Yellowstone Fans Are Divided Over Jimmy's Season 5 Return

As Paramount's neo-Western-soap "Yellowstone" continues to ride rough-shod over its time-slot competition (per The Hollywood Reporter), fans were treated to the reappearance of former-meth-cook-turned-ranch-hand Jimmy Hurdstram (Jefferson White) in the Season 5 mid-season finale.

With a backstory on the series showing Jimmy as a thief and drug dealer owing some big debts to some bad people, Jimmy was basically given the choice of working at the ranch or being seriously mistreated by his unpleasant creditors. Once onboarded at the ranch, he decided to cowboy up and be a bareback bronc rider. Eventually getting badly injured in this pursuit, he's told in no uncertain terms by ranch patriarch John Dutton (Kevin Costner) that he needs to quit the rodeo circuit. After ignoring this directive, however, Jimmy mounts up once more and is again injured. 

As a result, in Season 4 he's sent off to the 6666 Ranch in Texas to learn how to be a true cowpoke and not get beat up by unruly horses. With his re-emergence as the show heads into its mid-season hiatus, White's character is getting mixed reviews from long-time "Yellowstone" fans.

As noted, Jimmy Hurdstram was last seen in the previous season of "Yellowstone" when he left the Montana ranch for a stint of cowboy schooling in Texas. Around this time he also hooked up with his new fiancée Emily, played by Kathryn Kelly. Fans of the show had a variety of thoughts about Jimmy being back.

Summing up the sentiments of numerous "Yellowstone" viewers on Twitter, series' fan @MoSoSweetSmiles declared succinctly: "Jimmy!!!!!! #YellowstoneTV." Posting on the show's subreddit, however, a number of other viewers diverged from the pro-Jimmy faction on Twitter. One Reddit user, u/_wonder_girl_, for instance, felt the entire episode was a let-down and Jimmy's scenes didn't help, saying, "All in all, this episode was very lack luster. The episode could have cut down on Jimmy and the flashback scenes." 

Redditor u/Green-Independent951 seemed to think Jimmy's Texas-centric storyline needs to level up, saying "I hope the return of Jimmy means he will end up working with the YS crew when they're in Texas. I can't handle his boring a** arc in TX for another season." And for Redditor u/Earl Lipshitz, an interlude involving Jimmy and a foot massage was less than welcome, as they complained: "Oh and the Jimmy foot scene. So cringeworthy." But with the recent announcement that the show won't return again until summer, fans will just have to wait and see if Jimmy, adored or abjured, finds his way into more "Yellowstone" episodes as Season 5 plays out.