Paramount’s number one series β Yellowstone β delivers drama and a compelling cowboy storyline like nothing else, following the Dutton family as they strive to find peace and solace in a world that seems hell-bent on destroying them. In addition to the fights, trips to the train station, and laughs; it also highlights the kind of romance many dream of in the form of Beth Dutton and Rip Wheeler.
If you were to poll Dutton fans worldwide and ask who their favorite couple is, an overwhelming front-runner would be Rip and Beth β the couple whose fate seemed to be written in the stars. Two teenagers who wouldn’t have met if not for a heartbreaking set of circumstances were brought together and found love in the rubble and heartache they knew too well.
Beth and Rip had both experienced losses that shaped them on a fundamental level; they experienced heartache separately and together that would have been enough to turn anyone off on the idea of everlasting and eternal happiness, which is why their romance is something fans love so much.
They’re not the picture-perfect couple we’re sometimes met with when we turn on a new film or television series; they’re not a Cinderella and Prince Charming scenario (but we love them, too); they’re authentic in the beautiful and the not-so-beautiful moments they share. When we first met Beth and Rip and saw their first date we were watching them through a lens of pain. Beth had spent years pushing Rip away for reasons no one could understand, but he hadn’t tired yet of trying. Instead of a music festival or a romantic night out, they got drunk in a car and watched wolves kill an animal.
We then realized these two had done it all; they’d seen beauty and despair and felt more comfortable with the latter. It takes a special kind of heartache to find kinship in pain, and they’d both experienced it. Fans began to see β with each shared moment between them β that their path was quickly heading to one of two scenarios: their own twisted version of happily ever after, or certain death.
While both Rip and Beth faced death on more than one occasion, it was love that saved them, in moments when it was spoken and even in situations where words weren’t enough; the feeling, the electricity, it was there β it was familiar, it was home. Their fierce loyalty and protection for one another wards off even the most powerful of adversaries, and it’s a blessing to watch. Seeing them go from two people who were motivated by pain to a couple who got married at the end of season four was the heart of the show. They’ve allowed their walls to crash down around them, at least for one another.
When Beth told Rip the four things she needed in this life, it was then that fans realized the healing process had begun. We’ve seen it in glimpses throughout season five, but something changed in the moments they shared together near the meadow; Beth realized that she might not have the fairytale version of a forever, but she had something better: she had Rip.
“I could do this; I could live here and never see another person in my whole life except you.”
It doesn’t get more romantic than that.