<i><em>Dutton Ranch</em></i> Episode 8 Sets Up a Massive Finale Showdown

Take Your Child to Work Day isn’t as fun when your son is so hungover that he just embarrasses you from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., but that’s what the 19-year-old Carter (Finn Little) gets for trying to grow up too fast. Still, as Dutton Ranch episode 8 reminds us, Beth (Kelly Reilly) and Rip (Cole Hauser) have somewhat neglected how much their adopted son was spiraling while they’ve been busy putting out one fire after another.

It’s hard to blame them. Carter’s plot is nowhere near as exciting as the Ranch Wars^TM. As we head into the finale next week, it definitely feels a little silly to put the 10 Petal drama aside and spend a majority of the episode watching a kid get his heart broken so badly that he doesn’t even know what to do with himself anymore. But Carter’s an important part of the Dutton-family legacy. It’s not just about the melodrama this week; it makes sense that this crew would want to focus on Beth and Rip trying to become better parents than their own. (*Cough* John Dutton.) Now that Taylor Swift is quoting the Dutton-family patriarch as a source of inspiration, it might not be as easy as you’d think.

When Carter admits that he quit school because his dream is to become a cowboy, Beth says one of the worst lines I’ve heard on TV all year: “School can help you learn, Carter.” Then she transitions into a war general. “I want you happy,” she says, “but I need you ready. Ready for the hard parts when they come, and they’re coming.” Now, I know the Duttons are also fighting. But did I get my TV shows mixed up this week and this is suddenly life or death, House of the Dragon–style warfare, or are we just trying to run a working cattle ranch?

Poor kid.

So Carter learns the hard way by joining Rip for a day at the 10 Petal. Cowboys don’t get a day off for being hungover, Beth tells him. (For the record, I don’t think I can name a single job that offers such a perk.) But day 1 of real cowboy camp beats Carter up. He keeps vomiting and forgetting things, and he accidentally lets a bunch of cattle escape when he messes up closing the gate. Then he tries to rope one in and it drags him away.

“Get back on your horse” is a big refrain from Rip’s parenting style this episode so far. He says it four or five times. “I’ve learned more from my failure than any success,” he offers now. “We don’t get to choose the pain, but we get to choose how we build from it.” It’s good advice, but it does sound like it’s ripped from an inspirational poster. Carter really just needs something a bit more personal. He’s having trouble with all these platitudes.

“You’ll never be my father,” he spits back. “I got two people who think they’re saviors ’cause they took in an orphan.” Then he drives home and continues the fight with Beth. “You didn’t ask for us, okay? I know,” she tells him. “But you and I, we were given to one another.”

None of their lines work on him. He’s like a Taylor Sheridan dialogue wall, lost to a plot that demands he spend time “finding himself” even though all signs point back to returning home. Teenagers are hard to write. They don’t make sense all the time, so it’s not easy to try and justify anything they do. Hopefully the kid figures it out in next week’s finale.

He’ll be back, Rip. He’ll be back.

After a heart attack, Beulah Jackson (Annette Bening) hasn’t had any clarity either. She still wants Rob-Will (Jai Courtney) to lead the ranch, even if all he talks about is wanting to murder his brother. “You are so goddamn weak,” she tells Rob-Will. “That’s why I’m leaving the ranch to you. It’s not your prize—it’s your protection.” It’s strange how oblivious she is to the fact that Joaquin (Juan Pablo Raba) has every right to be angry. She took back her word, and Rob-Will isn’t just joking about wanting Joaquin dead. He killed a guy in the beginning of the series. They both know that.

Next up? Beth. She has some concerns about Rob-Will too. “Your retirement was unexpected,” she says. “I didn’t agree to work with your son. I agreed to work with you. … He is a mistake.”

“He’s my son, Beth,” she responds. “I will not apologize for him or myself.”

Funny—Beth came to her hospital bed at the start of this scene to apologize for Carter’s behavior. If she’s learned anything from her father’s stubborn ways, it’s best to set pride aside sometimes.

I’m on Joaquin’s (Juan Pablo Raba) side.

At the very end of the episode, ranch hand Austin (Sterlin English) finally tells Rip and Beth about the 10 Petal’s illegal operations. The Jackson ranch is smuggling cattle into the States from a second operation in Mexico, he says. It’s the only way they’ve been able to stay afloat. “That would explain foot-and-mouth,” Zachariah (Marc Menchaca) chimes in. Nope. Mexico has been officially free of foot-and-mouth disease since 1954, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. But it’s another good try!

Anyway, the next cattle load from Mexico is in two days. So it looks like Rip and Beth might try to set up a sting. I’m down for it! Though I don’t see how arresting the Jacksons helps them out at all. Last week, they needed their work on the Jackson Ranch to help pay the bills. For the Dutton Ranch to survive, they might need to get their hands dirty.