Cole Hauser may not have seen it coming, but fans immediately fell in love with Rip Wheeler when we first began watching the first piece of Taylor Sheridan’s Duttons saga: Yellowstone. We were also quickly smitten by his on-screen love interest, Kelly Reilly’s Beth Dutton, and the love story we saw unfolding from the very beginning.
Of course, it took them a while to both catch up and slow down, finding the same page of the same book, but even in the midst of the times when they weren’t exactly moving in sync, they were still writing the chapters of one of the most interesting love stories in television history. Inviting us all for a ride on the S.S. Rip and Beth, we’ve been made privy to an incredible journey, one that’s had the opportunity to build up over decades, through various seasons of life. Through them all, Hauser is singing the praises of his journey with Beth — and we can’t get enough.
Beth and Rip met when they were young, wild, and full of heartache, which led them to experience highs and lows together that many couples don’t endure. Despite their pain and anguish, they find a way to make the love work. Speaking to Us Weekly, Hauser notes that they can bring that to life because of the depths they’ve traveled with their characters.
“Where there’s moments that, maybe, there would be anger, there’s love instead. And there’s a lot of levels to the characters that Kelly and I have just found throughout the years. And I think it’s wonderful that people actually still care about the two of them the way they do.”
Of course, that doesn’t mean that they’ve always lived that way; in the versions of Rip and Beth that Kyle Red Silverstein and Kylie Rogers play, there’s more quick thinking/acting happening, and it’s powered more by fire than comfort.
When things were good for Rip and Beth, they were good; but Beth kept a wall up to protect her heart — as fans would discover, the wall was there for several reasons. Beth wasn’t trying to keep herself from getting hurt again as much as she was trying to prevent Rip from feeling pain, the pain she thought was a guarantee when loving her. As young adults, Beth knew how to use her charm to get what she wanted, and she knew how to hurt Rip the most — in fact, one of her attempts to ignite both jealousy and a sense of anger in Rip led to a pivotal moment for the young ranch hand.
In those moments, the story Hauser and Reilly are telling is truly forged, and while they’re different people now, the memories remain. It’s something Beth has struggled with heavily in season five; she finds herself waking up from nightmares of how she treated Rip, and she apologizes to him often — she holds space for the pain she caused while trying to love him through it. Rip constantly reminds Beth that she need never say the words ‘I’m sorry’ to him, but she does it anyway.
Speaking to Awards Daily, Hauser says that Rip and Beth are soulmates and that nothing could keep them apart, no matter what.
“They were meant for each other, 1000%. They are soulmates, for good or bad. They’re going to have their differences, their viewpoints. They’re not perfect. This is just my opinion; what Taylor’s done is made these imperfect people that love each other. I think what the audience sees in them is, you know what, no relationship is perfect. A lot of these shows that you watch on television or even in film, it’s like this is horse shit. That’s not real. Taylor has written two characters that have a lot of different colors in them, and it depends on what day it is to what color you’re going to get.”
We’ve certainly seen many colors in the Rip and Beth journey, storylines that keep them together, and scenes that dare tear them apart, and all the while, Beth is still holding onto a secret. This isn’t a piece of their journey that Hauser has spoken of, and that’s because it’s something his character has yet to be made aware of; but Beth, as a teenager, was pregnant with Rip’s child. When she asked her brother to help her take care of it, he took her to a clinic for Indigenous people. What happened next is something Beth still can’t reason with; he gave the clinic permission to give Beth a sterilization procedure without her knowledge.
Beth feels that she’s keeping Rip from a dream life with children, despite him telling her on more than one occasion that he doesn’t need to bring kids into this world. Fans anticipate a future where Beth tells him the secret, but we’re also secure in the idea that it won’t change things for Rip. If anything, it might bridge the one remaining gap between them; it will give Beth rest, allowing her to drop the last piece of the facade she carries where her lifelong love is concerned.
In a chat with Gold Derby, Hauser notes that it’s been vital for him to fall in love with Beth throughout the journey, and Reilly allows him the safe space to do so.
“I feel like Kelly allows me to play just this beautiful honesty and love for her. The way he looks at her the way that he treats her, I mean it’s such a juxtaposition to how he treats the bunkhouse or anybody else for that matter, other than really John. He’s not a puppy dog, but there’s a softer side; you get to see into his heart.”
What they’ve created is something so beautiful for everyone who tunes into Yellowstone, and it’s something that draws fans in again and again. We fall in love with their love story with each new episode, finding more to admire about the pair as we dive deeper into their journey.
Like the fact that Beth is the one who proposed to Rip, sitting together on the porch after he’d had quite a tough afternoon at work, it has to be one of our favorite scenes, and it’s a beloved one for Hauser as well.
Speaking to TV Insider, Hauser says that Beth provides him with a place to be safe; they can bring out something that they don’t feel on their own: it’s beautiful, it’s brave, it’s innocent. Innocent isn’t a word you’d frequently relate to Rip or Beth; they would tell you the same, but together, something beautiful happens for them.
“Beth is soft with Rip, and vice versa. Rip is a killer. Beth is as tough as nails. When they’re together, there’s this beautiful, almost childish kind of playfulness.”
In addition to the “childish kind of playfulness,” they provide one another with sass, snark, and enough fire to light the entire world ablaze. The moments when they give one another a hard time are just as much a pleasure to watch as the ones where they’re swooning over one another — making bedroom eyes and forgetting anyone else exists at all.
Hauser knows he’s lucky to be paired with Reilly for this particular journey, and he shared those sentiments with Deadline as he spoke about the freeing feeling they share, pushing the other to embrace whatever comes next. Their closeness offscreen helps their bond in the series, as well — they’ve got a deep and profound love for one another.
“As far as Kelly and I and our relationship not only onscreen but offscreen, I mean, I feel like, and I hope she feels the same way, and I think we’ve talked about it throughout interviews several times, but I just feel free with her to do whatever we want to do as creative souls. I’m blessed to have met her four years ago and to be able to create these two characters together.”
Sharing a creative space like Yellowstone with someone who has become a close friend has got to be a gift, and they’re lucky to share it. As fans, getting to see their great love unfold is a treat, and you’ve got to imagine that working together to create one of television’s greatest love stories is pretty powerful.
While we’d all like to consider ourselves the captains of the Rip and Beth ship, it’s pretty evident that someone else has that seat on the vessel. Hauser holds a candle for his bond with Reilly and the love between their on-screen counterparts like no one else. He recognizes where they can grow, respects the path they’ve already traveled together, and looks forward to the continued telling of their romance and desire.
As season five came to a pause, we saw a side of Beth that we’d not seen much of before — she was fearful, even if just for a second, and we only saw the immediate conversation with her father afterward. With no idea how much time will pass between the first half of season five and the second, we can only hope we’ll continue to see how Rip helps her through it. The next decision she’s making is one of the biggest she’ll ever venture into, and she’s going to need the man she married to support her through it.
Her father, John Dutton, will need that too. The Dutton family is showing cracks from the inside, and it’s time to put a stop to the one who is breaking the barrier; with a trip to the train station on the horizon, it’s only a matter of time until Beth and John turn to Rip for the ultimate ask. They’ll need him to sever a tie that can’t be unbroken, but if anyone can do it, it’s Rip, and if anyone can love him through it, it’s Beth.
Here’s to their love through the most challenging times and, hopefully, in some of the most beautiful, too. They deserve a space for joy and have the perfect meadow to discover it in. If anyone can navigate them to it, it’s our ship captain, Cole Hauser.