John Dutton's 7 Best And 7 Worst Moments From Yellowstone So Far

The landmark series has finally returned. The first half of the explosive extended fifth season of "Yellowstone" has begun on Paramount. Starring Kevin Costner as the lead role of John Dutton and written by the modern Western scribe Taylor Sheridan, "Yellowstone" continues to shock and awe as the tensions in Montana's Paradise Valley rise and the plot thickens. This highly exaggerated version of Montana seen on "Yellowstone" continues to spark support and acclaim from its ever-growing audience, and there's no doubt that Costner's consistent performance as John Dutton has something to do with that.

Of course, John Dutton himself is a mixed bag — a character with so many shades of gray that black and white seem to hardly even apply. That said, most of the patriarch's questionable actions can be seen as either positives or negatives depending on your vantagepoint, but one thing is abundantly clear — it doesn't pay to mess with John Dutton. Over the course of four seasons, going on five, the head Dutton has proven himself a formidable foe, one who will do just about anything to protect his family and his livelihood.

Though he isn't the most likeable of the "Yellowstone" characters, John Dutton has had some pretty great moments. With so many to choose from, here are the seven best and seven worst John Dutton moments on "Yellowstone" thus far.

Near the end of the show's second season, John Dutton is forced to reveal the ugly truth behind his rocky relationship with his youngest son Kayce. These two have been butting heads since long before "Yellowstone" even started, and after two seasons of speculation we finally learned why — and it's worse than we thought. Despite having branded Kayce when he was young, John turned his back on his son when he got a woman pregnant and intended to get married. Obviously, that young woman was Kayce's wife Monica.

When explaining this to Monica, John shares that he tried to get Kayce to take her to an abortion clinic and terminate the pregnancy. Ignoring his father's wishes, Kayce ended up marrying Monica as the two of them went on to raise Tate on the Broken Rock Indian Reservation. Eventually, John comes around to both Monica and Tate, and works hard to build a relationship with his grandson. Though, given the circumstances surrounding Tate's birth, Kayce doesn't owe his father much of anything.

Over time, John works to rebuild his relationship with his son. Although it takes a while, John eventually lets Kayce and his family go as they move on to start their own life elsewhere, away from the Yellowstone. Even still, kicking is son out for giving him a grandchild is pretty heartless.

Besides Jamie, Beth, and Kayce, do you remember that John had another son? No, we're not talking about his surrogate son Rip Wheeler, rather, we're talking about Lee Dutton, the firstborn son to John and his late wife Evelyn. Lee hasn't shown up much on the show — in fact, the series often forgets about him entirely, especially in flashbacks — but that doesn't mean that he doesn't have an impact. After being groomed to take over the ranch for years, Lee is tragically killed in the very first episode.

While John doesn't pull the trigger on his own son, he might as well have. John sends Lee and the Livestock Agents into the Broken Rock Indian Reservation to reclaim lost cattle. While the herd was rightfully Dutton's, the trespass results in his firstborn's death. Had John tried to work out the cattle dispute through different channels — including simple negotiations with Chief Thomas Rainwater — there's no doubt that his son would still be alive today. Considering how many times John Dutton has been shot and lived to tell, you'd think a younger buck like Lee might've lived.

Though Lee hasn't been mentioned much since the series began, he appears in a vision to Kayce that reminds the audience that the "Yellowstone" family did have another member at one point in time. Had John Dutton not been so hot-headed, Lee might've lived on and taken over the Yellowstone himself.

Throughout the entire first season, John Dutton stares down his impending doom as he battles cancer. Thinking he doesn't have much time left to live, he does everything within his power to make the Yellowstone — and his children — ready for a world without him. Even though his firstborn Lee dies, John still sees Kayce, Jaime, and Beth as his eventual beneficiaries and hopes to fight every oppositional force — be they the Confederated Tribes of Broken Rock or greedy California land developers — to maintain control of their family's land.

At the beginning of Season 2, it looks as if John's cancer has finally gotten the better of him. After ignoring his doctors and keeping his condition a secret, it finally gets the best of him. He collapses in front of his ranch hands and, by a miracle, discovers that he never had cancer at all — his collapse is the result of a burst ulcer. John's own pride has not only nearly killed him but caused him to make dozens of rash and impulsive decisions that cost others their lives, including his own son.

Upon recognizing that he's now going to live, he states that he realizes that since he won't die, he's "gotta face all the decisions [he's] made." Not only is his near-death experience one of his worst moments on the series, but John Dutton's inability to take the advice of others continues to get him in trouble throughout the show.

While John Dutton becoming governor of Montana might've been the best thing for the state in the long run, it's one of the worst things John ever does to his son Jamie. After turning his son onto political power, John sees an ambitious streak in Jamie that eventually gets him to the capitol. With his expert knowledge of the law, Jamie is always one of the Duttons' most valuable assets, that is, until John steps in to do the job himself.

Though John is right not to trust Jamie with such power — he's been known to kill in order to keep it — John stepping in to run for governor, with the blessing of Senator Lynelle Perry no less, is one of the biggest slaps in the face that the Dutton patriarch has ever given to his adopted son. Especially since Jamie didn't see this one coming. What John does with this power remains to be seen, but between his usurping from his son and Beth's constant bullying of Jamie, it stands to reason that this'll eventually go poorly.

Though there are very real reasons why John Dutton makes a better leader for Montana than his son, the truth remains that he took over the political race in the shadiest way possible. Without so much as a warning, John strips Jamie of all his hopes and dreams, and that's just a bit cruel.

Of all the mistakes that John Dutton makes on "Yellowstone," this might be one of the hardest to watch. After teaching his grandson Tate how to ranch and take care of their family's horses, John lets the young boy wander out in the middle of the night to check on a horse, resulting in his abduction. In retaliation for resisting their plans for the Dutton land, the Beck brothers hire a militia to kidnap Tate and hold him hostage until John Dutton surrenders his family's livelihood.

Though John, Kayce, and the Dutton crew get Tate back, the boy suffers from some serious PTSD that contributes to his family's departure from the Yellowstone Ranch. Beyond the long-term effects on Tate, this act would be irresponsible anyhow as there are countless wild animals — including bears and wolves — who could've wandered their way onto the property in the middle of the night. John might've thought that he was giving Tate more agency; in truth, he was risking his life.

John and Tate haven't spent a ton of time together since these events, and it's understandable why. Though, given that Kayce and Monica name Tate's baby brother — who only lived an extra hour after his birth — "John" means that they must've forgiven the patriarch for some of his most grievous wrongs, including this one.

Of all the shady secrets that John Dutton keeps, none are more damaging or damning than the truth behind his son Jamie's parentage. Though he raises his adopted son as his own and claims to have loved him the same, at the end of the day, John Dutton is not Jamie's father, biologically speaking. Instead, Jamie's father is a man named Garrett Randall — a murderer who kills his own wife. It's a pretty tragic story, and probably why John takes Jamie in the first place, hoping to give the young child a better life and home.

But, in true Dutton fashion, rather than explaining to his son the origins of his birth and family history — and why he adopted him in the first place — John hides the truth like a puppet master. No wonder that Jamie betrays his family and turns to Randall for help in furthering his political career. John's lie eventually leads to some pretty harsh consequences, namely Randall's hit order on the Dutton clan, which nearly results in the entire family being wiped off the map. Even John is in critical condition for a time.

Since this incident, John continues to claim love for his adopted son, and tries desperately to keep the peace between Jamie and Beth, and also keep Jamie in line. Admittedly, John's treatment of Jamie throughout the series isn't too great, but it's this lie that nearly destroys their entire family.

In "Yellowstone" Season 4, John gets involved with an animal rights activist named Summer Higgins, and while it may change her perspective on ranching, it doesn't do her many favors in the long run. In the process of John showing Summer his experience of ranching, they became intimately involved. Summer even stays the night with John in the main house, which only leads to more trouble within the Dutton family.

You see, Summer is around the same age as John's daughter Beth, not to mention his other children, making their relationship a bit unorthodox. This causes some pretty heavy tension between Beth and John, ultimately resulting in the Dutton daughter using Summer as a pawn in her war against the power-hungry firm Market Equities. This results in Summer's incarceration and a pretty long prison sentence along with it.

Had John not engaged with Summer in the first place, or just ignored her activism, she'd have never wound up in prison and would be much better off. Of course, John has his own needs and wants met, and so Summer quickly becomes another casualty of the Dutton family's never-ending struggles.