‘Madison’ Season 1: The End Is Explained

Between funerals and wishes, Madison moved from Montana to New York City and back again, and introduced Michelle Pfeiffer as the matriarch of a wealthy family brought on by tragedy. Or, exactly the type of character in the middle Madison Creative writer Taylor Sheridan loves her stories. And especially, if you consider this series began to live as Yellowstone he went out. Remember all the drama surrounding star Kevin Costner and his contract? We actually had fun, once Madison appeared again it wasn’t like that attached to the Duttons.

Presented in two-episode blocks, and soon renewed for a second season, Madison it started with a shocking plane crash, brought a New York City family to Big Sky Country on a private plane, and began shocking their systems with airplane fishing, outdoor plumbing, and needy neighbors offering help. But how Madison the end? What happened to Kurt Russell Madison? And like Stacy Clyburn, did Michelle Pfeiffer stay in NYC? Or did he end up back in Montana as a Madison Valley resident? The Decider has the answers for you.

***Don’t fish here if you don’t want to catch Madison spoilers!***

First: Did Taylor Sheridan Really Begin Madison By killing Kurt Russell and Matthew Fox?

Yes, absolutely. Episode 1 of Madison introduces Kurt Russell and Matthew Fox as Preston Clyburn and his younger brother Paul Clyburn, who find as much time as possible to fly Yellowstone cutthroat trout through the sparkling waters of the Madison River. Paul made the riverside plot of rooms they bought together his year-round home. But as much as Preston loves freedom, natural attractions, and fishing during his time in Montana, his life is in New York City with Stacy (Pfeiffer), his wife of 39 years. Preston is Stacy’s center, the love of her life. But he did not go down by torturing it in the west.

When a call comes in from the forest ranger in Idaho, where Preston and Paul died after their Cessna crashed in the middle of a storm, Stacy is completely devastated. But he gathers his daughters Abby (Beau Garrett) – divorced with two young girls – and Paige (Elle Chapman) – married to Russell (Patrick J. Grant) – to take a private jet from their happy life in NYC to the open spaces of Montana. At her husband’s house, as she reads a journal she didn’t know he kept, Stacy realizes that this place means more to her than she thought.

Sounds like Stacy’s family were fish out of water in Montana.

Definitely. Paige and Russell leave their sanity in SoHo, and are repeatedly stung by hornets. Abby tries to expand the culinary horizons of her daughters Bridgette (Amiah Miller) and Macy (Alaina Pollack), but they make poo-poo elk sausage for breakfast and declare the local favorite “Indian tacos” racist. And with the trip out west only causing more conflict and even physical fights, Stacy is heartbroken to learn that Preston’s untimely death has exposed her family’s longstanding rift.

Wow. Was there a time to adjust?

However, Stacy herself is starting a serious “back to the country” movement. I Madison he often includes her in background conversations with Preston – which is a great display of Michelle Pfeiffer and Kurt Russell’s chemistry – and we learn a lot about their lives together. But in Montana, with every page of Preston’s journal she reads, this New York City lady is more interested in her husband’s Out West mindset. He throws his greasy Simms fishing cap at his expensive salon, finds all the great places he sent her photos, and not only decides to bury Preston’s body in the Madison River area, but that he’s going to live there, too.

And Stacy isn’t the only one who enjoys the local spice. Sparks fly quickly when Abby meets Madison County sheriff’s deputy Van Davis (Ben Schnetzer), and they choose a “kiss first, details later” approach to their New York-meets-Montana sweet moment.

So was Preston’s Montana funeral full of private jets and wealthy guests from the Back East?

It’s impossible. It’s Stacy and her family, Deputy Van, Stacy’s neighbors at the camp by the river, Cade Harris (Kevin Zegers) and his wife Kestrel (Danielle Vasinova), and the empty place, none of which can contain Stacy’s grief or her great sense of disappointment that Preston’s death has been dismissed. He didn’t make it through the party before he announced that the entire family would be flying back to New York City.

OK, what Madison Is The End Defined? Does it take place in Montana or New York City?

Here’s what’s going on. Stacy embraced what Preston loved about Madison Valley, and made room in his heart, something she couldn’t do when she lived. But he felt the family could find closure in New York City. Stacy goes to a brilliant therapist – Will Arnett as Dr. Phil Yorn – and both Paige and Abby have re-entered their lives, with varying degrees of success. Although they were saddened, they could not process their father’s death without causing problems for themselves.

When Stacy’s friend Liliana (Rebecca Spence) plans a memorial service in the Clyburns’ gleaming white marble, it’s exactly what Stacy doesn’t want. He can’t bear to be crushed by unreasonable well-wishers while he only thinks about the loss that tore him apart. With some encouragement from his therapist – “Give,” Yorn says; as his concession – he leaves his phone and family, gets into a Yellow Taxi, and drives it alone back to Madison Valley.

Cade Harris, his cowboy neighbor over there, isn’t sure what to think when he finds her lying in Preston’s grave. But while she’s still wearing her dress from the memorial service in New York, it seems Stacy’s return has made her ready to be a Montanan. Back east, Abby files a missing persons report for her mother. But in the west, Stacy Clyburn is no longer a guest. There, he feels close to his place.

As we said, Madison has already been renewed for Season 2. And honestly, its six-episode first season felt like a prologue. Now that we’ve officially met Taylor Sheridan’s latest TV family, we’re interested in what they’ll do next, now that their New York locations have expanded.

Johnny Loftus (@johnnyloftus.bsky.social) is a writer based in Chicago. A veteran of other weekly channels, his work has also appeared in Entertainment Weekly, Pitchfork, The All Music Guide, and The Village Voice.