‘Yellowstone’ Kills off Major Character During Season 2 Finale

Yellowstone delivered a bloody Season 2 finale as the Duttons raced to rescue one of their own from Malcolm Beck. The high-stakes episode saw the loss of one major character as a casualty in the war for power in the region, and left many other cliffhangers to be picked up in the already-announced Season 3.

Spoilers ahead for Yellowstone Season 2, Episode 10: “Sins of the Father.”

The episode picked up soon after last week’s episode left off, with John Dutton (Kevin Costner) swearing to do whatever it took to being Tate (Brecken Merrill) back home safely.

Dan Jenkins (Danny Huston) was the finale’s first major victim after a group of men killed his bodyguard and entered his home. The billionaire managed to kill two of his aggressors before a third shot him and left him to bleed to death outside of his mansion.

At the Dutton Ranch, John (Kevin Costner) planned how to go on the offensive against the Beck brothers, promising the mission to rescue Tate (Brecken Merrill) will be the “end of us, but we’re going to do it anyway.”

The sheriff is then seen arriving at Dan’s home to find his dead body before he meets with John to talk plans. The sheriff says he can only keep the murder quiet for a day, as John warns that things could just get bloodier from here. The sheriff warns John that his plans to take down Malcolm Beck (Neal McDonough) will only work if he keeps things above board, though John seems set on his ways.

That night, Kayce (Luke Grimes) says goodbye to his father and Monica (Kelsey Asbille), promising her he will kill the people who took Tate as revenge. The show shifts to Malcom driving and being stopped by police and the sheriff comes to Malcolm’s window and asks them to pop the trunk, ignoring Malcolm’s threat to expose his secrets.

Donnie urges Malcolm to try to come to a peaceful resolution with the Duttons, but he refuses. He panics and tells his brother to leave his home before the Duttons come retrieve Tate. John then calls Chief Rainwater (Gil Birmingham) and warns him to stay in friendly ground after Dan’s death. Rainwater shows his loyalty with John, for now, by sending help as the family prepared for their final showdown in search of Tate.

With a warrant, Kayce goes to the Beck property in search of his son and finds Malcolm’s brother in the toilet. Without hesitation, he shoots him several times attempting for him to reveal Tate’s whereabouts. Kayce kills the man, and stages it as a suicide, after he shares the boy is being kept with the militia and the Crazies.

With the help of allies and the police, Kayce, John, Rip and the wranglers attacked the groups in an attempt to save Tate. The aggressive siege ends when Kayce enters the home and asks for Tate, but the only living person there kills himself before revealing what happened.

Outside, John shoots a man in the darkness who turns out to be Malcom Beck. John tells him deserves a lot worse than dying on the groun but promises to take him to the hospital if he tells him where Tate is being kept hidden. With his dying breath, Malcolm reveals where the boy is but refuses to accept John’s help. John walks away after Malcolm says he wishes he had never met the Duttons in the first place

The next morning, the group rushes into the home of a white supremacist group where Kayce finds Tate with a recently shaved head and clearly traumatized from the experience. Kayce calms him down and cradles him as the wranglers drive them back home to the ranch.

The episode ends in a somber tone as the family celebrates Tate coming back home, knowing that the glory days of the ranch are quickly coming to an end. We will have to wait until next season to see what happens after the bloody night and what happens with Jamie’s future baby.

Yellowstone will return for Season 3 in 2020.