**SPOILER ALERT: If you haven’t caught up with the latest from Yellowstone, you might want to skip ahead!**
Have you ever watched Yellowstone? I confess, I have a love-hate relationship with this show. It’s a wild, often unrealistic ride through the old west—gunslinging cowboys, sprawling ranches, and dramatic showdowns that taps into a deep-seated desire to carve out our own paths and fulfill our personal destinies in today’s world.
With the announcement of its final season, I was both irritated and intrigued. How will they wrap it all up, especially without John Dutton, the cornerstone of the Dutton family drama? And seriously, how much more can one family take?
Now, I’m not just irritated—I’m steaming. The latest episode (Season 5, Episode 13) felt like a self-indulgent ramble by director Taylor Sheridan rather than the setup for a grand finale. But what really boiled my blood wasn’t just the fluff—it was how they handled John Dutton’s death.
Imagine this: John Dutton, the patriarch, has just been murdered. His body is still at the funeral home, yet here’s Beth, his daughter, in a frenzy to sell everything—from tractors to horses—to pay off looming taxes. Hold up, Hollywood! You can’t just sell off a ranch’s assets while the ink on the death certificate is still wet!
This chaos got me shouting at my TV. Here’s why: it drastically oversimplifies the reality of estate administration. When someone dies, you often can’t just dive in and start selling things. There’s a process—a sometimes tedious, bureaucratic one. For example, finding the title to a car (or tractor in this case) or retitling it because it was only in the decedent’s name. This stuff takes time and careful organization.
Hollywood often paints a misleading picture of death. It’s either dramatically tidy with family members gathered around for a last breath, or absurdly simplified, like a will reading that ties up all loose ends in minutes (by the way, I’ve never heard of that happening in real life!).
So here’s my takeaway: Death is hard, and cleaning up after it? Even harder. Especially if you own something as grand as a 100-year-old ranch like the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch, unraveling that estate could take years and countless hours.
Don’t assume you can pass on and have your family swiftly tidy up and monetize your assets. It’s not as simple or as fast as television makes it seem.
So, next time you’re watching Yellowstone or any other show that glosses over the gritty details of post-mortem affairs, remember, the real work of managing an estate is far from Hollywood’s glamorous portrayal.
Stay informed, plan ahead, and maybe, just maybe, keep your tractors locked up tight until the paperwork’s sorted!
