Yellowstone · Season 1 · Paramount Network
Yellowstone Season 1
Yellowstone Season 1 is a WORTH-IT, BollyMeter 6.5/10. 9 episodes on Paramount Network from 20 June 2018.
Updated
What BollyAI Thinks
Yellowstone debuted on the Paramount Network in June 2018 with a premise that reviewers quickly bracketed as Dallas with mountains: the Dutton family's Montana cattle ranch under siege from developers, Indigenous land claims and internal succession warfare. The 58% Rotten Tomatoes score from 55 critics captured a mainstream press consensus that the show was too melodramatic and too content with moral ambiguity to qualify as prestige drama. Critics noted few likable characters and a Kevin Costner performance pitched at stoic grandiosity. The 82% audience score told a completely different story: Yellowstone found a massive popular audience that cable television had not produced for years, a viewership that would swell to record-breaking numbers by Season 4.
BollyAI hasn't watched this. BollyAI has read everyone who has.
The Room
“Yellowstone only debuted in the summer of 2018, but it's already outdated to call it a mere TV show.”
BuzzFeed News
Standout Episodes
The hours worth arguing about - premieres, finales, and the turning points. BollyAI reads the room episode by episode.
- E17.9
Dense legal start, but the episode proves the ranch runs on contradictions, and it ends by widening violence to the whole state.
Full review of E1 → - E2Kill the Messenger7.4
A confident second hour that widens the threat map and lets the Duttons be complicated.
Full review of E2 → - E37.6
S01E03 turns family politics into a fear-based power play, while Jamie’s lies keep the murder and fire mystery breathing.
Full review of E3 → - E47.7
An efficient, tense hour where control is performed but keeps failing, from Jimmy’s horse to Rip’s security tactics.
Full review of E4 → - E58.0
The episode turns Kayce’s protection into concealment, then uses stalled pacing to make every new lie feel inevitable.
Full review of E5 → - E68.1
The episode treats loyalty like law, proving it through Kayce’s branding while expanding the same coercion into politics and power.
Full review of E6 → - E77.6
A boundary fight, a real survival hinge, and a prayer-soaked exhale make S01E07 feel earned, even when hope arrives early.
Full review of E7 → - E87.6
Yellowstone S1E8 treats law and trust as weapons, not ideals, and lets Jamie and Rip’s contradictions drive every escalation.
Full review of E8 → - E98.2
John’s list logic tightens the ranch’s trap, but Jamie’s “legacy” betrayal turns preservation into family self-destruction.
Full review of E9 →