Yellowstone: Reddit Users Believe One Character In Particular Deserved Better
Throughout its five seasons, "Yellowstone" has emerged as one of the most popular TV shows on the air right now. However, the popularity of the Paramount Network series hasn't stopped its fans from voicing their opinions about the series. In fact, the prolonged wait for the second half of "Yellowstone" Season 5, which is slated to premiere in November 2024, has only made the show's fans all the more willing to share even their most critical opinions about some of its creative decisions.
Dozens of "Yellowstone" fans have, for instance, revealed online why they feel the series' treatment of one of its most important characters — Jamie Dutton (Wes Bentley) — has been unsatisfactory. Viewers seem specifically unhappy with how ineffectual Jamie has been portrayed throughout the later seasons. As one Redditor explained in early 2024, "I am rewatching the series and I can't help but feel bad for Jamie. He was written as a badass lawyer in Season 1, but they made him weak starting with the second season until he eventually became a liability."
More than anything, "Yellowstone" fans seem confused about how Jamie went from seeming like an efficient problem-solver and intelligent fixer to someone who constantly seems less capable than the series' other core characters. "As the show progresses everyone acts like [Jamie's] been weak-willed and useless his whole life," wrote u/PurrPrinThom in a separate Reddit thread. "It just confuses me where that came from, because that's not the impression I had at the beginning at all."
Unfortunately, it's unclear whether or not the remaining episodes of "Yellowstone" will address fans' legitimate criticisms of Jamie's treatment on the show.
Jamie's rivalry with his family has reached its breaking point
The first half of "Yellowstone" Season 5 notably ends with Jamie and Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly) both plotting to violently take each other out. It's an ending that promises that Jamie's long-standing rivalry with his family — and specifically Beth — will finally be resolved in some form or another when "Yellowstone" returns.
Jamie's decision to adopt an uncharacteristically aggressive approach moving forward suggests that he may, at long last, have found his old strength again, but it remains to be seen exactly how well he fares in his renewed war against Beth and his adoptive father, John (Kevin Costner). Either way, "Yellowstone" creator Taylor Sheridan will have to work hard in the show's final episodes to fix the existing problems in Jamie's arc if he wants to deliver a truly satisfying ending.
It doesn't seem like some fans have much faith in Sheridan's ability to do so, though, with Redditor u/Skaared admitting, "I don't think the writers understand who/what Jaime is. That's why his characterization and writing [are] so inconsistent." Only time will tell whether fans were right to doubt Sheridan, but one thing it seems like they don't need to worry about is the "Yellowstone" creator trying to fit the final chapter of the show's story into a specific number of episodes.
Indeed, while it's been previously reported that the second half of "Yellowstone" Season 5 will only be six installments, Sheridan told The Hollywood Reporter in June 2023, "If I think it takes 10 episodes to wrap it up, they'll give me 10. It'll be as long as it needs to be."