I re-watched Yellowstone Season 5 and loved how it never adapted this modern TV trope that already feels overused by now

Taylor Sheridan and John Linson's popular neo-Western drama Yellowstone wrapped up its storyline with its fifth and final season. The series finale, which aired on December 15, 2024, provided a fresh perspective - a rare finale where most of the pivotal characters survived.

TV finales are quite tricky- sometimes they hit just right, and other times they feel like a punch to the gut. The worst ones are those that go on a death trope- mindlessly killing off pivotal characters to stir up the viewer's emotions.

So when I re-watched Yellowstone Season 5, I was genuinely relieved. Honestly, it was quite refreshing to see a finale where most of the pivotal characters were alive and thriving. In an era where shows like Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead conditioned the viewers to expect a bloodbath, Yellowstone stands apart.

Yellowstone Season 5: A show that values survival

Paramount Network's Yellowstone follows the story of how the Dutton family, the owners of the largest ranch in Montana, save their land from power/money-hungry encroachers, family politics, and natural disasters. With the death of Lee Dutton (shot by Robert Long) in the first part of the series, it was clear that the show did not shy away from portraying death, but it did not use it as a tool to stir the audience's emotions.

In Season 5, apart from a few necessary-for-the-plot deaths, including that of Jamie Dutton, Colby, Sarah Atwood, Emmett Walsh, John Dutton III, and John Dutton IV, the majority of the characters survived. John Dutton IV's death was a gut-wrenching moment, and it could've opened the floodgates, spiralling into a finale full of death, but it didn't.

Meanwhile, many prestigious dramas, including Sons of Anarchy and The Sopranos, killed off several important characters. Remember the time when almost all the characters were dead by the end of The Sopranos?

It's worth pointing out that in Yellowstone several pivotal characters survived including Beth, Carter, Rip, Kayce, and Monica.

What makes the show interesting is how the show managed to keep us invested. Instead of leaning on who might die next, it focused on its plot that involved loyalty, betrayal, and identity. When the characters fought, it wasn't for survival but for the Dutton legacy.

I feel there's always something bold about letting characters live. About showing that survival, facing consequences, and carrying grief can be as dramatic as dying. Maybe it's not flashy or a viral/break the internet moment, but it always lingers.

Yellowstone is memorable because it defies modern TV trends, ending not with chaos but quiet consequence. It honors legacy over spectacle, choosing emotional closure over bloodshed. In an interview with TV Insider, Christina Voros, the EP and director, when asked about the ending of the series, said:

"'If you’ve created enough of a sense of ownership of the story by the audience itself, it means you’ve created something that they’re invested in or that they see themselves in or they care enough about to see more of. I think if you have managed to succeed at doing that, you have served your purpose as a storyteller."

"And so in many ways, the fact that the response to the season has been so varied and so strong from all of these different perspectives, I think speaks to the success of the show and the success that Taylor has in writing characters that people feel intimately connected to and care about."

Also read: How to watch Yellowstone Season 5 Finale? Concluding episode streaming details explored

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