Critic Reviews

It is stripped of the more frivolous and soap opera-like storytelling tendencies of the flagship. At its core is a family fighting for a future. While Beth and Rip's love story is the show's backbone, it's rich with new narrative opportunities that could make the franchise more expansive.

John Dutton is undoubtedly looking up and smiling at this worthy successor to "Yellowstone," a faithful, frothy continuation of the family's story that reinforces Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser's position as one of TV's most dynamic duos.

Dutton Ranch may not have been the first Yellowstone spin-off to make it to air, but it's by far the best one yet.

The most straightforward and satisfying franchise entry since the original.

“Dutton Ranch” hits the ground running and sets up a half-dozen storylines with long-term potential, while creating a whole new branch of the Yellowstone tree. Mostly, though, it’s the continuing story of Rip and Beth, with Hauser and Reilly shining in career-defining roles.

Dutton Ranch nicely foregrounds their relationship – a boon for fans coming over from Yellowstone – and immediately plunges Beth, Rip, Carter, and their very livelihood into tons of new trouble.

Reilly consistently delivers the more compelling performance. It’s unlikely “Dutton Ranch” will make as big a splash as “Yellowstone” did – sequels rarely do – but there’s enough similar storytelling that this show will either satisfy “Yellowstone” fans craving more or bore them to tears because it all seems so familiar.

A relatively easy jumping-on point for any new viewers interested in what the Yellowstone universe is all about, though it may take those viewers several episodes to see what makes Beth and Rip special. .... But so far, Dutton Ranch's blend of new and old characters hasn't quite come together.

So watchable is Beth that it’s almost enough to make up for the fact that her co-lead barely registers at all. .... Throw these big personalities (and Rip) together, and Dutton Ranch comes away with a tangle of storylines that land ever slightly more often than not.

Yellowstone had slightly run out of steam and this is the same mix of brutality and soapy camp transplanted (literally) to pastures new.