I enjoyed the first four seasons of Yellowstone. But after watching season four, I heard Ben Shapiro talking about it. He pointed out that the writing is abysmal. And I thought to myself, that is exactly correct, and vowed that I was done with the show. I have always thought that good writing is the hallmark of good television. Yet, here I am again, watching season five, and enjoying it.
Why?
Well Taylor Sheridan's writing is a bit better this year. But not so much better to make a difference. Hey I get it, Sheridan is a busy man. But if we, all of us, are not watching Yellowstone for the writing, why are we watching?
The acting? It's good. Maybe not exceptional, but certainly well above average. The casting? Well with one major exception, the casting is perfection. The exception? Kelly Reilly. I don't find her credible in the role of Beth Dutton. The Beth Dutton character is a wounded child of uninhibited chutzpah and intellectual gravitas. Reilly just does not have the acting skills to pull it off. And it is such an important role. The role needs a young Jodie Foster type. Perhaps a young Faye Dunaway. I don't know enough about today's Hollywood that I can name a suitable alternate actress. But you get the idea. The cinematography? Maybe. But it's Montana; it's really hard to screw that up. Overall, the production values are first rate. In any case, none of this is why we are watching Yellowstone.
No, we watch Yellowstone for the atmosphere.
And what is the atmosphere of Yellowstone? Well, let's start with what it is not. It is not woke. It has no left coast values. In fact, the show berates Californians at every available opportunity. It is not politically correct. It is not vegan or vegetarian. It is an extremely pro-environment show, but in a way that the so-called environmentalist posers, in their North Face parkas, hate. The show does not highlight America's supposed racial problems. Or feminist issues. Or proper gender ideology. There are no trans cowboys in the show and no one states their preferred pronouns. Think Madam Secretary. It is anti-government and certainly anti-bureaucracy. The writers seem to understand what no one on the left does: Government is, at best, a hindrance to the productive.
Yellowstone is pro family, pro private enterprise, and pro rural lifestyle. Pro Second Amendment. It is pro rancher, and yes it must be added, pro beef. No wonder the left hates it. I am surprised, but glad, to report that there is almost no religion in the show. It would be impossible to label it Christian television. It is just not a Christian show by any stretch of the imagination. If anything, I guess you could call it secular conservative. I think this is really beneficial because the Hollywood left cannot simply dismiss the show as mere Christian propaganda for the flyover philistines.
There is one other aspect to the atmosphere worth pointing out. Today's novelists and other writers seem to have lost faith in their protagonists. Every lead must have flaws and personal demons, and the story is as much about overcoming these internal issues as anything else. Think House. No doubt post modernists would describe this as more realistic. Real life is not black and white. The best example I have seen of this is the show Homeland, where the lead character is so encumbered with mental illness that she needs electric shock therapy. Without denying the gray in everything, personally I think this has gone too far. Sure, no one is truly all good or all bad. But for Christ's sake it is also not realistic that our CIA operatives undergo ECT between assignments.
Without such nonsense, Yellowstone is just more fun to watch.
In short, it is everything that our contemporary bien-pensants hate. I think it is a miracle that a production of this type can even be made today.
So I encourage you to watch Yellowstone...for the atmosphere. You won't find it anywhere else.