Road to Nowhere (Season 1, Episode 3)
Premise: When a highway blast reroutes mine trucks across Broken Rock, the marshals are caught between the tribe and furious ranchers, and hidden gunmen open fire on the crowd.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 1, Episode 3
- Case
- Shootings at the Broken Rock roadblock
- Starring
- Kayce Dutton (Luke Grimes), Pete “Cal” Calvin (Logan Marshall-Green), Belle Skinner (Arielle Kebbel), Andrea Cruz (Ash Santos), Miles Kittle (Tatanka Means), Thomas Rainwater (Gil Birmingham), Mo (Mo Brings Plenty), Maddie Calvin (Morgan Lindholm)
- Yellowstone ties
- Randall Clegg blames Kayce for selling the Yellowstone to Broken Rock, and Rainwater recalls John Dutton rerouting a river and an old standoff over cattle with the Duttons.
- Music
- Channing Wilson performs “Running Down a Song” at the bar.
- Guest stars
- Michael Cudlitz as Randall Clegg, Michael Reagan as Don Moore, Scott Ditty as Pit Boss, Channing Wilson as Musician
- Director
- Christopher Chulack
- Writers
- Tom Mularz
Summary
The Case
“Road to Nowhere” follows an explosion on a highway in the night. The blast has cut Highway 191, so trucks headed for the new mine are rerouted onto an access road across Broken Rock. Tribe members, Mo among them, block the trucks and claim the equipment, while ranchers hauling cattle to auction are stuck behind them. The marshals are ordered to clear the locals off reservation land, which Miles resents, recalling Wounded Knee. Randall Clegg blames Kayce for selling the Yellowstone to the tribe. Then shots from the woods hit two young women.
Kayce and Miles catch cattleman Don Moore, whose hands test positive for gunshot residue. Belle’s ballistics show three rifles were fired, and while Kayce is with Rainwater, a pickup that has passed three times opens fire and wounds a Broken Rock man. Kayce gives chase, and Andrea gets Moore to name his companions: brothers Carson and Wes Clegg, whose family holds the mine’s rock-blasting contracts.
The team tracks the brothers into the woods, where an ambush and an explosion split Kayce from Miles. Miles pins Wes, while Kayce shoots Carson, who falls into a ravine. Wes confesses that he and his brother fired at both scenes, and Moore turns out not to have hit either woman.
The Team
Belle, addressed as Ms. Turek, asks a casino pit boss for another $2,000 on a marker already close to $8,000, and at the roadblock a woman spits in her face after calling her Isabelle Turek. Rainwater, back on his feet, visits Kayce at East Camp, where Monica’s stallion keeps breaking fences. Cal needles Kayce for keeping his distance from the team, and Kayce runs a close-quarters drill that wins over the deputies. Cal sends a reluctant Kayce to ask Rainwater to end the standoff, but Rainwater reminds him how hard John Dutton fought.
Spoiler, the ending: Rainwater, who has ended the standoff and returned the equipment, does not deny that the highway was his doing when Kayce suggests it. Kayce tells him the Cleggs had a motive for the bombing that nearly killed him. Seeing Monica’s shoes by the door, Rainwater learns the stallion was Kayce’s gift to her before her illness worsened. At the bar, Maddie tells Cal he stirs up trouble, the two wounded women are released from the hospital, and a local buys the marshals a round. The team toasts the protectors.
Why it stands out
- Michael Cudlitz first appears as Randall Clegg, the rancher whose feud with Kayce runs through later episodes.
- Christopher Chulack directs his first episode of the series, and he directs the next one as well.
Themes
- Belle’s Double Life
- Broken Rock and the Mine
- Cal and Maddie
- Kayce and Tate
- The Clegg Feud
- Yellowstone Ties