The Emotional Rollercoaster of Season 2 of The Summer I Turned Pretty
It is sometimes difficult to remember that the events in Season 2 of The Summer I Turned Pretty took place over the course of only one week (with flashbacks) due to the fact that there were so many of them. This season’s ensemble cast of recurrent characters saw a lot of upheaval; the stakes were high, and their time spent together was emotionally intense.
The Love Triangle: Belly, Jeremiah, and Conrad
The love triangle between Belly Conklin (played by Lola Tung), Jeremiah Fisher (played by Gavin Casalegno), and Conrad Fisher (played by Christopher Briney) has been driving the plot of the program for quite some time now. Fans of the show are well aware of it. Die-hard fans of the series have broken off into two camps, which they refer to as “Team Jeremiah” and “Team Conrad,” and each camp is vehemently rooting for a different character to win Belly’s affection.
Conflicting Signals and Uncertain Hearts
Throughout this season, both brothers have sent her conflicting signals regarding whether or not they see a romantic future with her. Until the last episode of the season, she had no idea where her heart would eventually take her. Everyone was put through their paces during this season’s endurance test. They fought together to preserve the beach house in the Fisher family, but they also fought to keep love in their lives despite how tedious and fickle it seemed to be this year.
Unresolved Tensions and Emotional Growth
As the circumstances leading up to the conclusion unfold, Belly experiences a degree of embarrassment around Conrad and Jeremiah; she has a lot of things that she needs to make up for. This gloomy cloud of remorse and treachery casts a shadow over the group throughout most of the current season. Despite this, the tension decreases once they see that their efforts have paid off and their goal of keeping the house is accomplished.
Jeremiah and Belly come to terms with the fact that Jeremiah was not there for him when their mother passed away. She can mend fences with her mother, and even though it comes after a drunken shouting match, she can have an adult talk with Conrad, expressing that she has no regrets about the time they spent together. They were both in love (the past tense is emphasized for added impact), and she looks forward to remaining his buddy forever.
Conrad has blown it, and Belly is now gathering the strength to accept the things in her history that she cannot change and to put them in the past. But given that her future lies in the same family, is it possible? This young lady’s thoughts are all over the place since she doesn’t want to cause Jeremiah and Conrad’s relationship to suffer any further harm. Despite this, all she wants is to spend the rest of her life with someone who will love her without reservation.
The Dilemma of Choices
Even though Conrad’s feelings may be affected by Belly’s distance from him, she is still grieving from the agony she experienced when they unexpectedly broke up. Her attraction to Jeremiah is always coming up to the surface for this season. His alluring remarks and sustained eye contact sometimes make it impossible for him to maintain his composure and turn down her advances. It doesn’t take long before it’s clear that they have feelings for each other. Still, Belly is torn since she doesn’t want to make the wrong decision or cause anyone else any more pain than she already has. Is it best to back away from both of them now? Or, considering how she was hurt, doesn’t she owe it to herself to go for what she wants?
Mistakes, Love, and Growth
We should remember that these are just a group of impressionable teenagers who have a lot to gain by inappropriately expressing their feelings and how to play with the sentiments of others. The only way for Belly to learn what she wants and needs in a partner willing to provide it is for her to fall in love and make mistakes along the way.
When Conrad walks out on Belly and Jeremiah while having a very passionate makeout session (on top of his car!), that maturity that was previously displayed is gone instantly. At the same time, he was wearing his sweatshirt! Damn). When Belly asks Jeremiah for a second chance, Jeremiah’s natural reaction is one of healthy skepticism. Her speech does come out as a bit second-choice, so when jealousy rears its ugly head on their journey home, Jeremiah puts them both to the test.
Jeremiah’s speech comes off as a little second-choice. Before moving further with their relationship, he wants Belly and Conrad to have an open and honest discussion about how they feel about each other. If she can move on with the knowledge that Conrad still loves her, he can trust her enough to know that she will not change her mind and abandon him again. The assertion made by Conrad that Belly had only kissed Jeremiah to incite jealousy in Jeremiah had a negative impact on his self-confidence.
The newly discovered arrogance of Conrad, which is little more than a paper-thin defense mechanism, makes for an extremely uncomfortable and lengthy vehicle ride. The three friends are forced to spend the night in a motel because of the dangerous weather. Because of the confined space, they had no choice but to talk to one another. Jeremiah confronts Conrad with the question of what causes him to behave in such an annoying and obnoxious manner. His sibling is completely able to see right through him. Because he is aware that Conrad is suffering because he is still in love with Belly, he encourages Conrad to tell her the truth. He doesn’t want his relationship to be based on lies, and he doesn’t want to feel like Conrad takes priority over him, but in the end, he wants the two of them to be content in life.
In addition, Belly consults a reliable source for the answers she seeks. During a conversation over the phone with her mother (Jackie Chung), she brings up a conversation the two of them had last season about how it feels to be in love. She is trying to persuade herself, using reasoning and personal experiences, that she is making the correct decision by choosing to go on without Conrad by asking Laurel how she knew she was no longer in love with someone. Belly’s conversation with her mother needs to instill more confidence in her. Honestly, there is no true and reliable method for Belly to know that she is making the correct choice. This idea strikes fear into the hearts of all those concerned.
Conrad finally admits how he truly feels about everything in the middle of the night. He is careful to keep his confession brief and nice, but his honesty takes her aback. It calls to mind a distressing reminiscence between her and Susannah (Rachel Blanchard), in which she pledges that the three of them will be able to be together again someday. By making things more difficult, she has the impression that she has let Susannah down again. But let’s assume that this memory provides any insight into Belly’s personality. If true, it indicates how deeply she can love and how much genuine concern she has for the Fisher family.
She goes to sleep that night feeling more certain than ever that she has made the right choice and appears ready to commit Jeremiah. Even when Conrad tries to offer his love once again and then abruptly pulls it away, she still permits him to do so. She frees him by allowing him to maintain his dignity despite his falsehood.
In the pivotal moments of this season, we get a glimpse of Jeremiah’s enthusiastic support for Belly in the form of his presence whenever she is about to engage in an activity that brings her joy. When we think back to when the group was grieving Susannah’s death, we realize that it has only been a month. It should come as no surprise that everyone’s emotions are running so high that they all appear unmoored. The events of Season 2 took place during a period in which everyone was at their weakest point.
Jeremiah and Belly, Steven (Sean Kaufman) and Taylor (Rain Spencer), Belly’s return to a…