‘Yellowstone’ finale recap: John Dutton’s funeral, a bloody death, that ‘1883’ ranch sale

Spoilers ahead for the Season 5 finale. Stop reading if you don’t want to know.

John Dutton (Kevin Costner) finally received the franchise cornerstone funeral the patriarch deserved in Sunday’s Season 5 “Yellowstone” finale. The ornery former Montana governor can rest in peace in his perfect coffin because the ranch he fought to preserve in life will remain unspoiled forever — and never be turned into a dreaded real-estate development.

There are many cowboy goodbyes in the apparent “Yellowstone” series finale as Dutton is laid to rest and the Yellowstone Ranch is sold back to the original Native Americans who owned it generations ago.

But no farewell is as dramatic as the violent death of Attorney General Jamie Dutton (Wes Bentley), who finally receives tough family justice for his role in his father’s death. His long-coming demise is surprising only by its level of brutality.

It might not be the end: Rip Wheeler (Cole Hauser) and John’s daughter Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly) will reportedly star in their own spinoff series. But here’s how the Paramount Network OG series said goodbye.

John Dutton was buried on Yellowstone Ranch with his ancestors

The final six-episode run started with John Dutton’s murder by professional hitmen, and his body examined on a morgue table after Costner left the series following a protracted squabble with creator and executive producer Taylor Sheridan. Sunday’s mournful cowboy funeral is the perfect “Yellowstone” send-off: attended only by his family, the bunkhouse crew, and three close friends. Jamie isn’t invited and has no idea it’s even going on.

Rip and company even dig John’s burial hole in the ranch cemetery, surrounded by generations of Dutton headstones. John is placed next to both his previously deceased wife, Evelyn (Gretchen Mol), and their eldest child, Lee (Dave Annable).

Each attendee places a white rose on the casket to say final farewells. Beth, plotting her next move, leans close to her beloved father’s casket and vows with a whisper, “I will avenge you,” before staggering away.

Rip gets the best funeral lines, dismissing the preacher with, “I think we’re about prayed out. If he ain’t in heaven, then he ain’t going. Or there ain’t one.”

Beth kills her brother Jamie after their daddy’s funeral

Jamie seems to be in the clear after making the speech of his life to assure the public he will find the governor’s killer and that he had absolutely nothing to do with slain lawyer Sarah Atwood (Dawn Olivieri), who had hired the hitmen. Suggesting he had anything to do with Atwood (his secret girlfriend) would be the real crime.

But Jamie can’t even pour a victory drink at home because Beth is waiting with a tire iron surprise. She slams Jamie and covers his face with bear spray. It’s a savage battle: Jamie regains the brawling advantage, loses it in typical villain style, and then regains it.

Just before he can finally strangle Beth, Rip charges in and opens a big old can of what-for on Jamie. But Beth demands the final honor of killing her longtime nemesis: She stabs her heartless brother in the chest.

“Look at me,” bloody Beth tells the dying Jamie. “I’m going to be the last thing you’ll ever see.”

Dead Jamie is dumped in the family’s secret “train station,” where generations of Dutton enemies have been tossed into silent eternity. Rip soaks Jamie’s car in gasoline and tosses a match inside. It’s the perfect “Yellowstone” revenge, as Beth convincingly tells police that Jamie beat her and fled after she confronted her brother about their father’s death.

The police will be looking for Jamie for a long time. But both Jamie and Atwood’s firm, Market Equities, will take the fall for everything.

Kayce sells Yellowstone Ranch for $1.25 an acre and Elsa Dutton rises from the dead to declare victory

Kayce cryptically suggested the Yellowstone sale at the end of last week’s episode, and the hard-headed financial wonder Beth loved the idea. In Sunday’s episode, Kayce sells the largest ranch in Montana to Thomas Rainwater (Gil Birmingham), the chairman of the Confederated Tribes of Broken Rock.

So, the land will return to the Native American tribe from which the Dutton family took it generations ago. In another ironic twist, Kayce sells it for the ridiculously low price of $1.25 an acre, the original price his ancestors paid. The total bill for Montana’s largest (fictional) ranch is $1.1 million. Kayce and his family take a little land section for themselves to live quietly away from any spinoffs.

Rainwater vows that the land will never be developed and that the dead Duttons will be protected. “Your people are buried on that land, and so are mine. It’s sacred, and that’s how we will treat it.” Rainwater says. “So your family forever has a home here.”

Rainwater makes the land a wilderness area where nothing can be built, and no motorized vehicles are allowed. Dutton’s ancestors are happy with the decision. Elsa Dutton (Isabel May), the doomed narrator of “Yellowstone” prequel series “1883” (who also spoke in “1923”), makes a surprise voice return to tie the franchise together.

“Men cannot truly own wild land. To own land, you must blanket it in concrete, cover it with buildings,” Elsa says, “You must rape it to sell it. Raw land, wild land, free land can never be owned.”

Where do Rip and Beth end up in ‘Yellowstone’?

Beth recovers from her injuries (but with new facial scars) and meets Rip, who is working on their new ranch outside of Dillon, Montana. They are about two hours from Paradise Valley and will still have to deal with tourists.

But, her father’s death avenged, Beth suggests the two head into town where there’s a great local bar totally free of dreaded outsiders. There’s even a hitching post so they can ride and park their horses.

“Well, saddle your horse,” Rip says. The two head for drinks ― and most likely a new series.