‘Yellowstone’ season 5 sets the tone with powerful opening speech

This article contains spoilers for the season five premiere of Yellowstone.

Yellowstone‘s fifth season kicked off with an exciting speech from one of the power players on the series, and it’s as motivating as it is laced with vulnerability and hesitation. 

The name of the fame is changing in the fifth season, and one of the significant ways is that Kevin Costner is stepping up and swearing in as Governor of Monta. So when the two-hour television event kicked off with a speech, we hoped it would be from the man of the hour.

Luckily, Sheridan did not disappoint. His words were motivational and powerful, setting himself aside from being the ranch owner we know to the governor we’ll be introduced to this season. We all know that John is willing to risk it all to protect what’s his, and now he’s in charge of much more than just his family and his ranch. He’s got the state of Montana to think about.

“I have a lot of work to do and a lot of work to undo. The question we all have to answer, the one that I will look to every day is what will my Montana look like in 100 years? Much of that is dictated by the way the world sees us today. Right now, we are seen as the rich man’s plaything. We are New York’s novelty and California’s toy. Not anymore. You’ve elected me to be a steward of the state of its land and its people, and that’s exactly what I will be.

“Environmentalists; they just love to debate what’s Montana’s most valuable resource? Is the water, or is it the walls? Is it the trees? The answer is actually pretty simple. It’s you. Cowboys and ranchers live with the land, off of it. Protecting you now is how Montana still looks like Montana. When none of us here tonight are here to see it.”

The crowd roared with applause as he spoke, but it’s evident that he’s got a long road ahead of him; it’s easy to garner support on the night of the election results when Beth set up an open bar to celebrate. When John starts making decisions, that’s when things will change — if it’s for the good or the bad, we’ve yet to see.

All will be revealed is the longline for this season, and it’s clear within the few moments we’ve seen so far that it won’t be episodes in which we find out everyone’s biggest secrets; no, they’ll start revealing themselves much sooner than that. 

Yellowstone will continue airing new episodes on Sunday evenings at 8pm on Paramount, and you can watch the first four seasons on Peacock now if you need to get caught up on anything you might have missed.