10 Perfect Opening Scenes in Yellowstone Episodes That Have Zero Flaws

Yellowstone tends to open its episodes with beautiful landscapes and a scene that sets the tone for the rest of the episode. These moments have become special, as they often include some of the most poignant depictions in the series. Flashbacks, intense conversations, and small moments that add spice to the show occupy this space. They don’t require justification or clarification and often exist outside the narrative.

The Yellowstone openings work well as a hook to keep the audience engaged. They represent a moment that evokes feelings of love, heartbreak, or even great humor. These scenes are unforgettable precisely because they intend to create a big impact on viewers. Some of these openings, however, became iconic among the rest.

10. Beth Has a Hilarious Conversation While in Jail

Season 5, Episode 4, “Horses in Heaven”

In Season 5, Episode 3 of Yellowstone, Beth breaks a bottle on a woman’s head because she was, quite audaciously, flirting with Rip and not backing down. The whole thing spirals into a bar fight that ends with Beth in jail. Of course, after such a shocking turn of events, the next episode opened with an unapologetic Beth sitting in jail. There is a hilarious conversation between Beth and her cellmate, where she explains that she is the “wrath of a woman scorned.”

Beth is not often kind to people, but the woman she shares a cell with earns her respect. The woman admits she is a stripper, to which Beth has zero judgment. Beth can drive an expensive car and enter the most wealthy building in the city, and also spend a night in jail without feeling she is beyond the place. In the end, the two women bond over “bitches from California” and, when the police officer calls her Bethany, she tells the woman her name is Beth. Moments like this have turned Beth into a fan-favorite character on Yellowstone because, when people least expect it, she shows a surprisingly soft side.

9. Impressive Riding Skills on Scene

Season 3, Episode 8, “I Killed a Man Today”

Yellowstone is all about intrigue, power, violence, and wealth. However, it is also a Western, and Taylor Sheridan ensured the TV show included many shots of Montana landscapes, nature, and animals. Season 3, Episode 8 of Yellowstone begins with an impressive sequence of steer wrestling, portraying the more cowboy side of the series.

There are many openings in Yellowstone showcasing horses or riding, but this one portrays the most commercial and show-oriented side of the job. This brief opening, lacking much context, sets the tone for the series while also illustrating a broader aspect of the business. After all, there must be a reason why these wealthy cowboys risk their lives to preserve their lifestyle; it might be that some aspects of it even resemble art.

8. A Flashback When John Sets Jamie on a Dangerous Path

Season 2, Episode 6, “Blood the Boy”

Many Yellowstone openings showcase a Dutton family flashback, setting the tone for the entire episode. “Blood the Boy” begins with a young Jamie talking with John. His father tells him that he has been accepted into Harvard and wishes for him to become a lawyer. Jamie, dressed as a proper cowboy instead of the suits he favors as an adult, tells him that he wants to become a rancher someday. However, John convinces him to sacrifice his dream and choose a career that he can exploit in the future.

Later, Jamie not only resents John for turning him into a person John hates, but also for sending him so far away. Jamie Dutton was always going to be a controversial character, but the role John played in his personality is undeniable. John sent him to build a career and then punished him for trying to further it beyond the Yellowstone scope. This season sees the man becoming a monster, so Jamie’s flashbacks are essential to understanding the character, if not to redeem him.

7. John Dutton Sacrifices His Horse

Season 1, Episode 1, “Daybreak”

The very pilot of Yellowstone already includes a perfect John Dutton moment, but it also illustrates the kind of show this would be. As John gets up, hurt, after a car accident (or murder attempt), he has to put his horse down as the poor animal lost its leg. Before killing it, John tries to soothe the horse, showing both a compassionate and ruthless side.

John Dutton is a complicated character. He can murder people without a single ounce of regret, and also help a woman change her tire on the side of the road. He has love for his horses, but he’s willing to sacrifice them in the name of war. In a way, this scene foreshadows John’s relationship with his children, which is both peculiarly loving yet violent and manipulative. His eldest son dies in the very same episode, trying to get back cattle from the reservation. Perhaps this scene parallels John’s sacrifice of his own son, and later, most of his family.

6. Beth Discovers the True Meaning of Life

Season 5, Episode 6, “Cigarettes, Whiskey, a Meadow, and You”

“Cigarettes, Whiskey, a Meadow, and You” opens with a beautiful frame of the cowboys riding on open land during the sunset. The contrast of light and shadow highlights the horses’ shapes, creating a gorgeous scene. However, Beth hilariously breaks the moment by asking if anyone thought of packing a bit of vodka. John is outraged, but Beth explains that she has the same view from her room and that there is nothing special about it. When John leaves, she explains to Rip that beauty, for her, doesn’t lie in enormous landscapes, but in small, comprehensible scenarios, to which she has a special connection.

This opening becomes even more relevant and heartwarming when Rip finds such a place for Beth in the episode: a little meadow for them to discover and make their own. Beth’s usual cynicism is broken in this scene, and she addresses an essential aspect of the series. Bigger is not better; genuine connection is what truly makes a place special. Her father never learned this, but she and Kacey do.

5. John Takes a Ride on His Horse Despite His Bullet Injury

Season 4, Episode 2, “Phantom Pain”

After the multiple shootings against the Dutton family in the Season 3 finale, John miraculously survives, but he is severely injured. Despite his family’s warnings, he rests as little as possible. In this opening scene, Kayce finds him riding a horse and bathing himself in natural bathing waters. Kayce questions him, and he says that the doctor told him he should take baths.

The scene is quite amusing, but it also highlights John Dutton’s stubborn nature. His wound could get infected, his organs could fail, or he could even pass out and die in the wild, but he doesn’t care. In a way, John Dutton was always going to die because he was reckless. It’s apparent that he only cared about the Yellowstone ranch. His father died when he could no longer work, even if his family loved him. John would also prefer to die if he couldn’t ride horses and work. It’s a subtle way in which the series showcases that John only cares about ranching and the Yellowstone land, and nothing else.

4. Teeter Wakes Up with a Rattlesnake on Top of Her Chest

Season 5, Episode 10, “The Apocalypse of Change”

When the cowboys are in Texas, Rip enters Teeter’s tent in the early morning to see why she hasn’t woken up. Teeter is shaking and sweating, and looks at him with great fear in her eyes. Rip carefully removes the snake without hurting Teeter, likely saving her life.

This scene is one of the few in Yellowstone that showcases the dangers of the cowboy lifestyle, extending beyond the mafia-like wars. Nature, on its own, is a dangerous ally, and Teeter was pretty close to dying. This scene connects to 1883, the Yellowstone spin-off, where many die from rattlesnake bites, or many obscure yet lethal plants and creatures on the Oregon Trail.

3. Tate and John Have a Meaningful Conversation

Season 3, Episode 2, “Freight Trains and Monsters”

Season 3, Episode 2 of Yellowstone begins with the usual relaxing and aesthetically pleasing frames that showcase the beauty of the wilderness in Montana. The Dutton family is camping far from the buildings, enjoying the natural surroundings. As Tate wakes up, he and John go fishing on the river, and Tate wonders why they can’t live like that, among the trees, all the time. John simply replies that he asks himself that question every day just before the intro sequence begins.

John and Tate’s scenes are among the fandom’s favorites because they showcase a softer side of the Dutton patriarch. However, in this scene, Tate’s innocence is particularly fascinating. As a kid, he didn’t understand why people couldn’t just live in the wilderness. The irony is that society moved away from that on purpose, killing nature and subjugating others in the process. Even more ironic is the fact that John is part of that process. Tate cracks the code of how simple life can be.

2. Beth and Kayce Find Out Their Father Is Dead

Season 5, Episode 9, “Desire Is All You Need”

“Desire Is All You Need” is the first Yellowstone episode of the second part of the fifth season, and it starts with a punch in the stomach. After a series of nostalgic sequences and accompanied by somber music, Beth arrives at the Montana Governor’s house, which is filled with police officers. Beth looks unruly, anxious, and desperate as she tries to call people and gather information.

When John’s assistant, with running mascara and a grim expression, looks at her, Beth cries and yells. Kacey arrives and tries to console her by taking her inside the house and denying what is obvious, but things only get worse as they encounter their father’s body. Despite the toxic Dutton family dynamics, seeing Beth lose her cool in such a raw way is an unforgettable moment in Yellowstone, made even more poignant by Kelly Reilly’s harrowing portrayal.

1. John Dutton Says Goodbye To His Father

Season 2, Episode 10, “Sins of the Father”

“Sins of the Father” begins with a scene of John Dutton saying goodbye to his father. He picks him up from his hospital bed, and they walk together around the Yellowstone land, sitting on a trunk with a great view. John’s father tells a nostalgic story about John stealing cookies as a kid and makes him promise he won’t give up even one inch of the ranch.

This scene is not only flawlessly executed, but it’s also an essential piece to understanding John Dutton as a character. In a very patriarchal manner, the Dutton men inherit their father’s traumas and desires. John, much like his own children, likely wanted his father’s approval as he grew up admiring him. He continued the problematic cycle by holding too tightly to the Yellowstone land, arguably to honor his memory. John’s children would die, turn evil, and even sacrifice their own lives to please him, but fortunately, Beth and Kacey finally break the cycle when it becomes impossible to sustain.