‘Yellowstone’ Season 5 Episode 7 Recap: “The Dream Is Not Me”

Yellowstone Season 5 has reached its halfway point with Episode 7 (“The Dream Is Not Me”), where it will step aside for a brief hiatus so the light of the Taylor Sheridan universe can shine fully on its newest entry, 1923. (Who’s ready for Helen Mirren and Harrison Ford to get into some cowboy shit? We are.) This was all part of the plan – the final seven episodes of Yellowstone’s biggest season ever will start appearing in January 2023 – but in the meantime, there’s an impeachment play brewing from Jamie Dutton and the established dominant voice of his conscience, Sarah Atwood; a serious threat to the cattle that represent the uncertain financial backbone of the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch; increasing friction between the governor’s office, Thomas Rainwater, and the Confederated Tribes of Broken Rock; and John’s increasingly public romance with displaced environmentalist jailbird Summer Higgins. And just how many people has Rip murdered, anyway?

We begin with another flashback to the coming-of-age adventures of Young Rip. It’s nighttime, and the future ranch foreman and Rowdy the drifter cowboy are hunkered in the sagebrush guarding the herd from wolves. But when the latter starts running his mouth disrespectfully about Young Beth, it’s time for another cowboy fight. Rip can’t believe it when his adversary pulls a knife – “You tried to stab me, you fucking coward?” – but his retaliation with a rock goes too far, first leaving Rowdy seriously concussed and then leaving the cowboy seriously dead. A tearful Rip comes clean to Young John Dutton, and a decision is made. With Young Lloyd on hand to help dispose of the body, they clean the scene, but not without a pledge of fealty. “You will do for this ranch what I say do, no matter what that is.” And as we know, Rip has proudly bent the knee ever since. 

Jamie is describing to Sarah Atwood his early tutelage in ranching and cowboying. The nuances of being a cattle producer. Grass cycles! Bull genetics! But the same man who put him through those paces also arranged for him to attend Harvard on a lawyer track. And now his foster father hates him for becoming the very thing he forced him to become. But Sarah dismisses Jamie’s longing for John’s approval. “He resents you, he’s scared of you, and the future of the beef industry in the United States is no future.” Sarah’s message is that John’s “progress stops with me” line is stagnant bullshit. The state’s financial future isn’t in livestock. It’s in tourism, an industry where the family’s beloved ranch could even still thrive, and she elicits another whispered plea for help in securing her lover the governorship. Sarah Atwood is now fully the Jamie Whisperer.

It’s another predawn prep session for the cowboys on gathering duty, and Abby awakens groggily in Ryan’s tent. She’s more used to musicians’ hours. “You better be worth this walk of shame,” she tells him. “Half my church is camped out here.” There’s also a quiet smile from John as he watches the cowboys assemble. “This is my favorite part of everything we do,” he tells Rip. The cowboys ride out with the sunrise, and Beth greets Summer, Abby, and Laramie in camp – “Look at all you sluts” – which inspires a spirited debate over the institution of marriage. It’s either a prison for women or the personal paradise of two soulmates, depending on whether you’re a hippie or Beth Dutton. When Monica wonders why Beth is so mean, she doubles down on her rationalizations. But she also says her sister-in-law doesn’t deserve any vitriol, since she lost a child, and confides in Monica her own experience. A powerful stillness settles between them, a bond before the crackle of the chuckwagon fire. “But I was a bitch before it happened, so that’s not why I’m mean.”

RELATED: Yellowstone Season 5 Episode 7: 5 Things You May Have Missed, From Thomas Rainwater’s Premonition To The 6666 Ranch

John Dutton’s adoration for ranch life is one thing. But he’s playing some serious hooky from his actual job, which Chief Thomas Rainwater notes when Senator Perry alerts him to a federal government proposal for two pipelines to run straight through the center of his peoples’ reservation. Perry says she’ll stand with Rainwater in opposition to the initiative. But what about Governor Dutton? And at that same moment, John is on horseback out in his pasture, where the cowboys discover stillborn buffalo calves. That indicates brucellosis, a highly contagious bacterial disease, and if even one of the Dutton cows catch it, the state will mandate destruction of the entire herd. Back at the ranch, the branding festivities continue, with some fine horsemanship from Lloyd and Jake as they push cattle into the chutes and traumatized reactions from Summer and Clara as they help Teeter with vaccinating calves. But the brucellosis thing is a huge deal. The herd is insured. But John’s worry is “rebuilding 100 years of genetics,” not to mention the logistics and management headaches of moving and monitoring half the herd on safer leased ground somewhere south.

It will cost money the ranch doesn’t have to move the herd to safety, and Beth is concerned about its continued financial solvency, because even in good times the place doesn’t turn a profit. “I really thought the airport would be the end of us,” she tells her father. “But your business model is gonna be the end of us.” Can Beth’s contemporary business savvy save the ranch’s watery finances by migrating its business from low-ROI cattle into high-priced tomahawk steaks? We’ll see. But for now, Rip taps Jake, Teeter, Ryan, and Walker to accompany him south with the herd that will move. It’ll require living on the land for at least a year, and the cowboys thank their boss for the opportunity. Walker lets out a mirthful whoop. “Cowboy shit now!”

Most everyone on the ranch puts aside all of the stress about branding and brucellosis to attend the county fair. Rip and Beth walk arm in arm. Carter and Tate shoot BB gun targets. Kayce and Monica revel in parenthood. And pretty much everyone finds somebody to make out with during Zach Bryan’s set. That includes John and Summer, who acknowledges the value in what she’s learned about ranching during her stay at the Duttons’. “12 million tourists a year come to Montana from cities. You might wanna think about inviting a few of them over so they understand who you really are and what you really do. Because they have you pegged as a bunch of misogynist bigots who are ruining the environment, and that is not who you are.” 

John told Summer he had absolutely zero intention of running for a second term, which informed his decision to kiss his environmental counselor in public behind his cowboy hat. But he needs to realize the growing danger inside his current term. Sarah now has Jamie wrapped around her finger. And Market Equities has reignited the squabble over the airport deal and John’s insertion of the ranch land into a conservation easement. If Montana went bankrupt fighting a lawsuit over bad faith negotiations, that could be an impeachable offense. Second term in the future? More like no term never. (Remember what Sarah said about removing John from the fight?) And as the episode comes to a close, the attorney general/gubernatorial hopeful and his consigliere/corporate shark are in their underwear at Jamie’s, running lines on his state house speech to urge for John Dutton’s impeachment.

Hooked Rocking Y’s:

• With word of Yellowstone’s own Luke Grimes issuing “No Horse to Ride,” the first single off his upcoming debut full-length, and his announcement that he’ll perform at the Stagecoach Festival in California come April 2023, let’s run down the music featured in “The Dream is Not Me.”
• Abby, aka Lainey Wilson, had enough on her plate as an actor this week, getting cozy with cowboy Ryan only to find out he might be leaving town for a year. So she didn’t book the county fair gig. Instead, it was singer-songwriter Zach Bryan and his band performing “Motorcycle Drive By” for the gathered Montanans scarfing down chili dogs and losing money at carnival games – or winning them, as Colby was able to do for Teeter, who demanded her “fuck’n barr.” (Wasn’t it cool how the plush toy matched her hair color?) Bryan also stuck around at the fair until after the sun went down for a contemplative, banjo-inflected song called “Summertime Blues,” which is also the title of his new EP that includes both of these tracks. Bryan is no stranger to Yellowstone; his song “The Good I’ll Do” was featured earlier this season in episode 4.

     

• Elsewhere in “The Dream Is Not Me,” we heard Lubbock, Texas-based Flatland Cavalry with “Mountain Song,” the first song on their new EP Songs to Keep You Warm, and “Blacklight” by GRAZZE, aka Spanish musician Javier Garcia, which also features Deeparture and Dan Soleil.

Johnny Loftus is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift. Follow him on Twitter: @glennganges