Yellowstone Fans Are Horrified By The Dog Shooting Scene In Season 5 Episode 6
As of the premiere of its fifth season, Paramount Network's present day Western "Yellowstone" remains one of TV's flagship network dramas. Of course, in order to keep its story compelling this far into its run, Season 5 sees the show either changing up the status quo outright, or at least indicating to viewers that major changes are on their way.
Some fans, for example, theorized that Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly) and Rip Wheeler (Cole Hauser) might run into some difficulties in their marriage based on preview footage for the season. These theories were so prevalent, Hauser himself addressed rumors about Beth and Rip's relationship around the time of the Season 5 premiere.
The specter of death likewise looms over "Yellowstone" Season 5. Monica Dutton (Kelsey Asbille) is one such character fans are nervous might not survive the season. Essentially, Monica's smaller Season 5 role has fans fearing the worst. Furthermore, viewers mourned the loss of a popular character in "Yellowstone" Season 5, Episode 6 after their death midway into the episode. In fact, Season 5, Episode 6 also happened to include an unrelated but nevertheless impactful dog shooting scene that shocked and horrified numerous fans of the series online.
Seemingly no one enjoyed watching Season 5, Episode 6's dog shooting scene
In one major "Yellowstone" Season 5, Episode 6 plotline, the president of the United States is on the way to visit the Broken Rock Indian Reservation to endorse Martin Kills Many (Christian Wassana), the political rival of Chief Thomas Rainwater (Gil Birmingham). Secret service agents arrive at the reservation ahead of the president, and amidst their preparations, shoot two dogs on the reservation with no forewarning.
Multiple Reddit users mentioned this brief but emotional scene in a discussion thread about the episode. User fistswityat0es, for example, questioned whether or not such a scene was necessary. Meanwhile, user Immediate-Resolve-84 couldn't believe that this incident didn't generate more outrage among the show's characters. In response, user Charlieninehundred described the scene as a cheap attempt to rile viewers up.
User @Taysbigmouth on Twitter referenced a prior wolf killing scene, arguing that animal deaths on "Yellowstone" should stop outright. Similarly, user @bigrobradio felt that the shooting sequence was entirely unnecessary to the episode's story. User @AudreyLop even wrote, "Ya they just killed some dogs on Yellowstone. I literally just walked away found my sleeping dog and hugged him and cried," before claiming that they're done watching the show for good.
While this moment was surely intended to elicit horrified responses from viewers, the number of users online criticizing not the episode's fictional secret service but the "Yellowstone" creative team suggests that, for many, the killing of pets was a step entirely too far.