Marshals Episode 9 Resolves A Yellowstone Rivalry We Never Knew About

"Marshals" Episode 9 saw Luke Grimes' Kayce Dutton and his team save Andrea Cruz (Ash Santos) from a dangerous family that seem to have plenty of unfinished business with the Duttons. Just what that business is remains unclear, but based on what we saw in the latest installment we should learn a lot more about a heretofore unrevealed part of the Duttons' history as the show goes on.

Earlier in the season, "Marshals" introduced a previously unseen Dutton family rival in the form of the Cleggs. After Kayce came face-to-face with its patriarch, Randall Clegg (Michael Cudlitz), at a stand-off on the Broken Rock Reservation, we learned that the Cleggs were essentially an even more scuzzy version of Kayce's own family. According to Arielle Kebbel's Belle Skinner, these bargain bin Duttons previously operated out of a compound that was raided by the ATF, heavily implying they were involved in narcotics. But their biggest money-maker of late was blasting rocks for a nearby mine that caused untold problems for both the rez and Kayce's own land.

Unfortunately for the Cleggs, Broken Rock's stand against the mine disrupted the family's income, and after Kayce arrested one of Randall's sons and killed the other, the head of the clan wasn't too pleased. This all culminated in a standoff in Episode 9, with the Marshals storming Randall's farmhouse and finally apprehending the man who looks set to be the show's big bad. We also got another exchange between Kayce and Randall, in which the former says he wishes his father were alive "to see Montana rid itself of the Cleggs." All of which raises the question of just what this unsavory clan did to John Dutton and his own brood.

In "Marshals" Episode 3, Belle Skinner referred to the Cleggs as being like the Duttons but "without the money and the power." Essentially, then, the family has been in Montana for generations but never gained the influence of Kevin Costner's John Dutton and his clan, even while they became locally infamous for their illicit dealings. Of course, all of this is essentially a retcon on the part of the "Marshals" writers. The Cleggs were never mentioned on "Yellowstone" and creator Taylor Sheridan never intended for John Dutton to have a right wing extremist rival. Now, however, "Marshals" has tasked itself with going back and inserting the Cleggs into the Duttons' past. Whatever that story turns out to be, it seems as if there's absolutely no love lost between the two families.

In Episode 9 of "Marshals," Kayce Dutton and his Marshals team attempt to rescue Andrea Cruz from Randall Clegg's heavily-fortified farmhouse. After drafting in former Navy SEAL teammate Garrett (Riley Green), Kayce and the crew eventually get to Andrea and put down Randall in his living room. Afterwards, they haul him outside where Kayce tells him he should have come for him directly rather than kidnapping Cruz. "I don't take lectures on manhood from a family who thinks power comes from land and badges," says Randall. This is when Kayce references his father and how happy he would have been to see the Cleggs taken down, after which Randall says, "You may have wiped out my kin, but my family tree blossomed today. And unlike the Duttons, my legacy is growing." Just what is the beef between these longstanding Montana dynasties and how will the "Marshals" writers fit such a potent rivalry into the established "Yellowstone" storyline?

Clearly there's a lot of history between the Duttons and the Cleggs, but we still don't know much about it. Prior to his death in Season 5 of "Yellowstone," John Dutton obviously wasn't a big fan of Randall Clegg and Kayce seems to have settled that score in Episode 9 by apprehending the Clegg patriarch. But it seems there's plenty of unfinished business between Kayce's family and the Cleggs and we still don't know exactly what their history is.

"Marshals" showrunner Spencer Hudnut did tell TVLine that the Clegg family were "thorns in the Duttons' side in the past" and that "Randall Clegg is going to become a very large thorn in Kayce's side this season," with the two going "head to head a few times." While it will be exciting to see Kayce continue this long-standing Dutton feud, it will be more interesting to see how the writers work this whole story into the "Yellowstone" timeline and whether they explain how the Cleggs originally became such a "thorn in the side" of the Dutton dynasty.

"Marshals" has acknowledged "Yellowstone" storylines multiple times before, and the writers seem eager to tie the show to its predecessor even while they attempt to distinguish the two (likely due to behind-the-scenes legal considerations). But the Clegg storyline is different as it involves the writers having to essentially rewrite "Yellowstone" history. Whether they can do that successfully or not will be a big test for a show that since Episode 3 has seemed to struggle to determine what it's actually about.