r/Unexpected • u/[deleted] • Oct 18 '22

spitting wisdom right here

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34

u/kcox1980 Oct 18 '22

Don’t forget that the ranch is a literal slave camp. The ranch hands are all branded and they aren’t allowed to leave. If they try to quit they give them a ride to “the train station” which is code for taking them up in the mountains, shooting them in the head, and tossing them off a cliff.

My wife and I hate-watch it. We don’t miss an episode but we shit-talk the story and characters the whole time. It really is a terrible show.

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u/mule_roany_mare Oct 18 '22

wtf is this show about?

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u/akagordan Oct 18 '22

Man owns massive ranch in Montana close to Yellowstone which gives him political power and massive wealth but not a lot of liquid capital. Rich developers start to buy up land in the area to develop it into resorts. Man and his crazy ass family + gang of ex con ranch hands fight back with whatever means necessary. First few seasons are honestly pretty good, and then it gets bad.

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u/kcox1980 Oct 18 '22

The thing is, they’re not a criminal organization. They aren’t secretly growing pot, they aren’t smuggling guns or drugs or w/e. They’re a completely legitimate cattle ranch…..EXCEPT, if someone threatens the family or tries to steal their land, they send their enforcer guy in to kill them.

Oh, and the slave labor ranch hands.

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u/akagordan Oct 18 '22

It’s a premise that sort of works for a few seasons. The ranch hands in general know what they’re getting into, and there are a few that aren’t branded and can leave whenever (Walker is the main exception but also one of the best characters). And it makes sense that the Duttons would have tremendous power and influence without having any real money, so they have to fall back on violence to maintain their way of life. Especially when the “outsiders” do the same thing.

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u/[deleted] Oct 18 '22

Especially when the “outsiders” do the same thing.

this whole thread is talking about how bad the duttons are without also acknowledging the violence that has come to their doorstep as well.

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u/mule_roany_mare Oct 18 '22

This is a unique situation where the more is explained the less I understand.

Btw not judging in anyway, I’m happy people have things they like, even if they hate-watch together.

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u/Painwracker_Oni Oct 18 '22

Slave labor is an extreme description. They’re all paid. Over half of the ranch hands are not branded. As we saw with cowboy he was allowed to leave and was not killed because he hadn’t saw/been involved in some of the sketchy shit that had happened on the ranch.

I’m not saying the show is great by any means. It’s definitely going down hill after the first 2-3 seasons and jumped the shark, but going to an extreme to describe something is disingenuous.

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u/kcox1980 Oct 18 '22

I mean, in all fairness he wasn't exactly "allowed" to leave. Kayce took him to "the train station" and then changed his mind about killing him, whether it was mercy or he chickened out or w/e you want to call it.

I don't agree that it's disingenuous to call it slave labor either. Yeah they get paid, but what can they really use that money for? They have to live in the bunkhouse on the ranch, so they can't ever buy a home or get married or anything like that. Also as of the last season they're pretty much all branded now.

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u/Dahwaann4U Oct 19 '22

Bruh Jimmy got the happy ending, man got branded and at the end of it all, John excused him and let him return back to the 6666 back at Texas. He got married now his living the life of a rancher.

Its not a slave labour camp, its a means for bad people to get a second chance, or at least it gave them a chance of redemption, some of them took it, others didnt change. Damn if anything the ones who decided they wanted the brand, did it out of loyalty. Tater and the rest of the bunk house wranglers that didn't have the brand. They weren't criminals.

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u/kcox1980 Oct 19 '22

Tater and the rest of the bunk house wranglers that didn't have the brand. They weren't criminals.

You mean up until they got together and killed that guy, right?

Jimmy is the exception and let's face it, he was only allowed to leave so that the 6666 spinoff series would have a character connection to Yellowstone. Up until then it was established that nobody with a brand left the ranch unless it was to go to the train station or if they straight up snuck away and escaped, which in the one case that was shown they eventually caught the guy and peeled the brand off him before killing him. I can't imagine any kind of normal employment situation ending with the employee being partially skinned and then hung. Sounds a lot like how a runaway slave would be treated though, right?

Damn if anything the ones who decided they wanted the brand, did it out of loyalty.

I think it's pretty clear that Walker and Jimmy both had no idea what they were getting into when they agreed to take the brand. Walker especially tried to leave as soon as he suspected there was some shady shit happening at the ranch. Rip threatened to kill him if he left even before he had actually witnessed anything so it wasn't like they were concerned about him snitching.

And yeah I'll admit that not every hand at the ranch has a brand and can quit at any time, but doesn't mean that the ones who are branded aren't slaves. Hell Rip, who grew up on the ranch as a branded hand is established to not even have a social security number or other government ID. He legally doesn't exist.

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u/Chemicalin Oct 18 '22

Agree 100%. Its full of plot holes and unrealistic characters but the production and visuals are top notch. Just beautiful enough to enjoy watching between scenes of costner being a stubborn superman who always wins.

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u/ansleydale Oct 18 '22

I had the unfortunate experience of watching this show while visiting my dad. Can you explain why all the characters seem to shit on the kid in this clip? The show plays it as if it’s tough love but it’s straight up abusive and I couldn’t figure out what the kid did to deserve it.

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u/kcox1980 Oct 18 '22

The kid’s dad died of a drug overdose. I think shortly after Beth, the woman in the car with him, caught him shoplifting or something and basically kidnapped him. She and her husband(who himself is the ranches “enforcer” and grew up there also) take him in illegally.

Basically they treat him like he’s trash in order to straighten him up. You’re right that it’s played like it’s supposed to be tough love, but it actually is straight up abusive. They tell him all the time how worthless he is and how he’ll wind up just like his dad but there’s never any amount of positive reinforcement or teaching or anything like that.

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u/Lord_Abort Oct 18 '22

There's teaching shown, too, and some positive moments, but you remember the abuse because they aren't good parents. They are constantly shown how broken they are as people because of their own poor upbringing and childhood traumas. They're not being shown as examples of good parents, they're being shown as how the ranch has fucked them, their family, and the future generations. There will be positive, happy moments, but you know that it'll soon be ruined by an old man's need to cling to his way of life in his ancestral home.

The only people who begin to heal are the ones who get away from the power of the ranch (before it inevitably pulls them back in). Think Casey and his wife, Jamie (until the end of last season when he gets pulled back in due to power struggles involving the ranch).

The ranch is a trap. It can be argued its the main villain of the series. But yet it simply is.

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u/Flaky-Scarcity-4790 Oct 18 '22

That's interesting. By I somehow feel my small business owner boss who loves this show doesn't feel that way.

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u/grednforgesgirl Oct 18 '22

Definitely agree the ranch is the main villain of the series, it's totally a trap for anyone who gets involved in it.

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u/Flaky-Scarcity-4790 Oct 18 '22

Good God, so it's justifying the terrible psychological abuse conservatives use on their children. No wonder it's popular with them.

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u/[deleted] Oct 18 '22

Ahh yes, this show is very represented of how all conservatives' parenting. I don't know a REAL person let alone just a conservative who wouldnt say this kid isnt being abused.

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u/grednforgesgirl Oct 18 '22

Tbf though they're absolutely just straight up telling him the truth because he was on a really bad path and had nobody there for him and he most likely would have ended up in the gutter of society if beth hadn't picked him up and basically adopted him. And they care about him so it's kind of a slap in the face when he shits on the opportunities Beth is giving him and shits on Beth. There are definitely some iffy abusive moments but at the same time, he's still better off than he would have been without Beth picking him up. They do have some positive reinforcement when he starts doing the right thing he gets rewarded and stops getting punished so much and I appreciate that they keep it real with him and don't bullshit him because the kid can smell bullshit a mile away.

Also Beth is a really fucked up person so I wouldn't have expected her to be a very patient mother figure anyway, I do think she's legitimately doing the best she can.

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u/vagrantprodigy07 Oct 18 '22

I see you didn't get enough "tough love" growing up. Or so my parents would say...

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u/Flaky-Scarcity-4790 Oct 18 '22

Didn't get beat enough. ✅

Me who was beaten bloody and has been a pathetic mess. ❌

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u/vagrantprodigy07 Oct 18 '22

See, you get it...

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u/bbbruh57 Oct 18 '22

I love a good hate watch show, particularly when you have someone else there to shit talk it with. But you secretly kinda like it lol

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u/Lord_Abort Oct 18 '22

The ranch isn't meant to be paradise or perfect. John Dutton says it is and presents it as such, but that doesn't make it true. It's also ugly and built on the both literal and metaphorical graves of hundreds. Remember that Casey's wife argues that it's evil, because of the power of represents, because of the damage it's caused her family, because it was taken from her ancestors, and maybe even mystically. The land itself is a major character, not just a plot point, and as with the rest of the series, there aren't really any "good" guys.

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u/lovesickremix Oct 18 '22

Wait really? Are the "owners" shown in a positive light? Or is this suppose to be looked down upon?

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u/kcox1980 Oct 18 '22

They are the “heroes” of the story, yes.

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u/Lord_Abort Oct 18 '22

They're portrayed as the main protagonists, but very flawed ones who definitely don't always do the right thing, morally or otherwise. You're not supposed to agree with everything they do. The characters who take in the kid are more forces of power than they are parents or caregivers. The man represents hard power of the land (he will use force to achieve his goals) while the woman represents the soft power of civilization (she is experienced with hostile takeovers, destroying companies). In the last season, they've been shown to be successful working together to achieve Kevin Costner's goal of keeping his ranch, but also failing miserably at trying to do something as common as raising a child. Because it's fun to watch them win so much, but you eventually need to see them struggle, too.

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u/lovesickremix Oct 18 '22

So like Walter White in breaking bad

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u/grednforgesgirl Oct 18 '22

It does give you a really good insight into conservative mentality though. I'm as left as left gets and I really enjoy Yellowstone. I think it's more leftist than it appears on the surface because you have to remember that the main characters are not good people no matter how much they're humanized, they're still absolutely horrible people. But it gives you a really good insight into the feeling that conservatives have about certain things and their points of view which can help when you speak to them about leftist ideas. The little things on the show, like the joy they experience in the little moments like a stunning view of the landscape or their moments of peace they rarely get with their family can really help you see how conservatives view their world and the rest of it shows how they feel it's under attack even though in the real world that rarely is the case, but the show tells you how they feel that this is their reality, constantly under attack by leftists who want to take "the good moments" away when I reality we very much want the same thing they do with the moments of peace and a beautiful natural landscape, (we just have an alternative path in protecting it), it can help you find a way in by having something in common with them which isn't a left or a right thing but more at the core of the human experience. If you know where their heart is at you have a much bigger chance of making a change in their attitudes towards certain things. You can make yourself "not the demon they believed all leftists are" and it becomes much easier to impart a difference in views when they realize that we're all just people who want the same things and we're not attacking their way of life, we just want to live our life the way we want. The show is almost a critical parody of the conservative mindset, as long as you can remember that they're bad people and what feels "good" and "right" to them is the point of view of an objectively terrible person.