The third season ended on a cliffhanger, and even so, the fourth season had an ominous ending that left fans wondering whether Kayce Die in the Yellowstone Dutton clan.
Yellowstone does the perfect job of mixing western life with just enough drama to keep us hooked to our screens.
As we follow John Dutton (Kevin Costner ) in his fight to protect what is his. We watch his three kids helping in the fight. Beth (Kelly Reilley) tactfully brings down their enemies.
Jaimie uses the law to fight off venture capitalists, and Kayce uses his training as a marine to protect his family.
It’s not a wonder that Yellowstone was able to bring in over 8 million viewers in the season 4 premiere episode.
Who Is Kayce?
Luke Grimes plays the youngest son of John Dutton. The introduction of Kayce as the prodigal black sheep of the family when we first meet him in season 1, and for the most part, he seems to encompass that. He chose to live on the Reservation with Monica.
In addition, he hasn’t talked to his father or siblings for five years. When speaking of the ranch and his family to Monica, he doesn’t seem pleased because he knows the darkness and evil in such a place.
Why Does Kayce Have A Strained Relationship With John?
It’s not a secret that John’s relationships with his kids could be better. Between all three, his and Beth’s relationship seems to be the one not on the rocks.
And as we soon come to find out, Kayce has every reason to want to distance himself from the ranch.
In episode 8 of season 1, we get why Kayce hated his father so much. After Kayce told his father that he had gotten Monica pregnant, John wanted Monica to have an abortion.
However, Kayce refused and branded him, which drew a wedge between the father and son.
At this point, he has been staying with Monica and Tate at the Broken Rock Reservation.
In season 2, he decides to reach out to his father and move his family back to the ranch.
Does Kayce Die?
John is left for the dead after an attack while helping a stranded woman and her son. Beth had her office blown to bits, and Kayce finally got to put his Navy Seal days into practice after a different group of armed men stormed his office, guns ablaze.
The events seem to be the end of the Dutton legacy.
Fortunately, this wouldn’t be the end of the Dutton legacy. In the opening episode of Phantom Pain, we find out that he can fend them off by throwing a flash-bang grenade.
Meanwhile, Rip has sent over the car description of the shooters who had attacked John, and Kayce makes his way over to them with a few other officers. Even though he can intercept them, he is not left unscathed.
A bullet hits him under his gut, and we don’t see or hear from him till the second episode of season 4, which leaves many fans worried.
Survival
The season jumps 2 to 3 months after the attacks. Beth has miraculously survived the attempt on her life, and John is finally able to return to the ranch after his stint in a coma. However, there isn’t any mention of Kayce just yet.
Later in the episode, we see him in a camo suit as John arrives at the ranch, with only John acknowledging him. We also see him when they go into the woods with John, seemingly having a chat with him.
In episode 2, as John, Rip, and a ‘ghostly’ Kayce are hosting Travis (Taylor Sheridan), none of the men acknowledge Kayce’s presence or absence.
However, Rip seems to be responding to him at one point, although he doesn’t look in his direction.
This occurrence led fans to wonder if Kayce was a figment of Johns’ imagination, his inability to accept what had happened, or was it foreshadowing the demise of another character.
We learn that he is alive in the second episode of the season. After going on a vision quest, he seems that he might not make it out alive.
What Is In Store For Kayce And Monica
Other than Rip and Beth, these two come in at close second for the cutest and somewhat healthy couple on the ranch.
They have been through it, from Monica suffering a subdural hematoma and almost dying to her having a lapse in judgment and kissing her physical therapist to now the possibility that they might be splitting up after the events of season 4. It seems like they are on their last leg.
However, one thing is for sure with introducing a new family member. They will always be in each other love, romantically involved or otherwise.
Life According To Kayce
No one on the ranch has as much heart as Kayce. Despite having over 4000 kills from his time as a Navy Seal operative to dealing with the militia and the Yellowstone enemies when dealing with the ranch hands, you can tell his heart is always in the right place as he tries to do right by anyone.
Here Is What Kayce Thinks
- “If I’m going to lose you, it’s going to be about what I did not because I lied to you.”
- No man has killed more men than him, but he has never murdered one. “I never will,” he says.
- “Yeah, well, the list of things I don’t want to do is endless. You telling me what to do is one of them. If I’d known there were sides, I wouldn’t be there.
- “Till the day you do, you’d better never call me anything else,” when Jamie asked whether he could call him brother after he was adopted.
- He believes there are monsters everywhere in the universe, and you need to kill them when you find them.
- “You know you can’t stop the world from being bad, Monica.”
- “If you don’t already know, there is no heaven.
- You’re a 38-year-old bachelor living in your fathers’ house, working 100-hour weeks for a nibble of his approval. Is that the dream, Lee? Because it sure as shit ain’t mine.”
- “I ain’t used to seeing you off my dad’s leash.” Kayce’s words to Rip.
- I don’t know if I own a shirt I’ve never worked in. Im trying to remember what I was wearing when I met you.
Kayce has quickly gone from the prodigal son to the everyday man’s hero. In season 3, he helps the local ranchers with the cattle rustlers, who in turn, turn up at his livestock commissioner’s office to give their thanks.
Is Luke Grimes Leaving Yellowstone? Will He Be Back For Season 5?
A few theories have circulated on the web, theorizing whether Kayce’s vision on the cliff might be the beginning of his end. Especially after Luke Grimes announced a new career move to country music.
Grimes announced earlier this year that he planned on launching his music career. He started as a drummer in a country band based out of Los Angeles, and it’s something that he is passionate about, although he took a break to focus on acting.
Grimes is still a regular in the series, and he hasn’t explicitly said that he plans to leave the show. Thus, we can all breathe a sigh of relief and wait to see how his character develops along the two paths he was to choose to go.
What Is In Store For Kayce In Season 5
At the end of season 4, as Kayce is going through his spiritual awakening, he finds himself at a deserted patch where he faces old trauma that he has yet to deal with.
He experiences several flashbacks, from his time in the Navy to seeing his dead brother Lee who scolds him for not following the instructions of his vision quest. It’s not an easy season for him.
However, we are optimistic for season 5.
Although through his ominous, I’ve seen the end of us set fans spiraling. We have a couple of theories surrounding what might happen to our favorite cowboy and what that finale might mean.
After going through the Hanbleceya, a right of passage for young warriors in the Lakota tribe Kayce is now a full member of the Broken Rock Community.
Not only will his new identity collide with him being a Dutton but some fans see this as him choosing to live with Monica and Tate on the reservation and ‘abandoning’ John and the ranch.
He will have to choose between the two, and there’s no telling what will happen after.
In his vision, when he sees Avery, this might symbolize betrayal and unfaithfulness. Despite him telling Avery that he doesn’t have feelings for her, his kiss with her in the vision might prove problematic, especially if he keeps it a secret from Monica.
Conclusion
As we anxiously wait for season 5 of Yellowstone to premiere, it’s hard not to speculate about what could happen next.
One of the most pressing questions on everyone’s mind is whether or not Grimes’ Kayce will return. While there has been no confirmation one way or another, we believe that it’s highly likely he will make a comeback.
After all, he is a series regular and one of the most important characters on the show. It would be difficult to imagine the show moving forward without thoroughly addressing the full extent of his visions and their implications on his life.
We believe all will be a revelation in due time, and the ending of season 4 serves as an exciting take-off point for the character.
