There’s been much ado about Season 5 of “Yellowstone” of late. With Luke Grimes confirming that filming is yet to even begin on Season 5, Part 2 of the hit Paramount Network series, and star Kevin Costner battling it out with Taylor Sheridan and threatening to take Paramount to court, the future of the hit show has never looked more unpredictable.
While we have a list of spin-offs, both current and upcoming for the “Yellowstone” universe, word on when the next batch of episodes will be coming has repeatedly been kicked down the road, a situation which is only exacerbated by the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strikes. While we can be pretty sure that John Dutton (Costner) will die in Season 5, Part 2, another core character has been given a spotlight from viewers, and not a positive one.
Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly), the cold abrasive only daughter of the Dutton family, has Reddit fans rolling their eyes after five seasons. “She used to be one of my favorite characters. Now, every scene she’s in seems like I have seen it before,” wrote u/dhsutherland on the r/YellowstonePN subreddit. “I swear they filmed that same scene where a guy walks into a bar, starts to hit on her, and she shreds him 5 times. Every interaction with everyone is a repeat. I lose respect for John every time he can’t see through her,” the user went on. “Jamie needs to kill her. Jamie’s character is so much more interesting at this point.”
Fans are tired of Beth’s stagnant lack of character growth
The thread received hundreds of upvotes from other “Yellowstone” fans, showing pretty clearly that the user was not alone in their opinions of the current matriarch of the Dutton clan. “The dynamic between her & Jamie is outright insufferable at this point,” wrote u/More_Border5568 in the top-voted comment. This is a point that even the series’ most ardent defenders would likely have to concede. Pretty much every scene with the two characters has seen Jamie (Wes Bentley) trying to be civil and understanding with Beth while the latter trash-talks him, threatens him, or tears him a new one for the umpteenth time.
“When she gave him the death glare at the victory speech, I audibly groaned,” wrote u/Spectre06.” It’s been the same damn thing for years now, like the writers get together to figure out how to one-up the last terrible thing she’s said/done to him and high-five each other after.”
The user makes a good point here, as on top of all the horrible things she’s said about Jamie to his face and to other family members, she also literally tried to convince him to commit suicide once, which is pretty tough for even the most popular character to come back from. However, as fans pointed out, that could all be coming to an end soon.
Season 5, Part 2 could finally see Jamie come out on top
As fans in the thread noted, Jamie’s time as the favorite punching bag of every “Yellowstone” character will likely be coming to an end one way or another. That’s because we saw the character straight-up call Beth’s bluff in the midseason finale of the neo-western series, confirming that she has no further leverage against him.
We also saw Jamie seemingly planning to murder his father, John. This seems like the most natural way the senior Dutton will go out when the show inevitably returns, but it will also set Jamie on the ultimate collision course with Beth. Considering the stakes, Jamie will likely come out on top and complete his villain arc at last, barring a full Dutton forgiveness arc from Beth and John, who have been treating the character like an outsider since Season 1.
“I’m rooting for a Jamie redemption arc, or he needs to go fully evil and hardened and become the big bad guy,” wrote u/DPiddy76. “Anything less will feel like a waste.” Similarly, u/wontgetthejob called out the writers for repeatedly failing Jamie. “More to the point, Jamie feels like he has no agency. And it’s not his fault, the plot’s fault, or Wes Bentley’s portrayal of the character. It’s the faulty writing,” they wrote. However Season 5 of “Yellowstone” ends up shaking out, it looks like fans are drawing a pretty clear line in the sand with regard to Beth at this point.