Yellowstone Lost Its Edge and Needs 2 Major Character Deaths to Reclaim It

Summary

• The first half of Yellowstone Season 5 has aired, with the second half due November 2024.
• Fans are underwhelmed with what they have seen so far.
• Complaints include not enough action, and complaints about two major characters.
• The consensus is that killing off just two characters would get Yellowstone’s missing edge back.

Yellowstone has been impressing fans and critics alike since it first burst onto our screens back in 2018. Currently holding an impressive 8.7/10 rating on IMDB and 84% on Rotten Tomatoes, it is hard to find fault with.

But Reddit fans have commented that Yellowstone seems to have lost its edge recently. That the grit and intensity that pulled us all in early on seems to have faded. They feel two characters are to blame and should therefore pay with their lives. Beth and Jamie.

Beth

Beth Dutton, played by the amazing Kelly Reilly, is not the favorite of fans. In the beginning, she was adored for her tough, honest, and unapologetic badassery. She was a woman to be admired, even feared. But lately she has gone from near superwoman to drunken disaster. Beth seems to have lost touch with everything in her life that is important. Selling her share of market equities seemed insane and left us all scratching our heads. Then there was the bar fight, and of course, we cannot forget her almost irrational hatred of Jamie.

Jamie

Jamie, unlike Beth, has been disliked by most fans from the start. His lack of intelligence and inability to see what is right in front of him has always been a source of audience frustration. He also fails to realize that his fear of Beth due to that fateful picture makes no sense. He has overlooked the crucial detail that she cannot share that picture with anyone for fear of destroying Jonh’s political career along with making herself an accomplice.

The general consensus is that Beth and Jamie combined, are ruining the show and have resulted in Yellowstone becoming far softer. It is true that the show has seen far less action since the main character, John Dutton, has gone into politics. While this could be seen as a normal and realistic shift, fans feel that Taylor Sheridan is not taking full advantage of the potential for plot complexities within a political world. Yellowstone does not seem to have a strong grasp of the nuances of politics and is missing out on some potentially amazing writing as a result.

What is next?

The hope among fans is for more action, and the prediction is that either Beth or Jamie will die, but not both. One theory is that Beth will kill Jamie, while another is that she will be killed while trying to kill him.

A third theory involves Rip killing Jamie, but there are two obvious flaws with this idea. First, Rip may not be shy about murder when it comes to protecting the family or the ranch, but he is not a maniac. He is not the kind of character who would become emotionally unhinged and kill someone out of temper. Second, there is no way he would ever kill John's son unless John himself gave the order. Rip may have loyalty to Beth, but that does not come close to the loyalty he has to John.

Conclusion

Yellowstone has captured our attention, but seems to have stalled in its action and suspense this past season. As we wait for the second half of Season 5 to air, it is fun to speculate what might happen. Will things get better? Will Jamie or Beth die? Will both die? Or will the action pick up enough to ease the fans' frustration and make them love the show again? Only time will tell...