The second season of The Summer I Turned Pretty sees Belly going to Cousins to save Susannah’s beach house and dealing with her own feelings for Jeremiah and Conrad. All episodes are now streaming on Prime Video.
Story
It is summer again, but unlike every year, Belly is not going to Cosuins with her family, as Susannah is no longer with them. Susannah’s sons as well as Belly’s family are still coming to terms with her death.
Last summer, when Jeremiah found out that Belly chose Conrad after kissing him, he decided not to be friends with Belly anymore. Furthermore, Belly and Conrad broke up when Conrad was having a hard time dealing with his mother’s illness.
Now, Belly is not on talking terms with either of the two boys. Her grades are also slipping, and she had her volleyball captaincy revoked. Belly finally tries to talk to Jeremiah, who answers the phone to ask her if she is with Conrad.
It turns out that Conrad is nowhere to be found and that he is not answering his phone either. A worried Jeremiah is going to look for him, and Belly, who does not want to lose the boys after losing Susannah, decides to join him.
Their search takes them to Cousins, and they find out that the beach house is being sold by Susannah’s half-sister. As the teenagers try to save the house, Belly’s feelings change. She must now choose the boy who is right for her.
Performances
Lola Tung fails to be a charming protagonist. Her performance is not bad, but it is not good either. Apart from some characters calling Belly special, the script fails to portray her as that, and Tung’s performance does not help.
When it comes to depicting Conrad’s heartbreak, Christopher Briney gives an adequate performance, but when it comes to other emotions, Briney falters. On the other hand, Gavin Casalegno is everything that one would expect Jeremiah to be.
Sean Kaufman successfully portrays Steven as a goofy nerd, but the performances of Rain Spencer, who plays Taylor, and Elsie Fisher, who plays Skye, are not convincing.
Apart from Skye, this season also introduces the character of Julia, and Kyra Sedgwick’s performance gives depth to the character. Her performance prevents Julia from being seen as a villain.
Positives
In this season, the dominant emotion is heartbreak, and at times, the audience does feel it with the characters. The show chooses the music that elevates that emotion. It is perhaps most evident in the scene in which Belly makes her choice.
The Summer I Turned Pretty season 2 manages to give the audience different perspectives to prevent the characters from being seen as just good or just bad. It proves that sometimes characters do not need to be complex to be human.
In the beginning, the show does not simply tell the audience about what happened between the first and the second season. As the plot progresses, the flashbacks are perfectly sewn in between. The choice of revealing the past with the present was a good one.
Negatives
It goes without saying that the neverending love triangle in the show is extremely frustrating, and the plot does not have much to offer other than that. Furthermore, Belly developing feelings for Jeremiah after holding hands with him on a ride seems too sudden to be considered important.
The other conflict in the season is Julia selling the beach house and a group of teenagers trying to stop her. After six episodes, the conflict gets resolved within a few minutes when an adult gets involved, which makes it seem very inconsequential.
The show does not give as much attention to Laurel’s journey of recovering from the death of her best friend as it deserves. The audience only gets to see it in bits and pieces, and it ends up looking like a lost opportunity.
There are some subplots that the show could have done without. Cam and Skye’s fling seemed too forced and out of place. What made it worse was the fact that there was no chemistry between the actors.
Verdict
The second season of The Summer I Turned Pretty will frustrate the audience, but they would still want to finish it to know what happens in the end.
The Summer I Turned Pretty season 2
Director: Zoe Cassavetes, Isabel Sandova, Sophia Takal, Megan Griffiths
Date Created: 2023-08-19 16:53
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