A Writer at War is based on the notebooks in which he gathered his raw material. We saw a little bit of ourselves in them, even as we hoped John Dutton and his family would ride off into the sunset, his ranch and way of life secure, once and for all.Vasily Grossman’s masterpiece Life and Fate is rated by many critics as the greatest Russian novel of the twentieth century. Really, maybe that’s why we liked “Yellowstone” so much: It was melodramatic, macabre and unrealistic, and yet the Duttons loved each other fiercely - as much as they loved their Western way of life. The people you admire are flawed, just like you.

Real love doesn’t always last, even if it seems like it should.

Sometimes, good things end faster than you’d hoped. The sad news around “Yellowstone” and Costner’s life reveals some important lessons. In many ways, we watched “Yellowstone” because it was an escape and therapy we got away from our real lives then returned feeling a lot better about ourselves. We love our way of life and heck, even a Western ranch sounds cool, but there’s no way we’d bribe and hang people for it. We love each other passionately, but we don’t look like both ends of a toxic relationship are burning to a crisp. Sure, we’re dramatic and messed up, but at least we’re not getting into fist fights like the Duttons. We watch films, television shows and theater to have an escape from life. In Costner’s divorce and “Yellowstone’s” fate, it feels like life is imitating art a bit too much. The loss of an 18-year marriage is no small thing, and while the ending of a hit series is a bummer on a much smaller scale, it’s frustrating because it represented a new era - an era where the Western was popular again, even if it wasn’t exactly “True Grit.” It’s hard not to look at both of these things and say: If they can’t make it work, who can? While Hollywood isn’t known for long-lasting love, his nearly two decade second marriage seemed to have defeated the odds. It’s one of the most watched shows across all of TV in 2022.

Before “Yellowstone,” he’d made a name for himself as the renaissance Western man in the Oscar-winning “Dances with Wolves,” “Wyatt Earp,” “Open Range” and “Let Him Go.”įor this life-long Costner fan - “Field of Dreams” was one of my favorite movies as a kid - and a newer “Yellowstone” viewer, the whole thing is sad - Costner’s impending divorce, his departure from “Yellowstone,” and the show’s abrupt ending. Costner, for many, epitomizes Western men - or at least - the importance of Western life.

Life and fate