Top 10 Best Rip & Beth Moments on Yellowstone

“The Apocalypse of Change”
Naturally, Rip and Beth spend the first night of their Texas reunion in a fancy Amarillo hotel. But they don't just stay in bed, debating a life of adventure. They find their own in the hotel’s hidden speakeasy. As they observe patrons from across the Heartland, Beth realizes that not one is really a tourist in these parts. So much for Rip’s accomplishment of leaving Montana for the first time. His and the generationally wealthy Beth’s different perspectives on travel, luxury and culture illustrate the divide in their adjacent upbringings. Their heart-to-heart speaks to how Beth pushes her husband out of his comfort zone, while he keeps her grounded. The couple’s little differences only make their marriage fuller.

“Kill the Messenger”
You have to appreciate a first date that lets you know what you’re in for. Even with their long history, Rip wants to begin his formal courtship of Beth with a music festival. His coldblooded sweetheart would prefer a date “more suited to [her] personality.” She takes Rip up on his invitation to sit in a park, get drunk, and watch wolves attack an elk. It’s a twisted outing, alleviated by the couple’s sincere banter. Such will be the tone for a poignant romance amidst “Yellowstone’s” savagery. As Beth scares off the wolves and remarks that it’s only her loved ones who suffer for her quirks, there’s a sense of reserved hope for the future.

“Resurrection Day”
The Montana night sky can make even this couple sentimental. Rip joins Beth on her mansion’s roof to drink whiskey and discuss their relationship. As the conversation turns to money, the humble ranch foreman says he’d spend his fortune giving his family proper burials, including an undignified one for his abusive father. It’s in this vulnerable state that Beth predicts Rip will say he loves her for the first time. But she asks him to hold off. That moment tragically came later in the episode, after Rip lethally dispensed with Beck henchmen who attacked Beth in her office. The parallel kisses on the rooftop and in this bloody scene epitomize the ways these two protect each other.

“Freight Trains and Monsters”
It’s a long road to recovery for Beth following the traumatic Dutton-Beck feud. She most notably turns a corner after spending a night at Rip’s new house. She’s uncharacteristically frail when she wakes up to her boyfriend serving a full breakfast just for her. No less surprising is the sort of anxious joy she shows at his gentle touch. This beautifully acted exchange represents more than Beth finding real peace and safety after her assault. It establishes a warm domestic dynamic, with the hypermasculine Rip in the role of considerate caretaker. This rare glimpse of Beth’s vulnerability foreshadows that she will regain her strength, while laying the foundation for a real home with her cowboy.

“Going Back to Cali”
Both the future and the past come out after Beth lets slip that she wants to marry Rip. When he later breaks the awkward silence on the porch, he says that every day with Beth is a gift. She thus tearfully reveals a difficult truth. Rip asserts that she's all he’ll ever need. This partially resolves the tragedy that has long held the couple back, though Rip will never learn that Beth secretly terminated a pregnancy at a Native American clinic when she was a teenager. At the time, this meant mandatory sterilization. But this is a couple who complete each other, regardless of whether their family grows or not.

“Phantom Pain”
The Wheeler home must go through a big adjustment when Beth takes in the orphan Carter. The young stable boy is himself unsettled by this arrangement, until he sits down to a hamburger helper dinner with his new guardians. It certainly sounds more appetizing than the tuna helper Carter reportedly enjoyed. But what’s most important is the moving gesture of a happy family meal after the boy suffered abuses similar to Rip’s tragic childhood. The cowboy also lightheartedly acknowledges that Carter has Beth’s mean streak in him. This sweet scene, paralleling the more tense family dinners at the Dutton ranch, hints that Beth and Rip will get to be parents after all.

“Sins of the Father”
A tragic childhood underlines Rip’s toughness, as well as this defining moment of vulnerability. Beth reads to him a letter from her father John, who declares Rip a surrogate son entitled to the Dutton family trust. She then takes him to his very own house on their property. Rip can't help but break into tears as he comes to terms with John as the loving father he never had. Beth being the one who brings him to this epiphone affirms her as his anchor to both the family and his own emotions. As Rip grapples with his responsibility to protect the Duttons after the Beck feud, Beth in turn gives him grace.

“The Beating”
With this couple’s complicated dynamic, fans had to wonder who was going to pop the question. They’re traditional enough for Beth to wait for Rip to do it after asking for her father’s permission. John knows that his prospective son-in-law respects Beth too much for that. Thus, when the couple reunite on their porch, Beth makes the proposal. Rip’s only reservation is that the marriage wouldn’t be legally legitimate, as there’s no public record of his existence. Beth’s assurance sums up what this awkward proposal truly represents. For all their respect for tradition, Beth and Rip are a one-of-a-kind couple who needed this mutually respectful gesture.

“Grass on the Streets and Weeds on the Rooftops”
Fired up on tying up loose ends after a chaotic fourth season, Beth finishes the day by settling personal business. She realizes that life’s too short for planning her dream wedding. Really, it can't be any more perfect than her kidnapping a priest and dragging him to Yellowstone Ranch. There, Rip quickly gathers friends and family, and marries his soulmate. Punctuating Beth’s reckless stunts with Rip’s romantic musings is a natural, oddly moving culmination for the couple. In terms of characterization, there is nothing spontaneous about this wedding. It is the right balance of priest-abducting abrasiveness and classic sentimentality, just like the new Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler themselves.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

Teenage Rip & Beth Exchange Guilt Over the Deaths of Loved Ones, Then Exchange a Kiss

Beth Affirms That Rip May Never Be a True Dutton, But She’s Always Admired His Passion

The Couple Ends a Hard Day Dancing in the Corral to Tyler Childers’s “Lady May”

A Tearful Confession of Old Flames Only Reveals That Beth Is Her Own Worst Enemy

Beth Helps Rip Through Grief with a Glass of Whiskey & a Fireplace

“Cigarettes, Whiskey, a Meadow and You”
The love story of Rip and Beth comes full circle with the chance discovery of a picturesque meadow. The couple plants down beside a tree, sharing a cigarette, thoughts of the future, and an intimate moment under the sunset. There is no drama, no business, no cowboy adventure. There is only this perfect moment of perspective for a couple that has been through a lot in five seasons. What could have been a passing filler scene feels more like the summation of Rip and Beth’s journey together. Whether it works outside of that context, Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser’s chemistry, as well as the poetic writing, focus all the romance of the American West onto two people finding their paradise.


What are your favorite arguably functional family moments on “Yellowstone?” Talk it out in the comments.