‘Yellowstone’: Slow on the range
It’s easy on the eyes but not so easy to watch
Countless beautiful vistas are captured in “Yellowstone,” the big-budget Western from Paramount Network that lured Kevin Costner to his first regular TV role. There are endless glimpses of the sweeping Montana countryside, the very land you imagine “America, the Beautiful” was written about; idyllic scenes of cowboys on horseback rounding up cattle; of Native Americans dancing to traditional music; of babbling rivers and brooks.
It’s all very pretty, but it doesn’t conceal a rather pokey and dull series (Wednesday, 9 EDT/PDT, ★★☆☆). “Yellowstone” is a rote family drama that’s too self-important for its own good.
“Yellowstone” follows the Dutton family, run with an iron hand by patriarch John (Costner), a Montana rancher and landowner who senses an assault on his way of life by a city-slicker developer (Danny Huston) and the new leader of a local reservation (Gil Birmingham) who wants to fight more aggressively for Native Americans’ rights.
Dutton is disappointed by his children, yet he needs them to keep the ranch going. Jamie (Wes Bentley) is a lawyer with political ambitions; Lee (Dave Annable) is a ranch hand who can’t quite master his leadership skills; Beth (Kelly Reilly) is a cold Wall Street type who’s back home to help; and Kayce (Luke Grimes) is the black sheep, a cowboy who lives on a reservation with his Native American wife and their son.
There are nuggets of a more exciting show, similar to HBO’s Prohibition-era drama “Boardwalk Empire” and other series about corrupt governments and feuding criminal dynasties. John is no crime lord, but he’s not a law-abiding citizen, either. The ranch has all the markers of a gang, from violent recruitment tactics to brands that identify its members.
Yet the series can’t make its central clan interesting or sympathetic, from the bland Dutton sons to the galloping ranchers and the selfish motivations behind John’s scheming. The plot meanders into random and confusing places. At one point, a meth lab explodes. At another, Kayce unearths dinosaur bones.
The series spins its latter-day “cowboys and Indians” narrative by putting the Dutton family and its vast resources in direct conflict with the reservation over a herd of cattle, which has deadly consequences on both sides. The writers make the ill-advised decision to paint the Native Americans with a broadly villainous brush, an offensive stereotype of a marginalized culture that lacks nuance and feels at odds with the detailed, loving portrait of the white ranchers.
All 10 episodes of the series were written and directed by co-creator Taylor Sheridan, who was behind “Hell or High Water” and “Sicario,” and it’s easy to see his touch in the glacial pacing, family soap opera and breathtaking landscapes. But “Yellowstone” might have had a better life as a film. A tight and sharper script might have excised some of the series’ ponderous and outlandish moments. A somber shot of a coyote that is killed seconds later might be meant as a metaphor, but it seems like pretentious filler, stretching the series’ seemingly interminable length.
It’s lovely to see Costner’s dour glare on the small screen, and there’s no denying that “Yellowstone” is gorgeous. But as a seasoned rancher like John would surely agree, style gets you only so far. There’s got to be something more substantive when you dig.
Besides dinosaur bones.