The ending of the first episode of season three left me wanting to pull my hair out, because what do you mean sweet boy Jere broke Belly’s heart by not telling her he slept with someone else when they were on a “break”? The Summer I Turned Pretty episode 2 drops yet another shocking surprise on us, and this time it’s not a good one. Are these kids really older, because how come they seem to be acting more immature than before? But I digress. If you’ve seen the trailer for season 3, then you probably know what’s coming at the end of this episode, which to me honestly came as a total curveball. I didn’t realize it was already that time, especially after what happened at the end of episode 1, but hey, I guess things move quickly in the “summer” universe. So with that said, let’s jump into episode 2.
Spoiler Alert
What Happens to Steven?
Episode 2 begins with Belly being super upset about Jere, but we go back into the past to see what the start of this fight between them looked like. It did seem like Jere was being quite moody at the time, and rather than taking Belly’s support, he decided to act out and break up with her because he was projecting his insecurities onto Belly. For some reason, he didn’t tell her that he was going to Cabo either, which I think is a perfectly good reason for Belly to be at least a little bit confused, if not angry. Then he didn’t talk to her for the week he was there and also never bothered texting her after he came back. But Taylor convinces Belly that she should talk to Jere, so that’s what she does. And in this flashback, you can tell that Jere wants to tell her what he did, but she kind of cuts him off, and the moment passes.
In the present day, Belly’s also not talking to Taylor because the girl Jere slept with is in the same sorority. I don’t think Belly actually cares about that too much; she just needs some time on her own. Taylor yells at Jere, telling him she always sided with him and he was meant to be the perfect guy, but now she can’t root for him anymore. On the other hand, Steven has been trying to call her as well, and at the same time, Jere calls her out on her hypocrisy, so she’s got way too much on her mind. But Steven has decided to break up with his girlfriend, Mia, because he knows he’s still in love with Taylor and that both of them are clearly meant to be.
While Belly’s prepping for the Paris trip, Laurel is at a boring conference and meets her ex-husband. Belly asks her mum for her passport, and hopefully, things are going to be looking up for her. Meanwhile, Laurel and John spend some time together talking and drinking wine. Back at school, Belly’s friend tells her that the thing she’s really mad about is that Jere didn’t tell her what happened, which proves that he knew he did her wrong, so even if he thought they were broken up, the real betrayal comes from concealing what happened. But here’s the thing: Belly’s also hiding a big secret. During Christmas, she went to Cousins because she was all by herself, and somehow Conrad ended up there at the same time, too. While they didn’t do anything together, and there were no sparks, they just spent time together, doing their own stuff, watching a movie. But when Jere called, Belly didn’t tell him Conrad was there. This whole thing made her realize that she’s always going to love Conrad a little bit (yikes).
In the present timeline, Jere tries to beg Belly for forgiveness, and she tells him that he was meant to be the one who would never hurt her, but now he’s the one who’s hurt her the most. On the other hand, Steven comes to see Taylor because she isn’t answering his calls, and he quickly notices that she’s not doing well. She says she’s hungry, so he tells her to hop in his car (big mistake). Suddenly, he’s telling her that he broke up with Mia, and Taylor tells him that he should’ve never done something like that for her. She tells him that they were doing something casual, but he thinks they shouldn’t be hurting other people in the process. Taylor doesn’t like where the conversation is going, so she tells him to stop the car in the middle of the road and walks off. Steven has to turn the car around and meets with an accident. Okay, but why is this giving Grey’s Anatomy level drama?
Does Belly forgive Jere?
Belly finally answers Taylor’s call and rushes to the hospital. Laurel and John both don’t pick up because they’ve just slept with each other. This leaves Belly and Taylor to do all the work. Belly asks Taylor to call both the Fisher brothers, because Conrad is studying medicine and might know what to make of Steven’s concussion, and Jere just needs to be around, you know? Conrad gets a word in with his boss, who offers him a day off, but he doesn’t take it (big mistake part 2). Because of this, a senior doctor takes up Steven’s case, making sure Belly knows that she has good connections at Stanford. Meanwhile, Conrad gets fired for making a mistake because his mind is caught up. His boss tells him that he’s unstable, which makes him a liability to her, which she doesn’t need. Later, Agnes tells him that she was right and that he definitely needs to steady himself.
On the other hand, Taylor tells a sleeping Steven that she’s been in love with him for a long time and keeps pushing him away for that reason, because she’s worried she’ll get hurt. The next morning, it’s revealed he’s okay. Laurel manages to reach Belly, and Belly bursts out crying, telling her that she’s been bottling all her feelings up and trying to stay strong, but she was very worried. Laurel obviously thinks it’s her fault for sleeping with John, and if she hadn’t, Belly would’ve been able to reach her quicker. On the other hand, all of this made Taylor realize that not trying to be with Steven is the thing that scares her the most, so she’s going to break up with her boyfriend and actually give them a chance. However, Steven’s got his own plans (boom). He’s been thinking about what she said, and this whole thing has been a wake-up call to him, so he says she’s right and they shouldn’t be together (UGH!).
At the end of The Summer I Turned Pretty season 3, episode 2, Belly decides to talk to Jere, who’s been at the hospital the whole night. He makes a grand apology, and she says she’s sorry too, but not giving him Conrad as the reason. They both tell each other how they love each other, and they don’t ever want to let each other go, like for the rest of their lives. So you know what’s coming next. Belly doesn’t even need Jere to ask the question before saying yes; it’s like she can read his mind. But Jere does make the proposal, and there you have it—she says yes. While this is all super exciting, there’s one big problem. Belly and Jere are very young and have their whole lives ahead of them, so this decision definitely feels like it’s come out of nowhere. Laurel’s definitely going to hate this, and Conrad…well, I guess we’ll have to see what he does. As someone who hasn’t read the books, I have a feeling Conrad’s going to be the one who ends up with Belly ultimately, because he’s her first love and all that, but that makes me quite sad because Jere’s kind of the nicer guy. But hey, I think we have wedding prep to look forward to now, so yay.
