Piper Perabo brings an interesting flavor to the show whether Yellowstone fans wanted it or not. She somehow finds herself still an active character in season 5 and has some of the best moments the show has to offer.
Perabo came onboard Yellowstone in season 4 as Summer Higgins, an environmental activist who gets arrested for stripping and covering herself in red paint in a public protest at the Montana Livestock Association to demonstrate her opposition to killing animals for food. She is everything John is against, but that didn’t stop him from taking a particular interest in her. When she gets arrested again at a protest for assaulting an officer, she faces prison time due to her record. Ultimately, she is given 37 1/2 years for her crime and sent to prison with the hope that she can get out after 14 years when she becomes eligible for parole.
That’s where she was at the end of season 4, and now here’s how she finds herself still in the show for season 5.
Adult Supervision
We catch up with Summer again in episode 4 where she’s in prison and the look on her face says she has settled into the idea that she’s going to be there for a long time. However, it helps to have an ex-boyfriend as the governor of Montana who can commute her sentence. All he needs is a reason and it comes by way of a few tagged wolves on his property that his cowboys accidentally shot. When he hears about it, he knows the activists are going to come on the attack.
He meets with the former governor of Montana who is also a former girlfriend, the now-senator Lynelle Perry gives him advice on how to handle the activists. She tells him to get one of his own so he can understand where they’re coming from and how they think. With his newly established powers as governor, he takes Lynelle’s advice and orders Summer’s release from prison under the terms that she has to stay at his ranch so that he can learn how to deal with the activists she so thoroughly understands.
In The Kitchen
Toward the end of the episode, Summer is in the kitchen rummaging through the refrigerator and the war of words starts to fly when Beth walks in to find her in just her shirt and underwear. Beth starts with a comment about how hard she worked to have Summer thrown into prison and Summer fires back with how hard she’s working to stay out, and she “does mean hard.” Then, she throws one last dig and says she has to get back to work. Beth watches as Summer leaves the kitchen and then says to herself that she is not going to start the day sober.
When John got Summer out of prison, she said she wasn’t going to sleep with him. Of course, that rule did not hold up as the shared passion between the two overcame them as soon as they were alone at the ranch together, and it looks like they had an all-nighter.
About the duck
In episode 5, Summer is invited to dinner. She’s a vegan and she finds out from the Dutton’s cook, Gator, that duck is on the menu for the evening. She begins the exchange by asking, “You know ducks mate for life, right?”
He replied, “I killed them both if…”
She cuts him off, “… if that makes it better? No, it does not!”
This exchange takes place right before the moment fans have been waiting for. The next two parts of it could be viewed as one huge scene all together but taking each one bit by bit makes it so much easier to appreciate.
The brawl
When Beth interrupts dinner to invite Summer outside to have a conversation, fans knew what was coming. Summer was the only one caught by surprise when Beth gave her a backhander. Of course, Summer goes down but she gets back up. That’s when Beth realizes Summer has had some martial arts training and this fight isn’t going to be one-sided like the fans expected.
They both deliver blows and take some licks. All in all, it was a good fight that should have given the fans some satisfaction, no matter who you were rooting for.
Back to the dinner table
Beth eventually gets the upper hand in the fight and Summer concedes but they both end up with a little bit of respect for each other. It’s funny how a good, healthy fight can do that. Weighing and measuring each other is a dance that supposed adversaries often do when they’re in the same space, challenged by each other, and seemingly fighting for the same thing. When it comes to a head, it has the ability to heal the wounds and start the bonding, which is exactly what happens between Summer and Beth.
Reflection
At the end of episode 5, the crew gets ready to take their ride to their planned three-day bivouac. As final preparations are being made and everyone is beginning to mount their horse, Summer and Beth have an exchange. It begins with Summer telling Beth she feels like a truck hit her and Beth admits that it feels like a Prius hit her. When Summer confides that she doesn’t know what to do with herself while John is gone, Beth tells her to take a walk around the ranch. Beth challenges Summer to think of a more beautiful place on Earth than Yellowstone, and asks her if it’s not loved by the people who manage it. It’s a way of encouraging her to get to understand the Dutton family better.
Summer at the tombstones
Summer takes Beth’s advice seriously and goes on a hike around the ranch. That’s when she stumbles upon some tombstones. They are bloody and they are old. That’s because they are the tombstones of James, Margaret, and Elsa, the Dutton family ancestors who found and claimed the land in 1883. This is a beautiful moment that ties Yellowstone to 1883.
Care to dance
Later in episode 6, there is this hysterical moment during a little downtime on the ranch where Gator is throwing together some barbecue and music is playing. John decides to ask Summer to dance with him and she points across the way at his ex-girlfriend Lynelle who has shown up for the festivities. Summer urges him to dance with her instead, and John obliges only to get turned down again. Caught between the senator and the inmate, John jokes that he can wrangle cattle across the state but he can’t wrangle a girl onto the dance floor.
Beth and Summer still going at it
In episode 7, there is a sweet moment between Beth and Summer over morning coffee. Not really. They get into it again. Although, Beth is learning restraint. The scene is actually a funny one as Summer takes a jab at marriage and Beth does what she does, only this time she uses her words instead of her fists to knock her out.
At the County Fair
Toward the end of episode 7, Summer and John share a moment at the County Fair. He actually does his homework and finally starts getting down to picking her brain about how the activists think. That’s when Summer learns that John only had one term in and he only ran to stop the airport deal. Then, he covers their faces with his hat for a little modesty as he leans toward her for a romantic kiss.
Peanut M&Ms – a bonus moment
In episode 8, the mid-season finale, there is a cute scene that shows there is still a riff between Beth and Summer but it’s not as serious as it once was. Beth blasts through the living room and warns Summer, “If you touch my Peanut M&Ms in the freezer, I will kill you in your sleep.”
Summer shoots up from the couch and growls back, “I sleep with a knife and I have a peanut allergy.” Only Taylor Sheridan could come up with a line like that, so completely out of place and yet fits perfectly into the story.
Summer brings the perfect amount of balance with her juxtaposition against the ways of the family and her humorous lines shrouded in darkness. Six more episodes remain and now the waiting game is on until November when fans will be able to enjoy them.