‘Dutton Ranch’ Episode 4 Recap – The Texas Cattle Massacre

I’ve never been particularly drawn to the ranching lifestyle, but I imagine that if I were, Episode 4 of Dutton Ranch would have put me off pretty quickly. The lovely scenery and cute animals are all well and good, but what happens when a deadly foot and mouth disease outbreak means you have to walk your entire herd into a giant grave and shoot them all one at a time? No, thank you. Not for me.

But this is a massive part of “Start with a Bullet”. After discovering the extent of the herd’s infection, which Rip realises must stem from the bull he bought at auction, it becomes obvious that the herd is pretty much done for and has to be dealt with as humanely and safely as possible. And that’s a gargantuan task, both logistically and emotionally. Rip, Beth, Azul, and Zach treat the whole thing like they’re going to war. He’s clear that what’s going is something that all of them will take to their graves. If anyone wants to back out, now’s the time.

They don’t, obviously. Even without the Yellowstone brand, Rip inspires a certain kind of loyalty, so Azul and Zach see it through with him, and Beth remains at his side. A giant grave is dug, and the cows are morbidly led into it, and then Rip shoots each and every one with a rifle, including the baby he rescued in the premiere. It’s one of the more morbid sequences I’ve seen on TV in quite some time, but it’s also important to note that it’s tastefully done and deeply respectful of the emotional trauma of the act. Even Rip, who I’m fairly sure killed a man by pushing his thumbs into his eyes in Yellowstone, has to take a moment to himself at the end of the day, just to process it all.

You might be wondering what this has to do with anything. The honest answer to that question is that, at least right now, I don’t know. Beth makes a few calls and quickly learns that the broker who sold the bull falsified all of the health information. It was never examined and cleared by a vet, so the whole thing was rigged. But to what end? Beth and Rip pay the guy a visit and set his trailer on fire, but is this just a case of a guy cutting a few corners, or was it — more likely — a scheme by Beulah and the 10 Petals?

Dutton Ranch Episode 4 does flesh out the ongoing rivalry between 10 Petals and the Dutton Ranch, but mostly through Carter’s relationship with Oreana. As was clearly going to happen, Beth catches the two of them in bed together, but rather than kicking all the way off as I expected her to, she instead takes Oreana home to prove a point. The “twist” here, so to speak, is that Beth seems to get on Oreana quite well, though it’s admittedly unclear whether that’s genuine or if she just sees her as a useful piece in the ongoing chess game with 10 Petals. The problem with Oreana is that she’s such an exaggerated version of the obnoxious teenage girl trope that she’s already irritating before she’s had the chance to do anything all that annoying.

And Carter isn’t much better. I can totally see why the dude would want to skip school to get into bed with Oreana, and the fact that he’s a 19-year-old in a class full of 15-year-olds can’t be easy, but the kid just will not do what he’s told. Instead of returning to school as Beth tells him, he instead goes looking for ranch work and ends up spending the day with an eccentric, drunken storyteller named Dwight, who keeps a pet leopard named Xena — after the warrior princess — for no reason at all. It’s some cash in his pocket, granted, but when he eventually gets home and starts sulking that Beth didn’t tell him about the cattle problem, he pretends like he made a major sacrifice by being at school all day. He spent the afternoon drinking beer!

“Start with a Bullet” also gives us a little bit more background on Beulah and Everett, but it’s difficult to parse. The former lures the latter to the 10 Petals by pretending there’s an emergency with a pregnant mare, but she’s really just trying to spend some time with him. There’s clearly a lot of history here, no small amount of it painful. Everett mentions the name Levi in relation to a tire swing that still hangs from an oak tree in his backyard. I’m guessing he lost a son, and I suspect that Beulah may have been his mother. But perhaps I’m getting ahead of myself.

There’s more to come, I’m sure, and I’m still very much enjoying it all, but I would like to see a bit more forward progression in the plot. We know ranching isn’t easy, but it’s much more entertaining when it’s in the middle of a direct conflict.