Yellowstone's Latest Death Rocks the Ranch

[Warning: The following contains spoilers for Yellowstone Season 5, Episode 12, "Counting Coup." Read at your own risk!]

The death of John Dutton (Kevin Costner) may have turned the Dutton ranch on its head, but Yellowstone's latest death somehow hit so much harder because this time, it had nothing to do with land leases and airports. In the wake of John's death, Rip (Cole Hauser) had everyone working to prepare a massive horse sale in an effort to preserve as much of the ranch as possible. It was chaos, especially as everyone was thinking about what they were going to do if the ranch got bought by some billionaire. Teeter (Jennifer Landon) and Colby (Denim Richards) shared a sweet phone call where she marveled about time zones and he accidentally said he loved her. 

It should have been clear in that moment that something devastating was in store for one of these two lovebirds, but what happened later was still shockingly sad. Carter (Finn Little) was tending to the stables and noticed that one of the problem horses had knocked over his water. He knew he wasn't supposed to deal with that horse on his own, but how hard could it be to refill the water? 

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Very hard, it turned out, as the horse cornered him when he tried to replace the bucket. He yelled for help, and it was Colby who came to his rescue. Colby was able to save Carter, but he ended up getting kicked in the chest in the process. Carter was forced to shoot the horse, but sadly, Colby was already dead. 

If you ever wanted to see a cowboy cry, this was the Yellowstone episode for you as news of the death spread from Montana to Texas and brought down the already dour mood even more. Teeter mourned the fact that she didn't get to say goodbye. Lloyd (Forrie J. Smith) begged Beth (Kelly Reilly) to leave Colby's hat on his pillow — a practice that is normally bad luck, until your luck runs out. Beth also had to comfort Carter and reassure him that the death was not his fault, and he does have a family at the ranch who care for him. 

It was all so sad, especially when Rip had to admit that things were not OK, right before having to carry Colby's body out into the wilderness for the wolves to eat. John's death was a blow to the business, but this was more of an emotional blow. Even Kayce (Luke Grimes) assumed his son Tate (Brecken Merrill) was asking about Colby's burial site and not John's when they visited the family cemetery, like he had somehow forgotten. 

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Speaking of Kayce, he once again showed off some terrifying military skills in this episode as he and Beth realized what would happen if Jamie (Wes Bentley) went down for their father's murder. Jamie would save himself by spilling all of the Dutton family secrets, ruining what was left of John's legacy and whatever future the family still had. To make sure that didn't happen, Kayce tracked down the hitman whom Sarah (Dawn Olivieri) had hired and threatened him (and his young daughter!) into making sure there was no way his actions could be traced back to Jamie. 

Kayce stalked the guy, learned all about his family, tracked him down at his daughter's soccer game and then held the daughter at gunpoint from the backseat of the family car. It was kinda terrifying and maybe unnecessary, except this man is literally a hitman who murdered the governor. And it's not like Kayce was ever going to actually shoot that little girl… right? 

While not as good as the last episode, this hour was a pretty solid example of the balancing act Yellowstone has been trying to pull off since the beginning. This ranch is a dangerous business that attracts the worst kinds of people who see land as dollar signs, but it's also a family that will do and risk anything to protect itself. With just two episodes left, it seems as if no one is really winning, and things can only get worse before they get better. 

Yellowstone airs Sundays at 8/7c on Paramount Network.