Beth (Kelly Reilly) and Rip (Cole Hauser) had to kill all of their cattle in Dutton Ranch Episode 4. In Dutton Ranch Episode 5, they’re starting anew again, this time with Rip becoming the new foreman of Beulah Jackson’s (Annette Bening) 10 Petal Ranch. Beth and Rip aren’t happy about this, but they’re making it work to support their family, and Beth is also going to use this as an opportunity to get more information about the untrustworthy (so she thinks) Beulah. Marc Menchaca, who plays Dutton Ranch cowboy Zac, tells TV Insider that there is even more reason to distrust Beulah than viewers may think. Warning: Dutton Ranch spoilers ahead!
Zac is now committed to Beth and Rip, and he mourns the loss of the cattle, too. Menchaca warns that “after I go to the 10 Petal, to be Rip’s eyes and ears, we do find that there are some things about the 10 Petal that are not great and that need to be changed.”
“They are kind of why we had to kill our cattle,” he reveals. What exactly he means by that is still to be revealed. Beth and Rip had to kill their cattle after the herd contracted foot-and-mouth disease. Now, Rip is working for Beulah while they search for other income.
Rip brings his cowboys, Zac and Azul (J.R. Villarreal), to the 10 Petal to help establish dominance among the ranch’s rowdy cowboys, but also so that Rip, who doesn’t speak Spanish, has Spanish-speaking eyes and ears on the ground of the ranch as they’re testing the waters with this new team. Menchaca says that Zac is loyal to Rip after Rip gave him his chance at a new life after getting released from prison. He wants to use the feeling of usefulness that Rip returned to his life in the service of the Dutton Ranch. Zac has also proven his trustworthiness to Rip after the events of Episodes 1-4.
“Once Rip sees that Zac knows what he’s doing and trusts him to take care of whatever he needs him to do, then [Rip] eventually, in Episode 6, sends him over to the 10 Petal to be the eyes and ears,” Menchaca says, adding, “I become a trusted confidant pretty quickly.”
Zac shared a scene with Beth in Episode 5 that made the cowboy feel like he really belonged with the Duttons, according to Menchaca.
“I think that Zac is a little bit intimidated by Beth until that moment,” Menchaca explains. “I don’t do it in normal life, but [Zac feels that Beth] is my boss’s wife, and I don’t feel like Zac felt comfortable around her, especially not alone.” Zac is self-aware of the fact that he went to prison for killing his lover by accident, so he’s not sure how he’s going to be received by women.
“But when she’s like, ‘Call me Beth,’ and makes a comment about her dad [Yellowstone‘s John Dutton], I think, it feels like [he’s] in with the family,” Menchaca says. “I don’t feel like Zac is angling for anything, I feel like he just wants a place to belong, and she ultimately creates it in that moment.”
Dutton Ranch, Fridays, 8/7c, Paramount Network, Streaming on Paramount+
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