'Yellowstone' season 2 episode 9: Monica asks Beth for help and her response shows how fiercely the Duttons protect their family
Spoilers ahead for season 2 episode 9 'Enemies by Monday' of 'Yellowstone'
The Duttons protect their family fiercely.
In 'Enemies by Monday', Monica (Kelsey Asbille) has an encounter she has been fighting all her life. Out and about on a regular day, Monica is at a boutique shopping for clothes, but the price tags are steep. She is rummaging around in the store when Allison Dunbar's Veronique accuses her of stealing - because she "knows her type" - from the boutique and demands to check her bag.
Monica knew this was coming. When she refuses to the frisking, Veronique takes the issue a step further and calls the police. At the same time, Monica calls the Duttons for help. And it is not the Dutton one would have originally thought of. Monica calls Beth (Kelly Reilly) for help. Beth asks her why she isn't calling her husband Kayce (Luke Grimes) for help. "If I call my husband, he will kill someone," she responds. Understandable because what happens next even angers the audience- what would Kayce have done?
But Beth can't get there immediately and it is this window that Veronique takes advantage of to humiliate Monica.
The police arrive and tell Monica that they need to search her bag. When they don't find anything, the boutique manager insists that she is sure that Monica stole (the cameras in the boutique don't work apparently). The female cop escorts Monica inside the changing room and frisks her. The anger Monica feels stems from the humiliation she is forced to go through. The cop still cannot find anything on her. So Veronique shows them that she is missing her ring. At this point, Monica must undress completely.
Beth arrives just in time and questions the frisking saying it doesn't look voluntary at all. After getting rid of the police - who point out that they didn't know Monica was a Dutton since her driving license showed her last name as Long, but is that going to save the cops from the wrath of the Duttons? Beth then shifts her attention to the woman who caused all of this.
Beth and Veronique go back a long time. Beth has known her from a time in high school when Veronique used to "hand out handjobs for lunch money". So in the way that Veronique humiliated Monica, Beth turns the tables telling her to strip down and parade a dress. She continues humiliating her in the same way that she humiliated Monica - perhaps worse and boy, we're here for it.
But this charade is put to a stop when Monica points out that doing it to her "doesn't change what she did to me". Monica makes Veronique admit that judged her skin and created this drama. Beth leaves the boutique telling Veronique that she's lucky Monica has a soul because this wouldn't have ended anytime soon.
Once out of the boutique, a haggard Monica is struggling to find the keys to her car when Beth takes her for a drink. Inside the bar, we see Beth baring her thoughts to Monica - she tells her sister-in-law about their mother Evelyn and how her death affected not just Beth but her entire family, specifically John Dutton (Kevin Costner) who seemed to have corrupted his morality after her death. She pleads with Monica to do everything in her power so that Kayce doesn't turn into their father John - that includes never leaving him. If Monica must leave the ranch, she must take Kayce along with her.
We really appreciated this exchange between Monica and Beth. In this episode, they have opened up to each other in a way that we have never seen before. And we hope to see more of it.
'Yellowstone' airs on Wednesdays at 10 pm PT on Paramount Network.