For me, the biggest failure of Season 5.2 was the mismanagement of expectations. I first heard of this term when 'The Killing' was on years ago viewers were led to believe it was a one season show. We suddenly found out it wasn't. Viewers were furious.
I watched 'Yellowstone' from the beginning, because it was supposed to be a modern day western set in Montana starring Kevin Costner. Then this last season Costner left. Much of the season was set in Texas at the Four Sixes Ranch seemingly starring Taylor Sheridan with some characters building up his mystique. The Texas scenes were pretty boring. If I wanted to see this kind of horse training, I would watch Sheridan's reality show 'The last Cowboy'. I watched a couple of episodes of that show and found them boring.
To me, Costner's John Dutton grounded 'Yellowstone', Beth was the backbone, Rip the heart, Kayce mostly irrelevant, Jamie almost a guest star type villain. I never liked him. With the characters that were left, the prophecy that after seven generations the land would go back to the native Americans, Kayce's lack of interest in the ranch, Beth and Rip relocating, this ending was predictable. There was little dramatic impact, plus it was an insulting disservice to Costner, his character, and viewers expectations from a show that many viewers started watching, because of Costner. This is how I feel. It was a betrayal of trust.
