Yellowstone Season 1 is full of drama, murders, and dark painful memories. Let’s rank each episode.

Yellowstone, created by actor and filmmaker Taylor Sheridan, features Kevin Costner as John Dutton, a sixth-generation homesteader of the Yellowstone ranch in Montana. John Dutton is a rancher who is protective over his land and holds power over the Montana town where he and his children reside.

The Dutton family consists of John Dutton and his four adult children. Lee (Dave Annable) is the son who stayed to help run the ranch. Beth (Kelly Reilly) is the ruthless businesswoman and John’s only daughter. John’s son Jamie (Wes Bentley), is a lawyer who is desperate for his father’s approval. Then there’s rebel son, Kayce (Luke Grimes), a former Navy SEAL who now lives on the nearby Indian Reservation with his Native American wife, Monica (Kelsey Asbille), and their son, Tate (Brecken Merrill).

The first season is full of drama, murders, and dark painful memories while John Dutton attempts to protect his ranch from land developers and an Indian Reservation. Here is every Yellowstone Season 1 episode ranked.

9.Kill The Messenger (Episode 2)

Episode 2 begins with John Dutton (Kevin Costner) attempting to tame a wild horse. John decides the best way to break the horse is to get newly hired ex-con Jimmy (Jefferson White) to ride him. Rip Wheeler (Cole Hauser) tapes Jimmy into the saddle and the horse does its best to try and buck Jimmy off, but it can’t. It’s a rough ride, but John believes it will eventually turn Jimmy into a cowboy.

In addition, the Duttons deal with the potential repercussions of the governor’s autopsy report that implicates Kayce (Luke Grimes) for murder. John tries to keep the evidence from going public by cremating the body to destroy the evidence. On the reservation, Kayce is unable to get a massive rock to budge, so he decides to blow it up while his son Tate (Brecken Merrill) watches in excitement. The two check out the new hole they’ve just created and discover it contains the skeleton of a dinosaur. Later, Kayce is confronted by Monica (Kelsey Asbille) about the murder of her brother.

8.The Long Black Train (Episode 4)

A secret about John comes to the surface and Beth (Kelly Reilly) shows Dan Jenkins (Danny Huston) a rough night out. Kayce arrives at the ranch with Tate, wondering if his dad has any ideas for entertaining Tate. John is happy to be included in his grandson’s life and takes Tate to the river. John and Tate’s quality time leads to Tate falling into the river and John rescuing him.

Back on the ranch, Jimmy struggles with finding his place and gets into a fight with a man named Fred (Luke Peckinpah). Rip defends Jimmy and tells Fred and the other men that if they ever hit a branded man, they will die. John tells Rip to take Fred to the “train station” saying how he knew Fred was a bully. Rip later has Lloyd (Forrie J. Smith) take Fred to a canyon at the Wyoming state border.

7.No Good Horses (Episode 3)

A flashback shows a painful anniversary for the Dutton family. Evelyn Dutton (Gretchen Mol) is horseback riding with her kids Beth (Kylie Rogers) and Kayce (Rhys Alterman). Beth is nervous about riding her horse and Evelyn’s horse throws her off, critically injuring her. Kayce tries going for help, but Evelyn insists Beth go instead since the accident was Beth’s fault.

In the present time on the reservation, Kayce and Tate come across a suspicious white van. Kayce looks inside and sees a young girl bound with tape. Meanwhile, Beth turns a trough into an outdoor bathtub and retrieves two bottles of alcohol from the house. Beth climbs into the trough, naked, and opens one of the bottles.

6.Coming Home (Episode 5)

Kayce feels the tension when he is interrogated by Thomas Rainwater and the Chief of Police. They found the bodies of the men Kayce killed. Kayce tells them what happened, but then Jamie comes in quickly dismantling any basis the officials might have for a case against Kayce.

Meanwhile, Rip goes to the jail to recruit a new cowboy for the ranch. Walker (Ryan Bingham) is recruited and branded with the Yellowstone symbol. Jamie introduces Monica to the president of Montana State. He offers her a job as an Associate Professor in their Native American Studies department. Monica’s salary would be substantial, but she doesn’t want to take the offer because if she leaves the reservation school there won’t be anybody to take her place.

5.The Remembering (Episode 6)

A new partnership threatens John and the Yellowstone ranch. Jamie and Beth meet with Governor Lynelle Perry (Wendy Moniz) to go over their political plans. Meanwhile, Rip confronts Kayce about cleaning up his messes and a confrontation between the two gets physical. After Rip rides off, Kayce picks up the folder he left behind and sees it contains the autopsy report on Monica’s brother.

On the Reservation, Monica attempts to stop a fight at the school but gets injured while Tate’s watching. Kayce receives the call about Monica and is told she is awake and talking but is warned by the nurse to watch for any signs of Monica’s condition worsening. Later in the episode, Monica is walking down the steps at her house and falls to the ground. Kayce begins performing CPR and begs Monica to not leave them, telling her he needs her.

4.A Monster Is Among Us (Episode 7)

Rip stumbles upon a dangerous and dire situation involving a couple of tourists while looking for a bear. Meanwhile, Monica suffers from an epidural hematoma and has to have surgery. Kayce insists on seeing Monica, even though the Doctors advise against it. Back on the ranch, John’s health starts to catch up to him, prompting him to ask Beth to babysit Tate.

A plan is set in motion by Thomas Rainwater and Dan Jenkins to take John Dutton down. However, the two can’t agree on some of the financing issues, and Rainwater leaves, telling Dan to let him know when he’s ready to truly become a partner in taking down John Dutton.

3.The Unravelling: Part 1 (Episode 8)

A flashback shows the painful memories of how young Rip (Kyle Red Silverstein) stopped his abusive father after he’d killed his family. The flashback continues with a young John Dutton (Josh Lucas) finding the boy (Rip) in his hayloft. John gives Rip some food and offers him a job if he agrees to leave the past behind him.

At present time, Rip (Cole Hauser) faces a sheriff’s investigation and John is warned Fish and Wildlife are going to assume Rip killed the bear and then murdered the tourists to keep them from telling the cops. The sheriff doesn’t believe Rip’s story that both tourists slipped when he threw them a rope. Jamie’s political future also comes into question and Beth goes after Dan’s finances.

2.The Unravelling: Part 2 (Episode 9)

Beth takes on a new role and John lets Beth know Jamie’s no longer the ranch’s attorney, advising her he’s going to “take away the thing” Jamie left the family for. Jamie’s political career is threatened, and he reveals secrets of the Dutton family to a news reporter. John admits to Rip that he doesn’t know who’s really behind the subpoenas. The talk turns to John’s health, and he admits he doesn’t know how much time he has left. John tells Rip he has decided not to go back to the doctor’s office for treatment. Later, Kayce returns home after Monica tells him she has to keep Tate from John and Kayce to protect Tate.

Later in the episode, Rip and Lloyd follow Dan down a sidewalk in town, and when he cuts into the parked cars, Kayce blocks his passage and pushes him into a truck. Dan’s taken to the ranch where he’s placed on a horse with a noose around his neck. Rip makes Dan confess his plans to inflate the land prices, run up the property tax, and price people out. After obtaining the confession Rip says to cut Dan down as he screams obscenities, but Kayce hits the horse causing it to run off. “Let him hang,” Kayce says as he turns away. Dan struggles for breath, grasping at the rope around his throat.

1.Daybreak (Episode 1)

Yellowstone’s first episode kicked off with John Dutton being involved in a car accident that leads him to euthanize an injured horse after the collision. Meanwhile, John has Rip hire an ex-con named Jimmy, and the two use dynamite to stop a rival developer’s dam.

The Duttons are at odds with land developers and a native community in Montana called the Broken Rock Reservation, who want to break up their land. Thomas Rainwater (Gil Birmingham) is the newly elected Chairman of the local Native American tribe. Rainwater wants to buy back the land that was stolen and believes they still can claim rights to the Dutton family’s land and the livestock that lives on it. Later in the two-hour premiere, Dutton’s cattle wander onto the Native American land, and a confrontation ensues, resulting in multiple deaths.

Yellowstone premieres exclusively on Paramount Network and is available to stream on Peacock.