As The Ranch comes to a close, one of the show’s most vital threads is officially being cut. One of the main characters on the Netflix sitcom officially sold their homestead, meaning that an entire setting is gone. In fact, it was actually one of the Bennett family members, meaning that their settlement won’t be handed down to future generations.
Spoilers ahead for The Ranch Part 7.
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At the start of the season, the status quo is that Beau Bennett (Sam Elliott) owns the family’s flagship ranch, Iron River, but has a partnership with Lisa Neumann (Wendie Malick) to delegate the day-to-day operations. Meanwhile, Colt Bennett (Ashton Kutcher) still has ownership of the old Peterson ranch, but things are not running smoothly.
On one of the ranches that Lisa owns, she has decided to build a dam across a stream. Unfortunately for Colt, his and several other ranches are downstream from the water source, meaning they have limited access now that the dam is up.
Colt and his cousin Luke (Dax Shepard) decided to blow up the dam to restore access. After the dam is blown up, Lisa finds footage of Colt near the dam the night of the crime. (Luke is not seen in the footage.) Lisa threatens to have Colt arrested, unless he sells her his ranch. However, Colt refuses and is eventually locked up.
We then see Beau walk into Lisa’s office at the end of Episode 8, “Without a Fight.”
“If you’re here about Colt, I’m sorry,” Lisa tells him. “I offered him a way out, but he chose not to take it.”
“I’m not here to argue,” Beau replies. “I told him to take your deal. I don’t agree with Colt’s decision, but he’s my son, and I’d do anything for him. I want you do drop the charges.”
Lisa scoffs at the demand, but Beau then drops a bombshell on her.
“‘Cause if you do, I’ll sell you my ranch,” Beau says.
That episode ends, but the ninth episode, “Welcome to the Future,” picks up that thread from the start.
Colt is released from jail and arrives back at Iron River with Luke. Beau is waiting on the porch and informs Colt of the deal he made.
“You’re outta jail ’cause I just sold Lisa Neumann Iron River,” Beau says.
Colt is in disbelief and tries to force Beau to go back on the deal, volunteering to go back behind bars.
“I appreciate what you’re doing here, O.K.? But I had this,” Colt says.
Beau replies, “You didn’t have s—. You were in a g— jail cell.”
Colt fires back “Just ’cause I was in jail doesn’t mean I was gonna lose. She had no right to put that dam up, and a jury would have said so.”
Beau won’t budge, and Colt then has to grapple with the fact that Iron River is officially out of Bennett family control for the first time in a century.
“Jesus Christ, Dad. Iron River’s been in this family for a hundred f—’ years. You just gave it away?” he says. “Once again, you just never believe in me.”
Beau replies ,”Are you f—in’ kiddin me? I just sold everything I had to save your ass.”
Colt then mouths off to Beau, sarcastically saying how Beau always “knows best” despite everyone else’s opinions and abilities.
A furious Beau replies, “If I really knew what was best, you’d still be sittin’ in jail.”
While the father and son go on to mend their fences a bit, the family ranch is still gone. It appears the Peterson ranch will serve as the epicenter of activity for the series going forward.
All episodes of The Ranch are currently streaming on Netflix. Part 8 will debut some time in 2020.
Photo Credit: Netflix / Greg Gayne
