There’s a saying I once heard: “In order to understand someone’s pain, you have to walk a mile in their shoes.” Well, Julia Schlaepfer, who plays the resilient Alex in 1923, truly took a stroll through some harrowing emotional territory in the second season of this Yellowstone prequel. Watching her struggle on screen, you can feel the emotional weight.
It’s not just acting; it’s living through a brutal, gut-wrenching reality that’s impossible to ignore. And, boy, was it tough to watch—yet somehow necessary for the greater narrative of this universe.
What really got under my skin wasn’t just the sheer intensity of the scenes themselves but how creator Taylor Sheridan knew exactly what was coming. He didn’t just sit down and pen this scene—he meticulously prepared Julia Schlaepfer for it, almost like a coach gearing up his player for a brutal match.
He walked her through it. Watching it unfold was excruciating and almost unbearable, but necessary. And as much as I applauded Sheridan’s unflinching honesty in 1923, I couldn’t help but think—why didn’t Yellowstone take the same leap with Beth Dutton?
The raw truth Yellowstone omitted: What Beth Dutton’s story could’ve learned from 1923
Watching Julia Schlaepfer’s portrayal of Alex in the 1923 season 2 Ellis Island scene was like watching a train wreck I couldn’t look away from, and yet I didn’t want to. Taylor Sheridan took Julia Schlaepfer to emotional places so difficult that he warned her in advance (via People), “I’m kind of going to drag you through hell a little bit.”
And drag her, he did. But here’s the thing that gnaws at me: while I respect what Sheridan did for 1923 and Schlaepfer, Yellowstone could have used that same brutal honesty for Kelly Reilly’s character. Yellowstone could have given us the raw, unfiltered truth about Beth’s pain and betrayal, and in doing so, they could have made her resentment of Jamie so much more visceral, so much more real.
I’ll say it right now: Beth Dutton is one of the most complex characters on television. But her anger toward Jamie has never really hit me the way it should. We get the vague sense that something terrible happened to her, something that broke her. But we’re never shown the full extent of her trauma—at least not in the way we should be.
Take a second to think about it. Beth’s pain comes from a place of deep betrayal. When she was pregnant, she turned to Jamie for help, and what she got in return wasn’t just an abortion—it was a choice taken away from her altogether. She was sterilized, unable to have children, and for her, that was a wound that would never heal.
But we never actually see it. We hear about it. We get some emotional speeches about it. But we don’t see Beth’s body go through that trauma. We don’t see the toll it takes on her—not physically, not emotionally. And that’s where I think Yellowstone failed to bring the emotional punch that the story demanded.
You see, trauma is complicated. And trauma, when it’s handled correctly on screen, demands the audience feel it—not just hear about it. That’s why 1923 season 2 nailed it!
Why Beth’s trauma deserved the same raw honesty as Alex’s in 1923
One thing I’ve always believed about storytelling is that you can’t expect the audience to understand the magnitude of a character’s pain if you don’t show them the source of it. It’s a simple rule, but one that’s often forgotten on television today.
Taylor Sheridan proved that he’s not afraid to dive deep into the messiness of human suffering. His warning to Julia Schlaepfer about the “hell” she would go through filming that Ellis Island scene was more than just a cautionary note—it was a declaration that he wasn’t going to shy away from the difficult parts of the story.
And that’s exactly what Yellowstone could’ve done for Beth. Instead of giving us a few tense conversations and flashbacks, Yellowstone could’ve shown us exactly what happened during Beth’s procedure.
I’m not here to knock Yellowstone down—let’s get that straight. It’s a show with heart, grit, and plenty of emotional moments that tug at your strings. But let’s call a spade a spade: there’s a massive difference between merely telling your audience about a character’s pain and actually making them feel it.
And let’s face it, the scene with Beth’s abortion was one of the most pivotal in her character arc. Without it, her relationship with Jamie is just a bitter, sibling rivalry. But if we’d seen that moment of betrayal? That anger would have hit differently.
Alex’s pain is part of her story. You can’t understand her without understanding the weight of what she’s been through. And honestly, it’s the same with Beth. And I can’t help but feel that Yellowstone missed an opportunity to truly dig deep into Beth’s psyche in the same way.
If Sheridan had given us the same raw, unflinching portrayal of Beth’s past, we could have seen the full weight of her anger toward Jamie, her bitterness toward the world. We could have understood why she’s so cold, so calculating.
Maybe it’s too late for Yellowstone to go back and show that lost moment in Beth’s life. Maybe not every wound can be healed, but we should have been there for every painful moment.
1923 Season 2 and Yellowstone are streaming on Paramount+.
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