Yellowstone Fans Are Chalking The Train Station Plot Hole Up To Sloppy Writing
Although Taylor Sheridan's "Yellowstone" has exploded in popularity to become one of the most-watched shows on television (and spawned multiple spin-offs to boot) the show itself is not without its flaws. Indeed, throughout the first five seasons of "Yellowstone," we've seen a wide variety of plot holes and inconsistencies creep their way into the show.
Perhaps the most obvious example is the Season 2 storyline which has Kayce Dutton (Luke Grimes) and Terry (Wolé Parks) hide a bomb on the plane of Teal and Malcolm Beck (played by Terry Serpico and Neal McDonough respectively). Not only do both Beck brothers die before ever boarding the plane, but we never find out what became of this bomb, nor what innocent casualties Kayce's plan might have led to.
One of the oddest plot holes in the series concerns the metaphorical "train station" that the Duttons use to dispose of their enemies. Anytime a Dutton says they're bringing somebody to the train station, it really means that person is getting dumped into a remote canyon that is (somehow) completely hidden from law enforcement. The series has always been excruciatingly vague about who knows the train station exists, and now fans online are upset by a new plotline in Season 5 concerning the train station and Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly).
Fans don't understand how Beth was ignorant about the train station
Specifically, one of the major plotlines in Season 4 and Season 5 of "Yellowstone" concerns the murder of Jamie Dutton's (Wes Bentley) biological father, Garrett Randall (Will Patton), whom Jamie subsequently dumps into the "train station." Unfortunately, Beth Dutton is already waiting there when he arrives, and she takes an incriminating photo of Jamie dumping the body — which she uses throughout Season 5 as blackmail.
Absurdly, Season 5, Episode 8 reveals that Beth apparently had no knowledge of the "train station" whatsoever, despite how she was previously waiting there in the dark to catch a photo of Jamie. That's something that fans on Reddit are chalking up to sloppy writing. "It's just bad writing. It makes no sense that she wasn't aware," wrote u/lukinfly45. "She hasn't wondered where all the families Enemies have went? I know she left the ranch for some time, but to be in the total dark is a knock against her character." "The comments defending the obvious plothole don't seem to understand that Sheridan can't keep things consistent whatsoever," added u/BigSavMatt.
As explained by another user, the episode explains this supposed plot hole as Beth only believed there was one body in the train station, which still makes her seem extremely ignorant and doesn't explain how she knew exactly where Jamie would dump the body. Going even further than that, it's never even explained how Jamie knew about the train station since he is the black sheep of the Dutton family as a whole.
Although fans online have a hard time wrapping their heads around Beth's apparent ignorance, it seems like the show is committing to this plotline for the time being, adding just another layer of confusion regarding the Duttons' "train station."