Yellowstone Discussions and stuff

[Willie Oleson]

The drama always looks great when it matters and of course it looks even better when you know a little bit more about the characters.
Beth acts more like a real human being and it helps to sell the romance with Rip.

Beth's hatred of her brother Jamie seems a little disproportionate sometimes. Is there something else going on between them, something I failed to notice?

Ah-ha, so that's been explained now. I think it's supposed to have a shock effect but in my opinion it doesn't.
The flow of the story, the order of events leaves something to be desired.

I demand more screen time for Jamie Dutton

Ah-ha, I got that one too.

And again, a great scene and Kevin Costner gets to show his acting skills - he is very good - but the reveal itself doesn't feel special enough for the overall narrative.
The idea appears to be: let's all behave very dramatic and then present the events from the past to explain it.

All the rodeo and the rangers stuff is entertaining too but it has very little to do with the Dutton family, and because every episode has something that disrupts the "peace and quiet" in Bozeman, Montana it also has a cop show feel to it.
Thomas Rainwater is desperately trying to plot his way into the story but they won't let him.

Three more episodes to work towards that supposedly spectacular finale but at this point I have no idea where it's going to come from.
I wouldn't mind trading some of those perfectly acted scenes and funny bunkhouse shenanigans for a little bit of suspense. Open the gates and let it flood, dammit, I'm done sightseeing!

 

[Willie Oleson]

Three more episodes to work towards that supposedly spectacular finale but at this point I have no idea where it's going to come from.

And I wasn't wrong because it turns out to be a split-second decision. Blink and you would have missed it.
It's not that different from the Beck brother's season finale carnage except this time the Duttons are the vulnerable ones.
The result is an Angelica Nero + Blake season 9 + Chao-Li season 6.
But the most intriguing part is Jamie's poker face. How bad is he going to be?

I'm typing this literally a few minutes after watching this episode and the excitement has already worn off. That excitement should last a whole summer, praying for the series to return a.s.a.p.
For all its movie-esque qualities, YELLOWSTONE has underestimated the art of serialization. There are some interesting thoughts and ideas that hark back to season 1, but it only shows that the original premise has been put on hold so they can use other characters to rehash that very premise over and over again.

IMDB bitch reviewers condemn YELLOWSTONE for being too soapy, but in my experience of watching (a lot of) soap opera I'm going to say that some of the best drama comes from trashy storylines.Something ridiculous or far-fetched or laughable that transforms into a beautiful thing, and that's the kind of drama that lingers on.

I feel I can't criticize them for their creative decisions - it's their story, not mine - I can only describe the effect it has on me, personally. Or, to be more precisely, the lack thereof.
Honestly I don't care who's going to live or not, I only wants to see what plans Jamie has for the future. He's the only one who really intrigues me.
Come to think of it...I wonder if it really was Market Equities who had organized the assassinations. Hmm....

And now I'm going to watch complete MELROSE PLACE

 

[James from London]

Who shot J.D. on 'Yellowstone'? Writer behind 'Dallas' cliffhanger 'Who shot J.R.?' weighs in

Loraine Despres, the writer behind the 'Dallas' cliffhanger of 'Who shot J.R.?' weighs in on the big mystery at the end of 'Yellowstone' season 3.

ew.com

 

[Willie Oleson]

Interesting comment about money vs. production values. If it's true that DALLAS had to do with a smaller budget than YELLOWSTONE then I think DALLAS actually did a better job, fake Southfork notwithstanding. They've done lots of beautiful outdoors scenes (or even complete episodes) and you know, a prairie is a prairie and a tree is a tree and there isn't anything in YELLOWSTONE that I haven't seen in DALLAS.
And how about the spectacular scenery in THE YELLOW ROSE, that also happened in the 1980s.

Of course the 80s soap genre was a lot about barging into/storming out of offices and mansions, sometimes entertainingly hindered by an evil staircase, and like I said

I'm done sightseeing

Beautiful wide shots in wide screen isn't enough to make interesting drama.

But what actually disturbs me about that article is that it took me a while to recollect the Who Shot J.D.? scene. There isn't much about this series that lingers on and unfortunately my two favourite characters didn't fare well in the story - one was killed off early on and the other one keeps disappearing in the background just when things start to get interesting.
The cliff hanger is violent but not nearly as exciting as Angelica Nero's revenge or the explosion on Christopher Ewing's alternative energy rig or the execution of Drew Ramos or even the off-screen fake execution of Emma Ryland.