The December 19 episode of Yellowstone begins with Margaret Dutton talking with her sons as they have dinner. She urges them to never wish harm on anyone, even their enemies. Meanwhile, James Dutton gets into a nasty shootout. It looks like he’s dead, but he rises again to take down his foes.
He gives a dire warning to the sole surviving enemy. James says to tell his friends about him if he manages to live. Two dead bodies hang next to the survivor with a message written in blood hanging from one of them: “This is what happens to horse thieves here.”
James doesn’t mess around. Must be a Dutton thing. When he arrives home to Margaret and his boys, James is definitely not OK. He’s been shot. When Margaret gets James inside, it doesn’t look good for him. Margaret’s screams can be heard for miles.
Jamie Plots Against John
In the present day, Jamie is still fuming over John running for governor against him. Garrett still believes that Jamie can beat John. While Jamie knows where all the bodies are buried, Jamie is the one that buried them. Garrett urges John to set up a meeting with John and find out what things are off-limits during the campaign.
Christina thinks Jamie should use everything John is against him. In her eyes, John is bluffing with this governor run. She wants Jamie to call him on it. He’s not running for governor because he wants to; he’s running against Jamie.
Beth and Rip move into the lodge and try to make themselves at home. Beth goes to work and there are protestors outside the Market Equities, including Summer. This is all part of Beth’s master plan. Caroline wants the protesters charged today. Beth says to be careful. They need to be strategic with how they handle the protestors. Beth advises removing the press for the time being.
Over at the Four Sixes, Emily is being persistent about dinner with Jimmy. He enjoys his night with her, and they end up having a steamy hookup after their date. Mia, who?!
Carter, Rip, and Beth have dinner with John. It gets awkward fairly quickly. Rip and Carter aren’t used to the Dutton dinner table talk. Beth eventually gets up and leaves the table in a rage. Carter ends up having dinner with John, while Rip goes to check on Beth. “What kind of childhood bullsh*t are you working out at the dinner table?” Rip asks.
Beth admits there’s just something about that room. They all have to pretend to be people they’re not in that room. Rip tells Beth to just find a different room if she doesn’t like that one. When they change the room, the whole dynamic changes.
Monica Is Pregnant
Tate is growing up and Monica believes it’s time that Kayce has the sex talk with their son. Kayce doesn’t think that’s necessary at the moment. He believes Tate is well aware of how sex works after growing up on the ranch. During this conversation, Monica reveals she’s pregnant again. Kayce is overjoyed. Monica and Kayce tell Tate he’s going to be a brother.
Summer and other protestors are viciously attacked by the FBI and other federal officers just after Summer spoke to Beth, who said to “take one for the team.” Summer and over 100 other protestors are arrested in the raid. The press caught it all, thanks to Beth. While this raid has hit the local news, Caroline hopes this doesn’t go wide. With Beth secretly working for the other side, that is not going to happen.
Jamie calls John and asks to meet. John tells Jamie to come by the ranch, but Jamie doesn’t think that’s a “neutral” place. After getting off the phone with Jamie, John thanks Rip for never asking why when they do things. He also reveals to Rip, “I know who tried to kill me.”
Rip offers to handle this person himself, but John has other plans. They’re going to see Sheriff Haskell to figure out how to put Garrett behind bars for the rest of his life. When they arrive at the cafe to meet with the sheriff, Rip and John realize that something’s up. No one is moving inside. They leave — or so it appears.
A Heartbreaking Death
Sheriff Haskell and the rest of the customers are being held hostage. John goes through the back with a rifle. Rip goes to the front. A gruesome shootout ensues inside the cafe. There’s only one guy left who has a hostage. Rip and John team up to take him out.
In the midst of the shootout, the sheriff was shot. He asks John to call his daughter in his final moments. While on the phone with his daughter, Sheriff Haskell dies. John has to explain to Haskell’s daughter the tragedy that has just occurred.