Yellowstone Season 5 Episode 12’s shocking death is even worse than Kevin Costner’s

Saying goodbye to Colby wasn’t on anyone’s Yellowstone bingo card this week, but Season 5 Episode 12 just proved us wrong – and I’m mad about it.

Taylor Sheridan just broke Yellowstone’s unspoken golden rule: don’t mess with the ranch hands. You can kill off Sarah Atwood, and you can even give John Dutton an unceremonial, elderly death, but you ought to leave these poor guys and gals alone.

From day one, Lloyd, Ryan, Colby, and the like have simply been trying to make a living. And in exchange for their labors, living on the Dutton Ranch gives them nothing but suffering in return. Now, they’ve just been hit with the biggest loss imaginable – the brutal death of Colby at the hands (or hooves) of a horse.

Now fans are rebelling for several reasons, not the least of which being that this is one of Sheridan’s meanest moves to date.

Just like every cowboy dreams it (not)

Colby isn’t the only ranch hand to die in the line of duty for the Duttons. In the past, we’ve had Fred and Rowdy, one of whom was taken to the Train Station and the other died in a fight with Rip. Both of these characters were presented as villains, and their deaths were treated in a “well, he had it comin’” kind of fashion. The same can’t be said for Colby.

Paramount

Colby was one of the rare good souls roaming around the ranch. He worked hard, played harder, and always kept himself to himself. That is, of course, until Teeter rolled into town. The thick-accented and foul-mouthed lady hand quickly took a liking to Colby, steamrolling him into a relationship that developed quickly after the two were trampled by horses in a Season 3 attack. 

All this is to say that Colby was never someone who had a death coming to them. So, it was a gutting turn of events when he walked into the stable in Season 5 Episode 12 and saw Carter trembling in the corner, trapped by a rogue horse. When Colby attempted to save him, he was kicked to death in a quick and merciless killing. 

Colby didn’t deserve to die

As above, nobody likes watching the ranch hands suffer. Nobody truly gets a kick out of watching Jimmy be bucked from a horse and end up in hospital. Nobody wanted to watch Lloyd get beat up by his best friend Rip, and nobody enjoyed seeing Walker get stabbed (even though he may have deserved it). 

The ranch hands are often the life and soul of Yellowstone’s dullest episodes, injecting much-needed humor and silliness into Sheridan’s sometimes self-serious drama. And having been there from the very beginning, Colby was one of the most familiar hands around. 

Paramount

As explained by episode director Christina Voros, Colby’s death was meant to symbolize something “profoundly tragic” in its simplicity. Everyone’s so distracted by the political games and murder plots that they forget the life of a cowboy is just as dangerous on its own. 

It’s a decent idea, but it falls flat after being shoehorned in. 

Good idea, wrong time

In the years since it first aired, Yellowstone has become known for its unexpected and often brutal killings. Some of the most shocking Yellowstone deaths have come out of nowhere, and are often over with as quickly as they began. As such, Colby’s death might have had the impact they were looking to make, if it had come earlier in the show.

Paramount

In the high-stakes drama of the latter seasons, a stark reminder that the life of a cowboy is a dangerous one wouldn’t have gone unnoticed. Killing off one of the ranch hands would have been a powerful way to remind audiences that anyone can go at any time and that the Dutton lifestyle has profound risks even when you remove their scheming enemies.

Unfortunately, three episodes out from your series finale isn’t the time and place to do this. There’s already so much to wrap up – John Dutton’s death investigation, the fate of the ranch, and the Dutton siblings’ feud are all still ongoing issues – so stopping the show dead for a whole episode about Colby and his accident isn’t like to be seen as a smart move by most fans.

To put it simply: Colby’s death wasn’t a bad idea…it was just bad execution. Literally.

For more, find out where to watch the new season of Yellowstone. You can also keep up to date with when the new episode is out, and check out the most emotional Yellowstone moments.