But I can’t recall a turnaround as dramatic as the one between last week’s frustrating nothing of an episode and this week’s “I Killed a Man Today,” which exemplifies what this show can be when everything clicks.

I’ve been complaining a lot this season about the reframing of “John Dutton, Rich and Powerful Super-Rancher” as “John Dutton, Cash-Strapped Working Man.” And even after this week’s chapter, I still think Yellowstone’s creator Taylor Sheridan — perhaps influenced by the proud ranch-folk he may have talked to before pitching this show — has a skewed sense of the American caste system if he thinks that the Duttons aren’t wealthy.

Still, I liked that in “I Killed a Man Today,” the characters stop talking around the situation that John Dutton’s facing, and instead just lay everything out for each other directly.

And they’re plenty real, regardless of John Dutton’s perception of his own socioeconomic status.

(As Beth points out, he doesn’t even have to sell the ranch. He can hold onto his home and business, and will have enough liquidity to keep ranching until he dies.) That’s where it helps that Sheridan’s spent so much time over the past two seasons establishing John as a stubborn son-of-a-bitch, with crazy kids.

(“Respect and loyalty,” he says, “But not that.”) The two Dutton boys then share a sweet moment when the adopted Jamie asks if he can still call Kayce “brother.” Kayce says, without hesitation, “’Til the day you die, you’d better never call me anything else.”?

After last week’s dispiriting lack of action, it was satisfying to see such a greater sense of urgency and import in “I Killed a Man Today.” Sheridan and this episode’s director, Guy Ferland, even overcame my early skepticism toward a subplot that — for its first few scenes — looked like it was setting up a gratuitous scene of sexual assault.

She initially avoids telling Kayce about her plans to help Chief Rainwater with the sting, because she doesn’t want him to worry.

And Kayce and Monica’s big argument isn’t the week’s only questionable moment.

Perhaps he’s upset because the musician playing onstage is Walker, the former Yellowstone ranch hand Rip intended to murder last season (before Kayce interceded)?

Perhaps I’ll be as pleasantly surprised by the way that arc goes, just as I was by so much of “I Killed a Man Today.”.

• While I appreciated the more honest accounting of the Dutton family finances in this episode, I do have to balk at Tate describing his dad as “broke as hell.” Last I checked, Kayce is a Montana Livestock Commissioner (a job that pays in the high double-digits, according to Google), married to a university instructor (not a lucrative gig, but hardly minimum wage), living presumably rent-free in a massive ranch-house which probably has a well-stocked kitchen

• I sometimes feel that Sheridan leans too hard on the “hard-bitten Beth” schtick; but I have to admit I laughed out loud when John noted that she didn’t look like “a blushing bride” and she responded, “The blush was fucked out of me years ago.” (Almost as funny was John’s halting follow-up: “I love our man-to-man talks but we’ve gotta set some goddamn boundaries.”)