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Both throughout history and in present-day politics, as low-hanging fruit propaganda goes, positing one’s enemy as a danger to children — or literal baby killer — is right up there (or, down there) with accusing them of cannibalism or incest. And as a line that can’t be crossed, it’s as effective in literature, film, and television as it was/is for sowing real-world disgust and fear (e.g. the Satanic Panic). Once a character crosses that line, there’s no going back.
Though the harming-children line has been used to great effect in both horror (hey, sometimes kids turn into zombies, and there’s nothing one can do) and overtly irreverent works (e.g., “A Modest Proposal”), “Yellowstone” has no interest in irreverence, irony, or demon babies and zombie kids. It’s a series that, as critic Liam Mathews writes, traffics in “cliche-bound genre traditionalism” (via TV Guide). And, traditionally speaking (though to be clear, this really should go without saying), actually murdering or threatening a helpless innocent is very bad, and not in a deliciously badass way, either.
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Unfortunately, that’s just what our delicious badass Beth did in Season 5, Episode 4 of “Yellowstone.” When she learns that Jamie has a baby, she makes her plan abundantly clear. “I’m gonna take him from you,” she says; “I’m going to rob you of fatherhood, Jamie. You don’t deserve it, and he deserves better than you. Next time you see him, you can kiss him goodbye, because, he’s as good as gone.”
On its own, the threat appears to be against Jamie, and not against little Jamie Jr. But there’s both context and foreshadowing to consider if we’re to read its implied meaning, both as a potential plot point and as a repositioning of Beth’s character.
