The men of Yellowstone are tough, foul-mouthed, and enter every political or business meeting ready to draw blood. However, none of them can touch the kind of heat that Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly) brings. While the middle Dutton child may have opted to go into a career in finance rather than ranching, she’s proven consistently throughout the run of the series that she’s not someone who can be easily pushed around. Whether she’s rattling her opponents with a blistering verbal assault or stripping away their livelihoods with an eviscerating corporate power play, she is known to strike first and strike fast.
To say that Beth has a tough exterior would be an understatement as big as the Montana mountains themselves. At times, this can make her a difficult character to like. She’s almost always braced and ready to go on the offensive, and even when she’s taking down someone who deserves it, her attacks often cross the line from justifiable to downright horrible. But Beth’s hardness isn’t the only facet of her character, and the series has taken time to show us what lies behind the walls she puts up.
Even though it may sometimes be hard to like her, when the series does let viewers see the totality of Beth’s character, it becomes just as difficult to not love her.
Beth knows how to put on an exciting first date
The second-ever episode of Yellowstone, “Kill the Messenger,” sees Beth and her longtime on-again, off-again flame Rip (Cole Hauser) breaking their habit of clandestine hookups and going on a proper date. When Beth demands that Rip scrap his original plan to attend a music festival and “pick something more suited to my personality,” Rip suggests that they drink whiskey in his truck while watching a pack of wolves feasting on an animal carcass.
That choice proves to be a slam dunk. The two have a cheery conversation about mortality, which leads to Rip telling Beth, “You might just cheat death yet.” She takes that as a cue to dash out of the car and run screaming at the wolves as they enjoy their dinner. Up until that point, we’ve seen Beth act impulsively before, but never in a situation quite so dangerous.
Her running at the wolves is a startling moment of realization of exactly how she perceives her own life. When Rip calls her crazy, she rebuts him by saying, “It’s only the things I love that die, Rip. Never me.” There’s a deep core of sadness at the center of Beth, and sometimes the only way she knows how to work through it is her reckless behavior.
Beth shows up for her family when it really matters
Two things that you are guaranteed to see in every episode of Yellowstone are the opening credits and at least one scene of Beth going totally HAM on someone. Typically, her takedowns are in service of furthering the family’s business agenda, which is not necessarily for the greater good. But sometimes she does use her annihilating powers for a righteous cause.
Enter the season 2 episode “Enemies By Monday.” Beth’s sister-in-law Monica (Kelsey Asbille) is out shopping at an upscale boutique when she is racially profiled and accused of shoplifting. The situation escalates dramatically as the store’s owner calls the police and asks that Monica be strip searched to prove that she doesn’t have any stolen goods on her person. Thankfully for Monica, she managed to make a phone call to Beth beforehand.
What follows is a bracing scene where Beth arrives at the boutique to give everyone involved a first hand lesson on what happens if you mess with her family. After extricating Monica from the situation, Beth locks the door to the boutique, declaring casually, “While I’m here, I might as well shop.”
Beth’s retaliation against the shop owner begins with some light property damage but quickly heads into a dark place before Monica puts an end to it. As with many of Beth’s takedowns, the ugliness of her approach makes it hard to root for her. However, her instinct to go to the mat for her sister-in-law in her time of genuine need is touching.
Beth allows herself to be vulnerable with Rip
While Beth certainly doesn’t need to date someone to be a whole person, her particular relationship with Rip is clearly a very special one. The two have been circling each other since childhood despite never actually getting together in any kind of official capacity until later in life. But that’s not because of a lack of connection.
In the season 3 episode “Back to Cali,” viewers got to see Beth and Rip in a rare instance of domestic bliss. While getting some much needed alone time at Rip’s cabin, Beth refers to Rip as “baby,” a sentimental move that isn’t common for her. Rip tells her that he likes it, and then asks, “What should I call you?”
Without thinking, Beth responds, “Wife.” Although she’s embarrassed at her own vulnerability, Rip quickly swoops in to assure her that she didn’t make a mistake. She tells him, “There’s only so much I can give you, Rip,” before revealing that she’s unable to have her own children.
Rip obviously wants to marry her, regardless. But Beth’s inability to have children, the result of a cruel decision made by her brother Jamie (Wes Bentley) when they were younger, is clearly something she feels very insecure about. It’s devastating to think that, even with someone who is clearly as in love with her as Rip is, she’s afraid that it would be an impediment to marriage. It’s another moment that illuminates an element of Beth’s character that viewers don’t always get a chance to see.
