Was John Dutton Ever Really the Star of Yellowstone? One Episode Says Otherwise

For many, Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone has one main character: John, the Dutton family patriarch, played by Academy Award nominee Kevin Costner. It is John, after all, who appears in the very first shot of the series and is at the center of the war surrounding his family ranch. It’s the legacy that John carries and tries hard to prevent his children from having to carry it in the same way. John’s perspective and dialogue set the stage for what’s to come countless times throughout the series.

Yet Yellowstone Season 1, Episode 3 redirects this assumption, although it does so quietly, blink and you’ll miss it. Taylor Sheridan’s drama series may market itself as a neo-Western about legacy and land, but “No Good Horses” is where the show pivots and makes it clear that there is but one true lead here, and it’s not who fans think. The episode spotlights Beth’s trauma after losing her mother, and how that loss is the core reason behind her volatility. When I watch this masterful episode, especially knowing how the series ultimately ends, there’s no doubt that Beth is Yellowstone‘s true protagonist. It’s her story, not John’s, despite what hardcore fans may say.

Yellowstone Season 1, Episode 3 Cements Beth Dutton as the Heart of the Series

Evelyn Dutton’s Death Fragments the Dutton Family

“No Good Horses” opens with Yellowstone‘s first flashback sequence, showing the viewers how John’s wife and mother of his children, Evelyn, died. What may appear to be an accident becomes a defining moment in Beth’s life and one that causes her to hate the ranch and her father’s attachment to it. While riding, Beth’s fearfulness of her horse makes the horse agitated. That agitation ultimately ripples and causes Evelyn’s horses to rise and fall onto her, breaking her back. Rather than allow a young Kayce, who is a much better rider than Beth, despite being much younger, to get help, Evelyn forces Beth to do it.

The strictness that Beth faces from her mother is later revealed to have more of a justifiable reason than what is given to audiences at that moment. Evelyn wanted Beth to be strong and fearless because of the world she was growing up in — a world run by men who would not view her as formidable. Once again, this episode becomes much more poignant for me on a rewatch, because of all the elements that put things into context. Beth had to become cold and unforgiving. It was her silent way of honoring what her mother wanted her to be. Of course, there’s more to it than that, especially when considering Jamie’s betrayal a few years after her mother’s death.

7 years later, Yellowstone’s longest episode is still its very best; it’s cinematic, brutal, and the perfect set-up for the Dutton story.

Yet, despite all that, the monster that Beth became was not by choice but by design, and Kelly Reilly’s performance never falters across the five seasons. This psychological wound, and the wound that Beth would suffer at the hands of her brother Jamie, would allow hatred and anger to consume her. This is why Beth becomes that tornado, and the bulldozer that her father uses. John says this to Jamie later on in the episode when they’re having a conversation. John tells Jamie he needs someone who can be evil, and despite how much he loves his daughter, he knows that’s exactly what she can be.

“No Good Horses” really exhibits all the elements that make Yellowstone such a beloved and critically acclaimed series. It proves, especially on a rewatch, that no scene went to waste and that every narrative choice Sheridan made was intentional. Throughout the episode, Beth is reeling because it’s the anniversary of her mother’s death. Her rage is evident, and she doesn’t plan on letting herself suffer alone. Beth makes it very clear, whether through behavior or spoken word.

No Good Horses Shows Beth Dutton at Her Lowest (& Most Honest)

Yellowstone Season 1, Episode 3, Confirms Beth is Crucial to the Story

By the end of Yellowstone‘s first season, Beth cements herself not just as the heart of the series, but as her father’s most loyal soldier. Despite Kayce being an actual soldier and Jamie being a lawyer, it’s Beth who gives her all to her father and dedicates her entire life to ensuring that her promise to John Dutton is fulfilled. “No Good Horses” gives the viewers an answer to why Beth is as devoted to her father as she is.

It’s not a blind devotion, but one that comes from guilt and shame for being the reason behind her mother’s death. She took John’s wife away from him. Yes, it was an accident, but that won’t prevent Beth from carrying that trauma with her. Sheridan’s writing really explores the nuances of what grief and guilt can do to a person and how Beth uses them as a justification for her spiraling and self-sabotaging behavior. There’s also quite an interesting contrast between how Beth navigates that rage and how Jamie uses it against her to hurt her later in the episode.

Beth’s move in Yellowstone Season 3 set off a chain reaction that ignited her feud with Jamie and reshaped the Dutton legacy.

Beth’s actions aren’t weakness — they’re a rare moment of truth in a family that seems to bury everything under pride. John sleeps with Lynelle Perry, Montana’s governor. Kayce goes on a rescue mission while struggling with the decision to go back to the Navy. Jamie uses all that chaos around him, especially with Beth, to push his own agenda forward. It’s Beth who actually and genuinely mourns her mother’s death on her anniversary.

Yellowstone Season 1, Episode 3, Ignites the War Between Beth and Jamie (& The Rest is History)

Yellowstone’s Core Conflict Has Always Been Beth & Jamie

Yellowstone Season 1, Episode 3, doesn’t just give viewers a crucial piece of Beth’s backstory, it gives them her first true battlefield, and clarifies that her true enemy, or the one she fears the most, isn’t the land developers, nor her father’s enemies. It’s her brother, Jamie. The episode expertly navigates the conflict between Beth and Jamie, as it becomes quite evident that the hate between them isn’t a sibling squabble, but rather something much deeper. Beth vs. Jamie is the conflict that ultimately defines the entire series. Unlike the prequel shows, Yellowstone is the story of the war from within the Dutton family.

I know John Dutton is at the center of the family’s empire and legacy, but it’s Jamie and Beth who become the show’s most emotionally volatile and narratively important power struggle. Every protagonist must have an antagonist, and if Jamie is the antagonist, then arguably Beth is the protagonist. While Beth and Jamie had their own baggage to use against each other, John doesn’t deescalate it, and instead throws more fuel into the inferno. When Governor Perry suggests Jamie run for Attorney General, it sets off a subtle but significant shift in the Dutton family dynamic.

John, at first, appears to support Jamie, but then undermines this by asking Beth to schmooze with those whose votes she’d need. He weaponizes Beth’s loyalty and pain to keep Jamie in his place. What changes in this episode is that Sheridan has the siblings’ conflict get physical when Beth and Jamie fight in the stable. There’s a messiness and a brutality to it, an embodiment of all that resentment and hatred, and rage. Both Kelly Reilly and Wes Bentley give this moment their all as Beth and Jamie lay it all out.

This is the moment that ignites the war at the center of Yellowstone — a war that lasts until the series’ final episode. Looking back at this episode after having finished the series, it’s clear how this sibling rivalry became the emotional core of Yellowstone‘s final act. From Jamie’s adoption reveal, to his descent into darkness and ultimately being involved in John’s death, it all feels inevitable, especially after rewatching “No Good Horses.” This episode cemented that Beth Dutton is the series’ main character, and that she would go on the most transformative character arc from that moment on.

Yellowstone’s flawless episodes showcase gripping stories, intense drama and unforgettable Dutton family moments.

In her confrontation with Jamie in the stable, Beth proclaims she doesn’t care about the ranch and that if John died the next day, she’d give up her shares to the Four Seasons. Yet, by the end of the series, her perspective is completely different as she does whatever it takes to ensure the land is protected. This is what makes this neo-Western drama such a good series. Sheridan intentionally threads the tragedy that is the Dutton family through his writing. Despite what most fans believe about Yellowstone, it’s Beth, not John, who is the series’ protagonist. Much like the prequels, it’s always been the Dutton women who fought with all they had to protect their family legacy.