Jamie Dutton entered Yellowstone Season 5 in a desperate situation. With Beth blackmailing him, he was forced to sit back and obey while quietly harboring his hatred for her. Then Jamie met Sarah Atwood, who gave him the confidence to stand up to John and Beth and make some very bold choices.
[Warning: Yellowstone Season 5 Episode 8 spoilers ahead.]
Jamie begins ‘Yellowstone’ Season 5 simmering with rage
Back in Yellowstone Season 4, Beth pushed Jamie to kill his biological father, Garrett Randall, threatening to turn Rip loose on him if he didn’t. After Jamie went through with the deed, Beth took a picture of him dumping Garrett’s body at the train station. At the start of season 5, Beth is using this photo to force Jamie to do whatever she wants.
“He’s full of rage,” Wes Bentley said while speaking to TV Insider. “[He and Beth] have intense interactions at another level this season.” The actor also added that when fans catch back up with Jamie, he is “empty, alone, angry, resentful, guilty, and sad.” However, meeting Sarah Atwood points this character in a different direction.
Sarah Atwood focuses Jamie’s anger in ‘Yellowstone’
When Yellowstone Season 5 begins, Caroline Warner, the CEO of Market Equities, is still determined to take down the Duttons. She calls in her ace in the hole, Sarah Atwood, to help. Although Caroline eventually gives up and leaves Montana, Sarah isn’t so easily discouraged.
She picks Jamie out as a weak link in the Dutton family, and the pair begin a sexual relationship. Sarah assures Jamie that she doesn’t have ulterior motives for sleeping with him. However, she soon gives Jamie the idea that he should call for John’s impeachment as governor. In the midseason finale, he does just that.
“This is the big move,” Wes Bentley said in a video from Paramount. “This will be the final breaking point between him and John. I don’t think John, even if he wanted to, could come back from his son challenging him in such a public manner.”
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Beth breaks into Jamie’s house to confront him and threaten him yet again with the photo, but this time Jamie doesn’t back down. He points out that leading police to the train station could bring down John, Rip, and the entire ranch.
After Beth leaves, Jamie discusses the idea of having Beth killed before she can kill him. “Sarah really focuses Jamie’s energy, that anger, and even more so gives it ideas,” Bentley stated.
John might be his own worst enemy in season 5
Though Jamie might be going about things the wrong way, he does make some decent points while arguing with Beth in episode 8. Jamie tells Beth that if the goal was keeping the ranch around for future generations, “monetizing the ranch is the only option.”
Jamie and Beth both know that the cattle business alone can’t keep the ranch afloat forever, but John refuses to adapt. As Wes Bentley told TV Insider, “You could argue John is his own worst enemy at this point.”
Yellowstone Season 5 returns with new episodes this summer, 2023.
