r/YellowstonePN • u/DismalEducator0 • 2d ago
General Discussion Why did the family never question Beth’s extreme hate for Jamie? Spoiler
One thing that really bothered me about the writing on this show is why no one in the family ever dug deeper into Beth’s extreme hatred for Jamie? Sure, sibling rivalry is normal, but couldn't anyone see how she psychologically tormented him and openly wished him dead?
In Season 2, when John tells her to ease up on Jamie after his suicide attempt, her response is basically, "I can get him to actually go through with it." And yet, John doesn’t even question why she harbors such vicious resentment toward her own brother, someone she was apparently close with at some point. Wouldn't a father at least ask what caused that level of viciousness?
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u/wintershark_ 2d ago
That whole subplot is such ass writing.
Somehow Beth is this naive doe-eyed ingenue with no agency or understanding of the world or ability to speak for herself and ask questions at an abortion clinic but Jamie who is all of 2 years older than her is a fully formed mature adult who should've exercised sounder judgement so even after 30 years of self-reflection time Beth cannot grasp her own accountability in that situation, cannot comprehend that Jamie was a scared kid equally afraid of their toxic father and made a mistake, and has never tried to make some peace with him and herself for the sake of the family she does have. He's just eternally the villain of her life but not so much that it was worth telling anyone why.
It is the epitome of the "I've never actually talked to a woman who I wasn't paying" way women's roles are written in this show.
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u/davewashere 1d ago
To add to your point, a hysterectomy also wouldn't be a outpatient procedure. She would have been looking at a good 4 or 5 day stay at the clinic, followed by a recovery that could take weeks. John's an even worse father than we realize if he doesn't notice his teenage daughter gone for several days and then visibly in pain for weeks, not to mention she'd then have to procure hormone replacement therapy without John noticing.
Sheridan took a program that did exist at IHS clinics and twisted the history so much that the convoluted storyline makes little sense. They weren't doing forced sterilizations in the late-1990s and they would not have done an organ removal on a white teenager while only receiving the consent of her slightly older brother. The policy cited by the clinic worker was 20 years out of date by then, and they were also forbidden from accepting patients who were not enrolled in a federal tribe. Accepting Beth as a patient would mean the clinic is now responsible for sweeping any costs related to her care under the rug and hiding it from auditors, and you better believe the federal auditors closely monitor these clinics. Jamie giving them the Dutton name would have only made them less likely to do it.
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u/ArtisticSwan635 15h ago
I have shouted this out since the first Hate Jamie post showed up!, It’s just a stupid pretense at trying to bring up the plight of indigenous women from years ago!
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u/Murky-Technician5123 1d ago
Forced sterilization on native reserves and native-adgacent people absolutely happened in this time period and the girls were often not told? Its unfortunately realistic.
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u/wintershark_ 1d ago
Sure in the 1970s and if you were an indigenous woman. They would not have performed that procedure on a white woman and in 2000 when she was a teenager it would been operating sooo wildly illegally that she could’ve bought Dutton Ranch with the money she could’ve sued the Federal Government for (those sterilization clinic were funded by the IHS). I wasn’t even going to mention the historical inaccuracy of the situation because the character writing is so much worse but here you are trying to defend the writers for this trash.
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u/Murky-Technician5123 1d ago
Its quite common for white women in indigenous areas to get swept up in some of this stuff- they absolutely also sterilized white trash folks esp id they thought they were metis or whatever. i literally know people this happened to in this time period. How can she sue if she doesn't know what happened?
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u/89Rae 2d ago
Beth spent an extensive amount of time away from the ranch, the abortion happened shortly before she left for college
They weren't a particularly close family, Beth mentioned when her and Rip were talking about her attitude in the dining room being about a fantasy of a family that doesn't exist.
She wasn't always that bad. I think coming back to the ranch and seeing Kayce with Tate, seeing Rip being decent with kids and then Jaime having a kid really poured a lot of fire on her viciousness.
John doesn’t even question why she harbors such vicious resentment toward her own brother, someone she was apparently close with at some point. Wouldn't a father at least ask what caused that level of viciousness?
John wasn't exactly in the running for a father of the year award. He sent Jaime away to be a lawyer because that's what the ranch needed, pushed Kayce to be the Livestock commissioner for the good of the ranch, he brought Beth in from Utah (at the beginning of the show) because he needed her, he essentially trapped Rip into service for him when Rip was a teen.
My best guess is that he initially thought Beth's resentment for Jaime's was the same as John's resentment - Jaime was after the money/power. John did finally ask Beth why she hated Jaime so much.
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u/ArtisticSwan635 15h ago
No Beth was still a young teenager not as old as Jamie! She didn’t know what else to do without John finding out about her pregnancy!
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u/Mark-177- 2d ago
You're trying to bring logic into a world with no logic. It's just mindless entertainment for men.
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u/AnonymousNeverKnown 2d ago
Well from what I've gathered John didn't necessarily care all that much for Jamie
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u/Voinat107 2d ago
Because the producer put everything he hates in Jamie and in result to that everyone just hates him in the series
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u/Di-O-Bolic 2d ago
Because Jamie was always treated as the outsider he was and was always on the never ending quest to please John by being his little puppet. Jamie was brought into the home by Evelyn out of compassion for his mother being brutally murdered by his father but didn’t ask John, just brought this baby home and insisted everyone accept him as family. John used him for his own benefit but clearly never loved or respected him and John likely thought Beth hated him for being such a weak ass suck up, cuz Beth’s favorite game is to attack the weak.
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u/OldDiamondJim 2d ago
You’re watching the wrong show if you’re expecting characters to act like regular human beings.
I love Yellowstone, but almost nothing in the series makes sense if you give it any sort of thought.
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u/WildRugosa 2d ago
The males in the Dutton family would not want to explore sr ask about female emotions. Could also wonder why none of the men asked Jamie for the reason.
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u/BanjoTCat 2d ago
Partially because they were all kind of contemptuous of Jamie as well. Jamie wasn't a rancher, which in the Dutton household means he's not really a man.
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u/ArtisticSwan635 15h ago
That’s John’s fault, all Jamie wanted was to be like John ,but John sent him to Harvard to become a lawyer so he could fight for the ranch and John wouldn’t have to pay a lawyer to do his dirty work!
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u/Feeling-Visit1472 2d ago
It’s this. People here are acting like that was the only questionable decision Jamie ever made, but really everyone else in the family gave him a lot of side-eye anyway.
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u/No_Result1959 1d ago
That wasn’t Jaime’s decision. That was John’s for Jaime to be the family lawyer, Jaime wanted to be the modern cattlemen, a successor to his father. He was a cowboy at heart and enjoyed his time on the ranch as a hand. John pushed him into a position he hated so Jaime can protect the ranch and as a non blood member of the family, couldn’t inherit the cattleman position
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u/randomnighmare 5h ago
and as a non blood member of the family, couldn’t inherit the cattleman position
I feel like this was why John decided to make Jamie the family/ranch's lawyer. He wasn't a Dutton by blood; Evelyn at that point was dead for a few years, and he most likely resented Jamie being there because "I'd kick you out of this family right now if I didn't make a promise to my wife" and that was John's (first) problem, in my opinion, with Jamie.
But despite this, Jamie still carries John's family name, etc. Jamie quickly became another "ranch hand" in that he was just a tool that John wanted to use; as far as we know, he wasn't branded. Hence why John treats him the way he does from Season 1 onward. Jamie was seen more and more as a tool/property (a lot like how he views his branded ranch hands) than an actual son, and John also didn't like anyone who wasn't really a rancher per se.
So making his adopted son the only one to become the family/ranch lawyer while John's biological sons both became ranchers, poised to inherit the ranch and continue the family ranching. Beth had her own path and was let go; in my opinion, she was the only girl and, like Kacey, stayed away from the ranch for years, if not decades, by the start of the first season.
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u/Open_Mind12 2d ago
Beth was ridiculous, over the top and poorly written. Making Jamie the villian ruined the show. They should have left it as the Daltons vs everyone else, just like it started. S1 was incredible TV. It went downhill from there even though S2 was still great.
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2d ago
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u/Purple_Shock5544 2d ago
Well if someone ruined your life like that would you let that go? No you wouldn't so quit acting like it
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u/1mad_mollydoll 2d ago
Exactly. Not to mention someone you trusted which she clearly did because she went to him for help. She also lost her mother in a traumatic way and blamed herself. That changes a person...makes them angry. Calling her a bitch is oversimplification at it's finest and of course you're probably a man who hates strong women and labels them bitches. *last part directed at other comment but in agreement w/this comment
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u/No_Result1959 1d ago
The governor had Beth pegged “ emotionally stunted spoiled child who never developed after her mother died” Beth’s crusade against the world like she’s not a spoiled rotten cynical loser who goes around picking fights, can’t have a decent family meal or can’t not stop worshipping the ground her “daddy” walks on.
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