10 Wildest Yellowstone Scenes, Ranked

Fans of Paramount’s hit neo-western series Yellowstone have recently been treated to a surprise announcement that the show won’t be ending with its fifth season after all. While it was initially confirmed that the season’s upcoming chunk of remaining episodes, currently set to air later in the year around November, would end up being its last, the show will be returning for Season 6. For the time being, however, the fans now have a chance to either catch up or look back on some of their favorite episodes and even recall some of their favorite moments.

For the past 6 years, Yellowstone has been one of the most talked about television shows. Filled with numerous shocking twists and turns in its story, heartbreaking betrayals, and even shocking character deaths, it keeps giving more and more reasons for fans to keep coming back. There’s no doubt that the upcoming sixth season will be filled to the brim with even more of these moments. Looking back, it’s rather unbelievable to realize just how many of these wild and intense scenes that the Dutton family, as well as several of the show’s supporting characters, have gone through over the years.

10.Lloyd’s Brutal Fight With Walker Over Laramie

“I Want To Be Him”, Season 4, Episode 6

There have been quite a few times throughout the series that conflict between characters eventually comes to blows. One of the most surprising and most violent ones to ever happen occurred between fan-favorite ranch hands Lloyd and Walker. The animosity in their relationship reached its peak after Laramie left Lloyd for Walker, resulting in a brutal attack, which only led to a punishment received by both men from John and Rip.

As the two were forced to fight each other for several hours to the point of exhaustion, it was Walker who ultimately came out as the victor. While the side plots involving Lloyd, Jimmy, and the other ranch hands haven’t had much direct effect on the main stories involving the Duttons, that hasn’t stopped the fans from getting just as invested in them. It was quite an insane resolution to Lloyd and Walker’s story arc throughout the season and a reminder that the side plots are just as easy to get sucked into as the main ones.

9.Jamie Dutton Killing a New York Magazine Reporter

“Blood the Boy”, Season 2, Episode 6

In Season 2, during Jamie’s run for Attorney General, the character of Sarah Nguyen was introduced, although her tenure on the show would be rather short-lived. When she uncovered the secrets about the Dutton family and planned to have them published in an exposé, John ordered Jamie to have her sued. Instead, he took it a step further by strangling her to death after failing to convince her and having Rip help him cover up the murder by making it appear that she died in a kayaking accident.

Seeing how Sarah was Jamie’s first real murder victim, viewers were no doubt just as shocked by Jamie’s actions as he was at the moment. As shocking as Jamie’s first murder was, however, it’s important to remember that it wasn’t something that he initially planned and that the first strike was more or less an accident. Two seasons later, he would commit another that was entirely on purpose.

8.Jamie Dutton Killing His Own Father

“Grass on the Streets and Weeds on the Rooftops” Season 4, Episode 10

At the end of Season 4, after Beth learns that Jamie’s biological father, Garrett Randall, was responsible for the attacks on her, Kaycee, and John, Beth decides to give Jamie an ultimatum. He was ultimately offered two choices, the first of which was that she would have both Jamie and Garrett end up going to prison together; the second would’ve instead had Rip find out the truth and hunt them down. The third and final choice would involve Jamie killing Garrett, and while it would help him avoid going to prison, it would put him further under her control as the family’s slave.

Of course, Jamie gave in to Beth’s blackmail and opted for the third choice, shooting Garrett in the side of the head. At this point in the series, given the number of people that Jamie had intentionally murdered, it shouldn’t be considered a surprise that he would do it again (whether reluctantly or not). Even though he was only on for a single season, the impact that Garrett had on both the show and Jamie’s character was undeniable. Given the bond that Jamie and Garrett had built throughout Season 4, it didn’t make the latter’s death at the hands of the former any less shockingly brutal.

7.Jimmy’s Near-Fatal Horse Riding Incident

“The World Is Purple”, Season 3, Episode 10

The tenth episode of Season 3 resulted in one of the most memorable season finales in the show’s history; one of the scenes that made it such a memorable finale involved another side plot featuring Jimmy, the youngest of the Dutton’s ranch hands. Still recovering from his previous rodeo injuries, he decided to quite literally get back up on the horse after being pressured to do so by his girlfriend. As a result, he was violently thrown off the horse, leaving the audience with another cliffhanger wondering if he’d survive.

Every so often, Yellowstone tends to cement itself a bit more in realism, and this scene was a perfect example. Rodeo riding is often seen as one of the most dangerous sports in existence. How Jimmy’s injury is portrayed, while accurate to what many professional riders have gone through, was quite hard to watch and enough to make any aspiring rodeo star think twice.

6.Rip Digging Up His Dead Mother’s Corpse

“The World Is Purple”, Season 3, Episode 10

Speaking of the Season 3 finale, there was one other moment that stood out to the fans, which involved Rip. It was shocking to see him digging up the grave of his mother, but it turned out that the whole reason he was doing so was to retrieve her ring and give it to Beth. It just goes to show that when it comes to Beth, there really isn’t anything that Rip wouldn’t go out of his way to do for her.

The last episode of Season 3 was filled with some pretty wild moments, but this one was rather hard to top. All things considered, it would’ve been a rather tender moment if it didn’t involve Rip defiling the grave of his own mother. While the scene tries to pass it off as something bittersweet and moving (which it still is, to an extent), it’s hard for some to look past the moral implications of what Rip is doing.

5.John Dutton Is Forced To Kill His Horse In The Series’ Very First Scene

“Daybreak”, Season 1, Episode 1

The cold opening of the very first started the series off in perhaps the most surprising way. John Dutton gets involved in a serious car accident with a truck; it not only kills the other driver but seriously injures John’s horse as well. He offers comfort to the dying animal, telling him that he deserves much more out of life, before putting it out of its misery.

Just mere minutes into the pilot, this one scene was all it took to directly establish exactly what kind of show it is and the wild ride that the audience is in for. Not only that, but it also gave a glimpse as to exactly the kind of man that John Dutton is. For those who are uninitiated and intrigued by the idea of giving the world of Yellowstone a shot, the show’s opening scene should be more than enough for them to determine how much they really want to stick with it; and for many longtime fans, it was an immediate selling point.

4.Monica Going Undercover to Investigate a Serial Killer

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

Amid a serious case involving the unsolved disappearances of multiple Native women, Monica is picked up by a man who gives her a ride after her car seemingly breaks down. Come to find out, the man was actually a serial killer and the one responsible for the previous unsolved murders. An even greater twist arrives, however, after Mo shoots him dead after Monica attempts to fight him off, revealing that it was all a part of a sting operation planned by Monica, Mo, and Thomas Rainwater.

How Monica, Mo, and Rainwater work together so successfully and carry out justice was just as satisfying as the build-up to the reveal was intense. It didn’t just make for a memorable story twist, but it gave the show an admirable chance to address the real-world epidemic of missing and murdered native women across America.

3.The Unexpected Death of Lee Dutton

“Daybreak”, Season 1, Episode 1

While Lee Dutton was John’s eldest son, his time on the show was unexpectedly short-lived. In the pilot episode, Lee and several other ranchers were attempting to take back a herd of cattle stolen from the ranch but wound up shot at point-blank range by Robert Long. While Kaycee shot back at him and tried to intervene, Lee unfortunately succumbed to his wounds.

The pilot episode, with this moment in particular, sent a clear message to viewers that Yellowstone is a show in which anything can happen and where no character is safe. For many viewers, this moment felt on par with the unexpectedness of Ned Stark’s death in Game of Thrones. For those who have yet to see the show, they’re sure to be in for quite a shock with Lee’s death.

2.The Violent Un-Branding of Ranch Hand Wade

“Meaner Than Evil”, Season 3, Episode 9

Despite being branded as one of the ranch hands, Walker initially didn’t show much promise in his position, constantly slacking off and refusing to take place in certain duties. His behavior became so frustrating that Rip and the others wanted him dead, but John was willing to give him a second chance. His test of loyalty came in the form of punishing Wade for leaving the ranch (as well as other offenses), being forced to cut off the brand from the disgraced hand’s chest before hanging him to death.

How the Dutton’s have their ranch hands branded as a way to prove their undying loyalty is already disturbing in its own unique way. Seeing what the direct consequences are for any one of them that shows disloyalty to the ranch, however, is even more so. It’s by far one of the more gruesome moments in the show, enough to make even the most desensitized of viewers’ skin crawl.

1.Roarke’s Death Via Venomous Snake Bite

“Half the Money”, Season 4, Episode 1

After John woke up from his coma, Rip sought revenge, approaching Roarke with a cooler while fly-fishing, asking if it belonged to him. Roarke, of course, had no idea who Rip was and had no reason to be suspicious of any danger. It was revealed, however, that Rip had actually been carrying a rattlesnake in the cooler, which attacked and bit Roarke several times before he succumbed to the venom.

Longtime fans of Yellowstone would be hard-pressed to forget just how great of a threat and adversary Roarke was. Even though the audience knew that Roarke would eventually get what was coming to him, how it was executed came in a way that none of them would have ever expected. It’s one of the show’s most unexpected deaths and helped make for a memorable opening episode to Season 4.