John Duttons anxious, and hes right to be.
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John Dutton has a lot of enemies.
Like his father before him, Dutton is the owner of The Yellowstone, the largest ranch in Montana.
They attack his men, and they undermine him financially.
Their lackeys punch his guys, and Duttons guys fight back.
Meanwhile, John Duttons three children tussle and maneuver for their fathers favor.
In some ways,Yellowstoneis much like any other wealth-and-corruption show on TV.
OnYellowstone, those beats come hand in hand with a more existential anxiety.
The battles onYellowstoneare about the idea that one way of living is just better than the others.
In contrast, Duttons lodge is a dark wood and crackling fireplace kind of place.
There are stag heads on the wall, brass-studded leather chairs, and Pendleton patterns.
The Duttons have a private chef, but they also all wear their cowboy boots inside the house.
Plus, the chefs name is Gator.
Its wealth, all right, but its filtered through a validating prism of style.
Its wealth, but its okay because the Duttons get what Montana is supposed to be.
The bunkhouse is full of plaid blankets and empty beer cans and hand-knotted rugs.
The bunkhouse is a tough place, and its also whatYellowstonesees as the best, truest place on earth.
By season three, hes still a knucklehead, but hes accepted.
Real work and the bunkhouse grant Jimmy dignity.
As with Jimmy, the bunkhouse is Jamies path to redemption.
The bunkhouse is the way, the truth, and the light.
It will teach you how to be strong and to have worth.
Its a supremely masculine, American, whiteness-inflected ethos of howYellowstoneyearns for the world to work.
That ethos is so powerful that members of the Yellowstone bunkhouse wear it on their skin.
Rip is branded with it, too.
ButYellowstoneis almost uncannily good at taking that horror and twisting it into something like honor.
The mountainous horizons are too big, too sublime to worry about a brand scarred into someones skin.
If the brand is the cost for living this life,Yellowstonesuggests its worth it.
The ideology of the bunkhouse is sparklingly pure, simple, and unforgiving.
Monied urban types are effete namby-pambies who dont value the good things: Dirt.
Those people are less sweaty, less callused, less worthy.
Thats exactly what it is, he says.
Thats what it was, she corrects him.
I dont know what the fuck to call it anymore.
When Beth whispers about how damaged they all are, we are supposed to believe her.
How can itnotroot for him?
It is the deepest foundation of the shows idea of Americanness.
It is also the thingYellowstoneexamines least.
But the fact that its threatened only casts his cause in a greater and more tragically noble light.
Rainwater wants to return the land to the fenceless, cattleless, Native-owned state it once was.
But Dutton ignores him.
How can you stand there on a ranch the size of Rhode Island and accuse me of theft?
Dutton has no answer, andYellowstonedoesnt either.
The only responseYellowstonecan muster is Tate (Brecken Merrill), Duttons grandson.
Dutton makes Tate the ranchs heir presumptive, and he gives him a horse to teach him about responsibility.
For a show about American exceptionalism,Yellowstones is a stunningly insular world.
Its a show about masculine fragility, and the Duttons are the only ones who havent yet realized it.
When I fell intoYellowstones world, I started as a skeptic.
Its worldview is so blunt, and the writing rarely does much to provide nuance around the edges.
When Im watching it, though, I feel Duttons anxiety.
Duttons anxious, and hes right to be.
The outside world is a threat to the things he holds most dear.
He owns all of it.
Hey, he says to the ranch hands, gesturing toward where hed been wandering to get better reception.
Everything moves up here.
I want everything up here.
The ranch hands shrug, and then dismantle the entire camp to move it a hundred yards away.
Is this a better camp?
Tate asks him, once its all set up again.
Lets see, Dutton says, looking at his phone.
Nothing about the world has changed, but Duttons just figured out how to ignore it a little longer.
Yep, says Dutton.
This camp is much better.
