ItвЂ™s a classic bit of business, but it gets better.

When the bikers are firmly asked to move along, it all kicks off, and Rip drives his truck straight through their parked bikes, telling their leader that if he returns to the land heвЂ™ll bury him on it. Unsurprisingly, itвЂ™s the Dutton ranchers who get to have some old-school Yellowstone fun with a motorcycle club whoвЂ™re having a picnic on private property. ItвЂ™s Chief Rainwater, who the show has suddenly remembered exists, who gets to do most of the speechifying this week. Yellowstone season 3, episode 4, in amongst the cringe-comedy, makes room for some ominous hints of things to come and a throwback sequence that feels like a transplant from the first season. ItвЂ™s going to be incredibly traumatic when Sheridan destroys all this.ДЄnd, of course, he will. Her simply being there when he gets home is enough. Whatever she thinks she canвЂ™t give him, doesnвЂ™t matter. Even when Beth tearfully explains that she canвЂ™t have children, he chuckles that the world doesnвЂ™t need another generation of him. In the second, Rip is characteristically unfazed, just happy to have her there on that porch. In the first, Beth accidently asks Rip to call her вЂњwifeвЂќ after he expresses how much he likes it when she calls him вЂњbabyвЂќ, and she immediately panics about having ruined what they have. Rip and Beth get two such scenes in вЂњGoing Back to CaliвЂќ.

ItвЂ™s difficult to take any of the showвЂ™s other relationships seriously when theyвЂ™re held up against this one, which is touching and complex in a really genuinely romantic way. The real romance is happening on RipвЂ™s porch, though. In the morning, both John and Kayce sheepishly leave their tents and say good morning to each other before being summoned back inside. вЂњI have to leave first thing in the morning,вЂќ she insists. But while sheвЂ™s there she canвЂ™t help but spend the night with John and his old-school letвЂ™s-get-in-the-tent look. Governor Perry motors up to the remote summer camp to tell Kayce that heвЂ™ll be filling JamieвЂ™s role as livestock commissioner once Jamie is promoted to attorney general, which is all part of a plan for the Duttons to make life extremely difficult for the venture capitalists whoвЂ™re eyeing up their land. LetвЂ™s hope he isnвЂ™t relying on steak to fuel all this sexual energy.Д®ven John gets in on this action вЂ“ well, not this action, thatвЂ™d be weird, but some of his own. вЂњDonвЂ™t stop lovinвЂ™ me to kill something,вЂќ Monica coos, and Kayce listens. Easily the most leaden line in the episode is when Kayce catches the same wolf watching them again, and picks up his rifle to kill it, believing itвЂ™s studying them to gauge how theyвЂ™ll react when it starts feasting on the cattle.

Kayce and Monica have reached a new stage in their relationship where they canвЂ™t stop boning everywhere, including right out in the open when Tate has just run off into the woods moments before вЂ“ anyone remember when he got kidnapped? вЂ“ and with wolves watching on. ThereвЂ™s a lot of this in вЂњGoing Back to CaliвЂќ, for some reason. Later she mounts him to consummate their relationship at great risk of his paralysis, which isnвЂ™t as romantic as the show seems to think but is still pretty funny all the same. She has just decided sheвЂ™s JimmyвЂ™s girlfriend now, which is probably a good decision since when she spies him having his catheter removed she asks a nurse to confirm if his manhood is swollen вЂ“ thatвЂ™s just the way God made that one, apparently. I asked if there are other symptoms since nauseous and confused is your natural state of being.вЂќ) Nobody mentions why there isnвЂ™t any insurance for these kinds of contingencies, which is fine since we wouldnвЂ™t have been treated to that funny scene if there was (вЂњWeвЂ™re supposed to bring you back to the hospital if you experience any nausea or confusion. Jimmy has a broken back and a pulverized hip among some other injuries, but the whole thingвЂ™s played for laughs and on his way out John happily insists heвЂ™ll cover the bill. It turned out he survived his rodeo accident, and the episode opens with John reading his litany of injuries from a very John Dutton notebook, one assumes backed by the hide of his own cow or something since thatвЂ™s just the kind of thing heвЂ™d do. This will split audiences, I think, but I didnвЂ™t mind it for the most part since IвЂ™m so fond of the characters and SheridanвЂ™s writing.

Going back to cali