Kelly Reilly Reveals How Beth Really Feels About Jamie On Yellowstone
In a recent interview with TV Insider, "Yellowstone" star Kelly Reilly shared her thoughts on her character Beth Dutton's relationship with her (as we now know) adopted brother Jamie (Wes Bentley). For anyone who might be so caught up in the increasingly volatile drama of "Yellowstone" Season 4 that they've forgotten the origins of Beth's hatred for Jamie, it's worth remembering that they were revealed back in Episode 5 of Season 3.
Through flashback, the audience learns that when a scared and vulnerable pre-teen Beth found herself pregnant with Rip's (Cole Hauser) baby, she went to her older brother Jamie for help with an abortion. Still a teenager himself, Jamie made a grievous error when he — in his attempt to keep anyone from finding out about the situation — brought Beth to a free clinic on The Reservation that performed obligatory sterilizations on all abortion patients. Beth underwent the procedure not knowing that it would leave her permanently unable to bear children, and, understandably, felt betrayed by Jamie making such an irreversible decision for her.
On top of that, Jamie has previously betrayed the family, and the hatred and mistrust Beth already harbored for her brother has only escalated over the course of the show. In "Yellowstone" Season 4, we learn that Beth even believes Jamie was responsible for the hit that was ordered on the Duttons, and more than a little of her time and effort is being spent on attempting to turn her father further against his adopted son than he already is.
But how does the actor behind one of the show's most compelling characters really view Beth's loathing for the occasionally sympathetic, occasionally despicable Jamie?
Kelly Reilly says Beth is focused on revenge
"She doesn't trust him," Keilly Reilly told TV Insider about Beth and Jamie's relationship in "Yellowstone" Season 4. "He betrayed her father in Season 2 with going to the journalist and taking him down and then she had to fix that, and just the betrayal that he's not always been honest and their history as well together," Reilly said.
All of these are valid points. After all, despite his attempts to redeem himself in both Beth and his father's eyes — attempts he appears to have given up on — Jamie has repeatedly been dishonest, not only with his family but with his constituents and law enforcement officials as well. It's also worth noting that when he couldn't convince the previously mentioned journalist to retract what he'd said about his father, he ended up killing her.
With all this in mind, Reilly went on to explain that Beth sees Jamie as a threat to everything she's fought so hard to protect. "She thinks that he's dangerous and a threat to her father and their existence. He has power to potentially hurt them," the actor added, noting that Beth simply "won't let that happen."
Consequently, Beth has attacked Jamie (both literally and figuratively) numerous times already in "Yellowstone" Season 4, and Reilly describes the character's hatred for her brother as a kind of obsession. "She is like a dog with a bone," the actor said, reiterating that Beth "becomes sort of possessed by exacting her revenge and finding out what happened."
However, when she was asked by the outlet if she thought Beth could ever forgive Jamie, Reilly had some surprising thoughts to share.
Can Beth ever forgive Jamie?
"I don't know," actor Kelly Reilly said about Beth potentially forgiving Jaime. "I, Kelly, hope she does. But I'm not sure Taylor [Sheridan] wants her to, so we'll see."
Notably, Sheridan has been seemingly building toward the exact opposite of forgiveness or reconciliation between the duo for several seasons now. For instance, in "Yellowstone" Season 2, Episode 8, Beth tells Jamie she can't wait for the day when he loves somebody so that she can take that love away from him. "Even if I have to kill it with my bare hands," she says in the scene, "I will take it from you."
Now, it's worth noting that, in Season 4, Episode 6, Jamie reunites with his former lover and their infant son. While the show would truly jump the shark by making Beth a literal baby murderer, the fact that Jamie now has the very thing he took away her ability to produce can't possibly bode well for their relationship. Nevertheless, Reilly hopes that, for Beth's sake, the two can eventually get past all the bad things they've done to one another.
"I hope for herself she does [forgive Jamie]," Reilly said, "because that's a thorn in her heart."