The Real Reason Yellowstone Fans Are Underwhelmed By Season 4

Cowboy family drama "Yellowstone" is famously unique in the world of prestige TV in that, throughout its four seasons on air, new episodes have premiered exclusively on cable rather than through a major streaming service. So, even though episodes of the recent "Yellowstone" Season 4 aired on Paramount Network, they have yet to be added to the company's flagship streaming platform Paramount+.

That said, its near-exclusivity to traditional TV hasn't prevented the series from becoming a huge hit — far from it, in fact. The final episode of Season 4, which aired on January 2, boasted 10.4 million viewers in total (via The Wall Street Journal). So, by viewership metrics alone, the "Yellowstone" Season 4 finale could be considered a success without any qualification. Quality-wise, however, some fans have recently begun to express their discontent with Season 4 as a whole in the wake of its conclusion, many of whom articulated one overarching concern.

In a discussion thread about the Season 4 finale on the official "Yellowstone" subreddit, user dcuysxc posted, "That's it?" and received more than 90 upvotes, making it one of the more popular replies to the original post. In response, a number of fellow "Yellowstone" viewers agreed with this sentiment, sharing how they similarly found Season 4 boring or uneventful.

User Aetiusx, for example, wrote "Yeah, didn't feel like much happened this season," and received more than 50 upvotes, suggesting that plenty of "Yellowstone" fans don't have much more to add beyond finding the season lacking in excitement. Nevertheless, user deamayn tried to verbalize just what contributed to this feeling, describing how "it felt like they started too many storylines they never came back to," before asking, "did they have different writers every 2-3 episodes?"

Meanwhile, user Friendly_Ad5727 proposed that "they could've put a nature camera somewhere in the real Yellowstone, played it for an hour every Sunday night, and it would've produced a better season." With indictments of Season 4 ranging from a straightforward "That's it?" to the suggestion that nature footage would provide a more riveting viewing experience, "Yellowstone" Season 5 may have to pick up the pace or else risk losing these and other, similarly-minded viewers.