Taylor Sheridan was extremely generous to Taylor Sheridan Yellowstone recently.

The co-creator and showrunner plays rider and trainer Travis Wheatley in the series. The character has previously made brief appearances on his Paramount Network hit – usually astride a horse and conducting some business with ranch hands. But not only does Travis play a surprisingly important role in the hit drama’s latest episode, Sunday’s episode also showcased his character in perhaps the most flattering way possible Yellowstone creative world.

The action began with Travis hosting a strip poker game with three attractive young women in various stages of nakedness (Travis wins, of course). One of the women present then turns out to be Travis’ girlfriend, played by supermodel Bella Hadid.

Enter fan-favorite and badass Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly). She accuses Travis of “violating workplace harassment laws” and says she’d “rather have a gas enema” than join his game.

But in the next scene, in a rodeo arena, Beth and Hadid’s character watches as Travis shows off his riding skills. Beth tells Hadid, “(Travis is) probably the most arrogant man I’ve ever met in my life. Misogynistic. Condescending. Twenty-five years older than you. Can you please explain the objection?” To which Hadid dreamily replies, “Have you ever seen him ride a horse?” This is followed by footage of Sheridan/Travis maneuvering a horse (impressive!). Beth admits, “Okay, yeah, I understand.”

(For Hadid, that feeling reflects real life—she’s dating champion rider Adan Banuelos and has been spending a lot of time in the Fort Worth rodeo world lately.)

In a subsequent scene, the athletic and shirtless Travis celebrates with beautiful women in a pool and lures Beth to a one-on-one strip poker game. Unsurprisingly, Travis wins again – although he spares Beth the humiliation of having to take off her clothes. (This follows a recent shirtless appearance by Sheridan in another of his series – his Paramount+ CIA drama lionesswhere he plays CIA agent Cody Spears).

In last week’s episode, Sheridan enjoyed a different kind of promotional moment in a scene set in a hotel bar in Amarillo. Beth orders a Titos and lemonade and is informed about it by the bartender Serve Four Sixes vodka in this cowboy town. This is actually Sheridan’s liquor company, whose brand is named after the sprawling and legendary 277,000-acre Texas ranch he purchased in 2022. The bartender says, “Okay, sixes and soda,” which sounds a bit like they’re trying to make this order trendy (admittedly, “sixes and soda” sounds pretty nice). As with Sheridan/Travis’s horse skills, Beth is dutifully impressed by the cocktail/embedded advertisement for the writer-producer’s liquor company. (By the way, in case you’re curious, this speakeasy bar is the real Paramount Recreation Club in The Barfield, and according to their current cocktail menu, they serve Titos.)

So, all in all, there are a fascinating number of things Yellowstone demonstrates or somewhat hints at its own creator in the last two episodes: Sheridan’s Four Sixes liquor brand is great. He is a skilled horse seller (Sheridan sells horses in real life). He is an unbeatable poker player. His riding skills are incredible. He had a muscular 54 year old physique. He may be “arrogant and misogynistic,” but women still love him. He can seduce a 28-year-old supermodel and earn the respect of Beth Dutton – who appeared in five seasons of Yellowstonetends to destroy any man who is unlucky enough to cross her path (with the exception of her husband Rip, played by Cole Hauser, and a few family members). Let’s call it supporting character syndrome.

Of course, this is all pretty daring. It would be as if showrunner Shonda Rhimes had thrown herself into it Grey’s Anatomy than that best surgeon in the world who then seduces Derek Shepherd while performing brain surgery, right after Meredith Gray was wowed by an official line of Shonda Rhimes health products.

In one final interesting bit of the Travis affair from earlier in the season, Sheridan also gave Travis a moment last week when his character was informed that John Dutton (Kevin Costner) had died. Given all the reports of behind-the-scenes arguments between Sheridan and Costner, which ultimately led to Costner’s exit and the showrunner’s axing him from the series, Travis’ deadpan, “Oh, really?” What happened?” The reaction to learning of Dutton’s murder was surreal. This was, after all, the author who “murdered” John Dutton, and seemed casually surprised at the character assassination he had committed.

“I don’t think I ever questioned the meta nature of it, just because it felt very organic,” said executive producer Christina Voros, who directed this and three other episodes of season five The Hollywood Reporter last week of the scene. “It was just a series of things that made sense. Jimmy (Jefferson White) now works for Travis and that’s where his action takes place (at the Four Sixes Ranch, where Travis learns of John Dutton’s death). And what really struck me about that scene was that this is the first scene where we can really see how (John’s death) plays out in the cumulative effect of grief and helplessness.”

Next Sunday is the series finale of Yellowstonewhich is expected to end up leading to some kind of spin-off series, as Reilly and Hauser have had discussions about a possible sixth season.

***

Yellowstone releases its finale next Sunday at 8 p.m. on Paramount Network, followed by a linear premiere on CBS at 10 p.m. Here’s how to stream Yellowstone and follow along THRCoverage of Season 5B.