In Low Places (Season 1, Episode 9)
Premise: Holed up outside Randall Clegg’s armed compound, the marshals plan a rescue of the kidnapped Andrea while Clegg turns the standoff into a viral spectacle.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 1, Episode 9
- Case
- Hostage siege at the Clegg compound
- Starring
- Kayce Dutton (Luke Grimes), Pete “Cal” Calvin (Logan Marshall-Green), Belle Skinner (Arielle Kebbel), Andrea Cruz (Ash Santos), Miles Kittle (Tatanka Means), Harry Gifford (Brett Cullen)
- Yellowstone ties
- Kayce tells the arrested Clegg he wishes his late father, John Dutton, could see Montana rid of the Cleggs.
- Music
- Garrett, played by Riley Green, performs Green’s song “My Way” at the party at Kayce’s ranch.
- Guest stars
- Riley Green as Garrett, Michael Cudlitz as Randall Clegg, Cathryn Dylan Ortiz as Stacy Clegg, Sabrina Cofield as Anita Woods
- Director
- Gonzalo Amat
- Writers
- Tom Mularz & Maggie Schroeder
Summary
The Case
“In Low Places” opens with the team retreating from Clegg’s fighters to an old barn, where Belle makes a bleeding Cal bandage his wound. Inside the compound, Andrea tries to convince a young mother that Clegg’s men will use the women and the baby as human shields, but the woman refuses to listen. U.S. Marshal Harry Gifford arrives with FBI Special Agent Anita Woods, whose hostage rescue team is on its way from Salt Lake City to take over. Clegg streams a speech against the federal government that draws half a million views.
Belle tracks down Clegg’s estranged daughter, Stacy, who left home at 18 and reluctantly helps. Kayce and Garrett scout the lightly guarded back of the property and plant a camera, and when two gunmen close in, gunfire from the marshals’ overwatch position draws them off. Andrea stabs a guard, finds a phone and calls 911, leaving the line open. When Clegg catches her, she mentions a yellow accent wall and a spruce tree beyond the window, details Stacy places in a den on the main house’s first floor. Clegg then kills one of his own followers.
With the rescue team still 40 minutes out, Gifford threatens to wash his hands of a unilateral raid, then takes a rifle and covers the marshals himself. Kayce keeps Garrett back from the fight, though Garrett still radios warnings about gunmen in Kayce’s path. Belle creates a diversion, the team breaches the house, and Kayce reaches Andrea. Cal captures Clegg and forces him to order his men, using his radio name Sovereign, to put down their weapons. Clegg taunts Kayce that his own family line is growing while the Duttons’ fades.
The Team
Kayce blames himself for the kidnapping, since Clegg’s grudge is against the Duttons. He urges Cal to bring in Garrett as a consultant for his skill at finding a way in; Cal resists, then agrees, and Gifford mocks the reunion.
Spoiler, the ending: Cal apologizes to Andrea for leaving her alone, and he and Garrett admit Roner’s death still haunts them both. Stacy is urged to leave the area and build her own life. Gifford offers Kayce an olive branch. At a party at Kayce’s ranch, Garrett says he is staying and plays a song for Andrea, Belle presses Cal about his neck, and Andrea tells Kayce she is glad to be on his team.
Why it stands out
- The episode resolves the cliffhanger of “Blowback,” the second half of the season’s Clegg compound siege.
- Brett Cullen appears as Harry Gifford for the first time since “The Gathering Storm.”
- This is Michael Cudlitz’s last credited appearance of the season as Randall Clegg.
Themes
- Extremists and Militias
- Cal’s Illness
- Dutton Family Secrets
- Garrett and the SEAL Past
- Hostages and Kidnappings
- The Clegg Feud
- Yellowstone Ties