Brindle Media

Some friends of ours are big fans of the TV series “Yellowstone”. I was vaguely aware of the show, but didn’t realize that it’s now in its fifth season. In any case, these friends have decided to schedule a “Yellowstone”-themed party in July.  A requirement for attending the party is that we need to be up-to-speed with the series.

A challenge is that “Yellowstone” doesn’t appear to be available on any one network. From what I can gather, it originally aired on one of the streaming services but then has switched to another streaming service. Neither of these is Netflix. Since we already pay for Netflix and for premium cable programming, I’m not really interested in committing to pay for other streaming services, too. Fortunately, our local library has DVDs from Seasons 1, 2, and 3 so my wife has been able to catch up on the early part of the series, so far.

“Yellowstone” reminds me of the 1970s TV show “Dallas”, but with the violence, nudity, and explicit sexuality now de rigueur in movies and on subscription video services. Essentially, it’s a soap opera rife with dysfunctional family dynamics, betrayals, and murder. Does the show serve as an emotional outlet for our frustrations in real life with COVID-19, political strife, and ubiquitous mass shootings? Does it help us feel better about ourselves in comparison because we’d never behave that badly?

When I was younger and felt immortal, I used to have a much higher tolerance for suspense and violence in movies and on TV. Now that I’m closer to the end of my life than to the beginning, I’m less inclined to subject my mind and body to situations which put me into a “fight or flight” stress mode. My body doesn’t know that it’s just theater and not a sabre toothed tiger bent on devouring me or a John Dutton henchman beating me to within an inch of my life and then imprinting a logo on my chest with a branding iron.

So, you enjoy “Yellowstone” and I’ll just chill with “All Creatures Great and Small”, “The Great British Baking Show”, “Endeavour”, or even “Emily In Paris” .