One of the most interesting character dynamics in all of Taylor Sheridan’s hit Paramount Network series, Yellowstone, is the relationship between Beth Dutton and her father John Dutton (Kevin Costner).
And perhaps the most emotional scene in all Yellowstone Season Four was when John confronts Beth about getting Summer Higgins arrested.
Long story short… Beth tells her father he needs to get laid. He gets down and dirty with some hippie environmentalist chick, Beth threatens her with a kitchen knife and then sets her up to get arrested during a protest.
John, livid that Beth would do something that “cruel,” reminds Beth:
“We don’t kill sheep, we kill wolves.”
He then drops the bomb on her:
“I never thought I’d feel this way about you but you really disappointed me, honey… I never thought I’d say that about you.”
He ends the conversation by telling her she should maybe think about moving out.
Pretty savage…
But in a recent interview with TVLine, Kelly Reilly (Beth) opens up about the emotional episode alongside director Stephen Kay:
“That scene was heartbreaking for me. Beth doesn’t often come up against her father. She’s very obedient with him.
So to have him say he’s disappointed in her… she never thought she’d hear that from him. She’d rather have been punched.”
Director Stephen Kay also weighed in on the scene:
“Everything Beth did, she did for the right reason as far as she was concerned. So it was pretty easy to tell Kelly, ‘Play these circumstances, and your heart will break.’
When you have two really good actors (like her and Kevin Costner), the goal is to put them in a situation and let them go.”
Reilly added:
“When you have a role that means so much to you, you want people to understand her. So I’m always trying to connect to the part of Beth that isn’t just brutal.
In this specific scene, it wasn’t a big reach to find that (vulnerability). Knowing that this would be like a knife to her heart, I wanted the audience to feel that.”
“(John asking Beth to move out) is sort of the ultimate rejection. Her whole life is sacrificed for him.”
It’s a poignant scene, one that really changed the tone of the season and will ultimately set the table for things to come in Season 5.
And speaking of Season 5, the team is already in production, the cast is back on set, and we’re looking at a November 13th.
Here’s a breakdown of that scene from Piper Perabo, Kevin Costner and Kelly Reilly:
And that hilarious breakfast scene:
