<i><em>Dutton Ranch </em></i>Season 1, Episode 6 Recap: Old Demons

Spoilers below.

Can you outrun your demons? So far this season, Dutton Ranch seems to set that up as a tempting option—but not one without its setbacks. Beth and Rip are course-correcting on their new life down in Texas, but it was only a matter of time until what they’re escaping catches up with them. (Yes, I’m talking about that murder cover-up from the end of Yellowstone.)

But before we get into all of that, let’s have some breakfast. Over at the Dutton Ranch, Beth is scrambling eggs in her high heels. Carter joins her and Rip for breakfast, but he’s still not really on speaking terms with either of them. Carter’s plan for the day is to go fishing and grab dinner with Oreana after school (though we know he has not been attending those English classes)—but he doesn’t even know how to fish, so we’ll see how that goes. Beth makes a point to tell Carter they’re going to get through all the recent “changes” as a family, and Rip also gives Carter the chance to speak his mind while he has both their attention. He shuts down instead, heading out early for a “math quiz.” Rip says Beth is “still impossible” when she wonders if they were that bad at that age. Oh, to be an angsty 19-year-old again.

Later, Rip brings on Azul and Zachariah to work at the 10-Petal Ranch. They’re not happy about it—especially Azul, who says his father, who used to work on what was formerly known as the Edwards Ranch, is rolling in his grave. But because his wife is newly pregnant, he doesn’t really have much of a choice; he has a family to provide for. The two ranches’ combined cowboy force works on branding the new Angus herd that Beth insisted Beulah bring in, but they quickly start bickering with each other, even without Chet around. Austin is being particularly prickly, going as far as calling Zachariah “used up.” How rude! As things get a bit heated, a Rip-approved match is devised to sort this tension out: 10-Petal versus Dutton in a one-handed calf-roping challenge, with the winner claiming Austin’s flashy belt buckle as the prize. A true cowboy’s game. After some rope-throwing, the Dutton cowboys snatch the winning trophy. How about that, Austin?

Over on Beulah’s end of things, she’s all perky making breakfast for Everett after a sleepover. Good for them! Everett pulls the old “I better sleep in my own bed tonight,” and Beulah says she’ll leave the light on just in case. You can have a situationship in your sixties and seventies too, folks! She’s dreading her day ahead with her newfound unlikely ally Beth, despite Everett’s reassurance that they’re more similar than she might think. Plus, she has the ranch’s 190th anniversary—and its survival—to think about.

Beulah and Beth then head out on a private jet. They’re on their way to meet Zane Nash (Marlon Young), who we know holds the cards to supply meat at a number of high-end restaurants and hotels across Texas. At their meeting, Beth makes her best pitch to sell Zane 10-Petal Ranch’s fresh Angus. She sells the steak by selling a story: a cowboy-to-table “experience” rather than just meat. His interest is most piqued by the Dutton name, though, which Beth tries to shrug off—despite her father’s reputation preceding her. Yellowstone might be written in the history books, Beth explains, but the 10-Petal Ranch is still standing, and it has its own rich history. Beulah ends up pitching Zane the opportunity to work with two iconic ranching families, though it’s clear how protective Beth is of the Dutton reputation. Seems like a done deal.

Over celebratory drinks, Beulah offers Beth some well-deserved praise. Beulah shares that her father died for the 10-Petal Ranch, which must strike Beth as quite familiar. They exchange more lore: We find out that Rob-Will’s father died in a flood before he was born, and Joaquin was dropped off unceremoniously by a ranch hand as a baby. Taking in wayward sons is what they have in common, Beulah tells Beth, and then she happens to name-drop Beth’s late adoptive brother, Jamie. Beulah has some significant skepticism about the circumstances surrounding his death. As we already know, she has good reason to doubt Beth’s innocence. I was wondering if this narrative thread from Yellowstone might come back around in Dutton Ranch…once again, I do not trust Beulah! And it turns out that Beth can’t fully escape her past.

Over at Chet’s depressing motel, he and Rob-Will are sitting around and throwing cards into a cowboy hat. Chet is indulging in a little self-pity after getting fired; Rob-Will’s way of comforting him is saying he should have fought harder to stand up for himself. They end up buying a few guns, and at one point, Rob-Will even points one right at the supplier. Rob-Will is so scary and unpredictable, a much more cut-and-dry villain than Beulah. They later get drunk together, and Rob-Will admits he sees Chet as a brother. Just how far are they willing to go to hold on to the ranch they see as home?

A drunk Chet ends up storming up onto the 10-Petal Ranch with his gun after getting gassed up by Rob-Will (like a little demon on his shoulder), and he confronts Joaquin, who just got fitted for a new cowboy hat earlier that day. Chet shoots Joaquin once through his hand, and he’s about to shoot him again when Miguel (Berto Colon) comes around the corner and takes Chet out. It’s an interesting writing choice to have a seemingly minor side character do away with Chet in this manner, without hesitation—it makes me wonder what else Beulah’s driver/ranch hand might have done for her. So long, Chet and your sexy tattoos! We hardly got to know you!

At this point, Rip rolls up on all of the action and picks Joaquin up to take him to get his hand fixed. But he stops his car on the way to finally confront Joaquin about Wes’s body. Quite the opportune time for an interrogation! Joaquin, hand still bleeding, comes clean about the whole affair: Wes was actually Chet and Rob-Will’s dealer, which is how he ended up as a body on the Dutton Ranch’s land. Joaquin also claims that Rob-Will is never coming back, and if he does, he’ll kill him himself. Little do they know Rob-Will is newly on the prowl! Rip drops Joaquin off at Everett’s for some fixing up rather than get doctors (and police) involved. Poor Everett.

That was another action-packed day for Beth and Rip, but while all of this was going down, Carter and Oreana were perched up on a boat for some lake fishing. (Although Carter admits he likes the drinking associated with fishing more than the fishing itself.) Carter also gets a bit vulnerable with Oreana about his past: His mother passed away when he was 11, and his father died of an overdose when he was 14. Beth and Rip are the closest thing to family he’s ever had, but he feels suffocated by them—which is why he bonded so much with Dwight (RIP!); he actually felt seen by him. While lounging in the sun—Oreana in a bikini top and short shorts while Carter is fully clothed, for some reason—Carter drops the L word. Oreana’s response is that neither of them really know what love is. Before they can get any further in that particular conversation, they’re interrupted by phone pings, and Oreana hits the gas on their boat, off to an unseen emergency. What could possibly be going wrong now?