Yellowstone has turned the tension in the Dutton household up about a million-fold, with John Dutton finally learning why his daughter Beth has hated his son Jamie for all these years. Star Kevin Costner is opening up about how John feels about learning the truth at long last in the Season 3 episode “All for Nothing,” whose title comes from what John said after finding out that bombshell reveal.
After spending 20 years in the dark about his offspring's semi-rivalry, John Dutton finally got brought into the light regarding the notorious and ofttimes brutal animosity that Beth has directed towards Jamie. Kevin Costner has previously shared that he does not have much inside knowledge regarding John’s overall narrative, and that remained the case where the big Beth/Jamie reveal was concerned. Speaking up about the Yellowstone revelation, Costner first relayed his character's blindness to the situation to Behind the Story:
You know, he doesn’t know about it at the point that the audience knows about it. The audience has been watching right along with me.
Kevin Costner’s John seemed to be reaching his breaking point regarding Beth’s attitude with Jamie when he finally asked her point-blank what Jamie did to deserve her ire. Yellowstone did not show the actual moment where Beth told her father, but the truth that John learned went back to when Beth was 15 and she went to her slightly older brother Jamie for help getting an abortion. Jamie procured one for her at a secret cost, in that he did not tell Beth that Indian Health Services required abortion patients to be sterilized. Hence, Beth has long been angry at her brother for taking away her ability to have children, all without her authorization.
Upon finding out what Jamie did, John was furious and confronted his son in a big way. John yelled a bit, though without there being any physical violence. To that end, Kevin Costner said:
Maybe that hurts more. Maybe Jamie would appreciate a beating where he could really be angry, rather than just be confronted with what he did and the consequences of it.
John has physically attacked Jamie in the past, but he held back this time, which was an interesting change, considering the reason John roughed up Jamie in Yellowstone’s first season is a far cry from what the younger Dutton did to Beth. Now, fans will have to stay tuned to see if things take a darker turn for John’s oldest living son. As in: will Jamie survive Season 3?
In John’s fury, he mentioned Jamie not wanting to have children. Little does John (or any of the other Duttons) know that Jamie does secretly have a baby on the way with his ex, and though Yellowstone has not touched that storyline yet in Season 3, I expect Beth to be beside herself when she finds out.
John might be slightly more accepting of such surprises. He does not want Kayce’s son Tate alone in fighting for the ranch. Or at least, he lamented that in the last episode. So, John might be less upset even if the yet-to-be-revealed baby/heir was conceived by arguably his least favorite child. My question in all of this is why John did not push Beth for a answer to this problem long before the events of Season 3.
Of course, John might have inquired about it at times before Yellowstone began, only to have Beth not tell him. Regardless, the truth is out there now. Kelly Reilly had expressed little hope that Beth and Jamie could ever get along in light of their “tragic” secret. Could John's involvement lead some sort of reconciliation between them? I doubt it.
Find out how John Dutton manages the fallout of his children’s dark past during the rest of Season 3. New episodes of Yellowstone air Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on Paramount Network until this fall’s premieres arrive. You can check out John’s past altercations with Jamie by binge-watching the first two seasons on NBCUniversal’s new streamer, Peacock.
