Major spoilers for The Summer I Turned Pretty season 2 ahead.
Season 1 of Prime Video’s The Summer I Turned Pretty captivated viewers with the sweet ocean breeze of first love and beach bonfires. While season 2 begins with similar blissful vibes, this fantasy crashes when Belly (Lola Tung) is forced to snap back to reality, left mourning last summer. “I wasn’t in Cousins. Conrad and I weren’t together. And Susannah was dead. Nothing would ever be the same again,” laments a despondent Belly in season 2's first episode. This season, audiences are introduced to a very different Belly. Since viewers last saw her, the teen had weathered a great emotional storm and is now drowning in grief.
The Summer I Turned Pretty season 2 centers around healing. Throughout its eight episodes, Belly works to mend her relationships with her loved ones, and in the process, ultimately her relationship with herself. While she certainly made mistakes — like making a scene at Susannah’s funeral — she was also learning how to grieve. This season demonstrates, in a deeper way, what love can look like. This motif is present even in the episode titles, with each chapter starting off with the word “love.”
“I think [the show] is just about love in all forms,” reflects series star Lola Tung when we speak over Zoom two weeks before the season 2 premiere. “It's helped me have a better understanding of love in [how] it addresses romantic love, familial love, friendship, self love, every form of love in such a meaningful and in-depth way. I've learned a lot from Belly and I hope that people also feel that and can feel the love and learn from the love on the show. A lot of love went into the project and a lot of love came out of it.”
While new couples paired up throughout the season, from Taylor and Steven’s tumultuous relationship to Skye and Cameron’s budding romance, the audience waited in suspense to see who Belly would end up with. On one hand, Conrad Fisher (played by Christopher Briney) is Belly’s first love — on the other, Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno) is Belly’s best friend. Last summer, Belly chose first love. But this summer’s Belly is different. In the final episode, Belly finally makes her long-awaited romantic choice, as Conrad walks in on her kissing Jeremiah.
“In season 2, [Belly] goes through a lot,” Tung tells Teen Vogue. “She discovers who is willing to fight for her and for their relationship… I think in that moment, [Jeremiah] was the right choice for Belly. She's been through a lot. It is Jeremiah, he's there for her and he loves her. That's what she needs… that's what she wants. She's following her heart, and that's all that I can wish for Belly.”
After passively aggressively poking at the two on the long car ride to take Belly home, Conrad eventually apologizes to Belly and gives the new couple his blessing. In that moment, Belly recognizes that “he gives and then takes [his affections] away,” a pain point that she can no longer tolerate.
“Throughout the season, we see the progression of Conrad and Belly’s relationship and the progression of Jeremiah and Belly’s relationship,” says Tung. “And Belly finds out a lot of things that she didn't know had happened before she and Conrad started dating and also while she and Conrad were seeing each other. There's a big moment in episode 6, where Conrad and Belly are on the beach arguing and Belly’s really opening up to Conrad about how much their relationship meant to her and how much she would have fought for them and fought for that relationship. And it really does not seem like Conrad is reciprocating and would be willing to fight for that relationship that hard.”
“I think for her, it's like, ‘Why?’ Why would she continue to fight for someone who's not going to fight for her?” continues Tung, “I think she wants to need someone who's going to be there for her and who's going to fight for her… and at that moment, Jeremiah is doing all of that for her… I think she was tired of this back and forth and constant confusion.” This is a big turning point for Belly. Before, her infatuation, fueled by a powerful longtime crush, had led her to ignore all of Conrad’s red flags. Conrad was not emotionally able to handle a relationship, and Belly finally realized that she needed a supportive presence.
“[Belly] is in a very different headspace than at the end of season 1,” says Tung. “She's being weighed down by her grief and has let her grade[s] slip. A lot of her relationships with the boys with her family have sort of been… not ruined, but have changed greatly and there's more distance between her and the people that she loves."
Through flashbacks, we were able to see the deterioration of Belly's relationships with Conrad and Jeremiah, coinciding with the deterioration of Susannah's health. After the boys' mother ultimately passes, the trio is only brought back together when the Fisher family's beloved beach house is in jeopardy of being sold. “[Belly's] journey during season 2 is [about] finding a way to move forward and a way to exist with this grief, but not letting it take over her life,” Tung adds, “Repairing those connections with the people that she loves and with the people she leans on and figuring out how to move forward with them.”
The final episode of the season demonstrates Belly’s evolution. She has started to heal. She’s picking up the pieces and fighting to regain what she’s lost. The season concludes on an optimistic note, with Belly at volleyball camp and Jeremiah rooting her on from the bleachers.
“It really was a wonderful thing to watch her find herself again and find her own path and pick herself up and realize that the only way that the relationships that sort of fell apart in her life would be repaired was if she took initiative and rekindled those connections," says Tung. "Because it can be very hard to get out of that sort of headspace when you're so deep into it. It's a really interesting thing to watch her go through that journey.”
“Beyond the love triangle, this season is about [Belly's] individual journey and her self-discovery," Tung continues. "We get to see her regain a sort of self-confidence and hopefulness about the future and that's a really beautiful thing… I think just like she says at the end of [the] season, the future is unknown, but it's hers. It's her future. And who knows what it's going to be, but she's not going to let anybody else control it.”
Of all the forms of love, Belly learning to love herself is the biggest indicator of her growth — elevating The Summer I Turned Pretty season 2 to an authentic tale of a teenager’s resilience.
