Half of Season 5 of Yellowstone is behind us. Is it any good?

That's the focus of this week's episode of the Dutton Rules Podcast. Taste of Country's Sterling Whitaker joins host Adison Haager and Billy Dukes to talk about a season full of fights and surprises, plus one shocking "I love you." If nothing else, we can all agree that the latest batch of Yellowstone eps have been emotional.

After the grading is done, it's onto whether this might be Kevin Costner's final season with the show. There is growing evidence to support the theory that the ranch and Paramount Network show may outlive him.

Below is a summary of all three mid-season grades for Season 5 of Yellowstone. As always, it's a conversation, and we invite you to email us at staff@tasteofcountry.com if you disagree.

Season 5 of Yellowstone resumes this summer.

Thank you so much for listening. Find Dutton Rules on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or wherever you podcast. You can also listen at the above player.

Grading Yellowstone Season 5

Sterling Whitaker: B

I want to like this season more than I do so far. I feel like it's been an off season. It's been up and down in a way that other seasons have not been. There's been whole episodes that don't seem to serve a narrative purpose — then there's other episodes that a lot gets done, but we've had big wasted opportunities in some episodes this season.

Billy Dukes: B-

You think about what has happened this season so far, it's almost overwhelming: John becomes governor, Kayce and Monica lose their baby, Monica has been reinvented, Beth was in jail for a night, there was this whole thing with the wolves, Sarah Atwood is involved, brucellosis, everyone is going to Texas — it's been eight episodes and that just scratches the surface!

Some of those plot lines have been really good. I think Beth getting into trouble, that was pretty cool. I've enjoyed the development of Monica. There's been a lot in the show that has taught us something about ranching and native life, like the scene where Monica cuts her hair and the funeral process. At its best, Yellowstone entertains and teaches.

But there's just too many loose threads. Beth had Jamie nailed to the floor with her whole "Yes, ma'am" speech and then she seems to forget about him. Then she realizes Sarah Atwood is not her real name but that never went anywhere.

Then two episodes were really Beth-heavy, with her fight with Summer and everything she said sounding like it was made for a T-shirt. Those were the low points — D-level episodes — that mixed in with a couple of As and solid B+.

Adison Haager: B

I love the potential setup for a hitman to kill Summer, thinking it's Beth. I really enjoyed character development, relationship-wise from Kayce and John, Kayce and Monica after they lost the baby, and then Monica and Beth. I loved seeing that relationship toward the end where Beth opened up to Monica about her pregnancy.

The bunkhouse last season was a lot of drama. This season I felt it was more of a reprieve of everything else. I enjoyed those moments that we got to see of the bunkhouse and them being cowboys. Then, Abby and Ryan and their romance, I really enjoyed that.

The con for me is the Beth and Jamie drama: At some point I was going, "Alright, we are just wringing this towel dry? I get it." A lot of these issues could have been fixed. Now we're just dragging this out for what feels like no reason. I just got a little tired of that.

Along with the governor drama, I feel like we spent a lot of time on those two topics. There was more emotional drama than land drama. Which is fine, I just think I would have liked maybe, 50/50.

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