Bad writing, a perpetual victim,
and a shifting role. Why do fans want Yellowstone creators to kill off Monica?
To be a member of the Dutton family in Yellowstone is to spend your life defending
your physical and mental real estate. However, there are exceptions to the ruthless streak
that runs in the members of the rancher family. Having married into the family,
Monica Dutton tends to be more level-headed than pretty much any other character bearing the name.
Though she goes through her own crises — both in her relationship with Kayce and otherwise — she's
generally the most sensible person in any given room that contains multiple Duttons.
Unfortunately for Monica, comparatively normal people aren't necessarily the most popular ones
in their shows, especially when said shows tend to focus around ruthless people who operate in
an extremely gray moral area. While viewers have been moved by some scenes, it appears that their
goodwill toward this gentler character isn't eternal. Have the events surrounding the death
of Monica and Kayce's child and the former's growing discontent with the Dutton ranch caused
some viewers to turn on the character, or is there some underlying reason behind their animosity?
Let's take a look at the reason Yellowstone fans are losing their patience with Monica.
Monica's reservations toward the Dutton lifestyle might be reasonable,
but the show's approach to the character seems to have started rubbing some fans
the wrong way. In Yellowstone Season 5 Episode 4, Horses in Heaven, the character experiences
one of the worst days of her life, as she undergoes a ceremony to bury her baby. Fans
have even been getting emotional over Monica's tender moment with John Dutton, in which the
no-nonsense Dutton patriarch takes some time to comfort Monica with choice words of wisdom.
"All he knew was you, and that you loved him."
For some viewers, however, Monica's constant turmoil isn't quite so moving. Instead,
Season 5 viewers have noted that Monica has become the show's go-to character for sympathy points,
while also being off-puttingly critical of the Dutton lifestyle. One person tweeted,
Instead of taking affront with any specific action Monica has done in the show, it appears
that in some corners of the fandom she's built a reputation as a generally annoying character — at
least, going by the online reaction she's been getting during her Season 5 appearances.
One fan tweeted,
Another viewer tweeted,
Elsewhere, another viewer said something similar, writing,
While Monica has given fans many heartwarming moments over the years,
it appears that at least some viewers have grown tired of her. Meanwhile,
Monica's smaller Season 5 role has some fans worried for her life,
so whether you love the character or dislike her, it's an interesting time to be a Yellowstone fan.
"Thank you."
In an interview with KCRW, Professor Tressie McMillan Cottom pointed out
how Yellowstone attempts to chip away at the mythology of the American West.
Cottom told the station,
This is an accurate assessment of the series' better intentions,
particularly in Seasons 1 and 2, when both the tribal narrative and
Monica and Kayce's relationship played a less superficial role.
"Can't afford a different ranch."
"I don't think you can afford to stay on this one, in here."
But McMillan Cottom's word choice is revealing. The racial diversity is "cosmetic," and the
Native American cast is "well," not "fully," fleshed out. And the show's move away from a
central narrative that highlighted the Duttons' tension with other Montanans
has been accompanied by a disregarding of Monica's relevance and meaning in the story.
At the outset, Monica had a job. Monica had a degree. Monica was supposedly integral in
highlighting — as Taylor Sheridan happily boasts in an interview with
the Atlantic — "the way Native American women were treated." Most importantly,
Monica was meant to be Kayce's equal, a partner who kept him from turning to the
Dutton dark side, rather than an obstacle to his happiness.
"Number one, I make more money than you do, cowboy."
In Season 5, Monica only exists to highlight the torn Kayce's role as The Good Dutton. His
Heroic Cowboy decision to choose her is the sole reason for her existence,
a writing decision with indefensible implications and disastrous consequences.
Given the show's baffling move away from treating Monica as a whole human,
it's genuinely hard not to wonder if a certain contingent of the series' fans
didn't influence the writing. Because the Monica we're following at this point is
far away from the Monica we met at the beginning of the series, and not in a
good way. In response to fans pleading for the series to kill Monica, Dustin Rowles writes,
As a soap opera in contemporary western clothing, one expects a certain degree
of tragedy and melodrama, but it’s only Monica who's yet to reap the narrative benefit of her
experiences in the form of a display of strength, revenge, or lessons learned. Were Monica written
to exemplify a different kind of strength, or to stand in contrast to Beth's volatility,
that might redeem some of her suffering. But as it stands, Monica's pain serves,
as Indie Wire’s Kristen Lopez notes, to make viewers recoil at the tragedy of it all.
It's a curious use of the character, considering just how many viewers have grown tired of that
exploitation, and so much so that they're willing to blame the character, or even the actor,
for low-hanging fruit writing. Monica is, indeed — as many of her haters point out — a perpetual
victim. But Monica is also a fictional character. She exists because she was written. Unfortunately,
she really doesn't exist the way the other characters do because of how she is written.