It is hard to argue with Monica’s (Kelsey Asbille) logic about keeping her son Tate (Brecken Merrill) away from the Duttons. In the series premiere of the questionable “Yellowstone,” Kayce Dutton’s (Luke Grimes) wife is more than reluctant to allow John (Kevin Costner) formal access to Tate. John was the one who branded Kayce after getting Monica pregnant, after all. And that isn’t even the worst of what happens to Kayce’s family. After John forms a relationship with his grandson, a group of white supremacists kidnap Tate in a heartbreaking Season 2 moment. This is all because of the Duttons’ way of doing business and would not have been possible if Monica had kept her son away from her in-laws.
But as traumatic as it is, young Tate survives the encounter. In fact, he goes on to experience more harrowing events in his life as the seasons wear on. His closest call is in the premiere of Season 5 when Monica goes into premature labor. Still three weeks away from her due date, she starts having contractions. Trying to get to an ambulance that Kayce has sent for her, she gets behind the wheel of the car with Tate riding along. But with her labor pains too intense, she loses control of the car and hits a bison that has wandered into the middle of the road. Luckily, Tate survives the brutal accident, though it isn’t without its casualties.
Monica suffers a loss no mother should
Tate comes out of the grisly wreck and even does his best to ensure his mother’s survival, but that isn’t the end of the trauma. When John visits Monica in the hospital, he learns that he lost a grandson after all. Monica is bloody and bruised in the hospital bed, and Tate tells John he had a brother, but only for an hour. Even more devastating, Monica and Kayce had named their unborn child John.
This is a full-circle moment for the patriarch of the Dutton dynasty. John had been working overtime to try and ingratiate Kayce and his family back into the fold. Monica never trusted him, but this was a clear move for her to be part of the family. Naming her son John demonstrated Monica was willing to bridge the gap between her and her father-in-law, and it also would mean another John could take up the family business one day.
The Duttons seem cursed with family deaths over the years, but this is one of the worst. Monica’s grief is overwhelming, and she cuts her hair off to lay it with her son, whose life was brutally short. But as devastating as it is, John offers words of kindness to Monica that he never has before. He tells her that her son had the perfect life because all he knew was her love. This furthers the bond between Monica and the Duttons and could offer a way of moving on in the future.
