“The train station” in Yellowstone is something you don’t want to mess with. Lainey Wilson even joked that her character hasn’t been taken there yet – which means she’s likely safe to return for the end of Season 5. So, when this Yellowstone plot hole about Jamie and Beth and the train station re-emerged on Reddit, fan started talking again – and we’re digging into a few of their theories below.
It makes sense that this Reddit thread would gain momentum now. Fans are anxiously waiting for the remaining episodes of Yellowstone Season 5 – which Paramount Network said is coming in November 2023. But this release date is becoming less and less likely due to the ongoing writers’ and actors’ strikes halting the production of dozens of film and TV projects. And with the Kevin Costner and Taylor Sheridan Yellowstone drama dominating headlines since February (see our full timeline of events here), we don’t even know if the lead star will make an appearance in the final episodes. There are still a lot of unknowns in the Yellowstone-verse.
The last time we saw the Duttons was in the Season 5 mid-season finale, which focused on the rivalry between John, Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly) and Jamie Dutton (Wes Bently). Bentley spoke with Entertainment Weekly in February 2023 about what could happen with the estranged siblings moving forward. “We’ve got something coming. We’re both threatening each other now in some serious ways,” Bentley told the entertainment site. “It’s a mystery to me too where it’s going. I just know this is an inflection point….Something major will come of this moment between Jamie and Beth. This is kind of the final straw. He didn’t much how much Beth was really fed up with him until really recently, and I think that is now flipped a switch in Jamie that he feels similarly.”
The scene in question also takes place in the Season 5 mid-season finale, when Beth discovers the existence of the train station. The train station refers to a rural canyon area past the Montana border into Wyoming where the Duttons (and their ranchers) execute and dispose of the dead bodies of their enemies. When Jamie tells Beth about the existence of the train station and her family’s association, she acts shocked and distraught at what he tells her. She then goes and talks to her father, John Dutton (Kevin Costner), and asks him where it is. But according to Redditors on this thread, Beth already knows where the train station is because she was there with Jamie last season – revealing a potential major plot hole by the writers.
In the Season 4 finale, after Jamie kills his biological dad and dumps him at the train station, Beth was there waiting for Jamie. She even takes a picture of Jamie and the dead body (which she later threatens to give to the cops). Some Reddit users allege that Beth could have followed Jamie there, so she might have not known exactly where she was going. While others are adamant that Beth was stationed there before Jamie arrived, mainly because she steps out of the shadows behind him.
“I didn’t think they were at the train station, I thought they were at Jamie’s ranch and she surprised him dragging the body TO his vehicle,” one user asks. But according to another Redditor, when you re-watch the clip, you can see the Wyoming border sign before Jamie pulls out and parks the car. (The same sign was also seen when Lloyd and Walker dumped a body at the train station in prior seasons.)
After re-watching the clip, Beth clearly approaches Jamie from behind. If she did follow him there, perhaps we would have seen headlights or heard her car approach the area. Another theory raised in the thread is that Jamie’s truck “could have GPS on it” that Beth tracked. “I think she was shocked at the fact that John was involved in it not that it existed. But they didn’t do a good job making that clear in the season 4 finale becuz everyone has to now speculate about it in the season 5 midseason finale,” they wrote about the mystery.
Another user compared the plot flaw to a soap. “It’s a soap opera. Amnesia happens all the time. Really bad writing, but yeah it’s the Beth and Jamie show.”
In Season 5, Episode 8, Beth approaches her father and asks him the truth about the train station. “What is it, exactly?” Governor Dutton tells Beth, “It is a trash can for everyone who has attacked us.” He even asked her, “Why are you so surprised?” (considering all the illegal things her family has done). Beth then states that the train station is the place for Jamie – which is the Beth we all know.