10 ‘Yellowstone’ Characters Fans Still Love to Hate — Even After the Finale

Even though Yellowstone has become an impressive TV franchise, not everything about this series is perfect. Yellowstone revived and popularized the Western genre through a compelling show that deals with social and individual politics. However, to showcase the contradictory world of cowboys in Montana, Yellowstone had to come up with a cast of mostly despicable characters.

John Dutton’s Kevin Costner, for example, went from a fan favorite to the most annoying character in the show. As the cowboy slowly sheds his skin, it’s easy to see his greed, selfishness, and cruel nature. However, other characters in Yellowstone are annoying because they are unnecessary, poorly written, or transform in shocking ways that leave fans reeling.

A Lot of People in the Yellowstone Fandom Have a Hard Time Feeling Empathy for Beth

Beth Is John Dutton’s Only Daughter & She Marries Rip Wheeler

Beth is a morally ambiguous character in Yellowstone, whom people either love or hate. The problem with Beth is that her actions can be frustrating for the audience. Beth tends to be chaotic, insulting people in over-the-top ways. However, as annoying as Beth can be, especially in the first seasons, the series would feel empty without her. Moreover, Beth grows in tandem with the seasons.

Yes, it’s hard to tolerate Beth when she bathes naked outside her house, provoking Rip out of nowhere, or constantly insulting Jamie, as people often do not understand their complicated history. However, as people realize the abuse Beth has endured, and she makes better choices, her character becomes, if not likable, at least narratively compelling. It is a rocky road with Beth, but it’s also a rewarding one. Additionally, it can be pretty satisfying to see Beth putting hypocritical, greedy, and bigoted people in their place.

Tate’s Character Is Never Developed

Tate Is Kayce and Monica’s Only Son and John Dutton’s Sole Grandson

Most people like Tate on a personal level. He is, after all, just a little kid. However, Tate is a terribly written character, and that has turned him annoying for fans. Tate exists solely to provide character development for other characters, such as John or Kayce, but his own storyline is deeply underdeveloped.

Tate doesn’t seem to have friends or family beyond the Duttons. He doesn’t really care about his other grandfather or his uncle’s death. Nor even when his cousins leave the state. He has, however, plenty of teary-eyed scenes with John Dutton or Kayce to show the soft side of these characters or to explain their motivations. Tate might as well be just a prop in the background. People understandably grew to hate these pointless scenes with Tate.

Christina’s Character Was Completely Irrelevant in Yellowstone

Christina Was Jamie’s Ex-Girlfriend and the Mother of His Son

Christina is first introduced to Yellowstone as Jamie’s campaign manager in the race to obtain the position of Attorney General. From the very beginning, Christina and Jamie have a strange dynamic as Christina clearly develops a crush on the political candidate. Strangely enough, Christina turns out to have a moral compass and pushes Jamie towards a liberal inclination, and the two develop a romantic relationship. Later, the two break up when Jamie returns to work with his father, and Christina feels betrayed.

Christina is not only mostly dislikable but also a poorly written character. Her romance with Jamie moves way too fast, and she becomes a sort of moral compass for him. In the end, she quickly leaves him when his path doesn’t align with her expectations of the lawyers, showing significant inconsistency. The worst part is that she disappears and returns with a baby. After leaving Jamie for his moral grounding, she allows him to be the father of his son even when she knows he is not a good person. Christina’s motivations and internal mechanisms are unknown, so they are anyone’s guess. Not even Jamie and Christina’s son grows into a relevant role in the series.

Travis Is Taylor Sheridan’s Own Gary Stu

Travis Is a Professional Horse Trainer

Travis is a minimal character that only appears a handful of times in Yellowstone, but that gets on viewers’ nerves for a straightforward reason: he’s Taylor Sheridan’s idealized self-insert. Travis is a brilliant cowboy who is handsome, clever, and talented. He saved the Yellowstone ranch several times, so he’s basically the epitome of manhood.

Travis is a character is entirely unnecessary. He lacks character development, and his impact on the story could be achieved by any other character in Yellowstone​​​​​. To make matters worse, he always mistreats Jimmy and treats people condescendingly. However, the straw that broke the camel’s back was Sheridan also including his newly acquired ranch, the 6666, in the show. People feel Sheridan became way too indulgent with his cowboy fantasies.

Monica is Universally Disliked to a Point

Her Story Teaches Many Important Lessons to the Audience

Monica is undoubtedly one of the least beloved characters in Yellowstone. Most fans agree that the character is whiny, intense, and disruptive of the Western dynamic. Of course, many viewers want to see ranching shenanigans, and it frustrates them that Monica’s storylines tend to focus on other areas as the character becomes a professor and explores her own life path beyond the Duttons.

Understandably, people who want to see John Dutton kill potential threats don’t particularly like Monica, but Monica is an essential character in Yellowstone. She brings a Native American perspective to a war over American land. She educates the audience about the vulnerabilities of a community. As a character who leaves the reservation to live with the Duttons, she becomes a social, ideological, and political middle ground. Yellowstone isn’t only about violent sequences and men doing cool stunts; it also reflects on the cultural fragmentation of the United States and its violent history. Without Monica, it would be unlikely that Kacey could realize that the Yellowstone land isn’t meant for the Duttons and decide to give it away to Thomas Rainwater.

Jamie’s Character Development Is All Over the Place

Jamie Is John Dutton’s Adoptive Son & Yellowstone’s Lawyer and Political Figure

Among many despicable antagonists, including the protagonist himself, Jamie somehow manages to remain the most detestable character in Yellowstone. Viewers have sympathy for the unappreciated son of John Dutton in the first season. It seems like his heart is in the right place. John is highly unfair to him, and Beth treats him poorly even when he tries to help. Many viewers could even forgive him for killing the journalist if he had changed.

Up until this point, Jamie could have become a compelling villain, showcasing a fascinating portrayal of a series of unfortunate events that culminate in a character who can’t return for good. But that’s not what happened. What happened is that Jamie became ridiculously annoying. He never fully redeems himself nor turns into a fleshed-out villain. He’s always a pathetic boy with daddy issues who never really grows into anything. This uncommitted portrayal of the character is what truly made it annoying for all Yellowstone audiences, especially with a convoluted storyline that included ex-girlfriends, lost sons, biological fathers, and more.

Summer Is a Terrible Representation of the Group She Was Supposed to Portray

Summer Is an Environmental Activist Who Ends Up as One of John Dutton’s Conquests

Summer is a pretty bizarre character introduced in the fourth season of Yellowstone who clearly overstays her welcome. She’s an activist who protests industrialized farming, such as the one the Duttons carry on their ranch. The woman is a poor representation of activism, exhibiting a lack of intelligence, common sense, and moral strength. Most of the time, she doesn’t even understand how the Yellowstone works, and John Dutton looks sensible and even in contrast with her arguments. She’s eventually charmed by John Dutton, and her petty fight with Betty is just a terrible excuse for pitting women against each other.

While it would have been interesting to pit the ideas of the stereotypical Montana rancher against a proper environmental activist, this wasn’t it. Summer eventually ends up living in John’s house after he rescues her from jail, from a terrible prank by Beth. The worst part is that John tricked Summer into staying by telling her she had to do so because of the law, and later the two even had a sexual relationship. Still, Beth later discloses there’s no such thing, once again proving Summer’s ignorance and invalidating the struggle of many capable activists.

Walker Was a Boring Side Character with Nothing to Offer

Walker Had No Affiliations with the Family and Was Hired Against His Will by Rip Wheeler

Walker was one of the hands on the ranch in Yellowstone, but the character received way too much attention given his role on the show. He’s hired against his will when he gets out of jail, and Rip forces him to get the Yellowstone brand and commit crimes. Walker is hesitant because he doesn’t want to go back to jail. It’s easy to empathize with Walker in this situation, but the back and forth between Walker and the Yellowstone employees was never-ending.

In fact, Walker never grows into anything. Eventually, he accepts his fate, occasionally plays his guitar as a pseudo-bohemian cowboy, and casually dates a cowgirl. His character has no states, and his storylines are simply dull. It’s good to know the cruel resources from the Duttons, but maybe the audience didn’t need to know so much about Walker in the long run. Additionally, it’s hard to understand why, from time to time, the Duttons decide to enslave people instead of just hiring someone willing to follow their orders.

Mia Only Makes Things Difficult for Jimmy

Mia Was a Rodeo Barrel Racer, a Cowboy, a Yellowstone Employee, and Jimmy’s Girlfriend

Mia is both a terrible character in terms of writing and also despicable and unlikable as a person. She met Jimmy in a rodeo competition, and she became bad news as soon as she showed up in his life. Yellowstone portrays it as a thrilling romance, but Mia goes as far as to sexually abuse Jimmy when he’s still in the hospital and severely injured.

Soon enough, Mia lives on the ranch with Jimmy and creates lots of problematic dynamics in the cowboys’ house, especially since her friend Laramie is also there. This could be overlooked, but Mia later pushes Jimmy into going back to the rodeo, which ends up with him getting hurt. On top of that, she abandons him when he leaves for the 6666 ranch on John’s orders. She’s a very secondary character to have received so much attention, and she was too awful a person even to be Jimmy’s girlfriend at all.

John Dutton Acted Good, But He Wasn’t

John Ran the Ranch to the Bitter End

There is no character more annoying in Yellowstone than the Dutton patriarch, owner of the ranch, and lead character: John Dutton III. Brilliantly played by Kevin Costner, it’s impossible for the audience not to feel irritated by John’s attitudes. However, sometimes a good character has to be despicable.

John is an interesting character because he pretends to be good, but he’s actually evil. This is why viewers can find him pretty frustrating. He mistreats his children, endangers his family, stubbornly holds on to the ranch, and all the while justifies himself in pseudo-nostalgia and pride. Other characters in Yellowstone might inspire sympathy despite their terrible behavior, but John Dutton never redeems himself. In fact, he becomes worse and worse throughout the seasons.