Kevin Costner’s Perfect Yellowstone Farewell: Rip’s Final Scene with John Dutton III

Rip’s (Cole Hauser) final scene with John Dutton III was the perfect sendoff to Kevin Costner and his Yellowstone character despite the controversy over the actor and character’s exit. John was last seen alive in Yellowstone season 5, episode 8, “A Knife and No Coin,” the season finale of part 1. The final Yellowstone season was split into two parts, adding to the conflict over season 5 and the time it took to complete the show’s fifth and potentially final outing. Costner’s absence as the central Dutton clan member was at the heart of the controversy, significantly affecting part 2.

John Dutton was missing from season 5, part 2, after Costner and Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan failed to reach a working agreement. Therefore, John Dutton III dies in Yellowstone season 5, part 2’s premiere, to make everything click in the show’s final season. While some found the character’s exit a heinous act against both John Dutton and Costner, part 2 also features a lovely tribute to Dutton in the Yellowstone series finale. The moment somewhat redeemed some of the shortcomings of Costner’s original sendoff in the show, as difficult as that was.

Rip’s Final Scene With Kevin Costner’s John Dutton III Explained

Rip Buries John Dutton In Yellowstone Season 5’s Finale

The last time that Costner and Hauser were on-screen together as John and Rip is technically in “A Knife and No Coin,” when the ranch foreman prepares to journey south to Texas with the herd and half the Yellowstone Ranch cowboys. John and Rip square up a few details. Then, Dutton apologizes to his foreman for the inconvenience, which causes Rip to go away from Beth (Kelly Reilly). Rip says, “Sir, it is what it is.” Then, John bids farewell, reminding the foreman of what’s commonly said about being a cowboy, remarking, “If it was easy, everyone would do it.”

While Costner and Hauser’s final scene is a proper cowboy farewell, it isn’t Rip’s last exchange with John Dutton. In the finale, Rip’s final scene with John Dutton is when he buries the rancher after his funeral. Rip digs the hole for John’s grave before the ritual, rounding up a few cowboys to help him complete the job. Wheeler also sticks around after John’s ceremony to put dirt over the casket, staying behind after everyone has left to send John off properly. Rip is the last to send John off in the finale, which is fitting.

Why Rip Buried John Dutton In The Yellowstone Season 5 Finale

Rip’s Final Scene Has Multiple Interpretations

First and foremost, Rip buries John Dutton in Yellowstone season 5, episode 14, because he is the ranch’s foreman. Rip has handled or delegated the bulk of the ranch’s manual labor for decades, so digging holes on the property is a job that already fits Rip’s job description. Rip delegates the task partly to the other cowboys, who help him make funeral preparations. However, there are more profound reasons why Rip assigns himself the task of finishing the job. Rip burying John honors their connection and ties into the 1883 spinoff.

1883 is the Yellowstone prequel that follows the earliest members of the Dutton family tree as they travel the Oregon Trail from Texas to Montana. In 1883, the characters face a harrowing journey that causes deaths in nearly every episode, with members of their wagon train dying of disturbances or disease. Being pioneers on a wagon train with no infrastructure, when someone dies in the prequel, their loved ones have to dig the hole and lower them into the ground personally. Rip’s gesture honors the first Dutton family members. However, the gesture also cements John and Rip’s father-and-son connection.

How Rip Burying John Continues A Yellowstone Trend

Rip’s Concern With His Family’s Final Arrangements Extends To John Dutton

Rip burying John is the perfect touch and arguably the best sendoff to the leader because John saw his ranch foreman as a son and eventually treated him like one. Rip putting the final dirt on John’s coffin honors the connection between the cowboys. Moreover, Rip’s Yellowstone season 5 finale gesture continues a trend revealed in one of the early seasons. Rip plays a significant role in the final arrangements of his family, and what he says to Beth in a different scene adds even more significance to this gesture.

In Yellowstone season 2, episode 7, “Resurrection Day,” Beth has Rip meet her on the roof of the family’s lodge, where she drinks whiskey and stares at the stars. When Rip comes out on the roof, the future couple squares up their thoughts on god and life, with John’s daughter conjuring one of Beth’s best quotes from Yellowstone. When Beth asks Rip to take her on a date, she tells him “Lord knows” he can afford it because he’s “been wearing the same three pairs of jeans and jacket” for a decade, but Rip’s money went to burial arrangements.

When she presses the foreman on what he spent all his money on, Rip tells Beth that he spent $20,000 on his mom’s headstone and 30 on his brother’s. Additionally, Rip tells Beth that he spent $5,000 on a gravedigger in Forsyth, Montana, to exhume his father’s bones, which he threw out the window on the way home, dishonoring the physical remains of the man who murdered his family. Rip’s comments show that he feels a strong sense of responsibility for his family’s final resting places, which extends to John, whom he views as a father.

John Dutton didn’t need Rip’s financial assistance for his tombstone, and Rip’s treatment of the rancher was far from the desecration of his father’s physical remnants. Still, it shows how important it is for Rip to be involved in the arrangements. He would probably personally bury Beth, too, if anything happened to his wife, although hopefully, we don’t see that in the Beth & Rip Yellowstone spinoff. Rip’s interaction with the preacher is humorous. Yet, his insistence on lowering John into the ground shows Rip’s sincerity, as does his use of the “symbolic” shovel to lay all the earth on John’s grave.

Was Rip’s Moment Better Than John Dutton’s Yellowstone Funeral?

Many People Needed To Bid John Farewell

In some ways, John’s funeral is a big setup for Beth’s final revenge on Jamie, established when she whispers into John Dutton’s coffin that she plans to avenge his death. Still, it includes parting words from Kayce (Luke Grimes), Lynelle (Wendy Moniz), and Thomas Rainwater (Gil Birmingham), with all the Dutton Ranch cowboys laying down a flower. Therefore, John’s funeral was the most necessary element of Kevin Costner’s Yellowstone season 5 sendoff. Still, Rip’s treatment added the perfect touch, with the foreman’s silence as he diligently began to work, saying all that needed to be said.