In the blink of an eye, the dynamics in Yellowstone spinoff Dutton Ranch have completely changed.
Last week, episode 5 saw Rip (Cole Hauser) take on the job as foreman at rival ranch 10 Petal, ousting Chet (Hart Denton) from his temporary position.
On top of that, Beth (Kelly Reilly) propositioned Beulah (Annette Bening) to take her on as a brand manager, claiming she can turn 10 Petal into a "recession-proof household name" in the next three years.
This means the trio are now an unstable alliance, but there's clearly more behind 10 Petal than meets the eye, much of it connected to Beulah's sons, the unhinged Rob-Will (Jai Courtney) and the hitman-like Joaquin (Juan Pablo Raba).
Now that Rob-Will has magically reappeared after being shipped off to an out-of-state rehab, all hell is on the cusp of breaking loose.
But according to one popular fan theory, he's not the brother that we need to be watching out for — because Joaquin could connect us straight to the cartel we've already seen in Landman.
Dutton Ranch and Landman could be linked by the Texas cartel if there's a 'bigger villain' than Beulah
Up until episode 5, it's seemed as though Beulah was the only "big bad" in Dutton Ranch, but now that her defences appear to have been weakened, that's clearly not the case.
Combine this with the trouble Rob-Will has got in by allegedly "fiddling" the ranch's books and how cagey Joaquin is being about protecting the business at all costs, and there must be bigger trouble afoot.
Most of this seems to be surrounding money, steering us to the logical conclusion that the cartel will be after 10 Petal directly if they continue to sink into decline.
Why the cartel? Well, Taylor Sheridan has already introduced them to Texas in Landman.
When we first meet Tommy (Billy Bob Thornton) in season 1, he's being held against his will by a bunch of shady guys until they agree to ransom terms. With Tommy's life continuously in a precarious position, the threat of something bad happening never goes away.
So if the theories ares right, and episodes 6-9 of Dutton Ranch reveal that Beulah is hiding bigger secrets than we've realized, is a Landman crossover possible?
As ever with hit Taylor Sheridan shows, anything is possible... and I wouldn't be surprised if we see some minor Landman characters pop in to say hello, at the very least.
