"Yellowstone" Season 4 is filled with shocking moments and twists, but arguably one of the most memorable scenes of the entire season is the death of Josh Holloway's Roarke Morris. After causing the Dutton clan no small amount of grief in Season 3, Roarke briefly returns in the Season 4 premiere and faces some fatal retribution served up by Rip Wheeler (Cole Hauser). In the climactic sequence, Rip pretends to be a passerby and approaches Roarke while he's fly fishing with a cooler, which secretly contains a rattlesnake. The snake bites Roarke's face, injecting him with venom and killing him in mere seconds.
Roarke's demise may be a well-executed scene from an entertainment standpoint, but there's actually a pretty hefty mistake contained within it. While rattlesnakes can be quite dangerous, a bite from one usually doesn't end up being fatal. Once the snake has bitten and injected its victim with venom, it's nowhere near as fast of a process as "Yellowstone" makes it seem. According to Healthline, rattlesnake venom generally takes anywhere from 48 to 72 hours to reach its full impact on the human body. By most accounts, Roarke should have had at least several hours to seek treatment, rather than dying of the venom within a minute of getting bitten.