Sumith Prasad
The fourth season of Paramount Network’s Western series ‘Yellowstone’ sees the introduction of Summer Higgins, an environmentalist who arrives in Montana to protest against animal killings in the region. Although she stands against everything John Dutton is and believes in, they end up sleeping together. As Summer enters into the personal life of the Dutton patriarch, she displeases Beth Dutton, John’s daughter. In the fourth episode of the fifth season, Summer reappears in John’s life after nearly one year. Since Beth and Summer fight again, the viewers must be eager to know about the root cause of Beth’s dislike towards Summer. Well, let us share our thoughts regarding the same! SPOILERS AHEAD.
Beth Resents Summer’s Influence on Her Father
Summer Higgins appears in Montana to fight against the Duttons. Although the intentions behind her actions aren’t personal, the Duttons personify the Montana way of life Summer opposes. When she becomes a part of John’s personal life, however insignificant, Beth can only see her as an outsider who cannot be trusted. After fighting Market Equities for a considerable period and while dealing with the pressure of protecting the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch for her father, the last thing Beth wants to see is an untrustworthy outsider finding a place in her household. Beth knows that Summer cannot be a pivotal threat but she cannot tolerate such an outsider in her house, especially when her father is sleeping with her.
As a woman, Beth knows how dangerous a woman can be when she is sharing intimacy with a man. She doesn’t want her father John to become vulnerable as he sleeps with Summer. Beth is immersed in the fight against the enemies of her family and she cannot tolerate her father letting his guard down to accommodate a potential threat in his life. Thus, she starts the fight against Summer when she first meets the latter at her house. As an overprotective daughter, she is worried about her father getting tricked by Summer and she doesn’t want to take a chance concerning the same.
Beth is also immensely connected to her late mother Evelyn Dutton and her memories. Even in the fifth season, Beth breaks down when John talks about his dead wife. Such a daughter doesn’t want to see a random woman getting into the very bed that belonged to her mother. Beth must be feeling that Summer is trying to find a place in John’s life that shouldn’t be filled with anything but her mother’s memories. The fact that John is sharing intimacy with Summer must be hurting Beth’s memories of Evelyn and the same must have added fuel to her burning dislike towards Summer.
To remove Summer from John’s life, Beth asks Summer to fight against Market Equities’ airport construction, which is destroying nature on a larger scale than an opulent textile shop that sells fur coats. Beth’s plan gets fulfilled when Summer gets arrested as part of the protests and imprisoned for assaulting an officer. Still, Summer finds a way to get back into John’s life when the Governor of Montana pardons the environmentalist to add her to his team. Summer’s re-entry to John’s life further increases the intensity of Beth’s dislike, which is evident in their encounter in the fourth episode of the fifth season.
Throughout her life, Beth has succeeded in dominating any person she wanted to dominate. However, Summer isn’t any such person. When Beth comes in between her and John, Summer doesn’t hesitate to fight back. Summer is determined and resilient enough to stand against Beth and declare she would sleep with the latter’s father even more if the Dutton daughter cannot tolerate it. Such behavior increases Beth’s dislike of the environmentalist. Furthermore, the fact that John trusts and cares about Summer even after she has advised him to stay away from the environmentalist must be irritating to Beth, and the anger she expresses toward Summer can be the result of the same.
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