Yellowstone might be a gritty, hard-hitting Western drama, but it does have a tendency to stray into the realms of fantasy with some of its dialogue. The Dutton family are immensely entertaining to watch, yet there are moments where they don’t seem very authentic as characters, because the words coming out of their mouths simply don’t ring true.
There’s a general consensus that the show’s dialogue gets progressively more ridiculous as it develops. In fact, one of the harsh realities of rewatching Yellowstone season 1 is that it feels a whole lot more grounded than anything that comes after it.
Among the quotes we wouldn’t expect to hear anyone say in real life, very few come from the first season of the series. On the other hand, Yellowstone season 5 could have its own list of absurd dialogue exchanges, as the show ventures into increasingly outlandish territory overall.
It’s worth remembering that Yellowstone is the most popular TV Western of the 21st century because its characters are incredibly compelling. The Duttons couldn’t engage people the way they do without uttering some superb lines of dialogue. But alongside John Dutton’s best quotes, it’s fair to say that he and his family give us plenty of stinkers, too.
10
“You Can’t Unmake Family, But You Can Take Their Gold Card”
“The Unravelling: Part 2” – Season 1, Episode 9
Yellowstone’s Dutton family tree is complicated to say the least, and no one embodies its complexities more than John Dutton’s adoptive son, Jamie, who regularly incurs the wrath of his step-sister, Beth. Here, in one of the countless barbs Beth aims Jamie’s way, she taunts him with her decision to revoke his access to the family’s premium credit account.
It’s a clunky line of dialogue characteristic of the childish dynamic between Beth and Jamie throughout the series. In real life, surely Beth would have something more grown-up to say if she was removing this kind of financial privilege from her step-brother.
9
“I Am The Opposite Of Progress”
“Keep The Wolves Close” – Season 4, Episode 7
Becoming Governor of Montana effectively seals John Dutton’s fate in Yellowstone, particularly when he’s standing in the way of powerful investment firms getting their hands on his land. This line in a speech during his election campaign spells out exactly what he stands for, as he seeks to keep his part of Montana the way it’s always been.
However, it’s far too on-the-nose to be something a politician would actually say in real life. Even if a conservative governor candidate were telling his prospective constituents that he plans to stand in the way of progress at all costs, he’d find a less straightforward way of saying it.
8
“You Are Such A F**king A**hole, It’s Almost Attractive”
“Give The World Away” – Season 5, Episode 13
No character in Yellowstone gets as many attention-grabbing lines as Beth Dutton. Whether she’s genuinely angry or just plain sassy, she always seems to have the final word. Beth’s best Yellowstone quotes make for some of the show’s most memorable moments, but they also frequently go beyond the bounds of believability.
In this case, her quick-witted comeback to Taylor Sheridan’s character Travis Wheatley rings especially false. It’s almost as though Sheridan is trying to find a subtle way for Beth actor Kelly Reilly to call him attractive. He wrote this line himself, after all.
7
“Be Meaner Than Evil, And Still Love Your Family And Enjoy A Sunrise”
“Meaner Than Evil” – Season 3, Episode 9
Long before he decided to run for governor, John Dutton was already busy spelling out just how evil he is in plain English. Indeed, he isn’t just evil. He’s even “meaner than evil”. One of Kevin Costner’s most celebrated Yellowstone quotes, this line does a pretty good job of summing the Dutton patriarch up as a character.
Nevertheless, it’s a highly stylized and melodramatic piece of dialogue. It might work for Costner’s character, but it’s hardly the kind of thing we’d expect to hear anyone say in real life. What’s more, Dutton does more than his fair share of showing us just how mean he can be, rendering the telling here utterly redundant.
6
“You Have All The P**sy And Half The Money”
“Half The Money” – Season 4, Episode 1
One of the more infuriating recurring motifs in Yellowstone is the show’s misguided attempt to portray Beth Dutton as some kind of feminist icon. Her advice to a stranger at a bar in this line of dialogue is a shining example of this false-flag “feminism”, which is only made worse when the character Beth is addressing appears to apply it.
Whenever Yellowstone tries something this facile, it ends up degrading both its best female character and the series as a whole. Beth Dutton is many things, but she is far from a champion of women’s liberation. It’s a shame this line lends its name to an episode that’s actually one of Yellowstone’s best overall.
5
“I Am The Rattlesnake, But You’re Not Who I’m Going To Bite”
“Tall Drink Of Water” – Season 5, Episode 3
The Beth Dutton zingers just keep on coming as Yellowstone moves into its fifth and final season. Too often during the course of the show, we see Kelly Reilly’s character flaunting her sexuality for no apparent reason, in the crudest terms possible.
Here, as she declares herself to be the “rattlesnake” that the businessman she’s pitching is afraid of, she seductively suggests that she’s planning to “bite” someone else instead. It feels like an unnecessary way to extend the metaphor, which cheapens Beth’s image as a shrewd negotiator with business clout of her own.
4
“You Are The Trailer Park, I Am The Tornado”
“Cowboys And Dreamers” – Season 3, Episode 5
If Beth Dutton is the most misunderstood character in the Yellowstone franchise, then it’s because of overblown statements like this one, which make her seem as if she’s trying too hard. Beth is a genuinely intimidating presence, who strikes fear in various characters across the main series. She doesn’t need to go overboard with clunky, cliched metaphors.
Much like her father, she shows us what she’s about too often for a line in which she refers to herself as “the tornado” to add anything of substance. It’s quotes such as this one which add weight to the opinion that Yellowstone is just a soap opera with cowboy hats.
3
“There’s No Little People In The World, Just Little Penises”
“Tall Drink Of Water” – Season 5, Episode 3
By season 5, Taylor Sheridan was apparently running on fumes while writing Yellowstone scripts. This attempt at bawdy humor from Dutton ranch hand Ryan is the kind of punchline that would elicit deafening silence in a standup comedy show.
It’s symptomatic of the general decline in the TV Western’s writing as it came toward the end of its run, some of which may well have been born out of Sheridan’s refusal to delegate any of season 5 to a writing team. Incredibly, this line isn’t even the worst joke in the series.
2
“You’re Lucky I Don’t Drill A Hole In The Side Of That Barn And Take It For A Ride”
“All I See Is You” – Season 4, Episode 3
Poor Walker has been in jail so long that he’s apparently experiencing the unnatural urge to perform sex acts on the wall of a barn. At least that’s the thrust of this wayward one-liner. Thanks to dialogue of this caliber, even Yellowstone’s biggest fans accept the harsh reality that the show’s writing leaves a lot to be desired.
You can have the best cast in the world trying their utmost to bring a script to life, but if it’s written like this line, no audience will believe it. Luckily, most Yellowstone episodes have peaks and troughs in their writing. Either way, Walker’s threat to sexually assault a barn is most definitely a trough.
1
“Lawyers Are The Swords Of This Century”
“Blaze of Glory” – Season 2, Episode 6
Perhaps the only thing Yellowstone does worse than bawdy humor is profound statements of gravitas, as John Dutton exemplifies here. This absolute clanger of a quote is used to convince his adoptive son to enter the legal profession. Before Yellowstone fails Jamie Dutton badly, he attempts to follow John’s plan for him, only to be told he’s come up short.
Rather than this line land as the profoundly significant moment it should have been for the pair’s complex relationship, it feels laughably overreaching, and undercuts the seriousness of the conversation John is having with Jamie as a boy. Whatever Yellowstone suggests, sadly, armed drones and ballistic missiles are the swords of this century, not lawyers.
- Release Date
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2018 – 2024-00-00
- Network
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Paramount Network
- Showrunner
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Taylor Sheridan
- Directors
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Stephen Kay, Taylor Sheridan, Christina Alexandra Voros, Guy Ferland, John Dahl
- Writers
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John Coveny, Ian McCulloch