The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 2 Review
By Sioph LealIsabel “Belly" Conklin (Lola Tung) used to count down the days until she could return to Cousins Beach, but with Conrad (Christopher Briney) and Jeremiah Fisher (Gavin Casalegno) fighting over her heart and the return of Susannah's cancer, she's not sure summer will ever be the same. When an unexpected visitor threatens the future of Susannah's beloved house, Belly must rally the gang to come together—and to decide once and for all where her heart lies. Following the aftermath of losing such an important person in her life, Belly tries to bring Conrad and Jeremiah back together to save their beloved beach house.
The first season of The Summer I Turned Pretty was focused on almost every teenage boy falling in love with Belly, with voice overs that over explained this very aspect. Instead of the theme of unrequited love becoming reciprocated, this season is about loss. Set against the backdrop of a coastal paradise, the second season had the chance to delve deeper into the complexities of love, friendship, and the passage of time.
This season has more non-linear moments than its predecessor. Normally, this would help avoid stalling the plot but somehow this manages to make the main plot line feel stagnated. This is not helped when you have a main character who uses her grief as an excuse to make every drama about her. Belly isn’t as likable in this season as her selfish side becomes more apparent, especially when she believes her romantic relationship should be prioritized over the death of a much-loved member of the family. Belly lacks any compassion or consideration for others, which makes rooting for her a task.
While Belly and Conrad spend most of their onscreen time awkwardly dancing around one another and very little of it interacting with one another, it makes it impossible to believe that Belly and Conrad had fallen in love with each other. Unfortunately, the romance between Belly and the Fisher brothers isn’t believable with her constant flip-flopping between the two, no matter how many Taylor Swift songs you play over the scenes. The performances also impact this as Tung and Briney either mumble through their lines with minimal effort to suddenly using their energies to bicker at each other during the final two episodes.
The series finally gets some traction around the fifth episode when it shifts perspectives. Jeremiah opens the episode with his own voice over, albeit still focusing on his pining for Belly, showcasing how easily he is forgotten. Casalegno and Steven (Sean Kaufman) seem to be the only two who offer any energy to their performances, although Kaufman isn’t given nearly as much to work with other than a crush.
Anyone who has gone through a loss in the family will see how accurately the second season of The Summer I Turned Pretty handles the changes in a family dynamic. Viewers are constantly told through voice overs that Susanah was a big part of their lives, but given that Belly is mostly affected by hers and Conrad’s relationship breakdown has affected her the most, it would have worked better had the focus been on the Fisher brothers.
Whether it's a story of forbidden love or a realistic portrayal of modern dating, the young adult romance genre continues to captivate audiences and provide an escape into the world of teenage romance and all its bittersweet moments. Unfortunately, season two of The Summer I Turned Pretty still feels like cliche storylines that have been seen too many times over the years. The episodes feel very repetitive, and with the main plot wrapping up in episode seven, it felt as if these episodes were dragged out to meet an eight-episode quota.
‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’ Season 2 premiers on Amazon, July 14th 2023.