John Dutton (Kevin Costner, of course) is back, and he’s madder than ever.

He looks in the mirror in the opening shot and sees the new John Dutton, who used to worry about corporate enemies, wolves and his troubled gorgeous, mean-tempered daughter Beth (Kelly Reilly) who is still by his side.

On this cold morning, John Dutton is Gov. John Dutton, the 26th governor of Montana.

Wait a minute, what happened to the campaign, the signs, the fight over signs, and angry opponents and double dealing enemies? And what are his opinions about abortion and climate change?

I get the feeling that creator Taylor Sheridan, the new John Ford, is too busy with creating a new western and building a new branch of the Dutton family (Yellowstone 1928 or 32?) to bore us with a campaign.

We meet the governor as he strides to the swearing-in platform in his black Stetson cowboy hat and the grumpy set of his jaw.

Somebody whispers to him, “You have no friends in this building, John.”

We already know that. We’ve seen John through four seasons now, shot down in the road and left to die, as he scribbled his shooter’s license number in the dirt with his own blood.

Now, that’s the way to die, the way Sean Connery, as an Irish cop, died in “The Untouchables” in 1987 with, OMG Kevin Costner as Elliot Ness.

How touching that Kevin remembered that and replayed it here?

But here we are as the story unfolds, with tough guy son Kayce Dutton (Luke Grimes) fighting horse thieves on the U.S.-Canadian border where we see a showdown in a river with armed Canadian Mounties.

Fun, but not that exciting, knowing it’s only a diversion.

We’re shown Kayce’s wife back home and having serious labor pains. What would Kayce’s wife do? She heads for the hospital on her own, while hubby is out looking for rustlers. Sounds to me like a John Wayne movie. Does it now?

The bad guys and girls are back, featuring Gil Birmingham as Chief Rainwater, and the mean old Caroline Warner (Jacki Weaver.)

Well, I for one look forward to 14 episodes of the new governor and a promised “new” pack of wolves in pinstripe suits.

“Yellowstone” streams on Paramount TV.

JP Devine of Waterville is a former stage and screen actor.