At Yellowstone Ranch, family is everything. As much as Yellowstone fans love watching the action and unexpected twists, the entire series revolves around the Dutton family’s patriarch and his adult children. Even creator Taylor Sheridan‘s prequel series 1883 starring Isabel May, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill was centered around family before everyone else. The story of how John Dutton Sr, his sister Elsa, and parents Margaret and James Dutton first came to Montana is an emotional one but explained why it’s so important to John Dutton to preserve his family’s legacy years later.
While John Dutton has his own relationship with each of his children, they also have unique relationships with each other. Here are the 5 most important sibling moments so far on Yellowstone.
1. When Kayce got revenge for Lee’s death
In the very first episode of the series, we quickly establish Kevin Costner’s character is not just any rancher, but a powerhouse who owns the biggest cattle ranch in the country. John Dutton is quickly thrown into immediate drama with the nearby Native Americans of Broken Rock Reservation who refuse to return his stolen cattle. Creator Taylor Sheridan shocked everyone when he immediately killed off the eldest Dutton child, Lee (Dave Annable), who was helping his father and other livestock officials to get their property back.
Let’s not forget that at the beginning of the series, Kayce (Luke Grimes) was estranged from his family and living on Broken Rock with his wife Monica (Kelsey Asbille) and son, Tate. But when his own brother-in-law kills Lee in the fight for the cattle, Kayce proves that nothing is stronger than blood when he takes his life in retaliation. It’s the momentous event that connects him back to his former life and more importantly, the Duttons. It was also a heartwrenching experience for Monica, who lost her own brother — an early indication that, on Yellowstone, grief and loss are sadly around every corner.
2. When Beth stood up for Monica
Back in Season 2 episode 9, we had a pretty unexpected bonding experience between Beth (Kelly Reilly) and her sister-in-law, Monica Dutton. In the episode, Monica gets racially profiled while trying to do some shopping at a local boutique. (Monica, Kayce and Tate had moved off Broken Rock so that Kayce could work at the Yellowstone.) The owner of the store calls the police, hiding a ring that she claims Monica stole and the two cops proceed to strip search Monica.
Monica decides to call Beth for help and she really shows up for her. Beth gets the cops to back off and humiliates the store owner until Monica finally tells her to stop. It was a big moment for Beth, who we know is pretty much unstoppable. It also showed that Beth really does care about her siblings, or at least Kayce and his wife.
3. When Beth and Kayce were forever bonded after losing Evelyn Dutton
It’s established early on that the Dutton family never fully recovered from the loss of John’s late wife Evelyn. We see in a flashback episode that Beth and Kayce were both there when it happened. Beth, who has had trouble being around horses ever since the incident, blames herself, but Kayce was also traumatized as he was left with the injured Evelyn while Beth ran to get help. It was a horrible moment, and a day neither will forget. But it also bonded the two of them in a way that no one else could ever comprehend.
4. When Kayce and Jamie decided they would always be brothers
In season 3, we found out (and so did Jamie), that he was adopted. But in season 4, Jamie (Wes Bentley) gets even further removed from the Dutton family. We know that he and Beth will always be at odds, but what about Kayce? After finding out about his past, Jamie calls his younger brother and says “I need some advice, brother, if I can still call you that.” Kayce responds “Til the day you die, you better never call me anything else.” It’s a sweet moment and one that tells us that Jamie might have some hope reconciling with his family down the line.
It will be interesting to see what the future holds for these two specifically. After all, Jamie and his ex-girlfriend Christina had a baby together and Kayce has a son, Tate Dutton (Brecken Merrill), as well as another baby on the way. This could be an interesting bonding opportunity for the two of them to come back together after all of Jamie’s drama in season 4.
5. When Beth gave Jamie an ultimatum
Yellowstone season 4 had countless dramatic moments and we know that Beth and Jamie have had a shared disdain for each other since the very beginning. But if you thought bringing home Carter and getting married to Rip was going to make Beth any nicer to her brother, guess again. She gives Jamie the ultimatum of ultimatums, essentially ruining all of his future plans he’d been so excited about all season. After finding out that his birth father, Garrett Randall, had been behind the attacks on their family, Beth basically told Jamie he needed to kill Garrett or suffer the consequences when she tells John Dutton about it.
It’s absolutely horrible, but Jamie complies anyways, essentially putting himself under Beth’s power indefinitely.
