Why Yellowstone Fans Are Unhappy With Jamie After Season 4

Contains spoilers for the "Yellowstone" Season 4 finale

Season 4 of "Yellowstone" has come and gone, and in the wake of its finale, many fans are taking to the series' subreddit to express their various grievances and disappointments with the fourth installment of the contemporary Western series. After the season kicked off in the aftermath of the shocking Season 3 finale, several of the most compelling characters ended up taking a back seat to barrel racer drama, bunkhouse fights, and teasers for the franchise's spin-offs. 

Among the characters hardest hit by the series' shift in focus was the Dutton family black sheep, Jamie (Wes Bentley). While Jamie's broken relationship with sister Beth (Kelly Reilly), and struggle with his own identity, played a key role in the overarching narrative of the first three seasons, many fans felt he was sorely underutilized in Season 4. Moreover, they felt that what little storyline he was given in the season finale didn't make much sense considering both his high-ranking position as the Attorney General of Montana and all he knows about the (literal) skeletons in the Dutton's closet. 

For those who need a quick refresher, the "Yellowstone" Season 4 finale sees Beth blackmailing Jamie into an ultimatum that basically boils down to him choosing between certain imprisonment, certain death at the hands of Rip (Cole Hauser), or killing his own biological father Garrett (Will Patton), who was behind the Season 3 hit ordered on the Duttons. A terrified and seemingly cornered Jamie chooses option three. But when he goes to dispose of his father's body, Beth follows him and snaps a pic of him carrying the corpse. With this piece of incriminating evidence, Beth declares that she now "owns" Jamie.

As Reddit user u/Gundalem wrote in the finale discussion thread, "Jamie has so much untapped potential as a character. They're wasting him away as a coward." Other fans were quick to agree, with user u/ohsballer adding, "He has soooo much potential as a character ... Having him run around scared of his baby sister is getting old." 

Part of their frustration, it seems, is that considering who Jamie is, he shouldn't have been so quick to give into Beth's blackmail plot. For several fans, it only took thirty-to-forty seconds to unpack the leaps in logic necessary to make such a plot point valid. User u/Flannel_Countdown echoed the points made by many Redditors when they wrote, "if Beth tried to pin the murder on Jaime, an established attorney general, could he not turn state's evidence on EVERYTHING the Dutton family has done illegally and had Jaime cover up, for a lighter sentence or even immunity?? If anything, he owns them, not the other way around."

Ultimately, whether it's because of his illogical storyline or the fact that his character is underused, it's clear that Season 4 left much to be desired with regard to Jamie Dutton.