Days of our Lives Character Recap: Summer Townsend

Despite only being on Days of our Lives for a short period of time – between February 1 and July 29, 2016 – Summer Townsend was certainly very busy. By the time it was all said and done, she had discovered her birth mother, fallen in love with Brady Black, and murdered one of her many partners in crime. What a woman.

Who Is Summer Townsend?

Born sometime prior to 1973, Summer was Maggie Horton’s (nee Simmons) illegitimate love child – the product of a one night stand with a hired farmhand named Noah. With her legs still crippled from the car accident that killed her parents, Maggie decided that there was no way she could properly care for an infant, so she placed her up for adoption.

Summer was taken in by religious zealots whom she began to rebel against at an early age. Among her myriad of misdeeds was theft, a crime that saw her frequently imprisoned as a teenager and young adult.

By the early 2000s, Summer was living in Los Angeles and it was there that she made the acquaintance of Daniel Jonas – a man on a mission to find his birth mother. In the ensuing years, the two became quite close and Daniel eventually discovered that Salem-based Maggie Horton was the woman he had been searching for.

In a further twist, Daniel became consumed with the notion that Summer was one of Maggie’s children as well. However, he couldn’t convince her to make the cross-country journey to meet their possible parent.

Mystery Lady
In 2016, Daniel passed away after being involved in a multi-car pileup. After much agonizing, Maggie made the decision to donate her son’s heart to Brady Black, the man responsible for the accident.

Almost immediately following the operation, Brady began to dream about, and hallucinate, a woman whom he had never laid eyes on before. Convinced that Daniel was trying to send him a message, Brady set off in search of the mystery lady.

Now in Los Angeles, Brady manages to not only locate Summer but to save her from a suicidal walk into the ocean. After learning that her savior now possessed the heart of a close friend, Summer is spurred to join Brady on his return to Salem.

There, she learns that she is indeed Maggie’s daughter and during a confrontation, Maggie lies that she had been told Summer was dead. When the truth surrounding her parentage eventually came out, it led to an estrangement between Summer and her mother that was only tempered when Maggie was injured in a fall down a staircase.

Medical Maladies and Dangerous Associates

A diagnosis of kleptomania certainly explained some of Summer’s more criminal peccadilloes like her liberation of Nicole Walker’s sunglasses and her thieving a charm from Maggie’s bracelet.

And her status as a woman living with bipolar disorder helped shed some light on her predilection for depressive moods, reliance on alcohol, and her sudden violent outbursts like the one that led to the death of Clark Bernard, her former partner in crime.

When Clark had first arrived in town in need of ready cash, Summer agreed to help him scam Brady out of $50,000. However, when he threatened to turn their partnership into an intimate relationship, Summer shoved him away – an action that resulted in him striking his head on a coffee table and bleeding out.

Flight and Fight
With the assistance of Dario Hernandez – another L.A. associate – Summer was able to dispose of Clark’s body. Later, she and Brady began to grow ever so close but any chance of romance was scuttled by the arrival of Clark’s sister, who revealed everything she knew about Summer’s past as a con woman.

Realizing the jig was up, Summer planned to hit the road but was delayed by the delivery of a note and a satchel full of cash. The note was a request to kidnap Tate – Brady and Theresa Donovan‘s son

Even though the facts are muddy, what is known to be true is that Summer did indeed leave Salem with money and Tate was indeed taken from his parents. However, upon being caught in Vegas, Summer denied doing anything more than absconding with the payoff.

Summer was hauled back to Salem but managed to escape police custody after severely injuring Theresa during a confrontation. Her whereabouts have, thus far, remained a mystery. Days of our Lives (DOOL) airs weekdays on NBC. Check your local listings for airtimes.