'Yellowstone' Season 4 On Paramount: Why Do They Hate Jamie?

Yellowstone Jamie Dutton Wes Bentley Paramount Network
Paramount Network

Thanks to Paramount Network, Season 4 of “Yellowstone” is upon us, and so is more Dutton drama. At the core of a lot of that drama is the family’s intense dislike for Jamie Dutton, the eldest living son of John and Evelyn Dutton. A sharp-minded, enigmatic person, Jamie riles the Duttons up like no other. Thus, begging the question. Why do they hate Jamie?

The answer is complicated, as is whether all of the Duttons hate Jamie. John Dutton can take or leave him, Beth loathes him, and Kayce has a soft spot for him. Rip is warmer to Jamie than Beth but not as gentle on him as Kayce. So, what led to all of these bitter feelings? Here is what you need to know about the mysterious “Yellowstone” character.

Jamie’s Journey (So Far)

First off, a quick recap on where Jamie is at circa “Yellowstone” Season 4. Jamie is a lawyer with a survival-streak, and who has a secret baby with his one-time girlfriend. That lingering plot point finally gets resolved in Season 4 after its initial introduction in Season 2. Earlier in the series, Jamie is John’s legal point man before his falling out with his father sidetracks that.

Related: “Yellowstone” Season 4: Where Is It Streaming? The Answer Is Here!

In “Yellowstone” Season 2, Jamie murders a reporter to protect his father’s secrets, which he has spilled in a tell-all interview. The contents of that interview remain unknown. In Season 3, Jamie learns that he is not John Dutton’s biological son, filling in some of the pieces to his sordid family puzzle. When Season 4 starts, Jamie is a prime suspect in the coordinated assassination attempt on his family’s lives.

A Game-Changing Twist

In Season 4, Episode 5, Jamie learns his biological father, Garrett Randall, took out the hit on the Duttons. In a move that will undoubtedly pour fuel on his sister Beth’s hatred of him, Jamie confronts his father, only to later embrace him after Garrett confesses. The rational? Garrett claims the Duttons are only “imaginary” family members.

Jamie seems to buy his bio father’s argument, and only time will tell if his conscience gets the better of him. Now that you are caught up on the critical notes in Jamie’s story, it is time to get into why most of his family hates him. “Yellowstone” has not entirely filled in the missing pieces. However, there is more information than ever to go on, so let’s get into it.

(Beware that spoilers for past seasons of “Yellowstone” will follow.)

Why do they hate Jamie?

It is not absolutely clear why everyone in the Dutton family, except for Rip and Kayce, hates Jamie on “Yellowstone.” John has more reasons to hate Jamie now that he knows about what happened with Beth. However, John has failed to say this outright. Instead, the main source of the animus seems to be a mistrust of Jamie because he is not a biological Dutton. 

The latest angle for why Beth hates Jamie, and his father is deeply suspicious of him relates to the assassination attempts on John, Beth, and Kayce. Jamie was the only Dutton not attacked in the all-out assault. In Season 4, Episode 4 of “Yellowstone,” Jamie convincingly pleads his innocence to Kayce, who believes him. Though Jamie learns the truth later in the same episode, he remains suspiciously quiet.

Why was Jamie adopted?

Jamie’s adoptive mother was friends with his biological mother, fueling her motive to adopt Jamie. John’s motivation for adopting Jamie is unclear. He is not exactly a man known for his charitable demeanor towards non-biological family members. Regardless, he and Evelyn Dutton adopted Jamie, whose biological father had murdered his mother. 

Jamie’s bio-dad subsequently went to prison, leaving then-baby Jamie with no one to care for him until the Duttons stepped in to adopt him. All of this is a secret to Jamie (and “Yellowstone” viewers) until his run for Governor of Montana leads him to his birth certificate, and the shocking truth emerges. 

Why Beth Hates Jamie, Explained

After three seasons of mystery, “Yellowstone” reveals Beth hates Jamie because he is the reason that she cannot have children. Season 3 reveals that when Beth was a teenager, she got pregnant by Rip and begged Jamie to help her get an abortion. He took her to the local Indian Reservation to get it done, so John would not find out.

The stipulation of getting an abortion at that time was to get sterilized. Beth did not know what she agreed to before she had the procedure. Hence, Beth’s rage at Jamie for taking that decision away from her. In the face of her fury, Jamie defends his choices citing their agreed-upon desire for discretion. It has not helped his case with his sister.

Why John Hates Jamie, Explained

After Jamie learns he is adopted, he confronts his father, John Dutton. John claims that he loves Jamie, yet none of the evidence indicates he has ever loved him as much as his biological children. Beth and Kayce are John’s favorites. To that point, Jamie is the only Dutton known to have been sent to a college far away from the ranch, and Jamie did not want to go.

While “Yellowstone” has hinted at John having feelings of disappointment with Jamie, most of his ire can be ascribed to Beth and her campaign against her brother. In Season 3, when John finds out about Jamie agreeing to sterilize Beth, he is enraged with his son. Thus, adding to the father and son’s pre-existing tension. 

Final Thoughts

Does any of this clear up why they (the Duttons) hate Jamie? It is undoubtedly a large portion of the picture, albeit the entirety of the image remains cloudy. For instance, John and all of his feelings towards Jamie seem unrelated to Beth. One thing is far more apparent, and that is Beth’s intentions where Jamie is concerned. 

She has already threatened his life in “Yellowstone” Season 4, and that was when it had barely started. If she learns that Jamie knows about Garrett Randall being behind the assassination attempts on the Duttons and that Jamie has stayed silent for more than a second, it will be game over for Jamie. Find out if the Duttons grow to hate Jamie more when new episodes air Sundays at 8 p.m. ET on the Paramount Network.

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