‘Yellowstone’ Stuns With a Death Nobody Saw Coming [SPOILERS]

Yellowstone is just a few episodes away from the end of Season 5, and the tension leveled up once again in Sunday night’s (Dec. 1) episode. Titled “Counting Coup,” Season 5, Episode 12 delivered the death of a beloved character that was stunning in how suddenly it took place.

The episode begins with a sweet scene between Teeter (Jennifer Landon) and Colby (Denim Richards), who finally declare their love for each other — albeit in a rather colorful way on her part, in keeping with the character.

But this is Taylor Sheridan‘s world, and of course, whenever he hands us something joyful, he tends to turn right back around and take it away. That proved to be the case here, as we finally find out what Carter (Finn Little) was shooting at in the trailer for the new season.

Carter makes a mistake by entering the stall of a wild horse to give it water, and winds up cowering against the wall as it threatens to trample him. Colby hears his cries for help and comes to his aid, and as he’s distracting the horse for Carter to make his escape, it kicks him repeatedly, killing him on the spot in a scene that we’re betting no viewers saw coming. Carter ends up shooting the horse with a rifle, but it’s too late for the longtime ranch hand, who’s been a stalwart on the show since the beginning.

That sends shock waves throughout the rest of the characters, as Teeter, Ryan (Ian Bohen) and the rest of the ranch hands deal with his loss, while Carter, Lloyd (Forrie J. Smith) and Rip (Cole Hauser) all feel guilty and responsible for his death in various ways.

The episode also contains fallout from another death, as we see Carter and Lloyd discussing future possibilities if the Duttons really do end up losing the Yellowstone in the wake of John’s (Kevin Costner) passing.

Meanwhile, Rip needs to sell off a large number of cattle to help raise the money for the inheritance tax on the land, and he calls Travis Wheatley (Taylor Sheridan). In the course of the call, he tells Travis that John Dutton has died, and that he doesn’t have the heart to tell Jimmy (Jefferson White). It falls to Travis to break the news, and when Jimmy takes it predictably hard, it results in an uncharacteristically tender moment from the hardened rancher.

Elsewhere in the episode:

• Authorities begin to treat Jamie Dutton (Wes Bentley) as a possible suspect in Sarah Atwood’s (Dawn Olivieri) death after he refuses to let them search his house. As they leave to get a warrant, we see him frantically destroying documents, with a foreboding sense that he’s in trouble that he can’t get out of this time.
• Kayce’s (Luke Grimes) confronts the man who carried out the hit on John, who turns out to be a family man in his private life. Kayce ends up holding his daughter at gunpoint, telling him that he knows everything about him and all of his loved one’s whereabouts, and if he does not stand down instead of continuing to tie up loose ends like Sarah Atwood, Kayce will harm his family in return. He lets the man live — but not without a warning that he might consider moving, since Kayce could still change his mind, show up at his house and kill him any time.
• Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly) comforts Carter after Colby’s death, telling him he should be with his family instead of being alone that night. When he replies that he doesn’t have a family, she sweetly replies, “Sure you do,” in a scene that validates the bond they have formed.

There’s also a key scene between Beth and Rip, when she convinces him to let his anger out instead of bottling it up. When she asks him what she can do for him, he replies, “All I never need is time and you, Beth.”

We’re going into the final two episodes of Yellowstone‘s Season 5 with a number of important questions still unanswered.

Will Jamie end up going to prison? Will Beth make good on her threat to kill him? Or will Kayce end up doing it himself? And what will happen to the loyal ranch hands who wear the Yellowstone brand? Will the Duttons really lose the land, or will they end up in a compromise that John Dutton would have never approved of in order to save as much of the ranch as they can? Will the police actually wind up solving the case of who killed John Dutton? And above all, will Beth and Rip actually wind up leaving the Yellowstone now that John is not holding them there?

Yellowstone airs every Sunday night at 8PM ET via Paramount Network.

Sterling Whitaker is a Senior Writer and Senior Editor for Taste of Country. He focuses on celebrity real estate, as well as coverage of Yellowstone and related shows like 1883 and 1923. He’s interviewed cast members including Cole Hauser, Kelly Reilly, Sam Elliott and Harrison Ford, and Whitaker is also known for his in-depth interviews with country legends including Don Henley, Rodney Crowell, Trace Adkins, Ronnie Milsap, Ricky Skaggs and more.