While there are still spinoffs to look forward to, Yellowstone’s series finale was divisive amongst the fandom, and one character who got the worst deal was Piper Perabo’s Summer Higgins. The entire second half of Yellowstone’s fifth and final season was marred by the departure of series lead Kevin Costner. The show never quite figured out how to recover, with the death of Costner’s John Dutton leaving a Montana-sized hole in the series. As his love interest, Summer was left without a real storyline of her own.
Summer Higgins is introduced in Yellowstone season 4 as a fiery environmentalist who comes into John Dutton’s crosshairs. However, she soon starts to fall for the curmudgeonly ranch owner, and the two form a sort of romantic relationship. This puts Summer into direct conflict with John’s fiercely protective daughter Beth (Kelly Reilly), though the two form a truce later in the show. But while plenty of Yellowstone season 5’s main characters got solid endings to their storylines, the show decided to end Summer’s in the least imaginative way possible, which is frustrating considering Perabo’s talents as an actress.
Summer Leaves Montana After John Dutton’s Death
Her Ending Is Abrupt
In all the chaos and emotions surrounding John Dutton’s death in the premiere of season 5, part 2, Summer isn’t even present until Yellowstone episode 10, “The Apocalypse of Change”, when Beth bumps into her at the family homestead, saying she had completely forgotten about the environmental activist. In an incredibly creepy twist, Beth reveals that after Summer was granted clemency, she wasn’t actually under house arrest, and that John had made that up so she would stay with him.
This was a horrible violation of Summer’s rights, but she’s never given the time to process this, as Beth kicks her out of the house. From there, Rip drives her to the airport where, rather than expressing rage or horror, Summer makes a few wistful comments about John before leaving the show forever.
If Costner remained on the show and John’s character stayed alive, Summer’s storyline would likely feature a more complete ending that detailed her reaction to the fake house arrest.
Of course, this likely wasn’t the plan for Summer’s ending, and if Costner remained on the show and John’s character stayed alive, Summer’s storyline would likely feature a more complete ending that detailed her reaction to the fake house arrest. It also begs the question, how many other people knew that Summer was free to leave the Dutton Ranch?
Beth certainly did — and why she didn’t use that information sooner to get Summer out of her hair is a mystery. But really John is the person Summer needed to direct her vitriol to; with him dead and her only defined as his love interest, there was really nowhere for her to go.
Why Summer’s Departure Undermines Her Initially Strong Character
It Reduces Her To A Love Interest & Nothing More
When Summer is first introduced in Yellowstone, she’s depicted as a fierce environmental activist. She even meets John for the first time wearing handcuffs at a protest. But Summer’s character soon loses her fighting spirit. As the series progresses, Summer is defined by her relationship with John, and to a lesser degree, Beth. Summer isn’t given much to do in the show that doesn’t relate to John, so when he’s killed off, her story is over.
When Summer and Beth have their final confrontation, they yell at each other one more time, which reinforces their toxic relationship while not allowing either of them, especially Summer, to explore any emotions they might be feeling after John’s sudden death.
If the show had allowed Summer to grieve, despite the fake house arrest, it would have given her some closure. Additionally, Summer’s choice to leave Montana after John’s death proves that she only existed as a character so that she could be sexualized through her relationship with John. But her dependency on John wasn’t just based on sex; she also served as a counter to the Dutton patriarch on environmental issues, which brought Summer’s passion to the forefront. But since the show stopped seeing her as an environmentalist and only as a sex object, there was no room for this storyline.
How Summer’s Ending Could Have Given Her More Agency
She Could Have Stood Her Ground Or Fought For The Ranch
Summer could have sought legal action against John and the Duttons, especially considering she was falsely imprisoned. This would have certainly given her agency as a character and reinforced the fighting spirit that she had when she was introduced. But she seeks little to no recourse and quietly goes away after John’s death, giving no indication of what she’s planning to do moving forward. It was never even revealed where she was flying to.
Summer even had a thriving environmental mission, but there were no established plans for her to continue. She also could have mended or even confronted her relationship with Beth instead of simply leaving the ranch at Beth’s insistence. Despite being falsely imprisoned there, Summer grew to have a soft spot for the Yellowstone, and she and Beth could have formed a shaky alliance in the quest to help save it. Kayce selling the ranch to Chief Thomas Rainwater at the end of Yellowstone would likely have been a decision Summer supported, so she wouldn’t have been totally irrelevant.
Summer’s Ending Reflects Yellowstone’s Sexism Problem
The Show Has An Issue With Female Characters
Yellowstone has an obsession with catfights that’s frustrating and problematic. While Beth Dutton, the show’s most prominent female character, certainly doesn’t discriminate on gender lines when it comes to throwing a punch, the amount of women she’s only too happy to fight (for sexist reasons) speaks to the show’s overall woman problem.
One of her biggest fights is with Summer in season 5, part 1. While under house arrest at Dutton Ranch, Summer criticizes a dinner that featured different game meats. Summer and Beth subsequently get into a childish catfight that turns ugly when it comes to blows. The fight only ends when Rip intervenes and orders them to fight properly.
The entire situation is problematic, especially considering that audiences are now becoming used to seeing strong women on television. But, instead, two major Yellowstone female characters get into a petty squabble over a dinner menu that is only stopped by a man. The fact that Rip stops the fight perpetuates the notion that women can’t solve their problems on their own and are only brought to their senses when a man breaks things up.
Summer’s romantic storyline is another example of Yellowstone’s woman problem as she starts out as a passionate environmentalist but is eventually reduced to nothing more than John’s lover.
Summer’s romantic storyline is another example of Yellowstone’s woman problem as she starts out as a passionate environmentalist but is eventually reduced to nothing more than John’s lover. This mirrors Monica’s storyline in the show, as in earlier seasons, she was incredibly passionate about Indigenous issues, teaching history at a college and even putting herself in harm’s way to help catch a predator who was brutalizing women in the Indigenous community.
But by the end of Yellowstone, Monica was nothing more than the doting wife of Kayce. Whether Summer, Beth, or Monica, Yellowstone created some great female characters, but the show didn’t care about them enough to give them good endings.