The Dutton’s are known for their fierce family loyalty. Though, they are also known for their intense emotions and heated conversations, seen very visibly in Beth and Jamie’s relationship. Beth, the only daughter of John Dutton, is undoubtedly the favorite, and past decisions made by Jamie for Beth fracture the relationship.
Family Tension
Beth and her father, John Dutton, have intense loyalty and dedication to each other. Their relationship is unmatched, which is obvious to her brother, Jamie. Kevin Costner, who plays John Dutton, says of their relationship, “He loves her and she’s been a favorite.”
“Beth has her father’s love and Jamie knows it, and he’s deeply jealous,” Kelly Reilly remarks in a video on Beth by Paramount. Wes Bentley says of the relationship, with added tension for familial favorites, “There is a thin line between love and hate, and they are definitely on the hate side.”
An added strain is Jamie’s realization of his adoption. In season three, Jamie learns of his true birth family, which he soon finds out is terribly broken. Family is what has kept Jamie driven and formed his identity’s structure. Now, after learning his birth father is not John Dutton, but rather a man who killed Jamie’s mother, Jamis is at a loss. He has always had tension between John because of Beth’s favoritism, but now, the discovery of John’s untruthfulness destroys him.
Their Rocky Past
The largest fracture in their relationship is Beth’s abortion. “It explains everything,” Wes Bentley says. “(His role in the abortion) turned her into somebody who is angry and cold, especially to Jamie”
15-year-old Beth learns she is pregnant and turns to Jamie for help. To protect the Dutton family name, he makes the decision to take her to a clinic outside of town. This free clinic requires sterilization when undergoing an abortion, though. He decides to protect the name and refrain from telling her that detail, leading her into the clinic, leaving her sterile. “From his standpoint, he was afraid and unsure,” Kevin Costner says of the situation. “It was the wrong decision. But he was a kid making that decision,” Jamie’s actor, Wes Bentley says in the video by Paramount.
He continues, adding, “You can sense the lost love, the lost time they had. You can see that they were close and that this is what took them apart.” Bentley says that all of the hate and frustration between the two stems from the decision Jamie made at the clinic years before. He goes so far as to say every argument the two have goes back to Jamie’s choice.”Is every confrontation about this? It is. Every one of them.”
Beth Attempting To Hurt Jamie As Revenge
Beth carries the weight of “regret of this devastating secret that she has,” as Kelly Reilly puts it. One extreme incident of the pain she feels being directed towards Jamie, who she believes is at fault for her loss, is a scene in the stable. After watching Tate and Rip, she finds Jamie in the stables and delivers a bone-chilling threat. She says, as a way to spew out her pain unto him, “One day, Jamie, as much as it fucking astonishes me, someone will love you and you will love somebody and I can’t wait to take that from you. Even if I have to kill it with my bare hands, I will take it from you.”
Quotes Between Beth and Jamie
The two constantly hurl insults and frustration at eachother, though deep down, we know there is some love there. Here are some of their best (and cruelest) exchanges.
- Beth to Jamie: “You know why you’re so soft Jamie? Because you never lost. You never lost anything in your whole soft f—ing life.”
- Beth to Jamie: “What does the world think of me, that’s the only question you ask.”
- Jamie: What are you doing here?
Beth: Same thing I always do, fixing something you couldn’t. - Beth to Jamie: “Everything I do is for him, and everything you do is for you.”
- Jamie to Beth: “I’m terrified to get somebody pregnant and pass on the gene that made you”
- Jamie: Cancer is suicide from the inside, out. That’s what you are, Beth.
Beth: Wow, that’s really deep Jamie. You must be watching Ted Talks on Youtube. - Jamie: I need you to forget about how we feel about each other and remember one thing: we’re family.
Beth: I love how people think that word entitles them to absolution from the people whose lives they ruin. - Beth to Jamie: Every so often, you say something that makes me think you’re smart. And then I look at you, and that thought fades.
- Jamie: I spent my whole life fighting for this family, now I’m just not a part of it?
Beth: You can’t unmake family, Jamie, but you can take their gold card. - Jamie to Beth: If hating me keeps you from hating yourself, I’ll be that for you. That’s what family’s for.
Though they know how to perfectly push each other’s buttons, Kelly Reilly says it’s all through love. She says, “If there was no love there, they wouldn’t irritate one another, it wouldn’t matter.”