Abhiroop Das
Created by Chad Feehan, Paramount+’s ‘Dutton Ranch‘ picks up Rip and Beth‘s story following the ending of ‘Yellowstone.’ Though the couple intends to move past their towering family legacy and start something of their own, that hope is quickly squashed when a tragedy strikes. Without warning, they are ushered into Texas, where everyone vaguely knows who the Duttons are, but far from fearing them. Faced with stiff competition on all fronts and met with fewer friends than ever, Rip and Beth have to adjust accordingly, treating each day as a challenge they must conquer.
Episodes 1 and 2, titled ‘The Untold Want’ and ‘Earn Another Day,’ respectively, begin with Rip and Beth’s first steps into becoming the finest ranchers of Rio Paloma, but that comes at a cost. Meanwhile, a terrible murder takes place on the grounds of the largest ranch in town, the 10 Petal, which creates a chain of events that sends shockwaves all the way to episode 3, titled ‘Act of God Business.’ SPOILERS AHEAD.
Beulah Struggles to Maintain Her Iron Grip Over Rio Paloma
‘Dutton Ranch’ episode 3, titled ‘Act of God Business,’ begins the morning after Rip inexplicably dumps Wes’ body in a faraway pit. Beth, who woke up in the middle of the night to find her husband missing, knows that something’s up, but lets Rip maintain his privacy for the time being. Though Texas is far warmer and level-plained than Montana, that doesn’t stop the duo from riding together and guiding the cattle to a watering hole, where Rip sees that the calf he rescued is alive and thriving. Back home, however, Carter seems to be in a slump, with his mind refusing to move on from Oreana. Beth, who has a big day of making deals ahead of her, tries to rein her son in, but to no avail.
The scene then shifts to a congregation in Rio Paloma, where many of the town’s most important people have gathered for the funeral of the former sheriff Elis Logan. Beulah, the eulogist for the occasion, reveals that she was once in a relationship with Elis, which implicitly conveys the power dynamics that led her to become the town’s lead rancher. The new sheriff, however, doesn’t seem to have the same understanding of the 10 Petal Ranch and brings up Wes’s disappearance case not long after. Though Beulah is able to cover up the mess for now, even she realizes that time is running short, which gives way to a brief but poignant reunion with Everett. It appears that the two were in a relationship once, but the past has now been eclipsed by a lingering fear of death, one that both Everett and Beulah bring up, but neither can reconcile with.
Rip Discovers a Cattle Epidemic in the Making
Before Carter can head out for college, he gets a call from Oreana asking him to pick her up urgently. When he does make it to the location, though, he finds her distraught rather than excited. As it turns out, Hoyt, Oreana’s cowboy boyfriend, has been cheating on her, and she is itching for payback. Given his already messy history with the cowboy, Carter decides to get in on the fun, and together the duo makes it to Hoyt’s house, where Carter proceeds to urinate all over the car. Even more aggressive in her approach is Oreana, who smashes Hoyt’s windows long enough that he charges out with a gun, scaring the teens away. Though news of this mischief even reaches the sheriff, he is unable to do anything, since Oreana is Beulah’s grandchild and enjoys more immunity than almost anyone in town.
Elsewhere, Rip’s day is going far from well, as Zachariah comes in with bad news about a cow that has been acting weird all morning. A closer look reveals that it is foaming at its mouth and has a gash on its foot, which is generally a sign of Foot-and-Mouth Disease, or FMD, that is highly contagious and can wipe out entire herds in days. Realizing how bad things can get, Rip immediately kills the cow and calls in Everett, and sets up a quarantine section. However, Everett can do nothing but confirm Rip’s suspicions, which means that the entire group will have to be on the lookout for days, and possibly weeks. Rip suspects that the cow they recently purchased from the auction might have been the carrier in this case, which potentially foreshadows that this was not a natural occurrence, but planned by someone else.
Beth Wins the Battle But Risks Losing the War
While the Dutton Ranch faces the risk of a cow epidemic, Beth is already making big steps towards the expansion. After picking up the beef shipment from Carnes del Arroyo Seco, she learns that their business has been going downhill for quite some time because of big companies taking over their clients. This includes giants like the 10 Petal Ranch, which in turn makes Beth a natural ally. From there, she heads to a gourmet restaurant named Stillwell’s and quickly bribes a chef to make a steak from a rib-eye cut straight from the Dutton Ranch. The owner, familiar with the Dutton name and legacy, doesn’t require a lot of convincing, and a deal is quickly made between Beth and an entire chain of elite hotels and restaurants.
The same afternoon, Rip ends up facing trouble once again when an old woman storms into the ranch with a gun, prepared to shoot Zachariah in the head. Though he seems to be accepting of this fate, Rip is the one who steps in between them and calms the woman down, barely saving the day yet again. That night, Zachariah comes clean to Ripl about his past, revealing that he was once in a relationship with that woman’s daughter, Theresa. After one particularly fierce argument, however, Zachariah accidentally ended up reversing his truck in her direction, killing her almost instantly. Despite the years he has spent in prison and out since, Zachariah cannot help but bear the guilt every second of the day, and Rip at last understands what he meant when he described this job as a second chance at life.
Carter and Oreana, on the other hand, sneak back home with zero company and soon get cozy. Though both of them have feelings for each other by this point, it isn’t until they get high that Oreana finds the courage to make the first move. As the duo makes love, Beth drives back home with a sense of jubilation, only for that hope to be squashed when she learns of the cattle catching FMD. To make things worse, a new cow seems to have passed away from the disease, and her calf is now showing the same symptoms, which means that the Duttons’ success campaign might just be at risk of ending before it can even get started.
Read More: Where is Dutton Ranch Filmed?
You must be logged in to post a comment.