‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’ (Season 2) Review: The Return of the Cruel Summer
This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labour of the writers and actors currently on strike, the series being covered here wouldn’t exist.
Love triangles. Death. Grief. Friendships. These are the foundations of Prime Video’s hit coming-of-age series, The Summer I Turned Pretty. The return of cruel summer — this is definitely not a reference to Taylor Swift’s song.
Adapted from Jenny Han’s The Summer I Turned Pretty book series, the second season is based on It’s Not Summer Without You; this series centres around a love triangle between three childhood best friends who spend their days at a summer beach house. It’s a place of escapism, hope, and heartbreak. As they are leaving teenagehood and entering adulthood, their prospects are terrifying as they navigate complex life decisions that could alter everything they know about themselves. It’s challenging to portray the charm and magic of its previous season, but the series wastes no time and gets to the crux of the drama.
The first season of The Summer I Turned Pretty ends with Susannah (Rachel Blanchard) agreeing to begin her cancer treatment; the new season reveals that she died. Conrad (Christopher Briney) confesses to Belly (Lola Tung) that he has feelings for her. Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno) discovers this and distances himself from Belly. She suggests to Conrad that they pause their relationship because it upsets Jeremiah. The story jumps forward to the present-day end of the summer. Belly’s mom, Laurel (Jackie Chung), Steven (Sean Kaufman) and Belly deal with Susannah’s death. But everything has changed. Laurel refuses to deal with her death; Steven tries to keep everything from falling apart; Belly’s grades are flunking, and she’s kicked out of the volleyball team. Conrad and Jeremiah only exist in flashbacks — only in the first episode.
The story starts to pick up at the end of the second episode when Jeremiah calls Belly and asks if she has seen Conrad. Days before his finals, Conrad went missing. Jeremiah and Belly go on a road trip to search for him in his dorm, only to find out that he is at the beach house in Cousins Beach. When they arrive at the beach house, Jeremiah and Belly learn that Susannah’s half-sister, Julia (Kyra Sedgwick), is putting the house up for sale. For the last two days, Conrad has been trying to find a way to keep their home — their final memory of Susannah. When Julia and her child, Skye (Elsie Fisher), arrive at Cousins Beach, the siblings and Belly are willing to do anything to change her mind.
There were so many issues in the first season of The Summer I Turned Pretty. The unfair love triangle favours Conrad over Jeremiah because of the former’s unlikable, brooding personality. But in season two, Jeremiah gets to shine, whereas Conrad is left to deal with their breakup. This current season has two storylines: the present, which focuses on the siblings, Steven, Belly, her best friend, Taylor (Rain Spencer), and Skye figuring out how to keep the beach house, and the past, Belly and Conrad exploring their relationship after their summer break and Jeremiah brooding in the distance, feeling left out and upset that his crush chose his brother over him; along with Susannah’s health declining. It shifts back and forth, which threads together Belly’s complicated love triangle and Susannah and Julia’s family history. Even when the season doesn’t begin at Cousins Beach and the beach house, it takes a while for the story to find its footing and return to the familiar place for these characters and the audience.
One of the reasons why The Summer I Turned Pretty became a smash hit is that there is something so familiar about these themes and the characters. The characters are charming and relatable — perhaps not as complicated as Belly’s love triangle, but it explores universal themes of friendship, love, death, and grief. Belly, Conrad, Jeremiah and the other characters are transitioning into adults. The likelihood that they have to deal with hard-hitting issues, such as homeownership, changes everything about the series.
Even when it is leaning towards a new beginning into adulthood, the series shines brighter when it focuses on their lives. The gang gets together at the beach house. They hang around, arrange a party, play games, and spend time together. The series understands its audience a lot more, and this season will guarantee a lot of teary cheeks because there are so many Taylor Swift references! Every needle drop is perfect. If it is Conrad and Belly (re)discovering their relationship or the perfect summer songs “august,” “invisible string,” and “Back to December (Taylor’s Version),” which play in the trailer, emphasise the changes in Belly’s life. So many Taylor Swift songs play throughout the season — it’s perfect for a summer romance.
The Summer Turned Pretty doesn’t try to break the barriers when it presents these universal themes. Even if you’re an older adult (in your late twenties), these feelings of nostalgia, heartbreaks, and friendships seem like things you’ve experienced in your lifetime before. As a viewer, you will root for these characters to become the best versions of themselves, even though they have some life lessons to get through.
In this season, Belly faces a lot of challenges. While rejecting Jeremiah in the first season and exploring her relationship with Conrad, she also deals with Susannah’s debilitating health. She no longer has a good friendship with Jeremiah — things are certainly awkward. But when Susannah’s health gets worse, Conrad gets more distant. Belly understands his difficult situation, but everything changes when she ends their relationship. It’s an emotional moment; Belly explains that she has been with him despite his distance and refusal to communicate. This puts a wedge between Conrad, Jeremiah, Belly and Steven. Perhaps the most ridiculous part of their breakup happens during Susannah’s wake when Belly discovers Conard being comforted by another girl. She gets upset and makes a scene in front of Susannah’s friends and family. It’s not one of her best moments.
While the series focuses on teenagehood, it also introduces new characters. Sedgwick’s Julia and Fisher’s Skye bring a new conflict into Conrad and Jeremiah’s lives. Julia, Susannah’s sister, wants to sell their childhood beach house. Julia wants nothing to do with it because of a familial conflict that throws a wedge between them. In this season, Julia is the antagonist who does everything to sell the house. Conrad tries to get his father’s help. Jeremiah and Belly try to understand Julia’s perspective and get on her good side. Through flashbacks, Susannah and Julia’s conflict is revealed. Susannah dismisses Julia’s concerns. She decides to keep some distance from the rest of the family. Because of this, Skye and her cousins rarely spent time together. After they reunite, Skye develops a strong relationship with Conrad and Jeremiah.
Since the show expands on friendships and reunions, it falters. While Julia and Skye are a great addition to the series, some returning characters fall into the background. In the previous season, Taylor had a crush on Steven but was dating Shayla Wang (Minnie Mills). When Wang announced on her Instagram page that Mills would not return for the second season, the fans were disappointed. Steven and Shayla’s relationship was favoured.
After her departure, Steven and Taylor’s relationship was at the forefront. Unlike the previous season, where Taylor felt out of place and unnecessary, she has a lot more to do. With the haters-to-lovers dynamic between Steven and Taylor, they figure out the dynamics of their relationship. In addition, Cam (David Iacono), who dated Belly in the first season, returns. In the first half of the season, he isn’t given much to do except to show the rest of the characters around town. There isn’t much development until the last few episodes, where he and Skye explore a romantic relationship. These romances don’t provide a nuanced portrayal compared to the central love triangle in the series.
The Summer I Turned Pretty provides escapism and hope for teenagers (and adults) everywhere. Even though the series is a teen drama, it is so much more. There’s summer fun and summer sadness, with Belly making some big (and terrible) decisions about her life and romantic relationship(s). As far as teenage romance goes, Belly’s complicated relationship with love is strange. Her life is a confused mess of angst, grief, loss, and fighting with the people she loves. She shows how difficult it is to make these choices; she stumbles and gets back up. All of this is part of life. A hopeful, romantic series — even if it’s complicated — that understands its audience digs into the deeper, universal themes properly. There are also a whole lot of Taylor Swift song references that will make the viewer shed a few tears.
Strike Funds: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1weorhmG1H7cszY3rGHCpNYsgleegkuOSH7rD47JzSAQ/edit
Solidarity with striking film and television workers: https://freelancesolidarity.org/wga-sag-strike-solidarity/
