Paramount+’s Dutton Ranch, now the biggest original series debut in the streamer’s history, continues with episode four, “Start With a Bullet.” And the bullets definitely fly as Rip and Beth deal with an outbreak of hoof and mouth disease that’s working its way through their herd.
(The following is a recap of episode four and there are spoilers.)
Beth (Kelly Reilly) walks through the herd with Rip (Cole Hauser), and he’s certain that the new bull spread the disease to the herd. Beth doesn’t want Carter to see what’s happening, so it actually works out that Carter’s preoccupied with Oreana. Apparently, she spent the night.
Beth walks in on Oreana (Natalie Alyn Lind) naked on top of Carter (Finn Little) in bed. When Oreana mouths off, Beth immediately shuts her down. She orders Carter to go to school and drives Oreana home herself. Beth warns Oreana she’ll make her life a living hell if she hurts Carter.
Oreana describes her grandmother, Beulah, as a woman who uses people and kicks them to the curb. Beth doesn’t disagree.
Beulah (Annette Bening) is outside when Beth drops Oreana off. She suggests that Oreana will move on from Carter soon and invites Beth to stay for a drink. Beth declines. After Beth leaves, Beulah takes away Oreana’s car and her credit cards.
Carter stops by a feed store on the way to school, looking for a job. He’s told that without a horse, it’ll be difficult to get hired. A customer, Dwight (Ray McKinnon), overhears and offers Carter a job that doesn’t pay well but will feed him. (Why is Carter trying to get a job? Beth is going to kill him for not being at school.)
Beth calls the vet clinic that examined the bull they bought at auction. She’s shocked to learn they’ve never heard of the cattle broker “J.R. Simon” and never examined the bull.
Dr. Everett McKinney (Ed Harris) reluctantly heads to 10-Petal Ranch to assist a pregnant mare that’s about to give birth. He doesn’t treat their animals, but their regular vet is on vacation. (He normally avoids 10-Petal like the plague.) When he arrives, Chet informs him there aren’t any pregnant horses on the ranch. It was a ruse to get Everett to stop by and see Beulah.
Beulah flirts like crazy and insists he stay for a drink. Everett gives in, against his better judgement, and actually relaxes and engages in a conversation with Beulah. “We got too many demons to ever be good for each other,” confesses Everett. Beulah agrees.
Carter moves bags of feed around while Dwight relaxes with a beer and won’t stop talking. Beth calls, unaware he’s not at school, and suggests he take Oreana out for dinner since they already had sex. And she removes his curfew for the night.
Beth stops by a liquor store while back at the ranch, Rip, Azul (J.R. Villarreal) and Zachariah (Marc Menchaca) prepare to put down the infected cattle. Rip offers to let his ranch hands back out of helping, but they are committed to doing what needs to be done. The plan is to dig a pit and then Beth and Rip will drive the sick animals into it. Beth assures her husband she’ll be right by his side the whole time.
Beth becomes emotional when she realizes the plan means even the calves will have to be put down. Rip reminds her they can’t be cured.
The cattle are herded into a pit, and Azul blocks the exit with the bulldozer. I won’t describe what happens next, but it’s incredibly disturbing. Beth, despite the emotional toll it’s taking, remains by Rip’s side.
Night falls, the horrors of the day set in, and Zachariah sings quietly as they acknowledge the deaths standing over the now-covered pit that’s a mass cattle grave.
Elsewhere, Carter’s still at the ranch hanging with Dwight after a grueling day of work. He admits he thought he’d hate Texas, but he likes this ranch. They’ve both had a few beers when Dwight takes Carter to a different part of his land and turns on a light. When the cage is lit, Carter’s shocked to see an African leopard. Dwight bought Xena off the internet.
Oreana calls and Carter leaves. Dwight pays him and sends him off while he hangs out with Xena.
Beth and Rip have a quiet chat, and she has no idea how they’re going to tell Carter. She informs Rip that all the paperwork, including the blood work, was forged. “The cattle broker…he f**ked us, baby,” whispers Beth.
Beulah’s also having a quiet moment with her son, Joaquin. She admits she’s exhausted but can’t sleep. And she realizes Joaquin feels the same. He offers to take over the ranch for her so she can relax. Beulah says she can’t turn over the reins.
Oreana attempts to escape the ranch in one of 10-Petal’s trucks but is stopped by one of the muscle-bound minions Beulah assigned to watch over her. He advises her to stop acting like a child; he can’t let her leave because if he does, he’ll have to face the consequences.
Carter waits for her at a restaurant.
Beth leans against their truck, lights up a cigarette, and waits as Rip attacks the cattle broker who sold them a sick bull. He doesn’t deny that he was paid off, and Rip orders him out of the trailer and out of Rio Paloma. If he ever returns, he’s dead.
The cattle broker runs off in his underwear as Rip pours gasoline all over the inside of the trailer. Beth tosses her cigarette, and the couple calmly walks back to their truck as fire rages inside the trailer. They’ve made it to the main road when the trailer explodes.
Beth’s sad that moving to Texas hasn’t worked out like planned and swears she’ll do whatever she has to do to fix it. Rip replies, “No. This isn’t on you.”
Rip remains outside, needing a minute to himself. Carter’s home and upset that they didn’t include him in what took place today at the ranch. He doesn’t want to go to school with 15-year-olds (he’s 19), but Beth insists they’ll do what’s needed to give him a better life. Carter stands up for himself, insisting it’s his life – not hers or Rip’s. He’s hurt that she only gave him a break from curfew so that he’d be gone from the ranch.
Rip calls Everett and tells him it’s done, and Everett’s sorry for what they’re going through.
Episode four ends with Beth, alone, pouring herself a drink. Rip’s still outside, and he lays down on the fresh grave and gives in to his emotions.
