It's the moment Yellowstone viewers have all been waiting for – the reveal of why Beth hates Jamie. Last year, Yellowstone’s co-creator, Taylor Sheridan, teased that Season 3 would take a more in-depth dive into the uncertain origins of Beth’s disdain for her brother. Now, he's teasing how the big reveal will happen.
I have theorized as to what happened to cause Beth to hate Jamie so much. That said, the one thing many have undoubtedly wondered is how the definitive answer will get revealed. Will it occur in a monologue flawlessly delivered by Kelly Reilly? Or will it be via a flashback?
Ever since Yellowstone’s first season, the hit drama has relied on flashbacks to help flesh out the stories that often play behind the characters’ eyes and without any accompanying dialogue. Addressing the perils of flashbacks after the interviewer indicated one will reveal Beth’s secret past with Jamie, Taylor Sheridan told Deadline:
And mine, too, and yet you have to be sparing with it or it becomes an additional storyline in a different timeline, and then we start playing connect the dots. When it’s not that; these moments that we’re seeing in the past are pivotal in each character’s present. It has shaped who they are. Another way to do it is just have a monologue explaining the same thing, but it doesn’t have the impact of witnessing it. It’s always more powerful to see it and feel the history of that family, and as I continue to employ it and will continue to do so, I think that it’s a great way for an audience to truly understand how this family came to be. In a different way, it’s not unlike, watching Don Corleone come over to New York at the turn of the century, interspersed with watching Al Pacino’s Michael Corleone fully embrace the power of his family.
As mentioned above, flashbacks are a device often used by Yellowstone to shed light on the past. For instance, the circumstances surrounding John Dutton’s wife's death, her subsequently frosty final interaction with Beth, and John’s relationship with his father in last season’s finale all happened in flashbacks. It sounds as though it will also get used to explain what started the downturn in Beth and Jamie’s relationship.
I have to say that I am a tad bit surprised that Yellowstone wouldn't want the main cast involved in the conflict that they have been building for over twenty episodes. Obviously, the fallout of the reveal should lead Kelly Reilly and Wes Bentley to hopefully have a lot to play on screen in its wake.
Kelly Reilly has teased that the Dutton siblings getting along in this world is unlikely considering the secretive circumstances of their relationship. While you try to process all of the clues relating to that sentiment, consider the latest potential evidence to rock Yellowstone during its most recent episode.
During a discussion with her soulmate, Rip, Beth revealed that she could not have children. It was one of many revelations to be shared on the series. Before Beth confirmed that she could not have kids, it had been a theory of mine that Jamie somehow caused Beth not to be able to have them.
Will this flashback somehow reveal that to be the truth? Stay tuned. Are you disappointed that the origins of Beth’s hatred for Jamie will get revealed via flashback? Or were you hoping to have Beth (as Kelly Reilly) tell Jamie (as Wes Bentley) what he did to his face in the present-day? Vote in the poll below!
This poll is no longer available.
Tune in to see how these gamechangers play out when new episodes of Yellowstone air throughout the summer on Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on Paramount Network. You can check out the flashbacks from the first two seasons when Seasons 1 and 2 become available on NBCUniversal’s upcoming streamer, Peacock, which launches nationally on July 15.
