With each new episode of Season 5 Part 2, Yellowstone continues to exceed our expectations and blow our minds. The most recent episode, “Three Fifty-Three,” ends with a fight between lovers Jamie Dutton (Wes Bentley) and Sarah Atwood (Dawn Olivieri), one that forces the latter to leave the adopted Dutton behind. But things go south quickly for Sarah as she is tracked down by the same folks she hired to kill John Dutton (Kevin Costner), who, in turn, kill her while she’s on the phone with Jamie. Though Jamie cries, all we can think is that Yellowstone is now a better place.
Sarah Atwood Was a Plague on ‘Yellowstone,’ and We’re Glad She’s Gone
Dawn Olivieri is a powerful actress because she, like Neal McDonough‘s Malcolm Beck before her, is one of those villains we just love to hate. Before she was cast on Yellowstone, Olivieri first played the equally horrible Claire Dutton in Taylor Sheridan‘s prequel series 1883. She must’ve made enough of an impression that Sheridan decided to bring her back for Yellowstone, where she has been playing Market Equities stooge Sarah Atwood. Sarah first appears at the beginning of Season 5, and it isn’t long before she has Jamie wrapped around her finger. Seeing him as the next big step in her career, she only seeks to help him take down his father and claim the keys to the kingdom for himself (which really meant herself too). In fact, just about every non-Beth-related decision that Jamie makes this season is first inspired by Sarah, who has been playing him like a fiddle from the very beginning.
Did Sarah really care about Jamie? It’s hard to say. She certainly enjoyed using him, and had no problem manipulating him. As she mentions at the end of the episode, she’s the one who took all the risk to get John killed and Jamie one step closer to being governor himself. Turns out, the risks were too high. But we’re glad to see Sarah go, even if Olivieri killed the part. In many ways, Sarah was even worse than Beth (Kelly Reilly), and, as one of the most cunning villains on the show, she always knew how to pinpoint weakness in others. This is perhaps especially true of Jamie, who she used consistently for her own ends. Now that she’s gone, Jamie will have to make his own choices apart from her deceptions, which is a good thing. Sarah’s death forces Jamie to truly pick a side. If he’s still hell-bent on being in this for himself, then he will forsake everything she did for him and admit her part in killing John Dutton. If not, then the whole conspiracy falls on his uneasy shoulders. Sarah has pushed him into a corner, but only Jamie can make the call now as to what happens next.
‘Yellowstone’ Season 5 Is Taking Pieces Off the Board for a Duttons-Only Showdown
Frankly, it seems as if Yellowstone is pushing all the other pieces off the board to pave the way for a pure Dutton showdown. We didn’t see hardly anything from the ranch hands down south in the latest episode, nor was Rip (Cole Hauser) really highlighted much at all. Last week’s departure of Summer Higgins (Piper Perabo) tied up another loose end, and it wouldn’t be surprising if Thomas Rainwater (Gil Birmingham) was kept on the backburner for another episode or two. With Sarah Atwood’s demise (which, let’s be honest, she flat-out deserved), Yellowstone has removed the only barrier between Jamie and his siblings, and considering that Beth wants him dead and Kayce (Luke Grimes) believes he’s lying, doesn’t bode well.
Sarah might’ve been a power villain, but her reign over Jamie’s life is over — and without her, Market Equities doesn’t stand half a chance. However this continues to play out, if these assassins decide to go after Jamie or if he opts to reveal Sarah’s crimes, “Three Fifty-Three” (and all of Season 5B) has proven that shock and awe still has its place in this neo-Western. Sarah’s death was sudden, brutal, and shocking, but it made a point. If the next three episodes of Yellowstone can be as potent, then we’re in for one heck of a ride.
Yellowstone Season 5 Part 2 airs Sundays on Paramount Network. Previous seasons can be streamed on Peacock.
