This might be the first time I'm writing a My View several weeks after a season has ended. Not because I didn't want to, but because lately almost every free moment has been dedicated to building playview.eu. For several months, I almost stopped watching series, playing games, or engaging in anything else besides my job and Lifeblog. So, up until the fifth episode, I was taking notes as I always do, but I watched the rest almost in one sitting, and today, finally, it's time to write down my thoughts.

I hope that by the next big series I watch, playview.eu will have completed most of its development. Of course, let's be honest... a website never truly finishes. There will always be a new idea, a new feature, or an improvement you'll want to add.

Nevertheless, I would like to return to the habit of writing my articles in parallel with the airing of each episode, because I believe that this better captures the viewer's experience.

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From character building... to climax

Up until the fifth episode, the series primarily invests in introducing its new characters. We, of course, already know Beth and Rip from Yellowstone, so the focus is more on the people who will form the new core of the story.

And fortunately, the chemistry between Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser remains one of the series' greatest assets.The two actors appear not to have lost an ounce of the chemistry they built over all these years on Yellowstone and manage to carry the entire new production on their shoulders.

From the sixth episode onwards, however, the series noticeably changes level.

Beth's collaboration with Beulah becomes much more interesting, as the two women are forced to work together knowing that neither is truly revealing all her cards. Their relationship is based more on necessity than on trust, and that's what makes it so intriguing.

At the same time, Rip begins to become the true leader of the 10 Petal Ranch. He is no longer content with just solving problems; he tries to impose his own philosophy in a place where many still see him as an outsider.

Episodes 7 and 8 continue to escalate the tension.

The conflicts of the Jackson family reach their peak, Rob-Will becomes increasingly dangerous, while Beulah's condition changes the balance and essentially opens the discussion about who will lead the 10 Petal Ranch in the future.

At the same time, Carter's relationship with Oreana gains more weight and ceases to be a simple secondary story.

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The Grand Finale – "El Padrino"

The last episode abruptly escalates the story's scope.

The revelation of the fentanyl trafficking ring, Mariano's return, the internal conflicts of the Jackson family, the deaths, the major attack on the 10 Petal Ranch, and finally Carter's kidnapping transform the finale into a ticking time bomb that continuously explodes until the credits roll.

The final scene leaves Beth and Rip facing the greatest personal threat they have received since the end of Yellowstone. Until that moment, the fight was about the survival of the ranch.From now on, it's a battle for their own family.

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Behind the scenes

Despite the success of the first season, production was anything but calm.

Shortly before the first episode even aired, it was announced that the original creator and showrunner Chad Feehan would not be continuing for the second season. American publications reported intense creative differences with executives from Paramount and 101 studios, as well as with key cast members of the series.

The biggest surprise came a few weeks after the finale, when Ed Harris publicly revealed that he felt disappointed by his limited role as Everett McKinney. As he stated, when he agreed to participate in the series, he believed he would be one of the main protagonists.

In the process, however, he felt that his character was used much less than he had been led to believe.

In fact, he revealed that there was a moment when he even considered leaving the series, and he was particularly displeased when a scene in which Everett sang in a bar was removed, which, in his opinion, gave greater depth to the character.

(personally, I was really surprised that they didn't show that, I had him in the background and he didn't appear at all)

Several American media outlets linked this dissatisfaction to the departure of Chad Feehan, but Paramount never officially confirmed that this was the sole reason.

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The two Showrunners

Chad Feehan was not particularly well-known to the general public, but he had significant experience as a screenwriter on series such as Rectify, Ray Donovan, Animal Kingdom, and Banshee.

Banshee, in fact, remains one of my favorite action series and I would certainly like to see it soon in the playview.eu library.

Despite everything

these, Dutton Ranch was essentially his first big opportunity as a creator and showrunner of such a large production.

Paramount, on the other hand, seems to have chosen to invest in a much more experienced name for the second season.

Benjamin Cavell has a particularly strong resume.

His most significant work is undoubtedly Justified, a series that many consider among the top neo-westerns of the last two decades.

There he worked for six seasons as a writer, producer, and later as an Executive Producer.

Justified stood out for its excellent dialogues, complex anti-heroes, unique humor, and characters who were never entirely good or bad.

Does all this remind you of something?

These are precisely the elements that Dutton Ranch also needs.

At the same time, Cavell is the creator of SEAL Team, a series that managed to combine military action with intense human drama and maintain interest

of the audience for several seasons.

He has also participated in the creative teams of Homeland, Sneaky Pete and The Stand.

Homeland is still very high on my list of favorite spy series, while on the other hand, The Stand never managed to win me over and I personally abandoned it quite early.

Nevertheless, if I had to keep only one of Cavell's works as a reason for optimism, it would be Justified.

Because it is a series based on characters, dialogues and slowly built conflicts.And that's exactly what the Dutton Ranch needs.

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My only objection

If there's one thing I would really change about the first season, it concerns the last episode.

Honestly, when it ended, my first thought wasn't "what a strong finale."

It was...

"Why such a rush?"

For about seven episodes, the series patiently builds its characters and conflicts.

And suddenly, within an hour, we have revelations, deaths, attacks, betrayals, and the big cliffhanger.

Not because these things don't work.

They do work.

I just believe that this material deserved at least two more episodes to breathe and gain even greater emotional weight.

It's something we see quite often in American series.

As if there's always a need to wrap everything up in the final episode, even when the story has room to develop further.

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Epilogue

For me, Dutton Ranch will always be the series that accompanied the greater part of the creation of playview.eu.

Perhaps that's why it will stay with me more than I would have expected.

Not just for the story of Beth and Rip, but because it reminds me of a time when every night I would shut down my computer after hours of development, corrections, design, and endless to-do lists, and it would have been ideal to dedicate an hour to get lost in the world of some series, but there was no time.

Now that the first major chapter of playview.eu is nearing completion, I hope to experience the next series differently.To follow them week by week, to write down my thoughts as the story unfolds, and for all of us to discuss them here together.

Because that was the original reason playview.eu was born.

Not to rate movies and series.

But to share the journey of every story.

Until my next little article, see you in the comments!