“Yellowstone’s” latest episode, the last before its season if not series finale, has divided fans thanks to an appearance by series creator Taylor Sheridan.
Sheridan has appeared several times throughout the series and this current season, in the role of Travis, a horseman and trainer who’s done business with the Duttons.
In Sunday night’s episode, Travis played a major role in the story, beginning with a scene of him playing strip poker with several women. It was also revealed that model Bella Hadid was his character’s girlfriend.
Hadid and Beth, played by Kelly Reilly, later watch Travis demonstrate his top-notch horse skills, something Sheridan is noted for in real life.
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Beth questions the relationship between Travis and Hadid’s characters, noting he’s “misogynistic” and “condescending,” as well as quite a bit older than her, but Hadid replies, “You ever seen him ride before?”
Later, Travis and Beth get into a one-on-one strip poker game, the stakes being if she wins, he’ll come to Montana and help sell their remaining horses, cattle and equipment.
Beth loses and is about to take off her clothes when Travis stops her and says he was always going to come to the ranch, and she storms out after berating him.
Some fans were not thrilled by the heavy focus on Sheridan’s character in the next-to-last episode of the series.
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“15 mins of story and scenes wasted with watching Taylor Sheridan showboat on his own show, partying and just doing his thing,” one person wrote on X.
“I definitely do NOT watch #Yellowstone for Taylor Sheridan. The penultimate episode did not do its thing,” another added.
A third person said, “Weird flex that Taylor Sheridan took 2 years to write these final episodes THAT CENTERS ON HIM! We don’t care about Travis. Hopefully he put his ego aside for the very last episode… so the viewers can actually see the Dutton family and not all this horse show [poop emoji].”
Others were generally positive about Sheridan and his larger “Sheridan-verse” of shows.
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“Taylor Sheridan is an absolute genius, T.V. and the Big Screen needs more of his ilk, he really brings it as an actor as well!” one person stated.
In response to someone questioning “Yellowstone,” a person responded, “That dude is Taylor Sheridan who is the creator, writer and director and mastermind of this brilliant TV series.”
Another joked, “Taylor Sheridan writing in Bella Hadid as his girlfriend on ‘Yellowstone’ is hilarious by the way (realest thing he’s ever done).”
Representatives for Sheridan did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
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Some have put the blame for their frustrations with the season’s final episodes on Sheridan and Kevin Costner, who left the show after the first half of the season, season 5A, following scheduling issues with his own film project, “Horizon.”
“Somewhere along the line they wanted to change things,” Costner said of the “Yellowstone” filming process. “They wanted to do 5A and 5B… affected ‘Horizon.’ I was going to do my movie ‘Horizon’ and leave that show, do my movie, then do B. A show I was only doing once a year I was now doing twice.”
“Kevin Costner and Taylor Sheridan messed up a great thing w how they handled @Yellowstone They are the Jimmy Johnson and Jerry Jones of Hollywood. Congrats gentlemen,” one person wrote, referring to the feud between the Dallas Cowboys’ former coach and team owner, respectively.
Another said the whole season has been a “boring mess thanks to Kevin Costner quitting and Taylor rushing a s—– ending. Way to ruin an epic show.”
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Costner’s character, family patriarch John Dutton, was killed off in the opening episode of Season 5B.
Sheridan’s character learned of Dutton’s death in last week’s episode, asking, “Oh really? What happened?”
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“I don’t think I ever questioned the meta-ness of it just because it felt very organic,” executive producer Christina Voros, who directed that episode and three others of season 5B, told The Hollywood Reporter.
She continued, “It was just a series of things that makes sense. Jimmy (Jefferson White) is now working for Travis and that is where his storyline is [at the Four Sixes ranch, where Travis finds out about John Dutton’s death]. And what really struck me about that scene was that this is the first scene where we really get to see the way that [John’s death] is affecting… the cumulative effect of grief and feeling helpless.”
Originally, the current season was set to be the last of the series, hence some fans’ irritation with the lack of focus on the core cast of characters.
Recently, though, there has been speculation about a spinoff or sixth season, led by Reilly’s character Beth, and her husband, Rip, played by Cole Hauser.
