Yellowstone returned this week on Sunday, November 10th, after a two-year hiatus. Because of Kevin Costner’s early exit, fans were already hesitant about the show’s newest season.
While Season 5, Episode 9, was the most-viewed episode of the series, with over 16 million viewers tuning in for the premiere, it sparked a batch of negative ratings from fans.
Before we dive into the fans’ reaction, here is the complete recap of the midseason premiere episode.
Fans’ Rating Of The New Premiere
According to Rotten Tomatoes, this season of Yellowstone is the lowest-rated and most underwhelming for viewers.
Season 1 was beloved by fans, scoring 83%, but the critics were not as impressed and gave the show 57%. This season is the inverse, with the critics scoring it 84% and fans giving it a tragic 40%.
Over the last five seasons, the show has gradually grown in critic score as they got on board with the massive fan base. An article in Forbes crunched the numbers so you can see the progression of fan and critic ratings.
As you can see, the critics’ score jumped drastically from season 1 to season 2 and then stayed in the higher range.
The fans’ score, however, was high from the beginning, taking its first plunge this season.
The comments in the YouTube recap video above say it all:
It is clear that most of the fans’ disappointment had to do with the death of John Dutton, played by Kevin Costner.
Costner responded to his on-screen death in a recent interview; watch below.
