‘Yellowstone’: Kelsey Asbille Says Monica ‘Finds Healing’ in Season 5

So far in Yellowstone Season 5, Monica Dutton’s story has been extremely dark. She and Tate get in a car crash on the way to the hospital, and her baby doesn’t live long after birth. Though Monica is still grieving, Kelsey Asbille teased that her character will also find healing in season 5.

[Warning: Yellowstone Season 5 Episode 4 spoilers ahead.]

Monica was in a car accident while in labor

Last season, Monica Dutton revealed that she is pregnant with her and Kayce’s second child. In the Yellowstone Season 5 premiere, Monica went into labor. She attempted to drive herself and Tate to the hospital. Unfortunately, the pair ended up in a car accident after a pickup truck collided with a buffalo on the road.

Tate implies that his brother only lived for about an hour after his birth. The couple named their second son John after his grandfather. While Tate and Kayce both mourn this tremendous loss, Monica appears to take the baby’s death the hardest, cutting off her hair in a moment of grief.

Monica will find healing in ‘Yellowstone’ Season 5

After leaving the hospital, Monica tells Kayce she wants them to bury baby John on the ranch. Considerable care is taken in preparation for the ceremony. “It was such a necessary part of healing for all of them,” Kelsey Asbille explained in a featurette.

Although Monica is having a tough time so far in Yellowstone, she’s proven resilient so far. After the funeral, John reveals that his own mother had a baby named Peter, who died only 18 hours after birth. “That boy had a perfect life,” John tells Monica of her son. “All he knew was you and that you loved him.”

“When it comes to family, that’s really their common ground,” Asbille said of Monica and John. “I think in that moment she feels permission not only to grieve but to live her life again.” Episode 4 director Christina Alexandra Voros added, “It is a bridge that gives you hope. That relationship could go to a different place that we have not seen.”

“Going through that Monica goes through, I think you really wanna do that storyline justice,” Asbille stated while speaking to Taste of Country. “And also all of the really messy, human, complicated feelings that come with it, which, I think [Yellowstone co-creator] Taylor [Sheridan] does a really good job of writing this arc for her.” The actor added that her character’s season 5 storyline also explores “how she finds healing, as well.”

Kayce tells Monica the loss of the baby won’t be the end of them

When Kayce performed the ritual called Hanbleceya, he saw a multitude of visions. He later tells Monica, “I saw the end of us.” After they lose the baby, Monica asks Kayce if this is what he saw in his visions, but he answers “no” and says that it “won’t be the end of us.” He adds, “I’d have to choose the end of us, and I will never choose that.”

New episodes of season 5 of Yellowstone premiere Sunday nights on Paramount Network.