Yellowstone Missed An Opportunity With 1 Of Its Most Underused Characters

Among Yellowstone’s supporting characters, Monica Long Dutton stands out as a strong-willed woman of indigenous American heritage, who’s more than willing to stand up for what she believes in. Yet, the neo-Western series rarely takes advantage of Monica’s potential as a character, and she’s too often relegated to playing an auxiliary role in the Dutton family.

She starts off the show as a teacher at Heartsong Middle School on Montana’s Broken Rock Reservation, and demonstrates tremendous courage in her work. Her character trajectory only becomes more promising from there, as she takes a job lecturing at Montana State University.

Nevertheless, rewatching Yellowstone season 1 exposes the harsh reality that this life Monica has built for herself independently of the Dutton ranch is nowhere to be found in later seasons of the series. From season 3 onwards, her appearances are almost exclusively limited to the context of being Kayce Dutton’s wife, and a mother to his child and unborn baby.

Despite being one of Yellowstone’s most likable characters, Monica is afforded precious little screentime in the second half of the series without Kayce by her side. The limitation of her role in the show is an even bigger shame in light of the promising character developments we see in earlier seasons.

Yellowstone Underuses Several Characters, And Monica Is One Of Them

As a sprawling neo-Western epic playing out across five seasons, Yellowstone inevitably underuses some characters among its vast ensemble. It would have been nice to see more of the Dutton ranch’s light-hearted chef, Gator, for example, or Kayce and Monica ’s son, Tate.

No one is more overlooked as a character in the show’s main storylines than Monica herself, however. She’s a fiercely courageous figure, who somehow manages to balance her Native American tribal loyalties with being a member of the Dutton household, as well as teaching full-time and looking out for her family.

But the spotlight is rarely on Monica in Yellowstone, particularly in the last three seasons of the series. The only real exception comes in season 3, when she lures a serial killer who goes after Native American women out onto reservation land so that a sniper can put an end to his crimes.

Even when Yellowstone shows Monica bonding with Beth Dutton following an altercation with a boutique owner who accuses her of shoplifting, it’s Beth who’s the real hero of the story. By contrast, Monica is largely portrayed as a helpless figure who needs a white savior to come and rescue her.

Monica’s Teaching Story Presented A Chance To Further Her Development

It’s worth noting that Monica Long Dutton risks her life multiple times in Yellowstone, each time illustrating her credentials as a potential hero. In addition to setting a trap for a serial killer, she comes out worst trying to break up a playground brawl at the school where she works.

Monica almost dies in Yellowstone season 1 coming between two teenage boys and sustaining a serious head injury. This incident highlights the extent of her fearless nature and strong moral compass for the first time in the series, and sets up additional storylines related to her job.

When she moves into university lecturing at Montana State University in season 2, there appears to be even more potential for Monica’s character development, as she teaches American History from an indigenous perspective. Unfortunately, we don’t see this aspect of her character develop any further beyond the end of season 2.

Yellowstone becomes less interested in showing different sides to its rural Montana setting, and even more centered on the machinations taking place within the Dutton family. As a result, standout supporting characters like Monica begin treading water and become more two-dimensional.

Later Seasons Of Yellowstone Failed To Build On Monica’s Character Setup

Leaving aside her thrilling subplot in the season 3 episode “I Killed a Man Today”, Monica becomes little more than Kayce Dutton’s wife in the final three seasons of Yellowstone. That’s not to say she doesn’t feature at all. Kayce and Monica losing their baby in Yellowstone season 5 is one of the most moving storylines in the whole series.

It’s just that the show had promised to give Monica a story in her own right, independent of Kayce and the Dutton family. As a university lecturer righting the falsehoods of U.S. history from a Native American point of view, she stands entirely apart from anyone else in Yellowstone.

What’s more, this storyline forges a completely new path for characters in the Western genre at large. Even in the most modern neo-Westerns, indigenous Americans are typically confined to their reservations, and we certainly never get to see characters of this heritage teaching at a university.

With Monica Long Dutton, Yellowstone had the chance to continue down this path in deeper, more fleshed-out terms, taking her characterization to the next level. Instead, the show effectively relegates her to the position of an old-fashioned housewife bearing children for her husband and caring for her son, and is worse off because of it.