Season 1, Episode 2:
Kill The Messenger
It has been several days since Lee's funeral, and John takes the wild stallion Kayce gifted to him after the ceremony and attempts to tame it, to no avail. John and Rip come up with a plan to break in the horse — by strapping Jimmy to the saddle with duct tape and forcing him to stay on it until it becomes tame. Jimmy manages to do so, but at great pain to himself, forcing him to lie down — and face the wrath of a ranch-hand named Fred, who mocks him for being unable to take a shower. Senior ranch-hand Lloyd intervenes after Jimmy is revealed to have received the brand — which neither of the ranch-hands present, including Fred, Ryan or Colby have had yet — and Lloyd stands up for him to get the other men off his back, endearing himself to Jimmy in the process.
At the Montana Capitol Building, Jamie is called in to a private meeting with Governor Perry and her District Attorney, Stewart, and informed of a potential powder keg situation — the coroner's reports for both Lee Dutton and Robert Long indicate that a third shooter was involved in the altercation, with the implication that it could cause a territorial war with the Duttons and the Broken Rock tribe if it becomes public. Jamie immediately realizes Kayce was the third individual, and informs Perry and Dutton that he will bury the problem for them. Jamie then goes to John and tells him about what happened, leading John to realize that they will have to sway the examiners involved with the case or Destroy the Evidence. During a visit to Kayce's house at the reservation, John presses him to admit the truth of what happened the night of Lee's death, leading Kayce to explain (in so many words) that Robert got what was coming to him. Elsewhere, Rainwater and the chief of Broken Rock's tribal police, Ben Waters, examine a physical copy of the same report, and hypothesize that Kayce might have been involved in the altercation, though they have no firm evidence.
Back at the ranch, Rip apologizes to Beth over his ill-timed mood killer during their erotic rendezvous, and pledges to make it up to her. To that end, they decide to go on a "first date" (that is, the first date since their first "first date") in a field watching wolves eat the corpse of an elk, after he throws out the idea in jest. That evening, as they sit drinking Southern Comfort whiskey and watching the wolves, they discuss the issue of death and mortality, and how she hasn't aged a day. After a comment from Rip about "cheating death", Beth drunkenly runs out of the car they were parked in and chases the wolves away from the corpse, then tells Rip that she's trying to "cheat death", as he suggested. The exasperated Rip calls her the "craziest person" he's ever met.
The next day, after a brief chat with Beth about making a decision a "father shouldn't have to make", John puts his plan to cover up the autopsies into action. He goes to Father Bob, the parishoner who presided over Lee's funeral, and convinces him to sway one of his church's members, Aaron McCreary, who was one of the medical examiners who presided over Lee and Robert's autopsies. Bob convinces McCreary, who knows the Duttons, to retract his findings on the case after convincing him that his actions could damage "the flock" in Yellowstone, via a sermon that talks about the same issue. John and Jamie later have Lee's body exhumed and cremated, to prevent anyone learning about Lee's inability to deliver the fatal wounds to Robert, and have Lee's ashes placed next to Evelyn Dutton - John's deceased wife. Rip confronts the other examiner, Dr. Monteith, who is revealed to be a Death Seeker who smokes cigars dipped in embalming fluid in order to mask his signs of depression and fatalism. After convincing him to burn himself along with the evidence, Rip knocks him out and destroys the examiner's office (where the original files for the autopsy report are) by setting up a fire that will ignite in a nearby microwave.
At the Broken Rock reservation, Kayce is still broken up over what happened with Lee and his own feelings of inadequacy, and decides to return to active duty, despite Monica's objections. He'tells her that he's only good at two things — horse-breaking and war — and that because the former isn't paying what he wants, he has to do something to support the family. Despite that, he doesn't get a chance to enact his plan before a trip with the family is interrupted by an explosion at a house that doubled as a drug lab, which Kayce and Monica both witness. Kayce puts a man who was injured and burned badly in the explosion out of his misery, and Rainwater and Ben Waters (who arrive after to survey the damage) mask what happened by making it look as though Ben put the man out of his misery, not Kayce. Rainwater tells Ben in private that while he has suspicions that Kayce was behind Robert's death, he won't act on it for the time being. Afterwards, Kayce pledges to stay in the reservation and support Monica and Tate through other means instead of returning to active duty. Later on, Rainwater invites Kayce to a sweat ceremony, where he contends that they're not that different, and that if Kayce wants to change his "path", Rainwater can help him do just that...
Tropes:
- Addled Addict: Dr. Monteith is a Death Seeker who was fired from his last medical job due to smoking cigars dipped in embalming fluid, which is suggested to mask his feelings of depression. Rip comments on this fact before he convinces Monteith to burn down the office to prevent the autopsy reports from coming out.
- Agony of the Feet: The victim Kayce finds in the aftermath of the drug lab explosion has lost one of his feet below the calf (along with being burned unrecognizably), leading Kayce — with Monica's support — to perform a Mercy Kill on him.
- Ambiguously Gay: Beth accuses Jamie of being this, due to the latter not having found a wife in his 30s. Jamie counters that he's being celibate, because he believes that bringing a child into the world, particularly that of the Duttons, is a very bad idea.
- Anguished Declaration of Love: Monica tearfully tells Kayce that she wants their relationship to work (up to and excusing the "lie by omission" over what really happened to Robert the night of Lee's death) because, despite the fact that he Cannot Spit It Out, she tells him she wants to make their relationship work, "for better or worse".
- As the Good Book Says...: Father Bob tailors one of his speeches to have direct relevance to one of his parishoners (i.e. one of the examiners who did the Robert Long autopsy), via focusing on protecting the "flock" from an uncomfortable truth that could threaten to split their ranks.
- Being Good Sucks: It's made clear that covering up the true circumstances of Lee and Robert's deaths are not something John wants to do, particularly as he goes to Father Bob in an attempt to absolve himself of guilt. However, he is forced to do it (complete with exhuming Lee's body and cremating it and burning an examiner and all the evidence of the autopsy report) due to it having the potential to invoke a territorial war if he doesn't act.
- Black-and-Gray Morality: If it wasn't already abundantly clear in the pilot, the Duttons are little better than the enemies they're fighting against, despite their attempts to moralize and believe themselves to be better than everyone else. John and Jamie are forced to enact a plan to protect Kayce and get rid of the evidence about Robert Long's suspicious death, via cremating Lee`s remains, convincing one medical examiner to forget his story and burning the other (albeit a Death Seeker) in his office, along with the evidence of the autopsy on Robert.
- Bully Hunter: As part of his Establishing Character Moment, Lloyd makes it clear that he won't stand for other wranglers picking on the "lower" members of the ranch, and makes a clear show of bravado to Fred to get him to back off from Jimmy. Later episodes make it abundantly clear that he often does this to protect the newer branded men at the ranch.
- Butt-Monkey: Jimmy is very clearly at the low-end of the totem pole at the ranch (even referred to as the "low-man" of the wranglers, who takes the most menial jobs). He is shown shovelling the cattle pens, is forced by Rip to ride a wild stallion for several hours (which tires him out so much that he would have fallen off — had he not been duct-taped to the saddle) and gets flak from Fred on account of being too tired to take a shower. Were it not for Lloyd's intervention and the reveal of his brand (which neither Fred, Ryan nor Colby have), he may have faced an even worse punishment.
- Chekhov's Gunman:
- The wild stallion that Kayce gifted to John at the end of the previous episode fuels a major plotline here, as John and Rip (and eventually Jimmy) have to work to tame it by any means necessary.
- Father Bob, the priest who presided over Lee's funeral in the pilot, is approached by John again to request a favor — in this case, convincing one of the examiners overseeing Lee and Robert's autopsies to change his story to protect the family.
- Cool Old Guy: Lloyd is one of the most senior wranglers at the ranch, and makes his credentials (and respect among the other wranglers) very clear when he sees that Jimmy got the brand — he immediately takes off his shirt to display his brand to Fred, who was harassing Jimmy to have a shower, tells Jimmy he can take his place in the shower queue in the morning, and all but stuns the rest of the wranglers by throwing his support behind the new guy — which he's hinted to have done to protect others in the past.
- Corrupt Politician: It's heavily implied that Governor Perry is in league with the Duttons in some way, as she and her D.A., Stewart, specifically call in Jamie, not just to "talk about his future", but also give him the heads-up on the Robert Long autopsy report — and come up with a way to bury the issue, so as to protect both the state and the Duttons from getting embroiled in a territorial war with the Broken Rock tribe. The following episode then reveals that Governor Perry is in a relationship with John, confirming this trope.
- Every Scar Has a Story: During the sweat ceremony with the members of the tribe, Rainwater looks at Kayce's brand from the ranch, and in an attempt to prove how they aren't so different, shows off a similar set of scars on his chest (implied to be from an initiation ceremony held by the tribe).
- Fiery Cover Up: As part of the plan to coverup the autopsy report, John has Rip knock out a medical examiner — one who's been accused of smoking embalming fluid, which got him fired from his last job, and one who's become a Death Seeker — and has both him and the evidence in the coroner's office burned to prevent the Broken Rock tribe from using it as leverage over the family.
- The Fixer: If it wasn't already clear by this point, Rip is the Dutton family's "enforcer", who is called in to handle delicate tasks others can't be seen doing (as witnessed by Jimmy in the preceding episode). To that end, Rip functionally knocks out a medical examiner and has both him and the evidence of the Robert Long autopsy burned to prevent the report from coming out and destabilizing the family's interests.
- Foreshadowing:
- It's implied that both Rainwater (who saw the hard copy of the examiner's report on Robert — itself an example of this) and Monica (who suspects it) are aware that Kayce had something to do with Robert's death, but neither are able (or willing) to bring up the matter to his face. The former is due to Rainwater "courting" Kayce to be a more proactive member of the tribe, while Monica drops the issue after realizing she could lose Kayce if he returns to active duty.
- Beth is shown having turned down a specific framed photograph of a group of people (implied to be the deceased Evelyn Dutton and the four children), even smashing it on the floor when Jamie goes to the effort to put it back on the wall. The reason why Beth hates the picture will become clear in the following episode.
- I Cannot Self-Terminate: The survivor of the drug lab explosion that Kayce and Monica find is too weak to move, and begs Kayce to end his suffering. After getting approval from Monica, Kayce regretfully puts a bullet into the man's head.
- A Lighter Shade of Black: It's abundantly clear that the Kayce/Robert autopsy reports are a political hot-button issue that threaten to destabilize both their respective families, so John makes the difficult decision to call in "old favors" and have the matter squashed — but what that means is that he tacitly approves the murder of a medical examiner (albeit one who's a Death Seeker) to cover up the autopsy and make sure it doesn't fall into the hands of the public.
- The Lost Lenore: Besides the obvious indication that Evelyn Dutton (John's wife) is no longer around, it's implied that something happened in the past that caused her death (coupled with Beth angrily looking on at a picture of her from when the kids were much younger).
- Never My Fault: Played with; when Father Bob tells John that the Lord has forgiven all his sins, John counters that he's comfortable with every action he's ever taken, regardless of what he thought about it. He then says it's the action he's about to take (namely, covering up Robert Long's cause of death) that he's going to regret.
- Noodle Incident:Beth Dutton: I've done some morbid shit on a first date, but this takes the cake.
- "Not So Different" Remark:
- Lloyd stops Fred's hazing of Jimmy (having torn open his shirt, displaying his brand) by displaying his own, indicating that both are willing to pledge Undying Loyalty to the ranch.
- Rainwater hints that both he and Kayce have done things (referring obliquely to Robert's death) that neither of them are proud of, prior to them undertaking a sweat ceremony:Rainwater: You and I are covered in evil. We have to wash it off.
- One Last Smoke: The medical examiner that Rip is sent to kill and destroy his lab asks for one last cigarette before the deed is done. Rip obliges and lets him take one last drag of the cigarette before putting him in a chokehold.
- Pretty Little Headshots: Robert Long's fatal bullet wound, as seen briefly in the coroner's report Jamie looks through in Governor Perry's office.
- Rule of Symbolism: Kayce comes across a lone coyote while driving back to the reservation one evening, who sits on the road watching him intently, even ignoring an oncoming freight truck (which subsequently runs over and kills it as he watches in shock). It's implied that this coyote represents part of Kayce's past, though nothing is confirmed either way. As the next episode indicates, coyotes staring at people are considered to be a sign that something bad will happen.
- Spotting the Thread: Jamie more-or-less instantly figures out that Kayce was the one who executed Robert, as he realizes the tight circle of bullet holes in Robert's chest (as seen in the autopsy report) couldn't have been made by any other livestock officer, while Lee couldn't have fired the shots due to the bullet that injured him functionally causing complete paralysis — and says as much to his father.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- Kayce shooting Robert in the head is pretty much figured out by Jamie and Rainwater from the get-go, who both know that the bullet wounds were a clear indication of Robert being executed. The only reason why Kayce escapes justice is due to the rest of the Duttons having to run signal interference for him, up to and including coercion and murder in order to bury the report.
- Rip may have burned the digital evidence of Robert's autopsy... but the physical copies still exist, as evidenced by both the Governor's office and Rainwater getting access to copies. The Governor's office declines to pursue the matter because it could cause a territorial war, while Rainwater is aware of it, but tells the tribal police chief that he's not ready to make a move yet, instead preferring to sit on the information and see if an opportunity presents itself. As seen later in the season, having a physical copy of the evidence comes in extremely handy if you want to put leverage over someone.
- Training from Hell: Not only is Jimmy strapped to a wild stallion for several hours in an attempt to break it in (leading him to become near-comatose from the wild shaking and causing him to vomit afterwards), but he very nearly gets hazed by Fred before Lloyd intervenes.
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: After being forced by Rip to break in the wild stallion for several hours, Jimmy vomits once he's leading the horse back to the stables to clean him.
- Wham Shot: To prove just how far the family is willing to go to protect one of their own, John has Rip knock out a medical examiner (albeit one who is a clear Death Seeker) and leave him to burn in his office, expunging the report on Robert Long's death and destroying all the evidence in the process.
