Yellowstone Season 3 Episode 8 Review: I Killed a Man Today
Carissa Pavlica
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Fans have been wishing for so many things, and Yellowstone Season 3 Episode 8 delivered.
They've not only been wishing for some more of the batshit crazy action from previous seasons, but they've longed for more of the relationships they've grown to love on Yellowstone.
From Rip asking Lloyd to be his best man to the undetermined fate of Colby and Teeter, their wishes have been granted.
With a season of only ten episodes, sometimes it seems like you'll never get what you hope to see. But Taylor Sheridan has a plan, and the more patience you have, the better it unfolds.
John is living his life for the dead. He was almost there himself, but now that he's beyond his medical threats and has years left to enjoy, he's spending an inordinate amount of time holding onto promises he made to those he's lost.
While we're still wondering exactly what promise he made to whom about Jamie, but we can guess the reason he's holding onto the ranch is because of a promise he made to his father.
John is beginning to regret losing his focus on the way of life he's had at the Yellowstone. In his retirement, he is taking the time to appreciate what he has. It's easier to remember all that could be lost because of the amount of time he spends with Tate.
John has a reason to ensure the success of the Yellowstone. His legacy has a purpose in that little boy.
Handing over the reins of the day-to-day operations of the ranch to Kayce has offed this new perspective. Kayce doesn't relish the thought that his father has retired, but Monica made some great points.
John spends every day with Tate. He's teaching his grandson to love the life they're so privileged to have. You don't need white guilt to be in awe of the life you're living. John may have forgotten it for a while, but by spending time with Tate, he's falling in love all over again.
Fishing and horseback riding with your grandson are on a different level than taking the Yellowstone to the public. And that's what John wants to do by getting invested in horses again and taking them on the road. He wants to remind people about a way of life that is diminishing too fast.
All of this couldn't come at a worse time.
John's fervor for the cowboy life has been reinvigorated just when the largest threat to his kingdom has reared its ugly head.
That the war for his land is taking place on the stock exchange shows how far the cowboy life has fallen from existence. Most people don't know anything about it. They don't care as long as they have somewhere pretty to visit where they can pretend that they're a part of it.
Beth and Willa are in the same mindset when it comes to the land in the valley. Beth is going right for Market Equities, shorting their stock to diminish it's value so Schwartz & Meyer can swoop in and buy it for nothing. But Willa turned the tables on Beth, and she won.
It doesn't bode well that Bob is on a plane heading to see Beth. It's worse knowing that he didn't even make the call himself. Did Beth go too far?
Sure, Bob appreciates everything Beth does for him. But he said something at the beginning of the season that indicated there would come a time when money was all that mattered. He's happy to help get all that land, but it's his land, and he wants what's best for his company.
It was good timing for Jamie to approach his siblings about the land deal.
On Yellowstone Season 3 Episode 7, he was digging into the power of attorney and the trust holding the land. Did what he discovered force his hand to take the deal the long road through Kayce and Beth to John?
Maybe discovering that he had another family, and an unpleasant one at that, allowed Jamie to reevaluate his situation. If he had to choose, why would he choose the man who murdered his birth mother over the man who raised him and his siblings?
He knew well enough that Beth had to take the offer to John, and he also knew that he couldn't be the one to take it to either of them.
We often make assumptions while watching Yellowstone. Shorter seasons allow for fewer scenes we'd love to see. One of them is Kayce and Beth discovering that Jamie isn't their brother.
Jamie: I need some advice, brother, if I can still call you that.
Kayce: Till the day you die, you better never call me anything else.
Well, the exchange between Jamie and Kayce sure made it seem like Kayce knew what Jamie had learned.
It was a beautiful way to put the lid on the discussion. We may not see them spending a lot of time together, but Kayce isn't letting anything come between him and his brother.
That allowed Beth the opportunity to mull over how to approach John. It also gave us yet another window into their relationship as father and daughter.
John: That's not the glow of a blushing bride.
Beth: Oh, Dad. The blush was fucked out of me years ago.
John: Jesus. Baby, I love our man to man talks, but we need to set some goddamned boundaries here. I can't unhear that, honey.
Beth: Well, it was a metaphor. Sorta.
At least now, we know that John does have limits to his daughter's bold approach!
Given all of this, it's not a surprise that John's not eager to sell off any of the land. He seems unwilling to move an inch.
But it does seem like a massive gamble. I have to wonder if he has some other cards up his sleeve that he's not sharing with Beth other than his belief that there's always another way.
We still don't know what Lynelle proposed to John. What was the acceptable surrender? It can't be something that involves selling off any of the land or allowing the state to take it away.
So does he have another card up his sleeve, or is he just going to allow his daughter to work some magic?
Unless I've missed something, Beth failed in her endeavor to bring Market Equities to its knees. Why else answer the phone "you win some and you lose some"?
And as if all of that isn't bad enough, we've got Rip and the ranch to discuss.
There haven't been nearly enough encounters between Rip and John nor Rip and Lloyd this season, but we made up for that with "I Killed a Man."
Men don't like to share their feelings. They don't like to seem weak. But John wants another man's man in the family, and he'd like this one to talk to him.
John: That's it?
Rip: Hm?
John: Anything else you feel like discussin'? If you're joining the family, can you please be the one person in it who fuckin' talks to me?
Rip: I love her, sir, and I'll always take care of her.
John: That's why I said yes.
Rip: You know why people don't come talk to you? Because they're scared they'll let you down. I know I am.
John: Well, if you're marrying Beth, you've already proved you're not scared of anything.
Opening the door that way worked perfectly well to welcome Rip to the family without being overly emotional about it.
John still expressed his thoughts on Rip officially joining the family, and he did it in a way that put the two men into their own circle.
John suggested to Rip that there is a spot he'll fill within the family. Rip probably feels a little awkward about joining the Dutton family, but by suggesting he'll have specific value to John as the one person who doesn't shy away from conversation, John put him at ease.
Rip returned the favor by sharing with John why people are so reluctant to talk to him.
Finding a home for the sorrel allowed Rip the opportunity to share some time with Lloyd, too.
It might have taken him six hours of silence to find the words to tell Lloyd what's going on in his life, but he did find them.
As Lloyd said, he could have written the whole damn song in that amount of time. What resulted was about a 10-second exchange in which Rip revealed his impending nuptials and asked his mentor to be his best man.
Rip: I'm gettin' married.
Lloyd: Yeah, I been wonderin' what's up with you lately.
Rip: I need a best man.
Lloyd: Kayce's her brother, fixin' to be yours. You should ask him.
Rip: Mmm. Probably so. But I ain't. I'm askin' you.
All of this was done while the two men escorted the sorrel to the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range.
I'm not sure if someone could just release a horse on the range like that, but I sure like the idea behind the sanctuary. It seeks to ensure that the herd with Colonial Spanish American heritage remains in existence. If I still lived out west, I'd take a trip to see the splendor.
That scene was so beautiful, and it even culminated with the sorrel pausing, Disney style, to say thank you to Rip and Lloyd for allowing it another chance.
Lloyd has been spending so much time with Jimmy that we haven't had any of the special scenes between him and Rip, but their journey continued at a local bar.
You know, you did something that no one does, Rip. You've outlived your past.
Lloyd
Does that quote suggest impending doom for Rip? It worries me quite a bit. Rip's been happy. Some could say he's gone soft. He even took an untamable horse to live out its days free. Sort of like he did for Walker.
Yikes. Why did Walker stay in Montana? Part of the deal was that he'd leave the state. Given what's going on with Wade Morrow, we know John once made a similar mistake, and he's paying for it now.
Will Rip pay for Walker's return, or will Wade's behavior ensure that Rip puts an end to Walker once and for all for reneging on his deal to live?
Because, oh man, has Wade just stuck his foot in some deep shit. There was no movement in the water when they got done with Colby and Teeter. Will one or both of them die?
Their burgeoning romance being comic relief doesn't bode well for them. And their deaths could be the spark that ignites the fire I'm expecting through the last two episodes.
If Wade was hired by Market Equities, their deaths could also be attributed to putting that deal to rest. I'm sure they didn't get a full resume on the man before hiring him to do their bidding. Or if they did, well, they should pay either way.
My money still resides on Kayce and Monica being the driving force between saving the ranch. I feel like Sheridan will want to make a point about cowboys and Indians of yore finding a way to live together peacefully.
The importance of Kayce and Monica as a couple to their respective people was made abundantly clear as Kayce was greeted enthusiastically by ranchers in the area thanking him for putting himself on the line for them.
At the same time, Monica took community service to a new level by acting as the decoy for the man who has been murdering Indigenous women for a very long time.
People talk about makin' a difference, but they don't because they don't try. They don't risk. You risked -- everything. Today, you made a difference.
Rainwater
It sometimes seems as if Rainwater doesn't think highly of Monica for leaving the Reservation and marrying into a family that threatens their hope to get back to their roots.
But by putting her life on the line to bring peace over a situation that nobody else seemed to be able to get a handle on, it shows Rainwater that the Duttons are not evil because if they were, Monica wouldn't be a part of their family.
Monica: You're protecting me from what? After all I've seen you do? But I can't be angry because that's why I lie to you.
Kayce: What did you like about?
Monica: What did YOU lie about?
Kayce: I didn't want to tell you because it's always the same story with me. I'm always in a position when I need to kill or be killed. I mean, hell, it's my job now. I don't wanna say anything because I don't want you to think I'm a bad man, even if I think it. I don't want you to think it because if you think it, it's true.
Monica: It's been your job since I met you, Kayce, and I believe in my heart that every man you've killed has made the world a safer place. That's how I feel about the man I killed. [sobs] I killed a man today.
Monica and Kayce are two sides of the same coin. They have learned to love much about the other, including their heritage. Kayce lived on the Reservation for a long time. He was raising his child there. They'd still be there if not for John's health scare.
At the same time, Monica has always seen the damage that life on the Reservation does to those who live there.
They can fall into a pattern of poverty and vices because they are not free.
While she despised what the Duttons represented (and John gave her good reason to do that), now that she's a part of that family on the ranch, she understands how similar their way of life and the prospect of losing it is to the plight of her people.
I cannot help but wonder if at some point in the future before Yellowstone is finished, that the Reservation and the Duttons will find a way to mutually benefit from all that they have.
Kayce and Monica both risk death to preserve what they love, including each other.
They seem to hold the key to everything.
Hit the comments with your thoughts, and remember that you can watch Yellowstone online right here via TV Fanatic!
Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a staff writer and critic for TV Fanatic. She's a member of the Critic's Choice Association, enjoys mentoring writers, conversing with cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of television and film with anyone who will listen. Follow her on X and email her here at TV Fanatic.
