Yellowstone Fans Are Arguing Over When The Show Hit Its Lowest Point

There are plenty of wild moments in "Yellowstone," but they were mostly part of Taylor Sheridan's extremely successful formula for making infinitely watchable TV. Still, even the modern savior of the Western himself couldn't maintain quality without some missteps, and now fans are arguing about which moment in "Yellowstone" history represented the show's ultimate nadir.

It's not controversial to say that "Yellowstone" lost its way at some point, but there's some debate over when exactly that happened. Over on Reddit, viewers have now drilled down on some of the show's weaker moments to try to determine where the definitive low-point of "Yellowstone" actually lies.

User tidepod007 set things off by pointing to John Dutton's (Kevin Costner) post-election behavior after becoming governor, as well as the behavior of his kids, Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly) and Jamie Dutton (Wes Bentley). "He became the state's governor and now Beth and John don't even hide how evil they are," they wrote, accusing the writers of "atrociously bad writing." (Tidepod evidently hasn't seen "Marshals" yet.) Another user concurred: "John running for governor, being elected, hating it and then blaming Jamie for it because it was "supposed to be" him. Like f****** pick a lane John." But the debate didn't end there, as some viewers evidently feel the "Yellowstone" golden age lasted only a couple of seasons — if that.

For many, Taylor Sheridan's Travis Wheatley ruined "Yellowstone" Season 5, and you can bet his name showed up in the Reddit debate. One user pointed to the strip poker game between Travis and Beth Dutton, which formed part of an episode that was essentially an excuse for Sheridan to have the female characters fawn over his horse trainer's macho allure. "Lowest point of the season for me was the strip poker game," wrote one user. "Absolute cringe. Taylor Sheridan forcing his way into the final season with a more prominent role was not the fitting conclusion to the show but was consistent with his track history." Another Redditor dubbed it "the most insane self-insert in media history."

Leaving Travis and his apparently irresistible horse reining abilities aside, "Yellowstone" Season 5 does seem to be the least popular season. "Season 5 had no idea what it was doing," wrote one Redditor. "[...] Season 4 and especially 5 killed that show. Complete garbage ending." Others were even less forgiving. One fan liked "seasons 1-2 but the show dove in quality after," while another gave the show a little more leeway: "I enjoyed the first three seasons. But the writing fell off a cliff so badly that I actually stopped." Yet another went even further: "Season 1-4 was very enjoyable. Cowboying, ranching, and cowboy turf wars. Season 5... fell [off] hard." On the whole, then, season 5 seems to have been the point at which most fans lost hope.

But what precise moment put the final nail in the coffin? One user argues that it came with the controversial demise of John Dutton and "Kayce [Dutton]'s involvement with the ensuing investigation of it. There's no way a family member would be allowed anywhere near it."

While "Yellowstone" Season 5 comes under the most fire, it seems several viewers see the show as having "jumped the shark" far earlier. One Redditor points to the season 3 assassination plot, in which Jamie Dutton's biological father, Garrett Randall (Will Patton), attempted to take out the Dutton clan in its entirety, only to fail spectacularly. "I kind of thought the point of no return in the show was the buildup and cliffhanger of a coordinated assassination plot of all the family members," wrote the user. "And everyone lived."

Interestingly enough, the infamous plane bomb plot hole — which saw Luke Grimes' Kayce Dutton plant a bomb on the Beck brothers' aircraft before failing to ever use it — isn't mentioned quite as much as you'd think. "Marshals" Episode 1 reminded us of what remains the biggest plot hole in "Yellowstone," but fans on this particular subreddit evidently didn't consider it a point of no return. Still, as one user wrote, "I'm still wondering what happened to the plane with the bomb on it as many are," and if you look elsewhere — say, on a separate thread dedicated to answering the question of when "Yellowstone" jumped the shark — the very first comment is, "Bomb on plane."

That same thread also includes an argument for the earliest possible "jump the shark" moment when one user suggests Lee Dutton's death as the moment "Yellowstone" lost its way. Considering this happens in the pilot episode, that's a pretty harsh assessment — though as the user points out, "We haven't heard much at all about the eldest son during 5 seasons. As if he never even existed."