Six unanswered questions Yellowstone failed to address

The fifth season of “Yellowstone” has ended and, with its final episode, the main iconic series seems to have moved on for good. The franchise will continue with spinoffs like “1923,” “The Madison,” “6666” and more, so fans can look forward to more series set in Taylor Sheridan’s cowboy-loving universe. At the same time, the ending of “Yellowstone” has left us with burning questions that still need to be answered.

Of course, no one who watches “Yellowstone” is also worried about plot holes. Viewers learned to accept them in Season 1 after Kayce Dutton (Luke Grimes) dug up some dinosaur bones and the show led us to believe that people might come try to claim them, only to never revisit the story. In some ways, “Yellowstone” is charming in its tendency to forget about certain plots while dumping more outlandish dramas on us, and that’s fine.

That said, while “Yellowstone” has enough wild moments to keep us entertained, some of these unanswered questions cannot be overlooked. With that in mind, let’s take a look at the most glaring examples of stories that were never properly rewarded.

Angela Blue Thunder (Q’orianka Kilcher) seemed set to cause trouble for boss Thomas Rainwater (Gil Birmingham) in season 5 of “Yellowstone.” The ruthless lawyer initially began as an ally of the leader of the Broken Rock Reservation in his quest to defeat the Duttons. However, she disappeared after the boss and John Dutton (Kevin Costner) became friendly rivals, but returned to try to turn things around later.

When he returns in season 5, Angela wants to replace Thomas with a younger candidate as President of the Confederated Tribes of Broken Rock. For a minute, it seemed like a power struggle storyline was in play, but that never happened as the lawyer didn’t appear at all in Season 5, Part 2 of “Yellowstone,” conveniently ending her feud with the boss and the schemer. drama. that could have arisen from the situation.

Also, Thomas Rainwater didn’t have another major storyline until he inherited the Dutton family ranch in the season 5 finale of “Yellowstone,” which was a shame since he’s one of the best characters in the entire franchise. Birmingham has been open about his willingness to return for a possible spin-off series centered on his character, so hopefully that will come true and this story can be revisited.

The murder of Sarah Nguyen (Michaela Conlin) and its disappointing aftermath are a perfect example of how “Yellowstone” is losing its way. Taylor Sheridan’s series is often criticized for giving quick, tidy conclusions to stories that should realistically pose some problems for the Dutton family, and the way the show handled this lends some legitimacy to that argument.

Sarah, a journalist, was murdered by Jamie Dutton (Wes Bentley) before she published a damning revelation about her family’s dark secrets. What’s more, Jamie shared all the juicy details with her in an effort to make her father look bad in a political campaign, only to change her mind later. Unfortunately for him, she was not prepared to revoke her statement, so Jamie strangled her to death and the murder was framed as an accident.

No one later investigated the suspicious nature of Sarah’s death, even though her editor and fiancé (also a journalist with investigative instincts) would have known she was working on a story about an organized crime family with skeletons in their closet. Rip Wheeler (Cole Hauser) even tricked Walker (Ryan Bingham) into leaving his fingerprints on his car, in case the police came knocking and needed a scapegoat to point him out. The police did not even question them and Sarah’s loved ones and colleagues stayed away. Didn’t anyone find his death suspicious?

Beth (Kelly Reilly) and Jamie Dutton’s feud in “Yellowstone” dates back to their teenage years. Long story short, she asked Jamie to help her get an abortion so no one would find out about her pregnancy, but he sterilized her and made sure she couldn’t have children later in life.

Over time, Beth begins to hate and resent Jamie for this, and does not react positively when she finds out that he has a child. In fact, Beth informs her adoptive brother that she will take the child from him, although it is unclear whether she means forcibly adopting him as her own or committing a more heinous act. When it comes to Beth, any outcome is possible, as she becomes quite motherly when she adopts Carter (Finn Little), but is also capable of doing some truly horrible things.

Ultimately, Beth kills Jamie in the “Yellowstone” season 5 finale and moves to Texas to live happily ever after with Rip, apparently content to leave her brother’s son alone. It’s possible that she just wanted to get into Jamie’s head when she threatened to take her son, but we’ll never know for sure. Still, maybe he’ll keep his promise in Beth and Rip’s upcoming “Yellowstone” spinoff.

The early seasons of “Yellowstone” establish that the Duttons have the local police on their side, with Sheriff Donnie Haskell (Hugh Dillon) at the helm. However, when Donnie is killed during a restaurant shooting in Season 4, he is replaced by Sheriff Bill Ramsey (Rob Kirkland), who is much more idealistic and law-abiding than his predecessor.

After collecting the sheriff’s badge, Ramsey vows to run the department differently. He knows that Donnie was indebted to some unsavory characters and refuses to work with criminals. Ramsey positions himself to become a thorn in the Dutton family’s side, but only arrests Beth after she gets into a bar fight with a woman who flirted with her husband, and she is released the next day without charges in his name.

The sheriff only appears in one episode of the fifth season of “Yellowstone” and puts no real pressure on the Duttons. As such, his legacy will be that of a character who sneered at upsetting the organized crime bandwagon in Montana, only to fade into obscurity without even posing a threat to corruption.

The Beck brothers are arguably the Duttons’ most effective rivals in “Yellowstone.” They appear in season 2 and kill the family’s livestock, kidnap Tate Dutton (Breckin Merrill) and leave him with a neo-Nazi militia, and send masked men to attack Beth Dutton. Naturally, the family responds with more violence and sends Kayce Dutton (Luke Grimes), a military-trained assassin, to plant a bomb on the enemy plane. Smart plan, right?

Despite making much of the Duttons’ intention to blow up the plane, the story was abandoned without a response. Instead, the Beck brothers die the old-fashioned way, with Kayce shooting Teal Beck (Terry Serpico) when she is in the bathroom, and John Dutton (Kevin Costner) having a final confrontation with Malcolm Beck (Neal McDonough) that ends with him bad. dying pitifully. We’ll never know if the plane exploded, as the show never addresses the story after Kayce informs John that he planted the explosive.

As mentioned above, Jamie Dutton was adopted by the family that “Yellowstone” focuses on. Her biological father, Garrett Randall (Will Patton), killed her mother, Phyllis Randall, and that’s all we know about her. Jamie continues to have a fairly positive relationship with his original father, until he shoots him for selfish reasons, but we learn absolutely nothing about the woman who gave birth to him.

Some fans have theorized that Phyllis was a member of the Dutton family, but surely someone would have mentioned it. At the same time, Lee Dutton (Dave Annable) is rarely mentioned after he is killed off in “Yellowstone” Season 1, so this family has a history of forgetting its deadest members. That being said, Phyllis is not listed in the Dutton family tree, so let’s rule out that theory until we have concrete evidence to suggest otherwise.

John once told Jamie that he advised Phyllis not to marry Randall, so the family clearly had a relationship with her, and it must have been strong if they felt inclined to protect their son. It’s just strange that there wasn’t any thought or consideration beyond Jamie’s mother’s backstory, even though there were opportunities to delve into her story.