Does Yellowstone have a political point of view? Yes.
In addition to its main themes, there are a number of other events that take place in Yellowstone. For example, it is the only television show to address the land ownership conflict between white ranchers and Native Americans, a subject it addresses… okay? Indeed, the way Yellowstone treats some of the Native American characters who appear frequently in the series begins to lift the curtain on the show’s political morality—morality it tries to claim it doesn’t have.
Consider John Dutton’s conflict with Chief Thomas Rainwater (Gil Birmingham), the head of the (fictional) Broken Rock Reservation. Chief Rainwater says, multiple times each season, that Dutton’s ranch was illegally taken from the people who lived there before European colonists pushed them out. And Yellowstone admits he was right! Rainwater is allowed to be right, other characters acknowledge him, and even John occasionally nods to the people who originally owned his land. The show has multiple characters tell John outright, “Nobody should own all that land,” and I think we’re generally supposed to believe them.
Then Yellowstone turns around and says, “Yeah, but he owns all that land now, so…” Meaning: Yellowstone’s political ethos is a shrug and a “What are you going to do about it, you know?”
Even more frustrating, at least for Yellowstone viewers who might be particularly interested in how the show handles Native characters, is how the show treats Kayce’s wife, Monica (Kelsey Asbille). Monica is both my favorite character on the show and the one the show has the least idea what to do with. Monica is of Native descent, having grown up on the reservation. (Notably, Asbille has faced criticism from Native actors for not being Native American herself, though she has said she has Cherokee heritage.)
When Yellowstone wants to make a point about America’s terrible treatment of Native Americans, it will often turn to Monica as its spokesperson. For example, she might give a lecture about the legacy of violence and racism against Native Americans, and the show will extend the footage to white people diligently learning from her. But then Yellowstone will struggle to fit what Monica says into its worldview. Ultimately, it tends to abandon her efforts to educate others and instead confine her to the compelling dramatic part of the equation by default.
Actually talking about the complicated space that Monica exists in as a Native American woman married to the white son of a wealthy rancher would break the show. It needs to bring up the contradictions inherent in the way its main characters live, but it has no desire to explore them. And that, it turns out, is the whole point of the show.
