For those who thought Yellowstone couldn’t get any wilder, Season 3 took a proverbial firecracker to that assumption and left fans reeling in sheer astonishment. Ending with what’s likely one of the bloodiest and most brutal cliffhangers in recent TV history, the third season threw the Dutton family right into the jaws of catastrophe.
Mysterious forces launched a full-scale assault on John (portrayed by the eternally iconic Kevin Costner), Kayce (Luke Grimes), and Beth (Kelly Reilly), leaving their fates teetering on a razor’s edge until Season 4 hopefully answers our fevered prayers.
And if you thought the literal explosions were enough to keep you on the edge of your seat, then don’t ignore (can’t ever be forgotten) the emotional grenades. We were all left agape when it was revealed that teenage Jamie Dutton (Wes Bentley) had coerced Beth into a sterilization procedure to cover up her unplanned pregnancy.
What Fans Think About the Sterilization Angle in Yellowstone
Taylor Sheridan’s efforts to shed light on historical injustices through the storyline of forced sterilization in Yellowstone may have started with noble intentions, but it seems to have missed the mark with fans. The revelation of Jamie’s betrayal towards his sister Beth (Kelly Reilly) has left many viewers feeling uneasy and dissatisfied with how the serious issue was portrayed.
As the series progresses, the layers of their bitter relationship start to peel away like an onion, revealing a dark backstory that has turned their sibling rivalry into a full-blown family feud. Season 3 finally pulls back the curtain to expose why Beth harbors such deep-seated animosity towards Jamie.
Flashbacks reveal a gut-wrenching piece of their history. Teenaged Beth, facing an unplanned pregnancy, turns to her brother Jamie for help. Jamie, being the good brother he’s supposed to be, assists her, but with a grave and sinister twist. He takes her to a small, dingy clinic that has a policy so outrageous: abortion procedures come with mandatory sterilization by hysterectomy.
The plot thickens when it’s revealed that Jamie was fully aware of this barbaric policy but kept it a secret from Beth, effectively subjecting her to the horrors of forced sterilization.
Beth’s traumatic experience at the hands of her own brother has left a sour taste in the mouths of viewers, and their reactions to this storyline are anything but subtle. One Reddit user hit the nail on the head and expressed a desire to remove the sterilization subplot entirely, arguing that it is excessive and disturbing:
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Here are a few other comments to mull over:
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Ergo, while Sheridan’s intentions may have been noble, the execution of the sterilization subplot in Yellowstone has left many fans feeling disillusioned. What started as a gripping drama has now morphed into a storyline that’s more of a sour note than a compelling plot twist.
Beth Was a Kid When The Last Forced Sterilization On Native Americans Occurred?
In Yellowstone, Beth Dutton’s rocky relationship with Jamie took a grim turn when it was revealed that her brother, in his teenage wisdom, sent Beth to get an abortion. But the fans are also bewildered over one major detail: the timeline just doesn’t seem to add up.
According to eagle-eyed IMDb commenters (via Daily Express), the show’s forced sterilization subplot seems to be a bit of a historical misfit. One commenter points out that for Beth to have undergone forced sterilization, she’d need to be pushing 60 today, given that the last such procedures were carried out in the 1970s.
Beth clocks in at a spry 38-year-old during the show (see Looper), which placed her abortion and alleged sterilization in the 1990s—a decade well after the practice was outlawed.
The Indian Health Service’s dark history includes thousands of forced sterilizations performed in the 1960s and ’70s, often without the woman’s knowledge or consent. Thankfully, those stern days are behind us, but it’s clear that Yellowstone’s timeline is more tangled than a spaghetti dinner.
Nevertheless, the storyline, though historically questionable, does shed light on the fractured sibling bond between Beth and Jamie. It also serves as a stark reminder of the real, harrowing history of Native American mistreatment in the U.S.
Yellowstone Season 2, Part 2, will be released on November 10, 2024.
Yellowstone is currently available to stream on Peacock.
