Synopsis:

At a high level this removes almost all the political plots, much of the mob-style violence along with the the train station and the Yellowstone-brand subplot. Two of the brothers don't really play a role and are removed almost entirely aside from one or two nameless appearances. And Jimmy is no longer a comic-relief character, although his screen time is reduced quite a bit to focus more on the family. This doesn't remove guns and violence entirely though, they're just woven into a darker and more believable plot that isn't quite so over-the-top, and is only one aspect of protecting the ranch. The episodes aren't necessarily in order, their parts are remixed in a way that makes sense for a shorter single-season arc.

Intentions:

Late season five was what really made me want to do any edit of this show - prior to that I thought it was just okay - some good moments but a bit soap opera at times and some over-the-top plots, but the cowboy parts were really well done and late season five leans into that vibe. You could call this An Ode to Cowboys.

Change List:

This is a high-level cut list for the five episodes of this edit: EP1 - Cut Jamie's first appearance (along with almost all subsequent appearances throughout the show) - Trim down Beth's first appearance, a lot of her scenes go on too long after the point has been made - Cut Kayce/Lee death plot (Lee is cut entirely except for an oblique mention late in the season) - Cut Beth at bar, and her subplot screwing with the developer and his wife - Cut Rip recruiting Jimmy (and the entire Yellowstone Brand subplot) - Cut the bison, doesn't really come into play in a significant way - Cut the Rip/Beth courtship period, jump in when they're in a relationship - Cut some of the Kayce and Monica home life stuff, keep just enough that it fleshes out their characters but doesn't feel slow - Cut the mom death flashback and all other flashback scenes showing the family past - Cut John sleeping with the governor, some implications and flirting are left throughout where it adds flavor, but we don't see their relationship - Cut Kayce chasing kidnapper plot, and other subplots that stem from it - Cut Rainwater being put in jail + Keep suicide scene - Cut Jimmy being incompetent at wrangling and most of his learning curve, his plot focuses on the rodeo stuff - Cut the John health stuff - Cut the train station + Reinsert the damming the river + Reinsert some of the Kayce army subplot for flavor, skills, and money troubles plot points + Reinsert Jimmy being bullied to set up the cowboy camaraderie + Reinsert Rainwater property stuff to merge up his plot with the land development without all the messy drama with John early in the season - Cut a lot of the Kayce as foreman plot stuff, Rip doesn't get displaced although they do fight once - Cut Monica being injured and the long back and forth plot that stems from that, including all the divorce stuff - Cut the dinosaur bones - Cut the political reporter and John, which ties into Jamie's plot - Cut most of the drama with the musical cowboy, he stays as a side character - Cut Rip killing bear and tourists drama + Move forward the Jimmy rodeo stuff from season 2 - Cut Monica being offered the college professor gig, she's referred to as a teacher several times but it isn't really shown - Cut the stripper cowboy (except for her role as a spy), the rodeo girls in the bunk house, and basically any bunk house relationship stuff except for Teeter taunting Colby - Trim down the slot machine brothers plot so it isn't quite as overly dramatic (although it still gets pretty dramatic, just starts later without the poisoning cattle and stuff) - Trim down the corrupt sheriff plotline too - Cut Jimmy's past catching up with him - Cut the hanging subplot + Reinsert some family stuff throughout from different episodes EP2 + Starting with episode s01e06 as a base + Begin inserting the casino brothers plot more heavily, with some other scenes recontextualized to support it + Start leaning into S2 content more - Beth moves office to town + Intersperse scenes to finish up the Jimmy rodeo plot + Intercut the Tate kidnapping with all the other attacks on the family to make it one big incident rather than spread across several episodes + Move forward some scenes from S4 to support the attacks on the family, recontextualizing them as attacks from the casino brothers rather than the property group lady EP3 + Wrap up the violence with more reworked scenes - Trim Kasey being shot + Lead into S3 content, removing most of the Tate PTSD drama except when it relates to family, primarily keep a lot of the camping stuff - Cut the whole Providence Hospitality plot that retreads the earlier land development plotlines - there are a few remnants like occasional mentions of the "airport" pasture, but most don't really feel like they need explaining, we already know development is trying to intrude on the ranch - Cut the Beth marriage subplot - Cut the dead horse thieves subplot - Cut Jimmy's romance plot + Keep John handing livestock com office over to Kasey + Reinsert the Monica shopping incident - Cut Jimmy's rodeo accident EP4 + Reinsert a few Kasey livestock com scenes - Cut Beth's orphaned kid plot - Cut Jimmy Texas plot + Keep environmentalist plot, reworked a bit to combine multiple timelines - Cut a lot of Beth's office politics + Keep biker plot - Cut Kasey wolf dreams subplot + Keep Monica/Kasey baby plot EP5 + Wrap up baby plot + Primarily base this episode on S05E06-07 cattle drive, and events surrounding it, including wrapping up the environmentalist's plot - Cut all John being elected governor stuff + Keep yellowstone wolves plot - Cut president reservation visit/drilling plot - Cut county fair