Yellowstone's 5 Worst Episodes, According To IMDb

"Yellowstone" was widely-loved, becoming a popular universe starter for Paramount as the Dutton family continues to spread out. But not everything the five season long drama produced was pure gold; as a matter of fact, IMDb users have panned up some real lowlights. 

The assortment of episodes here — listed from the best to the worst-rated outings — double-underline the fact that Taylor Sheridan might be a genius, but he's not perfect. As a matter of fact, he's heavily involved in one of the outings listed here on multiple levels. 

Whether it's John Dutton (Kevin Costner) at his absolute worst, dopey plotlines, or awful writing in general, each of these episodes should have been left at the drafts. From the bottom of the heap to under it, these are the worst stories the show has to offer — or at least that's how IMDb voters feel about them. Here are the five most crummy episodes "Yellowstone" ever aired, in ascending order so that we can really build to the badness.

There's only one episode from Season 4 that managed to make it onto this list, and "No Such Thing as Fair" holds that spot. Which is interesting, because it's home to one of the last great John Dutton monologues the program ever offered up. In the scene, John bitterly tells Carter (Finn Little), "let me tell you what fair means. Fair means one side got exactly what they wanted in a way the other side can't complain about. There's no such thing as fair."

In spite of that highlight, much of the rest of the episode is dedicated to Carter's attempt at fitting in on the ranch, John's ongoing battle with Beth (Kelly Reilly), Jimmy's (Jefferson White) angst, and the beginning of Kayce's (Luke Grimes) vision quest — not exactly inspiring material. To that end, audiences on IMDb roasted the episode, giving it a 7.6.

"We've seen it in about 4 episodes this season, horses spinning around and stopping and starting etc ... Then we have to listen to some bad acting and cowboy music. Oh yeah, John Dutton, can you clear your throat, that fake gravely voice is just so fake," remarked quockquock. "Yellowstone has evolved into a Soap Opera with great scenery," agreed davidhhope. Summarized matthewreid-95654, "This season is like parenting at breakfast time. Your kids open 7 different cereal boxes never finishing one of them." And they don't even have toys in them anymore.

Get comfortable seeing the words "Season 5" on this list a whole lot; fans really didn't like how the show wrapped. That includes from the way they dealt with John Dutton's death to the endless rivalry between Beth and Jamie Dutton (Wes Bentley) finishing out with violence and chaos. All of the steps the program took to its final hours resulted in a stew of mixed emotions from the fanbase.

"The Dream is Not Me" feels a lot like a filler episode, though plenty of time is spent on Jamie and Sarah Atwood's (Dawn Olivieri) assignation. Everyone's plotting and planning, but nothing exciting's going on, and that makes it a hard slog to get through. 

Much of the middle stretch of the episode is taken up with a music-laden ranch celebration, and IMDb fans didn't hold back on how tedious this part of the plot was; they handed it all a score of 7.6 as well. "This show is fast becoming a cowboy version of America's Got Talent. More excuses for live bands, last one was the branding, this one is the fair. Incredibly poor writing, just all background story telling," remarked Xavier_Stone. He's on the mark. Unfortunately, Sheridan wasn't.

"The Apocalypse of Change" is definitely what the Duttons are going through in this Season 5 episode. Beth finally realizes that Jamie had a hand in John's death. Kayce starts poking around for more information regarding John's passing as well, leading to even more nasty news about Jamie. Meanwhile, Jamie himself is meeting with executives from Market Equities, which still wants to snag Dutton land to create an airport runway.

Audience members on IMDb gave this episode a scorchingly bad 7.3. Plenty of viewers complained about the slow pacing and tone of this one, and if our short summary doesn't make the events of the episode all that interesting or clear, don't worry. It's a whole issue: "Kayce and family are fixing up his new house, East Camp(?), and then he drives up like he's just heard about his dad, like he wasn't around in the previous episode. I think I picked the wrong week to give up drugs because this makes zero amount of sense," said mcopygirl. "I could get by with some of the Yellowstone inconsistencies but they are just completely botching this show," agreed cmwpitt. 

The bottom two episodes have identical ratings, and yes, they both come from the dregs of Season 5. "Desire is All You Need" lands at a 7.1 on the website, mostly for the way the show handles John Dutton's death.

Yep, this is the infamous episode where John is killed in the bathroom of the governor's mansion and it's presumed to be self-inflicted. Naturally, Beth doesn't believe it, and soon she explains her thought process to Kayce and he agrees. The rest of the family — and all of Montana — goes into mourning as John's funeral is planned. Rip (Cole Hauser) is still off driving cattle, and he has an emotional reunion with Beth.

Lots of fans felt let down by the way the show wrote John Dutton off, but also called the show out for its repetitive plotlines. "This seems like yet another show that can't cross the finish line without falling over its own feet. The last couple of seasons have been the same recipe and it's just not as delicious as it used to be," said keithmuise. But plenty of those regular watchers knew just who to blame. "Sheridan's and Costner's stubbornness ruined the best show of the decade! They should have worked out their differences! Instead, they ... managed to destroy a long-awaited continuation," said Evil_13.

In case you're wondering, audiences really don't like Travis Wheatley, Taylor Sheridan's large-living, big-talking Texas rancher character on "Yellowstone." Whenever he pops up on the show, viewers tend to express their disgust. And so, an episode featuring Travis not only ties for the bottom of the heap, but we're nudging it into the spotlight as this article's stinky finale. "Give the World Away" only has a 7.0 on IMDb, and many viewers mentioned that Travis' subplot — in which he enters into a business partnership with Beth and longtime viewers get a glimpse of his lifestyle — as a reason why they didn't take to this one. It makes sense, since Reddit fans roasted Sheridan for this narrative choice when the episode first aired.

"Such a waste of time. The finale better be good. This show has been so good to just ruin it for your own narcissism is just sad! Did he think that having Bella Hadid as his girlfriend would boost the show more?" wondered LeeMBC. "This episode had about 10-15 minutes that felt truly important. Taylor Sheridan hogged the screen of a show that he should just be the writer of. It felt like he was just trying to give a nice middle finger to Kevin Costner, and nobody is on his side," agreed aidenbrianthompson. 

While the episode has other subplots — Kayce's consultation with the Broken Rock Tribe about the Dutton's land, the sad auction in which most of the animals at the Dutton Ranch are sold off — Travis' presence and inflated ego ironically weighs the whole final season down.