Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser in 'Dutton Ranch.'

Emerson Miller/Paramount+

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From the moment Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly) looks over the Montana landscape to sigh, “Did you ever imagine we could have this? This quiet?” to her equally contented husband, we know their peace cannot be long for this earth. There would be no show if it were. And lo and behold: We’re not even at the opening credits before a fire blazes in to destroy the couple’s hard-won serenity, forcing them to start fresh.

Well — kind of fresh. As major characters from Taylor Sheridan’s Paramount Network hit Yellowstone, Beth, her husband Rip (Cole Hauser) and their ward Carter (Finn Little) cannot help but bring several seasons’ worth of baggage with them to their new cattle ranch in Texas. But the change in scenery proves just enough to allow the latest of this franchise’s many spinoffs, Paramount+’s Dutton Ranch, to open itself up to newcomers in the four (of nine) hours sent to critics, while still dishing out familiar soap operatics.

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Dutton Ranch

The Bottom Line

Palatable, if not yet cravable.

Airdate: Friday, May 15 (Paramount+)

Cast: Kelly Reilly, Cole Hauser, Finn Little, Annette Bening, Ed Harris, Juan Pablo Raba, Jai Courtney, J.R. Villarreal, Natalie Alyn Lind, Marc Menchaca

Creator: Chad Feehan

Where the Duttons and their various dramas were well known in their corner of Montana, they’re total newcomers in the small town of Rio Paloma, nestled a few hours north of the Mexican border. And from the moment they land, they’re making new friends and new enemies as quickly as creator Chad Feehan can invent them.

The former camp include a pair of loyal ranch hands, the friendly Azul (J.R. Villarreal) and the sad-eyed Zachariah (Marc Menchaca), as well as Everett (Ed Harris), a gallant Navy veteran turned veterinarian. (It tells you something about the insistently straight-faced tone of Dutton Ranch that it refrains from cracking even the smallest joke about Everett being a vet vet.)

The latter camp is mostly comprised of people associated with 10 Petal Ranch, the slicker, larger, more corporatized cattle operation down the road. At the top of that food chain sits Beulah Jackson (Annette Bening), a ruthless matriarch who’s none too pleased to learn the Duttons have purchased the property she’d been hoping to snap up for herself.

As that list of parenthetical names might suggest, Dutton Ranch’s biggest blessing is its cast. Harris nestles into this dusty landscape as comfortably as a foot sliding into a broken-in boot, his quiet decency lending the entire endeavor a welcome touch of gravitas. Bening’s performance feels more phoned-in (so far, at least, this “grizzly in Gucci” seems like she could have been played by any other actress of comparable star power and age range). But she is still Annette Bening, and thus perfectly enjoyable to watch swan around in giant belt buckles or smile veiled threats at recalcitrant employees.

This is really Reilly’s show, however, and she rises to the challenge with ease. Her particular magnetism might be best exemplified by a scene in which Beth clacks around a luxury Dallas hotel in Louboutin stilettos while lugging a beat-up cooler with a “Don’t be a shitass” sticker: Here is a confidently glamorous lady who doesn’t mind dirt under her fingernails, a scheming business mind with a startlingly direct affect.

So watchable is Beth that it’s almost enough to make up for the fact that her co-lead barely registers at all. Rip’s favorite piece of romantic advice is, “You don’t do anything, you don’t say anything, you just listen”; judging by how forgettable he is, you can’t accuse the guy of not walking the walk.

Throw these big personalities (and Rip) together, and Dutton Ranch comes away with a tangle of storylines that land ever slightly more often than not. Its heroes and villains may lack the psychological depth or emotional complexity of the best TV characters, given as they are to simply blurting out loud what their motivations are. But the brewing rivalry between the two ranches — as well as the growing enmity between Beulah’s sons, the dutifully competent Joaquin (Juan Pablo Raba) and the violently coked-up Rob-Will (Jai Courtney) — scratch a certain Succession-lite itch.

The Duttons’ struggle to grow their business of

'Dutton Ranch' Review: Paramount+'s Palatable 'Yellowstone' Spinoff