Something we have only come to realize with episode 6 of the second season of The Summer I Turned Pretty is that as emotionally well-explored as this was, not giving enough time to Julia’s story was criminal. The romantic story that we witnessed between the leads: Belly, Conrad, and Jeremiah had its chance in Season 1. It was nice to see their points of view, but did we really need to give them so much time when the conflict of the house is the driving factor of the narrative of this season? Julia and Susannah’s arc seems far more complex, and it should have been given more time than the pittance it got in these episodes so far. Let us see in this recap how Belly deals with her unnecessarily complicated relationships.
Spoilers Alert
The Party At The Beach House
Julia has made the sale of the house, and the kids know that the house is gone forever, and they can do nothing about it. Sky tries talking to Julia and something she says really hits a chord with us. Sometimes, when you are hostilely made to feel by people you love that you don’t belong somewhere, you start looking for more proof of that. Julia had never been accepted by her stepmother or her father, and in the time she had spent at the beach house, only Susannah had been nice to her. But even she was blind to the troubles Julia was facing and was stubborn about only seeing the positives.
What Susannah didn’t realize was that even though she acted with the best intentions, she only invalidated Julia’s experiences and further alienated her from the family. Julia did not have good memories of the beach house or of her family there, and though she loved Susannah, the house did not make her feel good. Yet Julia loved Susannah and her father. It pained her that they could not accept or even understand her. Love hangs onto even the tiniest shred of acceptance, and its absence hurts like nothing else can. That is why Julia wanted to sell the house at the earliest because she believed that there was neither love nor acceptance waiting for her, and if she held onto the house for whatever reason, she would only be in pain.
The house had come to mean something to Sky since she had found acceptance with her cousins, and she wants them to be able to stay there. But Julia tells her that they can stay in touch regardless, with or without the house. Knowing that these are their last few days in the house, the kids decide to throw a party on Belly’s suggestion, like in the good old days, as a final farewell. And since episode 5 was from Jeremiah’s point of view which gave a boost to his popularity, Steven had to come up with some ammunition for Team Conrad, though this is constructive for once. He tells Conrad to learn to find a balance within himself instead of always oscillating between highs and lows. That was the only way he could learn to enjoy the present and preserve his relationships.
Frankly, we haven’t seen Conrad do any growing up since the last season, and maybe that is why, despite knowing his circumstances, we are once again extremely annoyed that he has interrupted Belly and Jeremiah’s pool moment. He let go of Belly because he did not have a handle on his emotions regarding a situation that he couldn’t have done anything about to begin with. Conrad then had the audacity to say that it was a mistake to be with Belly when he was the uncommunicative one, and now he has the gall to be jealous when she is with Jeremiah. We simply don’t like him.
The three of them go grocery shopping, and maybe for the first time, Conrad really starts noticing how close Jeremiah and Belly are and the fact that there is tension between them. In the previous episode, it was Jeremiah who felt that Belly was similar to his mom, and Conrad catches up with that feeling in this episode when Belly teasingly calls him Connie. We simply can’t stand the tension between these three because it is another roundabout of simple emotions made complicated by people who don’t know how to handle them. Thankfully, there is also some good tension between Cam-Sky and Steven-Taylor. The latter couple should have had a lot more time in the narrative.
Back in the house, there is some talk between the girls since Sky wants to make a move on Cam. This makes Belly remember how it felt to be with Jeremiah, and her inclination towards him just keeps getting stronger. When he asks her about the scene between her and Conrad, she replies that she is trying to move on while getting over him. Jeremiah was entitled to that question after what Belly had asked him the previous night following the game of truth or dare, and when he saves her from falling at the party that night, it is one of the first swoon-worthy moments of the season. The pool scene is a close second.
Does Belly Find Out What Conner Said To Jeremiah?
These three will keep going back and forth till the very end, but the other couples are far more interesting. Sky has found common ground with Cam, and they end up kissing while she encourages him to go on some boat that he really wants to. As for Taylor and Steven, they have a total dance-off to Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the USA,” and Steven declares how he feels for her. This could have almost been a moment, but Taylor’s boyfriend, Milo, is here, and he is mad at how close his girlfriend is to Steven. On a different note, when we saw Belly’s wardrobe this season, we were glad that it hadn’t taken the objectification route as we had seen with the female cast of other stories set by the beach like Outer Banks or Mamma Mia. However, that opinion went straight out the window when we saw how the camera angles objectified Taylor during the dance-off. Coming back to the story, Steven is ready to get into a fight with Milo, and Taylor puts a stop to it. She is embarrassed and breaks up with Milo when he cannot remember her middle name.
Elsewhere, there is some good news that turns completely sour for everyone. Julia has negotiated a clause with the buyers that they should rent out the house to the Fisher twins for a week every summer. Jeremiah and Belly are happy with this, but Conrad refuses to accept it since it won’t be their house anymore. Steven had earlier said that Conrad was an all-or-nothing guy, and we don’t think it has ever been phrased better. If things are anything less than perfect, he completely abandons them, which is why he had broken up with Belly.
Jeremiah finally loses his temper and calls out Conrad for not fighting for his relationship harder after he had asked for Jeremiah’s blessing to move forward with Belly. This is the first time that Belly has heard of this, and she is extremely upset. As for Jeremiah, he rightly calls his brother a coward, and we don’t find it in ourselves to disagree. When Belly confronts him about why he hid how important this relationship was for him, he simply says that he thought she knew. How could she have known when he acted disinterested all the time and called her a mistake? At the end of episode 6 of season 2 of The Summer I Turned Pretty, Belly calls up her mother in tears, asking her to come to the beach house and somehow save it from being sold away. She passes out soon after.
Final Thoughts
Maybe growing up is about realizing that the best guys are usually the ones you think about later. Despite our love for romance in novels and movies, we will always consider their romanticization of the bad boy a crime against humanity. Belly may have never liked Conrad if not for that. With only two episodes to go before the season ends and Lauren coming back to the beach house, there is some more family drama to uncover and maybe prevent the beach house from being sold.
