The Yellowstone Season 3 Character That Fans Are Calling A Waste
Few things cut as deep as the disappointment of a great actor being cast in a bad role. Now that season 3 of Yellowstone has concluded with a literal bang, fans on Reddit are parsing through their feelings about the season, and some are feeling those deep pangs of dissatisfaction about one character in particular.
When it was announced that Lost and Colony actor Josh Holloway was going to join Yellowstone for its third season as a potential antagonist for the Duttons, TV fans of all stripes were excited. While Holloway's post-Lost career hasn't been totally dead, his natural charisma and perfectly-smarmy charms could certainly be better utilized. Playing a villain on Yellowstone sounded like a perfect fit for Holloway. However, depending on who you ask, his casting ended up being a wasted opportunity.
Holloway plays Roarke Morris, a hedge fund manager who has plans to wrest the Duttons' land from their control. Fans of the show will recognize this motivation as a pretty common one for antagonists on the series, and even though Roarke's Market Equities is a bigger, badder entity in every way, fans felt the motivation had become a bit tired. Here's why fans were disappointed with Roarke.
Fans didn't think Roarke had enough to do
One of the most frequent complaints about Roarke is simply that he wasn't well utilized. While Roarke was present throughout much of season 3, when fans went back and took account of everything he actually did, they realized he really wasn't very impactful.
Reddit user u/MichaelJordansToupee took note of this in a thread entitled "[Holloway]'s character has pretty much been a complete waste of time this season." They broke down all of his actions, which amounts to a handful of meetings with Beth that didn't go anywhere meaningful, and then, "A couple of scenes where he yells at people over the phone while in the kitchen in his house, that kind of odd, creepy scene with the two ranchers while he drinks a smoothie and tells them to f*** with the Duttons and that's it."
They ended their post by concluding that there's nothing that Roarke got up to that Willa Hays (Karen Pittman), Roarke's colleague at the hedge fund and partner in trying to screw over the Duttons, couldn't have done herself. User u/MontanaJoev concurred with this sentiment, saying, "Complete and total waste of Josh Holloway. Did we really need Roarke Morris and Willa Hays? Wouldn't just one of them been able to achieve the same?"
User u/fenbaldwin agreed that Roarke's role could have been cut altogether, and lamented, "[Roarke] is the most useless pointless boring villain they've had on this show. He literally does nothing."
Roarke's role in the narrative of Yellowstone wasn't the only issue fans had with him. Some stylistic choices the show made also left viewers feeling like not enough attention had been paid to creating a distinct and engaging character.
Bad hair and other clichés dogged Holloway's Roarke Carter
Another persistent complaint derived from the questionable styling decisions made for Roarke. From his hair to his clothing to his extra-curricular hobbies, Reddit fans took umbrage with the way the show portrayed the character.
Reddit user u/fenbaldwin started a thread entitled "Roarke Drinks Green Smoothies After Naked Yoga," a reference to a scene in the show where the character throws on a robe to meet with ranchers after partaking in the aforementioned activities. They said the choice to have Roarke participating in obvious city-slicker activities turned the character into "the most cliché villain on a cowboy show."
User u/fenbaldwin also cited another styling cliché at play with Roarke's character: his hair. They said, "I think the hair stylists are biased against the 'suits'. They make them look extra unattractive on this show."
The issue of Roarke's hair — which many find to be a bit too long, over-gelled, and slicked back in an unappealing manner — has been a hot topic throughout Reddit's Yellowstone board. Some commenters simply didn't like the look, while others found it to be at odds with who the character is meant to be. Redditor u/TommyPimple said, "It's so painful to look at. I don't get it? I don't think hedge fund managers wear their hair like this in real life so I don't get what they're even going for besides gross as hell."
Meanwhile, u/jonnybanana88 succinctly stated, "Makes him look like a creep. It doesn't fit his character at all."
We're still not sure if Roarke will be back for season 4 of Yellowstone, but given where his character ended season 3, it seems likely. Here's hoping the producers send him to the barber in the meantime.