Warning: This article contains spoilers for season five, episode three of Yellowstone.
Yellowstone fans are grabbing their tissues as the season’s third episode kicks off with a heartbreaking conversation with John and Beth Dutton, one where reflection brings them face to face with the death of their fallen wife and mother.
Beth is up early for work, heading to Salt Lake to tie up some loose ends as she lets her sleepy husband, Rip, know before walking to the porch to drink a cup of coffee. When she realizes that her father is already sitting down with his own cup, she asks what’s on his mind.
He tells her there are some things fathers shouldn’t tell their kids, and in proper Beth Dutton form, she says she told him about her first threesome, so he should be able to tell her anything. When he shakes that idea out of his head, he tells Beth that he’s thinking of his wife and wishes she was still here so that Beth could see how magnificent of a woman she was and how much she loved her.
Beth shrugs that off, telling him it’s not what he was thinking at all, but he tells her it’s what he’s thinking now. Of course, the statement from her father is unnerving, to say the least — as Beth’s mom blamed her for her untimely death as it was happening. The topic of Evelyn Dutton is a sore spot for Beth and always has been, so as she walks away, she takes a moment to sit in her car and shed tears, something we don’t often see from Beth.
Kelly Reilly spoke with The Wrap ahead of the third episode and eluded to the fact that we’d see an unraveling in Beth as the upcoming episodes play out. We’re only three in so far, and it’s evident that she’s feeling things with a more vulnerable outlook than ever, which will impact how she makes future decisions.
“We get to see Beth squirm out of a few things, which I don’t think we’ve really seen that before. We always see Beth winning. There’s an unraveling this season, which was really nice to play because it’s not sustainable. And to see the cracks is what I’m interested in.”
It’s heartbreaking to think of Beth’s journey with her mom so far, but the one thing on her mind today and every day is protecting her father; so while she takes a moment to be human in the car, it’s only that — a moment. The next time we see her, she’ll have that armor on once again, ready to fight any opponent that stands in her way, even if it’s the memory of her own mother. Part of Beth’s strength is her ability to shut it all off, but we’re curious to see how that strength grows this episode into allowing herself to feel things instead.
