Luke Grimes told TV Insider ahead of the premiere of Yellowstone‘s final season that John Dutton’s (Kevin Costner) fate forces Kayce to pick a side in the civil war between his siblings. The second episode of Season 5 Part 2 showed just that. Now, Kayce is more devastated than before, leaving the military veteran in a headspace that has Monica (Kelsey Asbille) and Tate (Brecken Merrill) on high alert.
Before his father’s death, Kayce never saw Jamie (Wes Bentley) as an evil force like Beth (Kelly Reilly) always has. This perception was completely shattered after Beth confronted Jamie about their father’s demise in the November 17 episode. Jamie couldn’t look Beth in the eye when she demanded answers in his office, and he wouldn’t deny Beth’s accusation that he had a hand in their father’s death.
Beth never believed for a second that it was really a suicide, and Jamie was incapable of proving otherwise. A cowardly silence was all he could muster. This, paired with Sarah’s (Dawn Olivieri) sinister reaction that made Beth throw her to the floor, was all the confirmation Beth needed to know that Sarah and Jamie killed John. Jamie didn’t reveal the truth that he was kept in the dark about Sarah’s hitman plot. It could be out of deep guilt that while he didn’t order the hit himself, it was his idea.
Kayce was the first person Beth called after this brief but violent encounter. Jamie’s refusal to deny his involvement sent Kayce into a dark spiral; he bit his lip so hard in response, he drew blood. Accepting the grim reality, Kayce replied that Jamie couldn’t have acted alone. That’s when Beth told him about the “viper” Sarah.
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The former Navy SEAL smartly guessed that Sarah must’ve hired a hitman to do the dirty work. He called up a fellow veteran (played by Will Trent‘s Jake McLaughlin) on a secure line to ask about American murder-for-hire companies. Monica and Tate followed in the car behind Kayce, concerned for his wellbeing. In grim advice to her son, Monica hinted that Kayce may be triggered and prone to self-harm.
“When your father gets quiet, that’s when you talk to him. When he’s alone, that’s when you force him to be with you. We can’t let this take him from us, Tate,” she warned.
Earlier in the episode, Kayce promised that he would take John’s place as head of the ranch if Tate wanted to do the same in the future. He wouldn’t hesitate to preserve the ranch if that’s what his son wanted. A flashback showed the family of three renovating their cabin on the family’s land and feeling at home for the first time. In the Texas timeline, Rip (Cole Hauser) revealed that he had never left Montana before this, and Beth regretted that they were so tightly bound to the ranch. With this, the series may be setting up a series finale that would see Beth and Rip leave Montana and Kayce and Monica stepping into John’s place as the ranch’s caretakers. But this revelation about Jamie could prove to be heavy obstacle for Kayce.
Jamie, meanwhile, has completely resigned himself to Sarah’s side despite the clear despair he feels over where their actions have led. Now, all he can think to do is finish what he started that his father thwarted. Jamie is planning to undo John’s cancellation of the airport lease, and Market Equities is going to support his bid for governor in the upcoming special election. But Beth and Kayce aren’t going to let him win without a fight.
