There is a group of sad rich white men on TV who are all trying to do one thing: fight back against their father. Whether it’s an act of revenge or trying to get their fathers to respect them, they all have father issues and they struggle to admit it. Wes BentleyJamie Dutton on yellowstone is right among some of the fan-favorite characters of this particular genre - and yes, there are enough of them on mainstream TV these days that it could easily be considered a genre in its own right.
In a way, it started from the first season. Western world in 2016, others soon followed. Western world introduced us to the character of Logan Delos, played by Ben Barnesand led to love Tom PelphreyWard Meachum on Netflix Iron fist. They were both so sad that their dad didn’t love them unconditionally and that became their driving force in life. from there, Jeremy StrongKendall Roy on succession alternated between desperate searches for their father Logan (Brian Cox) approval and looking for any way to be better than him - and now we can add Jamie Dutton to the list of men who have so many interesting things, but who refuse to let go of their relationship with their father.
Jamie Dutton’s situation is a little more complicated
With Jamie, however, the image is a bit more complicated than with the typical rich white sad boy because his relationship with John Dutton (Kevin Costner) is constantly torn apart by his siblings, as well as family secrets that John never wanted to share with Jamie. From the first moment we met Jamie in yellowstone, it was clear that he was willing to do whatever was necessary to win over his father, even if it meant destroying his own values in the process. Now that we’re in the show’s fifth season, we’re seeing things turn around when it comes to Jamie’s feelings for John.
Where Jamie is most different from previous sad rich boys like Ward, Kendall and Logan is the added layer of confusion that comes with finding out he was adopted in Season 3. Kendall, Ward and Logan must reveal their hatred for this. a part of themselves that is their father, and while Jamie was also going through this in yellowstoneThe first three seasons, once he learned the truth about his real parents, it completely changed his approach to his relationship with John.
Ultimately, the Duttons were wrong to keep the truth from Jamie, but their lies gave Jamie the opportunity to meet his biological father, Garrett Randall (Will Patton) and learn the truth about his origins - and when he did, he came face to face with the man who killed his wife, Jamie’s mother, because of a drug addiction. This revelation pushes Jamie further into the idea of ”father issues” that he’s had since the beginning of the show, and adds an extra layer of complexity to Jamie’s reflections on himself as a member of the Dutton family. He had his own hatred for the burden placed on his shoulders before, but after learning the truth about his biological father, Jamie also took to introspection.
Jamie is still Dutton - for better or for worse
From what we’ve seen about John and Jamie’s relationship, John didn’t necessarily treat Jamie any differently than he did his own biological sons, Lee (Dave Annable) and Casey (Luke Grimes). However, along with his brothers, Jamie became a lawyer in order to build a career that still benefits John in some way.
But this added layer of knowledge of his true origins changed the nature of Jamie’s relationship with John, perhaps forever. Now he’s more focused on defeating John than helping him, and while it’s not new their dynamics are interesting to watch as they unfold throughout the season. Before learning that he was adopted, Jamie was already at odds with his family and eventually fought his way back into their good graces, only to sort of incapacitate himself again. All of this just makes him the perfect character to join the sad boys club.
You could easily cross out such characters, and you would be right to do so. They are incredibly wealthy people who have everything they could possibly want except for one thing they Can not there is something that breaks them. They don’t have that warm and fluffy relationship with their father that they so desperately crave, and this has turned their whole life into a disaster. Characters like Jamie and Ward Meachum then try to protect their children from the same cycle (Kendall Roy has kids, but he’s… a bad father), but it’s not enough to restore their relationship with their own fathers.
We don’t know what Jamie and John’s relationship will be like in the future, and with the changes they’ve already gone through, we could easily see huge changes again in the future. For now, Jamie is devising a plan to get revenge on his father - the consequences of which will be spectacular to keep watching the rest of the game play out. yellowstone Season 5 and beyond.
Source: Collider
