Fans Are Calling Out ‘Yellowstone’ for Jamie’s “Ridiculous”

Season 5 of Yellowstone continued with episode 7, “The Dream Is Not Me.” This installment found serious trouble in the Dutton herd, leading to a major move and possible change in business strategy. But the real drama is with Jamie, who made strides in taking down his own father’s political career. Plus, the whole crew hit the county fair for an unexpected night of fun and revelry (Best moment of the episode? Rip inviting Beth to join him at the fair). With only one more episode until the mid-season finale, the show has a lot of loose ends to tie up.

Rip’s Dark Past

A flashback finds a teenage Rip in trouble. He and Rowdy have been sent to watch over the herd, and when Rowdy makes a disparaging comment about Beth, the two fight. Rowdy pulls a knife, and Rip hits him over the head with a rock. Before Rip heads off to find help, Rowdy tells him to lie about what happened and say he fell off his horse. But Rip goes to the ranch and tells John exactly what happens. Rip, John, and Lloyd head to check on Rowdy, where they find him dead. Lloyd delivers the famous line that they could “take Rowdy to the train station” because he’s a drifter with no family. John confronts Rip and tells him, “There’s a thing I could do, but if I do it you don’t ever leave this place. You’ll be part of this ranch until the day you die, and you will do for this ranch what I say do, no matter what that is. You understand me?” Rip immediately replies, “This ranch is the only family I got.”

Jamie Prepares for Battle

Jamie tells Sarah that he was raised to be a cowboy and run a ranch, but his father demanded he become a lawyer. He even sent in his Harvard application for him. John wanted Jamie to “learn to fight with a pen. He hates me for becoming the very thing he asked me to become. No, forced me to be.” Sarah explains that Montana’s cattle industry is dying and the future is tourism, and she can help Jamie save the ranch he loves so dearly. This and Sarah’s threat of litigation gets Jamie onboard to have John impeached. She vows to support Jamie’s governorship if he replaces his father after a special election.

Fans of the show reacted to Jamie’s storyline on Instagram. They left comments like:

• “Right when you feel sorry for Jamie he does something to deserve it…..”
• “So Jaime just forgot Beth has a photo of him holding his real father’s corpse 😂”
• “This storyline is ridiculous. We are supposed to believe jamie would do all this with the blackmail Beth has?”
• “We are to believe that Jamie who already had this storyline is going to go against his family AGAIN!”

Beth Bares All

After hitting Summer, Lainey, and Laramie with a string of zingers after their walk of shame from camp, Beth shares a poignant and revealing moment with her sister-in-law Monica. Monica says she doesn’t want to be treated differently because she lost a child, and Beth confesses, “I’m going to tell you something. I haven’t told anybody, so let’s keep this between us. I know how you feel, because I felt it. And I feel it every day. So when I say that I am sorry, Monica, I really mean it.” Monica replies, “That’s why you’re mean. Because nobody knows. Because you keep that inside yourself.” Beth says, “I keep it inside because all the people know it would hurt.” Beth tells Monica that anyway, she was mean before that happened.

Trouble in the Pasture

The crew heads out to the pasture to a troubling discovery: stillborn bison calves. John immediately knows what this means: they’re infected with Brucellosis, a contagious disease. If they’ve passed it on to the Dutton herd, they will have to be euthanized. Even if the Dutton herd is healthy, they will have to move to a different pasture. John sets forth a (very costly) plan to relocate the herd. As ranch manager, Rip will go with them, and they’ll have to be gone for a year. He chooses Jake, Teeter, Ryan, and Walker to accompany him. Before they head out, the whole crew heads to the county fair for a night of fun. Beth tells Rip that of course she’s going with him.

Beth’s Business Plan

Beth starts digging into her father’s finances. Raising cattle is expensive, and there’s a lot of money in selling beef. Beth calls the 6666 to see how they handle processing and selling the beef and sees there is a great deal of money to be made. They’ll just have to take out a loan raise their herd for two years instead of selling them off. John is stuck in his ways, but Beth tells him, “You are not a businessman, daddy. You are a rancher. I am a businessman and I have spent my career making $50-$100 million dollar deals for others. Now I’m going to make one for you.”

What’s next for the Duttons? Keep in mind there’s no new episode next week. And with just one episode left before the mid-season finale (and no word on when the show will return for the final 6 episodes of season 5), there are a lot of loose ends to tie up.