Yellowstone Fans Fear Season 5 Has Hit The Narrative-Arcs-Wall

Land rights, family drama, corrupt politicians, and high-stakes decisions with far-reaching ramifications often make up the bulk of the immensely popular television series "Yellowstone." Primarily following the Dutton Family, "Yellowstone" is often compared to "Game of Thrones" on account of the rich character development and ruthless actions of its main cast, at least according to the AV Club. "Yellowstone" has proven to be so popular over the past years that an entire franchise has arisen around the Dutton's ranch, and now fans have either seen or will see different eras in the family's life.

"Yellowstone" is currently in Season 5, and it starts off with John Dutton (Kevin Costner) attaining the governorship of Montana, which is certainly a far cry from earlier in the series when John essentially makes a group of bikers dig their own graves for trespassing. After viewers get a chance to see John ascend to Montana's highest political office, Season 5 progresses and sees a tragic accident resulting in a heartbreaking loss, scheming business operators that plan on building an airport, Beth (Kelly Reilly) busting bottles in bars, and Jamie (Wes Bentley) being manipulated. In other words, plenty of what makes "Yellowstone" the favored show of many. However, it does seem like some fans are starting to become a little concerned with some of the narrative elements of the show, but why?

The conversation surrounding "Yellowstone" was started on Reddit by u/cokefreezie, who wondered if "Yellowstone" was dying. They outlined their thoughts by saying that they don't understand Beth, nor many of the other current elements of the show, before finally saying, "Are we in for another season of 'high-stakes' where nothing really happens and then the bad guys get done up by the vigilante Yellowstone Army?"

U/The_Best_Yak_Ever also felt similar to the above sentiment, who elaborated their feelings by saying that they had really enjoyed the first couple of seasons, but then felt like the show had really gone off the rails after Season 3. They added, "I feel kinda cheated... they set up a fascinating world of intrigue and history, but now they're now doing storyline donuts all over said word's face, for lack of better ideas. I want to continue to enjoy this show, but I'm struggling along here." U/TheSavageDonut had their own theories as to what is happening to "Yellowstone," at least as it relates to the thought that the show is treading water. They believe that Taylor Sheridan may be simply running too many shows and spin-offs, and "Yellowstone" is currently on autopilot as Sheridan's other series begin to take the spotlight. These weren't the only comments regarding this particular complaint surrounding the future of "Yellowstone."

U/fullspeed8989 believes that "Yellowstone" may have fallen into a formulaic production and stated, "The big issue I have with the show writing is the writers seem to have taken the "24" route (Kiefer Sutherland show) which every season, we meet a new villain and then reproduce everything that's happened in previous seasons but just reskinned. How many times have we watched a similar scene where Beth goes off on a tirade towards a pathetic guy at the bar? Almost the same set of lines every time."

Also sharing converging thoughts, u/00Shambles believes that the current problem with "Yellowstone" is that it is adapting its stories and plots towards an older audience who have issues with understanding and following complex stories that involve multiple parties and motivations. They then said that many of the plots over the last two seasons are simply rehashes of previous ones, listing several reoccurring scenes like Beth flipping out on a woman at a bar, Beth berating Jamie, and the introduction of a new power player to act as a foil against the Duttons every season. Echoing this particular belief, u/Adapikachu said that they use to really enjoy the show, but they are currently finding "Yellowstone" becoming like a watered-down wine. U/Efficient_Recover_60 agreed with almost everything that has been said thus far and added that as soon as they saw Beth swing on another woman in a bar, they realized that they had seen this before. These comments highlight a faction of "Yellowstone" fans that are beginning to worry about the future of the show, so hopefully, the Duttons have some surprises left in them that can upset any reoccurring narratives that invoke a feeling of deja-vu.