Following the explosive Season 2 premiere , Kayce Dutton (Luke Grimes) struggles with the aftermath of his son Tate’s (Brecken Merrill) kidnapping. Determined to protect his family, Kayce installs new security measures at East Camp, but he also worries that he’s becoming too much like his father, John Dutton (Kevin Costner).

Thomas Rainwater (Gil Birmingham) offers some reassurance, encouraging Kayce to guide his son rather than try to control his future. Kayce’s concerns around fatherhood come into a deadlier focus at the end of the episode, when he and his team trade shots with a former police officer and his son.

The shooter is Wayne Plummer (Rob Mars), a disgraced former police officer who has embarked on a killing spree targeting the people he blames for ruining his career, all of whom happen to be in law enforcement. The investigation becomes especially dangerous when the team discovers that Wayne is targeting their boss, Harry Gifford (Brett Cullen), who previously fired him two decades ago. We learn, too late, that Gifford also prevented Wayne’s son from joining the force.

Wayne and his son Boone (Ryan Paynter) launch an attack during a memorial ceremony, but Pete “Cal” Calvin (Logan Marshall-Green) and Belle Skinner (Arielle Kebbel) manage to stop Wayne, while Kayce and Andrea Cruz (Ash Santos) convince Boone to surrender.

The confrontation follows an investigation that almost saw Belle get blown up by a booby-trap in Wayne’s home, where the team finds a manifesto, bomb-making supplies and other evidence of a deeply unhinged man. Unfortunately, the episode gives us very little time with Wayne himself, and we see almost all of his spite and mental troubles through the eyes of the investigation.

Elsewhere, Cal finally reveals his cancer diagnosis to the rest of the team, admitting that he faces chemotherapy, radiation and – eventually – surgery. All he wants from them is no special treatment. I’m curious if this is going to have a happy ending or if Marshall-Green is being written off the show.

In keeping with the theme of fatherhood this episode, Cal and his estranged daughter, Maddie (Morgan Lindholm) are starting to talk again and mending fences, but Cal wants to continue keeping his cancer a secret from her, even though Miles Kittle (Tatanka Means), who is romantically involved with Maddie, thinks it’s a bad idea and doesn’t like keeping things from her, which is understandable.

Belle continues struggling with her personal life, as she and her husband have pretty much given up but her son, Braxton (I’m sorry, all I can think of is Braxton Hicks, which would be a hilarious name for a cowboy) is traumatized from her previous injuries and somehow sees the news story of the cop killer on the loose.

The episode closes with Kayce still wrestling with his father’s legacy and his responsibility to Tate, reinforcing the episode’s central theme of fathers, sons (and mothers) and the burdens passed from one generation to the next. But mostly it was about some tense shootouts in Bozeman, MT, my place of birth. I think I have a fascination with this show and Yellowstone because this is where I’m from, and it was never this exciting.

On the other hand, one of the last times I visited Bozeman, we were driving from the airport on the highway into town and there were three or four police cars on the side of the road, with cops out, guns drawn and pointed at a stopped vehicle. It looked like a scene straight out of this show, but I didn’t see any camera crews. The world is changing, even in Montana. “The last best place,” as my Montana friends and family call it, and they’re not altogether wrong.

I’m glad the big Weaver plot was wrapped up this week and we got back to the procedural crime stuff in Episode 2. I would have liked to get more of the bad guy and his motivations, but the action was fun and we got to see more of Andrea and Kayce out at East Camp together. Will they or won’t they? Kayce is so serious. He could use a little love in his life. Tate’s almost a grown man at this point. He’s going to have to let go, though given the many, many traumatic experiences that boy has been through, it won’t be easy. Maybe Kayce should send him off to college far, far away from Bozeman and Dutton land.