“Yellowstone” features its share of good guys and bad guys. And then there are the characters who are somewhere in between. Jamie Dutton (Wes Bentley) is arguably one such character.
The Paramount show’s Instagram account fueled the debate Wednesday with the ultimate holiday question: is Jamie getting coal this year?
“Still debating if he’s on Santa’s nice or naughty list,” the show’s account posted to Instagram, next to a picture of Jamie clad in flannel and a baseball cap, squinting off into the distance.
When “Yellowstone” starts out, Jamie seems like the long-suffering, calm and reasonable Dutton. He’s constantly trying to win his father’s approval – stoically delivering bad news, running around cleaning up messes, putting his political ambitions on hold.
But as the episodes progress, more information emerges. For one thing, it turns out Jamie consented to have Beth Dutton’s (Kelly Reilly) tubes tied without her permission when she got an abortion in her youth.
For another, Jamie kills off a reporter who had refused to bury a story that Jamie initially participated in.
And then there’s the adoption bombshell. Jamie isn’t John Dutton’s (Kevin Costner) biological son. And apparently, Jamie’s own father killed his mother, then went to prison for it. Does murder run in his blood?
Jamie certainly wrestles with a lot of conflicts, both internal and external. And his place in the Dutton clan shifts somewhat over the course of the seasons.
“I think for Jamie, there’s a lot of conflict in him with his family and trying to find his place. His loyalties continue to be tested,” Bentley told Screen Rant last year. “And he continues to look for himself. It seems to be a lifelong search, but it never can be a search without something dramatic happening.”
Whether Jamie finds himself or not, he’d better hope Santa is as softhearted as John Dutton.
