The latest episode of Yellowstone Season 5 dropped some major revelations for the Duttons of 1883 as Summer explored their family graveyard. But before we dive in, beware of major spoilers ahead.
Yellowstone Season 5, Episode 6, “Cigarettes, Whiskey, a Meadow and You,” hit Sunday, and a whole lot went down. One major thru-line, however, tied it all together neatly: exploring the heritage of the Duttons.
As every other member of the Yellowstone world heads out for the gathering, only Monica (Kelsey Asbille) and Summer (Piper Perabo) are left on the ranch. Summer, who’s still sporting the hefty bruises of her brawl with Beth (Kelly Reilly), gets to know the Dutton world a whole lot better through Monica’s guidance. The bulk of their conversation happens within a wagon camp straight out of 1883, too, where real-life Yellowstone cook Gator makes another return preparing a feast fit for an emperor. Or governor, rather.
Yet it’s what happens next that perfectly connects the Dutton heritage from Yellowstone to 1883. Later in the day, Monica finds Summer in the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch graveyard. It’s the family graveyard, more aptly, where generations of Duttons were buried after their fight to keep this land ended.
In Yellowstone, we first saw Lee Dutton (Dave Annable) buried here as the series began. Then, some five years on, we watched as baby John Dutton IV was put to rest alongside his grandfather’s horse in an Indigenous ceremony. As Summer explores the centuries of Dutton burials, she eventually spots this freshly-built burial mound. But not before examining three graves that are far, far older.
‘Yellowstone’ Reveals Gravestones of James, Margaret, and Elsa Dutton, Solidifying Their Fates
Fascinatingly, this sequence also reveals the gravestones of 1883’s James, Margaret, and Elsa Dutton to us as Summer discovers them. Each is spattered with blood, signaling the violent, tragic legacy of this family. Firstly, Summer comes across a headstone which reads ‘Our Father’ at the top, which reveals a very important year to the Yellowstone universe.
“Who is this?” Summer asks Monica as she touches the tombstone.
“I don’t know. The first, I think,” Monica replies ambiguously. At first glance, it appears to read JOHN DUTTON and not JAMES DUTTON, especially when the spacing of the letters is considered. Whichever it reads, the ‘Our Father’ at the top solidifies this as the grave of James Dutton (Tim McGraw), while also revealing the year of his death: 1893.
Perhaps James was the middle name of the Tennessee native, and John was his first name? It is common for a son to go by their middle name when baring the same name as their father, after all. And there are certainly many John Duttons in this family tree. Could James’ first name actually be John, bringing the legacy of that family name that much further back? Or is his first-born son the first of that name? Perhaps we’ll find out in 1923, as James Badge Dale gives life to John Dutton “Sr.” in his prime.
Regardless, we now know the year in which James Dutton died. This would place that heartbreaking Yellowstone Season 4 flashback featuring his death from a gunshot wound firmly in 1893 – a decade after he and his family founded the ranch in 1883.
How Does ‘1883’ Connect to ‘Yellowstone’?
As mentioned before, Yellowstone connects to the events of 1883 in a variety of ways, and not just because we’re following the same bloodline of hardened cowboys. First off, the show is a prequel, set over 100 years before the events of the flagship series. But even before 1883 aired, its stars showed up on Yellowstone, at least in flashbacks. During the show’s fourth season, Yellowstone often flashed back to the year 1893, set 10 years after the events of Elsa’s death at the end of 1883. Here, we see an older James work alongside his two sons, John (Jack Michael Doke) and Spencer (Charlie Stover), as they prepare for winter.
In “Half The Money,” they make a deal with the local Native American tribe that they may bury one of their own on their ancestral land, something that also seems to foreshadow how this story may end. Later that season, in the flashback seen during the episode “No Kindness For The Coward,” James is killed by horse thieves, dying on his doorstep upon returning home. As revealed in the prequel series 1923, Margaret died only a year later, in 1894, of hypothermia. Their sons, John and Spencer, were only saved by James’ brother Jacob (Harrison Ford) and his wife Cara (Helen Mirren), who raised them as if they were their own. Whether there will be more connections between Yellowstone and its various prequels remains to be seen, but one thing’s for certain: this powerful moment from Yellowstone Season 5 also sheds light on the ending to Sheridan’s 10-episode prequel series, just not the way you might think.
Does This ‘1883’ Scene Foreshadow How ‘Yellowstone’ Could End?
One interesting tidbit that connects back to Monica’s side comment about the land that once belonged to her ancestors, is that at the end of 1883, James Dutton makes a pact with the Spotted Eagle (Graham Greene), a Crow elder who prophesies that, after seven generations, the Natives would return to take back the land. “You can have it,” James replies after making the deal, giving the Crow people permission to oppose his own kin. But how might this actually play out on the show?
There are many theories about how this might occur. Some think that Kayce’s (Luke Grimes) marriage to Monica may have something to do with it as their son, Tate (Brecken Merrill), is half-Native, while others hypothesize that the ranch may one day be split, given partially to the National Park Service, partially to the Broken Rock Indian Reservation, and partially to the surviving Duttons after John’s possible (and likely) death. However that turns out, we’ll just have to wait and see. The land has taken the likes of James, Margaret, and Elsa before him, so it’s likely it’ll take John too, “just like a cowboy should.”
With a Yellowstone sequel series on the rise, it’s unlikely that the Dutton Ranch itself will go anywhere any time soon. Yet, it still seems like creator Taylor Sheridan is giving us hints at how this will all end. Even the scene between Summer and Monica at the graveyard seems to imply that this is the only way that John Dutton’s story could end. After all, visiting the cemetery is what Monica thinks will help Summer get to know John best, which may be a darker hint to the Dutton patriarch’s fate (the same episode also features the death of an elderly cowboy, which John notes is the best way for a cowboy to go).
