Marshals Episode 3 Forces Kayce Dutton To Relive An Infamously Traumatic Yellowstone Experience

"Marshals" has already continued some depressing trends from "Yellowstone," and episode 3 confirms that it's also not above making characters relive their tragedies. The third instalment embraces the show's "Yellowstone" heritage by pulling Luke Grimes' Kayce Dutton into a standoff on the Broken Rock Reservation. That same situation is exactly how "Yellowstone" began back in 2018, and as fans will know, it didn't end well. In fact, it ended in tragedy, with Kayce witnessing his brother, Lee Dutton (Dave Annable), suffer a cruel fate. Now, "Marshals" has forced him to relive the trauma.

In the "Yellowstone" pilot, "Daybreak," cattle from the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch wander onto the neighboring Broken Rock Reservation. This led to a standoff between the reservation inhabitants and the Duttons. Caught in the middle is Kayce, who's a Dutton but is also married to Kelsey Asbille's Monica Dutton, a lifelong Broken Rock resident and granddaughter of Rudy Ramos' Felix Long. Throughout the episode, we see how Kayce is torn between conflicting allegiances, with Felix even telling him at one point, "Until they find a cure for human nature, a man must stand with his people. And we are not your people." 

Later in the "Yellowstone" pilot, John Dutton and the Yellowstone crew embark on a late-night mission to recover the cattle, which goes awry when the inhabitants of the reservation and the Broken Rock police appear. Kayce also enters the fray on horse-back but is forced to dismount when Lee is shot and killed by Reservation resident and Monica's brother Robert Long (Jeremiah Bitsui). The tragic event comes to an end when Kayce shoots Robert dead, reminding him that "there's no such thing as heaven." Now, the whole nightmare has resurfaced in "Marshals" episode 3.

In many ways, episode 3 of "Marshals," entitled, "Road to Nowhere" is a rehash of the "Yellowstone" pilot. The whole episode revolves around a standoff on Broken Rock Reservation, with Kayce and the Marshals dispatched to keep the peace, once again placing Kayce between conflicting allegiances. 

"Road to Nowhere" begins with Broken Rock natives blowing up a road which leads to a nearby mine. That mine is responsible for contaminating a river that flows through Broken Rock territory, leading to sickness and several deaths among the tribe. That includes Kayce's wife Monica Dutton, a "Yellowstone" mainstay who was killed off in the worst way possible by being given an off-screen death. By blowing up the road, Gil Birmingham's Chief Thomas Rainwater forces mine-bound trucks to divert through the reservation, where he and his people can commandeer the vehicles and prevent further activity at the mine.

Unfortunately for Kayce, this means he has to relive "Daybreak" all over again. The standoff starts to affect ranchers taking their livestock to auction. But rather than trying to barter with the reservation, the Marshals are called in to try to clear the locals. Coming down on the side of Broken Rock is, as Kayce puts it, like "pouring gasoline on a fire."

Far from being a vague callback to "Daybreak," the episode is very much aware of the parallels. At one point Kayce is asked about the last time this happened and says it ended "painfully," in reference to his brother, Lee Dutton, and brother-in-law Robert Long, passing away. He later tells Chief Rainwater that he's still haunted by their deaths,

When Kayce Dutton and the Marshals arrive at the standoff in "Marshals" episode 3, Kayce is confronted by Michael Cudtliz's Randall Clegg, the patriarch of a ranching family that's said to have been in Montana as long as the Duttons themselves. This rival family doesn't take too kindly to Kayce supporting Broken Rock, and in that way, they act as a proxy for the Duttons in "Yellowstone," who wanted to pry Kayce from his life on the reservation. What's more, the whole event once again ends with shots fired, as a young girl is struck by a bullet from an unseen shooter.

"Yellowstone" wasn't exactly a cakewalk for Kayce, who with his split allegiances embodied the struggle between the Yellowstone ranch and Broken Rock. He also lost two of his brothers and his father during the show's five season run, but was given one of the best endings of all the main characters on "Yellowstone" when he sold the ranch to Broken Rock and seemingly moved on from the drama. 

"Marshals," however, has put Kayce through the wringer once again by killing off his beloved wife prior to the pilot and now making him relive one of his biggest traumas. All of which raises the question of where this show is going. "Yellowstone" seemed to wrap up Kayce's dalliance with Dutton drama by having him find peace. "Marshals" is essentially starting that whole cycle over again. Does showrunner Spencer Hudnut have a better ending for this character than Taylor Sheridan?