a couple strays at the end of this episode. This is your final warning, partner. Close the page or discover who met their maker in what we anticipate will be a long line of deaths the rest of this season.

Keep reading to dive into the events of Season Five, Episode 11 of Yellowstone.

The Kids Aren’t Alright

yellowstone season 5 episode 11 kayce

Paramount

Remember when life was simpler? When you could just steal your husband from his herd, take him to a remote Texas hotel, and bang knowing that your father is safe and alive? Ok, perhaps that’s a niche problem. But in the not-so-distant-past, that’s where we find Beth and Rip at the head of this episode, telling each other goodbye after Beth’s impromptu “conjugal” visit. Also in the near-past, Monica and Kayce settle into their new home, thrilled about this new life they’re starting. There are paintings! Dinner table blessings! Kissing! Unbeknownst to them, the whole arrangement is going to be blown up with John’s assassination.

But just as everyone settles in—Beth heads home, Kayce goes to bed—we finally see the truth (in night vision, no less). Assassins break in and wrangle John out of bed, drug him, and then stage the suicide. And wouldn’t you know it… as soon as it happens, Beth feels a chill run through her body. She knows something terrible has happened. Kayce wakes up, too. Just minutes after John’s assassination, he wakes up in a cold sweat.

The Room Where It Happens

yellowstone season 5 episode 11

Paramount

In the present, Senator Lynelle Perry consoles Jamie, who seems more terrified than grief-stricken as the Lieutenant Governor is sworn in to office. As soon as the ceremony is over, Jamie gets to work immediately to help Market Equities get ahold of the Dutton’s ranch. But in his explanation to the new governor, Jamie sounds so full of it that Senator Perry calls Jamie out. She doesn’t let him off the hook, telling him that he’s inviting massive problems to Montana. The newly-appointed-chief of staff Clara even resigns when she hears how wicked this all is. Of course, the twist to that? Clara—the only lesbian who’s ever stanned John Dutton—runs into Senator Perry in the hallway who tells her that her new unemployment status opens up an opportunity: she can tell the press whatever she wants.

Kayce Said Choke You Out

kayce yellowstone season 5 episode 11

Paramount

Elsewhere, Kayce goes to the medical examiner’s office and demands to see the coroner’s report, along with the body. The coroner pushes back and says that he’s only a livestock commissioner, but Kayce persists and says he also wants a toxicology report done. He calls in a favor and gets his way, also insisting that he watches this medical examiner re-do the exam. This woman is insistent there’s nothing to investigate because there is no sign of struggle, which is when Kayce then peacefully chokes a man out to demonstrate how to render someone unconscious, proving that John’s death could, in fact, be a homicide. And guess what, reader? They determined it could be. But you already knew that. John’s cause of death is changed from suicide to “undetermined.” Kayce calls Beth afterward to tell him he’s going to deal with Jamie, but Beth tells him, “You leave him to me, Kayce.”

Brother Slam 2024!

yellowstone season 5 episode 11

Paramount

Before heading to Jamie’s office, Kayce goes to see the detective, who shows him that the gun John allegedly used is his service gun, which was stored at the livestock office. Kayce makes a call to ensure he has access to security cameras at the livestock office, and suddenly, the investigation into John’s murder is wide open again.

Kayce busts into Jamie’s office and gives him a good ol’ bodyslam against his desk. Jamie cowers on the ground, trying to reason with him and turn him against Beth. Instead, he says he’s trying to do the best for the ranch, which means the best for Kayce and Tate. And for some reason, he uses that moment to pivot and explain why Kayce must sell the ranch. That’s quite the conversation shift, but it does mean that Jamie lives to see another day. Or at least another hour. As Kayce leaves though, Jamie gets a call that the police are listing John’s cause of death as homicide.

This Land is Your Land, This Land is My Land

yellowstone beth season 5 episode 11

Paramount

Over in Helena, Jamie and the new governor are about to address the general assembly and undo everything John wanted to do as governor… particularly reinstating that lease for Market Equities. Not a great look. But even dicier for Jamie is that the governor also says he’s asking Jamie to recuse himself from the investigation into his father’s death.

Beth watches the news unfold from afar, explaining to Jamie that they need to sell the land to cover the cost and stop Market Equities, but they’d have to do it fast. Just in time, Chief Rainwater shows up to the ranch (Hey! 1883 fans! I bet we’re all thinking about the perfect buyer all of a sudden…). Beth tells Rainwater that she knows John respected him, and he tells her that he’s not sure how true that is, but he does believe he shared the same hopes John had for the land. But Beth feels defeated—she doesn’t see the way forward.

Sarah, Plain and Panicked

yellowstone season 5 episode 11 sarah

Paramount

The news reaches Sarah and Market Equities around the same time as it does Jamie, sending shockwaves through this working lunch they’re all having. Her response is to go get a burner phone to call her assassin pals, but that doesn’t work either. The government is everywhere! But if that wasn’t the worst part, she turns around and sees Jamie standing in her home. He yells at her for screwing him over so much, but she doesn’t care. She’s got bigger fish to fry, like a dead burner phone… and a dead John Dutton! She tells him he wants the governorship so bad that he’d probably sleep in John’s bed without changing the sheets. Jamie slaps the bejesus out of Sarah, and she does the same back. Jamie immediately calls her back and apologizes. As she relishes in his moment of weakness, a vehicle pulls up and a man pulls a gun and fires a shot into her head and five into her chest. Goodbye, Sarah Atwood. You were bigger than the whole sky.

Jamie hears the whole thing happen and panics, knowing his number was on her phone as she died because Jamie can’t seem to make a single good decision.

Notes from the Train Station:

beth dutton yellowstone season 5 episode 11

Paramount

  • I love that Beth is learning Italian. She’s like a crossover between The Italian Job and Under The Tuscan Sun, with much more cursing.
  • Shoutout to Clara, who got a killer promotion from executive assistant to chief of staff. And shoutout to Clara for quitting that job and thus being a rare moral center in the world of politics!
  • I hope, in the world of Yellowstone, that medical examiner lost her job.
  • We should bring more wrestling moves into prestige dramas: The People’s Elbow, Chokeslams, the ​​Stratusphere, etc.
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