Like Marshals, Dutton Ranch is a modern-day spin-off of the wildly popular series Yellowstone, this one continuing the story of Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly), Rip Wheeler (Cole Hauser) and their 19-year-old adopted son Carter Green (Finn Little). As the series opens, the couple is happily living a quiet life on their ranch in Montana, away from all the chaos and controversy that came with the original Yellowstone Dutton Ranch. However, lightning strikes, infighting a wildfire that wipes out their home and many others in Dillon, Montana.

The couple decides to take a gamble, and start over fresh, buying an Angus beef ranch in Rio Paloma, Texas and working to rebuild their Dutton Ranch empire. They quickly fall into their familiar roles, with Rip tending to the cattle with help from ranch hand Azul Ramos (J. R. Villarreal), and Beth dealing with the finances. Meanwhile, Carter tries to blend into this new town, but hates his school, and appears much older then many of the other kids. But when he meets Oreana Lynn Jackson (Natalie Alyn Lind), he’s instantly smitten, and often plays hooky to hang out with her.

While looking for a local slaughterhouse and setting up a business arrangement to sell their beef, Beth crosses paths with Beulah Jackson (Annette Bening), the tough matriarch and owner of the 10-Petal Ranch next door. Almost immediately, Beulah rubs Beth the wrong way, and Beth Dutton is not someone you want against you! Beulah has two sons who help her run the business. Rob-Will Jackson (Jai Courtney) is her reckless natural-born son who is constantly getting into trouble and checking into rehab centers. Joaquin “Kino” Jackson Reyes (Juan Pablo Raba) is Beulah’s adopted son who often needs to step in to fix the issues caused by Rob-Will. As the season opens, we discover that there is something fishy going on with the cattle at the 10-Petal Ranch, and that Rob-Will is at the forefront of it. When he’s questioned about it by one of his ranch hands, Rob-Will’s solution is to shoot the young man, which leaves yet another mess for his brother to clean up—especially after the body ends up on Dutton Ranch land.

Over the course of the first season, this mystery plays out, and when Rip and Beth face even more devastating setbacks and challenges, they are forced to pivot, but in doing so, they find themselves mixed up in a much larger and potentially deadly situation. Other recurring/regular characters this season include friendly local veterinarian (and Navy vet) Everett McKinney (Ed Harris), who appears to have had some romantic history with or feelings for Beulah; ex-con/ranch hand Zachariah Moss (Marc Menchaca), who’s givena second chance and hired by Rip; the possibly-corrupt Sheriff Handy Wade (Josh Stewart); reckless nd ambitious ranch hand Chet Davis (Hart Denton) who witnessed Rob-Will shoot his co-worker; Oreana’s cheating ex-boyfriend Hoyt Boone (Kyle Dondlinger); Joaquin’s father and a former 10 Petal ranch hand Mariano Reyes (Raoul Max Trujillo); eccentric rancher Dwight White (Ray McKinnon who offers Carter a job; Beulah’s bodyguard Miguel (Berto Colón); and Austin Lewis (Sterlin English), another 10 Petal ranch hand who grows suspicious of what’s happening there.

I found the beginning of the first season of Dutton Ranch to be a little slow and confusing at times. There are a lot of new characters who are rapidly introduced with little to no context. There’s also never any kind of indication as to when or where events are taking place, and so you’re sometimes trying to piece together what is happening. For example, the first episode opens with Rip and Beth on a ranch, but you’re not told where this is, or how much time has passed since the events of Yellowstone. After the fire, it jumps right into life in Rio Paloma. It’s not until the second episode, where it opens with a flashback to how Rip, Beth and Carter ended up in Rio Paloma and got this new ranch, but there’s nothing indicating that this is a flashback and so it’s initially confusing—I thought I missed an episode or accidentally watched things out of order. And in a later episode, we also get a similar sudden flashback to a young Beulah and Mariano, but there’s no initial indication of this scene being set in the past.

After a few episodes, you’ve gotten to know the new characters, and things pick up. There is some nice tension-building, and some exciting twists and turns. Beth and Rip are still very much the same great characters from Yellowstone. These two may seem soft and cuddly when they are around one another, but when they or their livelihood is threatened, they go into full on attack/protect mode. Rip won’t hesitate to pull a gun or use his fists, and when it comes to running the ranch, he’s no-nonsense. Beth is an incredibly strong and intelligent woman, and each time disaster strikes, she finds some way for them to pivot and come back out on top. The one returning character they didn’t quite seem to know what to do with is Carter. He’s more of your stereotypical angsty teen who decides he’s over school, and finds his nice boy ways a bit corrupted by this girl who now has him constantly skipping school, buying alcohol, and so on.

The new characters are generally quite interesting, Ed Harris is delightful as this friendly vet who helps Beth and soon becomes a good friend. He also seems to have some kind of past with Beulah, and both of them are obviously still attracted to one another. Annette Benning is great as this mysterious matriarch Beulah. It’s not quite clear if she’s evil or not. Does she really not know what her sons are up to, or is she purposely playing ignorant so that she has plausible deniability? Rob-Will is the kind of villain that is made for the audience to hate. There doesn’t seem to be anything redeeming about this guy. But his relationship with his brother is quite an interesting dynamic. Beulah adopted Kino, but she doesn’t really treat him equally to her flesh-and-blood son, who will likely take over the ranch when she steps down. While Kino is the person who cleans up the messes and keeps things running, he’s not a rancher and never will be. Much like Carter, it felt like the writers didn’t really know what to do with Oreana. She’s much in the same boat where she doesn’t like her current state in life. Her father is absent most of the time, her grandmother won’t let her move out, and she stays with boyfriend Hoyt even though he treats her badly. Though once she meets nice guy Carter, and sees how supportive Beth is to him, she sees that there are other possibilities out there.

On the Dutton Ranch side, you have the loyal ranch hand Azul, who is glad to be away from people like Rob-Will, who are constantly picking on him and making fun of him. And equally grateful to be working for Rip is Zack, who has been given a second chance after being released from prison, though his past still haunts him.

The show’s first season is serialized like the original Yellowstone, rather than the procedural elements of Marshals. The first season ultimately builds to an exciting and tense final episode, though things are left in a bit of a cliffhanger. The good news is that the series has already been renewed, so there will defintely be a resolution at some point.

Paramount Home Entertainment has currently released this first season of Dutton Ranch on Digital—a Blu-ray/DVD release has not yet been announced. I was sent a digital code redeemable at Fandango for this review. Fandango offers the series in 4K, and the presentation looks and sounds excellent. The picture is crisp and clean with an excellent level of detail, matching the quality of the original, 4K release on Paramount+. The audio is rich and immersive, which is especially noticeable during some of the more action-packed sequences. While the press release stated that there was a bonus featurette with this digital release, I do not see this on Fandango. I’m not sure if this was an error in the press release, if it is offered on some other provider but not Fandango, if it will be added later on, or if it will only be included on the physical release.

What’s Included:
Specs may vary by provider

Episodes: (7:16:25)

• All 9 episodes of the first season:
  “The Untold Want”, “Earn Another Day”, “Act of God Business”, “Start with a Bullet”, “Peaceful Find Peace”, “A Cowboy Saint”, “Den of Sin”, “Whiskey Limits”, “El Padrino”
• 2160p / Widescreen 2.00:1
• Audio: English 5.1 Dolby Digital
• Subtitles: English

Extras:
Special features available on select platforms.

NOTE: The original press release for this digital release listed a bonus featurette, however, I do not see this included in the digital copy on Fandango, so I was not able to review it and have just included the press release synopsis below. I’m not sure what digital platform (if any) includes this bonus feature, or if it was a mistake and it will only be on the physical release whenever that happens.

• A New Beginning: Inside Dutton Ranch
  Through interviews, on-set footage and striking photography, this look behind-the-scenes of Dutton Ranch will deepen the audience’s appreciation for this new series that spans both Montana and Texas and delves into the evolution of what the Dutton legacy means for its fiercest protectors.

Final Thoughts:

Dutton Ranch is a solid follow-up for fans of Rip and Beth from the original Yellowstone series. It takes a few episodes to get to know the new characters and this new world, but then it kicks into high gear, with some exciting and unexpected twists and turns, leading to a really tense season finale. The 4K digital release looks and sounds great, but doesn’t appear to have any bonus material (at least not on Fandango). That said it’s worth checking out for fans of the original Yellowstone series.