THE UNFORGIVEN

HOLD ON TIGHT, or this week’s Yellowstone may buck you right off.

- KATE HAHN

Yellowstone

SEASON FINALE Sunday, Jan. 2, 8/7c, Paramount Network

Like an old cowboy song, that refrain is one fan of TV’s roughest and most riveting ride know well. Cocreated by Taylor Sheridan, the Paramount Network saga about megarich Montana cattle king John Dutton’s (Kevin Costner) bloody battle to keep his family’s ancestral Yellowstone Dutton Ranch has roped in record ratings in its fourth season (and spawned Paramount+’s 1883 prequel series). The question is: How will the redhot Western wrap up its biggest round yet?

“It’s a very wild finish to an amazing year,” promises Cole Hauser, who stars as fan-favorite Rip Wheeler, the foreman who brands inner-circle ranch hands with a “Y.” To the Duttons, loyalty is everything and betrayal is a death sentence. Woe to those who’ve crossed them. Let’s recap.