Yellowstone’ Season 1: Details and Easter Eggs You Might Have Missed
13 details you might have missed in season 1 of 'Yellowstone'
The premiere’s cold open isn’t explained until the season finale.
It’s implied that Beth recently regained her independence after a long-term relationship.
When Kayce (Luke Grimes) takes his son Tate (Brecken Merrill) to the Dutton ranch for the first time, a brief conversation between the Navy S.E.A.L. and his sister suggests that she has recently come out of a relationship.
“How’s Mr. Daniel?” Kayce asks her, to which Beth (Kelly Reilly) responds with a dismissive shake of her head.
“Good for you,” he then says.
“Yeah? You’re the only one who shares that opinion,” she responds, further hinting that the demise of her relationship with the mysterious Mr. Daniel was something the rest of her family were disappointed by.
One thing Beth and Kayce have in common is that they are both free spirits who can’t abide being under other people’s thumbs. The audience is left with the impression that Beth’s former lover was someone who attempted to control her or turn her into someone she’s not.
While everyone else around her might have welcomed a man into her life who would be able to do that, only Kayce can recognize that Beth is better off alone than with such a partner.
Since Kayce hasn’t seen his sister in a long time, the relationship must have also been somewhat serious or long-lasting.
Lee Dutton’s death scene in the pilot parallels Elsa Dutton’s in the prequel series “1883.”
At one point, he shows Kayce the scars he has on his chest which he says speak to his loyalty to his tribe. The scars likely come from him participating in the Sun Dance, a sacred ritual found among many Native American communities.
According to the Aktá Lakota Museum, the ritual sees men dance while they are fastened to a pole with rawhide thongs which are “pierced each side of their chests with a length of bone.” The ceremony goes on for four days, during which the men fast and dance with the goal of hopefully receiving a vision.
The six-piece country band, who hail from Texas, makes an appearance in episode four of season one.
Beth takes Dan Jenkins to a Bozeman dive bar to show him the “real” Montana, and the band is seen onstage performing their songs “Frogman” and “Stones.”
Three other Whiskey Myers songs appear on the soundtrack for season one; “On the River” was used in the pilot, while “Bar, Guitar and Honky Tonk Crowd” and “Broken Window Serenade” were used in later episodes.
The title for episode four appears to reference the early 2000s country song, “The Long Black Train” by Josh Turner.
Audiences learn what the Duttons do with their adversaries in this episode.
On John’s instructions, Rip (Cole Hauser) and Lloyd (Forrie J. Smith) take enemies to what they call the “train station,” a Dutton code word for a roadside ditch a few miles over the Wyoming border (which it seems was inspired by a 50-square-mile area of Montana called the Zone of Death, where legal jurisdiction over crime is murky).
As Lloyd and Rip dispose of their latest victim in episode five, Lloyd invokes the episode title, telling the confused ranch hand that he’s going to “the long black train.”
“The Long Black Train” is also the name of a 2003 Christian country song by singer Josh Turner, which uses the metaphor of a long black train to symbolize the fate of those who stray away from their faith and give in to sinful behavior.
In the world of “Yellowstone,” John Dutton is portrayed as his own god. He makes his own rules and is essentially untouchable to those who try to bring him down, so it’s fitting that those who go against him end up on the long black train.
Co-creator Taylor Sheridan makes a cameo in episode five as horse trainer Travis Wheatley.
Walker, who is introduced halfway through the season, is played by an Oscar and Grammy-winning singer-songwriter.
The show appears to mix up political advisor Jim Messina and actor Chris Messina.
