Why Beth On 'Yellowstone' Has Lost My Support Ahead Of Season 5

Paramount Network

Beth Dutton has lost my support. The divisive “Yellowstone” character hit a new low in the Season 4 finale, and her actions have lost me well ahead of Season 5. In the season-ender, John Dutton’s firebrand of a daughter backed her older brother Jamie into a corner that he could not escape.

Spoilers for the Season 4 finale of “Yellowstone” get discussed beyond this point. [[Note: Edited to add the below quote. There seemed to be reader confusion as to what Beth said to Jamie, and why I took issue with it. So, I added the quote to clarify the exact issue.]]

The steely Beth’s hard bargain is not the straw that broke the “Yellowstone” camel’s back, though. It was what she said in her threat to Jamie that did. In the preamble to Season 5, Beth blamed Jamie for her getting an abortion as a teenager despite her asking him to procure one. For reference, here is the line from the Season 4 finale as uttered by Beth:

Option 2: now this is a good one. I tell my husband what your father did, and he will kill him. And then I’ll tell my husband...that you had his child cut from my belly, and then you had me sterilized, so he can never have a family of his own.

Does that sound like Beth takes personal accountability for getting an abortion? Or is she trying to pass the buck to Jamie? In the above “Yellowstone” quote from the Season 4 finale, Beth indicates Jamie had it done. Yes, he is guilty of agreeing to Beth getting sterilized without her consent. However, the abortion was all Beth.

Related: “Yellowstone” Season 4: Where Is It Streaming? The Answer Is Here!

I get it. Beth does not want to own up to aborting Rip’s last chance at biological fatherhood with her as the bio-mom. While she may not want to do it, she needs to take responsibility for it. The decision to get an abortion was 100% her responsibility. Beth made that choice. Jamie (also a teenager) carried out what she demanded of him to get her, according to the “Yellowstone” flashbacks.

Jamie messed up by not seeking her blessing to get sterilized, which is unforgivable. At the same time, if Beth were honest in Season 5, she might have agreed to get it done. After all, Beth was an immature, scared, pregnant teenager. Beth did not want her father to find out she was pregnant, so she was somewhat desperate. Hindsight is 20/20.

A teenage Beth was justifiably scared about what would happen to Rip if John learned he was hooking up with Beth. He would have understandably gotten pretty ticked off about it. Rip and Beth should not have been having sex as underage teens in the first place. Hence, they are not innocent in setting the stage for their current circumstances on “Yellowstone.”

Related: “Yellowstone” Season 4 (So Far): Who Has Lived? Who Has Died?

It is easier to blame Jamie for everything, though. Sorry, Beth, you made the choice to get an abortion, and “Yellowstone” has got to stop having her pass the buck starting in Season 5. Who is to say that Rip will not blame Beth for her role? (He can get ornery.) Beth lied to him when they were teenagers. She denied she was ever pregnant when Rip asked her right after she got an abortion. 

Rip should feel stung that Beth lied to him all of these years. In truth, there is a lot of blame to go around, and Beth has her share of it. Beth and Rip should not have been hooking up as teenagers. That said, if Beth believes she is a nuanced player in this blame game, so is Jamie. You cannot pick and choose who gets caught up in guilt’s web.

“Yellowstone” Season 5 needs to make Beth face the hard facts she absolutely loves to point out to other people. While Jamie is not innocent by any stretch, he needs to reiterate that she asked him to get her an abortion. As a lawyer, he should be able to defend that part of things. So, why is he acting too scared to even point that out now?

Related: “Yellowstone” Season 4 On Paramount: What Happened To Tate?

This is not about Jamie being right. He was dead wrong to do what he did. This is about Beth owning that she chose to get an abortion. Her blaming Jamie for that is way off base. She has to take the blame for that part of it. 

Find out if Beth does that when the series returns on Paramount Network. Season 5 has been seemingly confirmed by “Yellowstone” executive producer David Glasser to Variety and for a possible fall 2022 premiere date.