5 details you might have missed in 'Yellowstone' season 5, episode 7 (2024)

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John calls Rip "son" in the flashback scene at the beginning of the episode, and later Rip affectionately refers to Carter as "son" too.

Episode seven opens with another flashback in which we see young John Dutton (Josh Lucas) refer to Rip (Kyle Red Silverstein) as "son" for the first time, although it is under less-than-ideal circ*mstances.

After older cowboy Rowdy (Kai Caster) talks about Beth (Kylie Rogers) in a way that rubs Rip the wrong way, the two get into a fight, which ends with Rowdy pulling a knife and Rip hitting him in the head with a rock.

When Rowdy starts coughing up blood later in the night, Rip runs back to the ranch to alert John about what happened.

Before he does, Rowdy calls out after him and says he should lie and say that he got bucked off his horse.

It seems that John has the same idea and, when they discover that Rowdy has died of his injuries, questions why Rip didn't just make things easier by saying he fell off his horse. Rip responds by saying that he promised never to lie to him.

"Well you're gonna have to lie now, or you're going to prison, son," John says in a fatherly tone before he lets Rip in on how they keep secrets buried on the ranch.

It seems that it was after this incident that Rip was branded with the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch "Y," marking his loyalty to the family.

Later in the episode, we see a sweet piece of mirroring when older Rip (Cole Hauser) affectionately calls Carter (Finn Little) "son" too. Both these moments create a parallel between Rip and Carter who have been brought into the family at a young age – although it seems that Carter will be spared the branding unless he finds himself in a similarly sticky situation as Rip did.

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The website Beth visits when trying to come up with a plan to save the ranch is real.

Convinced that she can come up with an alternative business model to help save the ranch, Beth turns to Google and stumbles across a ranch in Texas that has figured out how to make more than $8 million a year by selling their meat online.

It's a real website and a real ranch located in King County, Texas. The Four Sixes ranch was founded by the Burnett family in 1870, 13 years before the fictional Yellowstone ranch, and these days it is owned by none other than "Yellowstone" cocreator Taylor Sheridan.

The ranch went on the market for a total of $347.7 million in 2020 before being snapped up a year later by a buyer group representing the western filmmaker.

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6666 is both a real ranch and an upcoming “Yellowstone” spinoff series.

Sheridan has certainly been busy. In addition to the new "Yellowstone" origin story "1923" which premiered this week, he has also been developing a new spin-off series set at the historic Texas ranch.

As viewers might recall, there was something of a backdoor pilot for the series – titled "6666" – back in season four. Jimmy Hurdstram (Jefferson White) was sent down south to learn how to be a good cowhand once and for all.

While there, he met veterinarian tech Emily (Kathryn Kelly) to whom he later became engaged.

There's every chance that his character and fiancée Emily (Kathryn Kelly) will feature in the cast of the upcoming series, possibly alongside some of the "Yellowstone" characters who have been sent on a secondment to the ranch.

This includes Ryan (Ian Bohen), Teeter (Jennifer Landon), Walker (Ryan Bingham), Jake (Jake Ream), and ranch manager Rip Wheeler (Cole Hauser).

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There is yet again another country-star cameo in this episode as Zach Bryan is seen performing at the state fair.

Following performances from country stalwarts Shane Smith & The Saints and Isaac Hoskins, this week the Duttons – and viewers at home – were treated to another performance this week, this time by country star Zach Bryan.

During the fair scenes towards the end of the episode, he is seen on stage performing his songs "Motorcycle Drive By" and "Summertime Blues."

If Bryan's raspy voice and classic folk melodies sound familiar to you, that's because the 26-year-old singer's song "The Good I'll Do" featured during the cattle branding montage scene back in episode four.

Getting the "Yellowstone" seal of approval is sure to give Bryan's career a boost like ithas done for so many artists already– although he hardly needs it. Bryan signed his first record deal with Warner Records, via his own Belting Broncos imprint in 2021, and after releasing the triple album "American Heartbreak" earlier this year, was nominated for his first Grammy award.

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In a blink-or-you-miss-it moment, it's revealed that Clara is the show's first queer character.

Towards the end of the episode, it is revealed that John's new assistant Clara (Lilli Kay) is a lesbian. During the state fair, she is seen locking lips with an unidentified woman while sitting on a picnic blanket and enjoying the show.

Although this seems to come out of nowhere for audiences as the woman she is with hasn't been introduced to viewers, it's not so much of a surprise for John who simply remarks: "My press advisor's behind me, making out."

It's a small moment but a step forward for LGBTQ representation in the series as in all its five seasons, "Yellowstone" has never had a queer character.