The 10 Worst Things Yellowstone's Main Characters Have Done

It's crazy to think that almost a year has passed since "Yellowstone" vacated our televisions for good — well, at least until those planned spinoffs kick in. For a while there, it was the gnarliest show on TV, chock full of violence, bloodthirsty cowboys, and evil rich people vying to attain as much money and power as possible — and that was just the behind-the-scenes drama.

At its best, "Yellowstone" was really about morally gray people doing bad things to protect their property — a battle of wits between embittered men and women who willingly circumvent the law to achieve what they perceive as the greater good. It wasn't always perfect, and at times it resembled a cheesy soap opera. Still, there's no denying that "Yellowstone" offered a thoroughly entertaining look at life on a ranch as seen through the eyes of John Dutton (Kevin Costner) and his fragmented batch of kids: Beth (Kelly Reilly), Jaime (Wes Bentley), and Kayce (Luke Grimes). The fact that all of them were about as far removed from perfection as Taylor Sheridan is from Shonda Rhimes actually made the series more enjoyable than it had any right to be.

But just how bad were the Duttons? Well, grab your cowboy hat, crack open some beer, and pull up that acoustic guitar as we explore the 10 worst things the "Yellowstone" main characters have done, listed by season.

"Yellowstone" kicks off with John Dutton's cattle straying onto the Broken Rock Reservation after Robert Long (Jeremiah Bitsui) — brother of Kayce's wife, Monica (Kelsey Asbille) — cuts down the barbed wire fence to let the herd cross over, forcing the hard-nosed rancher to mount a nighttime operation to bring them home. Chief Thomas Rainwater (Gil Birmingham) anticipates this move and ensures the Broken Rock police are on the scene to protect the cattle, believing the herd now belongs to his people on the Reservation. A gunfight erupts, and in the chaos, Robert shoots and kills John's eldest son, Lee (Dave Annable). Kayce then shoots Robert in retaliation, an action that forever fractures his relationship with his wife and establishes his conflict as a man torn between his family's world and Monica.

In actuality, Rainwater set the whole conflict in motion. Rather than return John's cattle to their rightful home, the newly anointed tribal chairman seizes the opportunity to make a political statement and publicly challenge John's power. He aims to reclaim the ancestral land from the Duttons and delivers the first blow by deliberately creating a tense situation that quickly spirals out of control. He knew John would come for the cattle, and while he never intended for Lee to die, he must assume responsibility for lighting the fuse that set off the series' ultimate war.

Many of the characters on "Yellowstone" are terrible people, willing to do whatever it takes to maintain power. Still, none of them compares to Jamie, John's cowardly middle child and easily the most despicable character on the show. 

Early on, he's little more than an annoying, albeit professional weasel. However, in season 2, episode 6 ("Blood the Boy"), he crosses the threshold into downright villainy and murders a reporter named Sarah Nguyen (Michaela Conlin). Back in season 1, the young woman planned to do an exposé on the Duttons, focusing on the family's corruption, land grabs, and shady politics. Jamie, craving recognition in the political sphere and bitter toward his father, shares some dark secrets about his family. Later, in season 2, Sarah arrives to verify the information he gave her, but at this point, things have changed and Jamie regrets his actions. He eventually tells John and Beth, who order him to take care of the situation.  

So Jamie meets Sarah in private under the pretense of another interview. He pleads with her to halt the story, and when she openly admits to feeling satisfaction at the prospect of exposing the Duttons, Jamie snaps and slams her head into a car. Then, weeping and apologizing profusely, he finishes the job by strangling her.

This event forever sullies Jamie's character, though it is odd that no one inquired about Sarah after she disappears.

The first season of "Yellowstone" hooked viewers with weekly shocks — bears, fence posts, clueless tourists, even exploding meth houses — before season 2 found its stride as a character-driven drama building to an explosive finale, where Kayce shows his brutal side by killing a man mid-bathroom break to rescue his kidnapped son, Tate (Brecken Merrill).

Let's back up. Season 2 introduces the Beck brothers, Malcolm (Neal McDonough) and Teal (Terry Serpico), who wage war against John Dutton over a proposed casino. They unleash every intimidation tactic imaginable, but John merely shrugs off their threats. When the Becks realize they can't break him, they escalate by kidnapping Kayce's son Tate. Big mistake.

Kayce storms into Teal's home with a gun in hand and finds him sitting on the toilet. Without hesitation, he shoots Teal twice in the stomach and demands to know Tate's location. After another shot to the leg, Teal finally caves, giving up the boy's whereabouts. He pleads for mercy, begging not to die on the toilet, but Kayce ignores him and delivers the fatal shot, fulfilling a grim promise he made to Monica. Once again, "Yellowstone" makes it clear that the Duttons operate outside the law and are never above delivering cold, calculated violence when it suits their cause.

Honestly, revisiting this moment gets us pumped for Kayce's spinoff series!

Who doesn't love the Bunkhouse Gang? This rowdy crew lives on the Yellowstone Ranch, handling the day-to-day work that keeps the Dutton empire afloat. They break horses, feed livestock, wrangle cattle, mend fences, fix equipment — and, on occasion, commit grisly acts of murder. Yes, you read that right.

Like enforcers in a twisted cowboy mob, Lloyd (Forrie J. Smith), Colby (Denim Richards), Ryan (Ian Bohen), Walker (Ryan Bingham), Teeter (Jennifer Landon), and the rest of the bunkhouse crew take part in shocking violence, all in the name of loyalty to the Duttons. We love them, sure, but even this motley bunch sometimes goes way too far.

Take season 3's finale, for example. The gang ambushes Wade Morrow (Boots Southerland), a branded former Yellowstone hand who betrayed John and set up his own rival ranch. After teaming up with Roarke Morris (Josh Holloway) to go after the Duttons, Wade finally pushed things too far. John ordered Rip (Cole Hauser) and the bunkhouse boys to end it — and they did, in brutal fashion.

Not only do they hang Wade from a tree, but they also carve the Yellowstone brand off his chest as a violent testament to their code of loyalty. Then, as if nothing happened, they return to work. Either they're completely numb to murder, or they actually enjoy it. Either way, it's proof of the darker truth lurking beneath life on the ranch: Even the most easygoing cowboy isn't adverse to dark deeds.

By now, most fans know about Jamie and Beth's complicated relationship. "Yellowstone" spent three seasons slowly peeling back the layers of their animosity until finally revealing the origin of their deep rift. As a teenager, Beth became pregnant with Rip's child. Terrified of how her father would react, particularly toward Rip, she turned to Jamie for help.

Jamie, still young himself, took his sister to an abortion clinic on the Broken Rock Reservation where he thought no one would recognize them. What he didn't tell Beth was that the clinic required sterilization in exchange for the procedure. Jamie signed the paperwork without her knowledge, and the operation left Beth unable to have children.

Years later, Beth discovers the truth and directs all her fury at Jamie. She sees his decision not as a mistake made under pressure but as a lifelong betrayal, one he has never properly apologized for. Instead, Jamie deflects blame at every turn. While it's true he was put in a difficult position, a more responsible choice would have been to explain the situation to Beth or, at the very least, own up to his decision in the years that followed. His failure to do either cemented him as the target of Beth's unrelenting hatred, deeply fractured the family and set off a chain of consequences that ultimately tore the Duttons apart.

We've already discussed at length why Jamie sucks. He's a volatile mix of insecurity, spinelessness, and pent-up aggression, much of it stemming from his father. It's fair to say Jamie's endless string of reckless mistakes comes from his uneasy place within the Dutton clan. While Lee (Dave Annable), Beth, and Kayce are strong, reliable, and more than capable of holding their own in a barroom brawl, Jamie leans on his book smarts to survive the frontier, which is an approach that never sat well with the others.

Eventually we learn why: Jamie is adopted, a truth that shook actor Wes Bentley to the core.

Worse still, he never knew. Everything he'd done — the lying, the murder, the shady deals, the endless battles with Beth — was for a family that wasn't even his by blood. This revelation, dropped in season 3, sends Jamie spiraling, suddenly torn between loyalty to John — the man who raised him but lied, manipulated, and abused him — and his real father, Garrett Randall (Will Patton).

Here's the real kicker: John deserves much of the blame for Jamie's actions. Withholding the truth about Jamie's adoption was a cruel move that further damaged an already fragile individual — and it ultimately came back to haunt John. For all his talk about loyalty and family, John was just as duplicitous as the son he despises.

Things take a complicated turn at the end of season 3 when Market Equities and Roarke orchestrate a hit on the Duttons that nearly wipes out the entire family. Season 4 opens with the ramifications of this violent act, and it all somehow leads back to Jamie. By now, John's adopted son has severed ties with the Duttons and grown closer to his biological father, Garrett. Well, surprise, Garrett helped with the attacks, putting Jamie in an impossible position: Pledge loyalty to John by killing Garrett, or finally cut the Dutton's off for good.

Spoiler alert, he chooses the former. Jamie murders his father in cold blood, hauls the body to the infamous "train station," and buries his problem. Unfortunately for him, Beth shows up with her phone, snaps a photo of Jamie disposing of the body, and promises to release it publicly unless he follows her and John's orders from that point forward. It's all a bit soap opera-y and more than a little contrived, but such is life on "Yellowstone."

Beth's blackmail also underscores a plain truth: she and Jamie will never find common ground. Rather than work together to protect the ranch — or even let bygones be bygones — Beth continues to torment her brother, pushing him to the brink in ways that feel more cruel than cool. When a show makes viewers start to feel sorry for Jamie of all people, you know something's gone off the rails.

We'd be committing a grave sin if we didn't include Rip on this list. John's violent, ill-tempered right-hand man has carried out more than his share of heinous acts in the name of his beloved boss, making him one of the show's most terrifying figures. And yet, somehow, we still root for him — heck, we even cheered when he married Beth! — even if his choices are often indefensible.

At the start of season 4, for example, the Duttons have quite a few loose ends to tie up. Specifically, Roarke, the conniving businessman who helped arrange the assassination attempt on the Dutton family. When we first meet him, Roarke calmly spars with Beth while fishing in a river. And funny enough, that's how he dies as well. Only instead of Beth, it's Rip who shows up — and he doesn't bring a gun. Instead, he produces a cooler, pops the lid, and hurls a got-darned rattlesnake at Roarke.

Honestly, it's one of the most unintentionally hilarious moments on the show — death by flinging snake. Who saw that coming?

Still, while Yellowstone thrives on brutal justice, it's hard to keep rooting for Rip when he turns into John's personal Terminator, mowing down enemies without hesitation. He works best as Beth's rough-edged, tough-as-nails partner, not as the Duttons' far too loyal executioner.

In another punk move, John decides to humiliate Jamie by dropping a boulder on his political ambitions by stepping into the race himself. From John's perspective, the decision makes sense. By this point, Jamie has proven himself a dangerous liability — intelligent, insecure, and willing to murder when cornered. John sees his adopted son not just as a threat to the Duttons but to all of Montana.

Rather than allow Governor Lynelle Perry (Wendy Moniz) to endorse Jamie, John swoops in and announces his own candidacy. The act is cruel, especially after Jamie has bent over backwards for the family, even going so far as to kill his biological father, Garrett. But John isn't done. He twists the knife at a press conference that Jamie believes is meant to boost his career. When Jamie arrives, he's stunned to see John waiting. "I'm surprised to see you here," Jamie says. "I wouldn't miss this for the world," John shoots back.

Finally, as Jamie prepares to step onto the stage, the killer blow drops: John Dutton, not Jamie, is receiving the endorsement. Ouch. With betrayals like this, it's little wonder Jamie eventually plots against his father — John pushed his son to the edge of madness.

Finally, as you can probably guess, a great deal of "Yellowstone" revolves around the treatment of Jamie. Early on, we wanted the little sap to die. But as the series wore on, our feelings shifted from anger to sympathy. The Duttons used and abused him, then tossed him aside whenever he outlived his usefulness. Like a lost puppy, Jamie would always return to the fold, swear (or re-swear) his allegiance, only to get shoved back into the mud.

The show takes his mistreatment into overdrive following John's shocking murder in the final season. Here, an enraged Beth storms into Jamie's home, and the siblings engage in a brutal, bloody brawl. Jamie gains the upper hand, but just as he's about to finish it, Rip arrives, restrains him, and Beth plunges a knife into her brother's chest.

On paper, this should have been one of the show's most powerful moments. Instead, we felt more pity for Jamie than elation for Beth. After five seasons of flirting with morality — however twisted — the show robs Beth of a true reckoning. She doesn't get a bravura moment of justice. She kills her brother in the most cowardly way possible, and it's not even clear Jamie deserved that fate.

Instead, Jamie's death feels like needless melodrama, reducing Beth to the very thing she despised in him: a conniving, petty worm.