Life is filled with wins and losses.
And The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 2 Episode 7 had a bit of both, especially depending on which side of this love triangle you may fall on because it seems that, for now, Belly has made her choice.
At the very least, she’s made things even more complicated even as we made some progress in the relationships between the trio and got a win with the summer house.
Who knew Laurel would be the secret weapon in the teens managing to keep Susannah’s house after all?
This person knew, but that’s beside the point.
The hour felt more balanced and blended the elements composing the season better than some previous installments.
One of the strongest aspects of this hour was that it finally knew what to do with Laurel and brought her into the fold in a way that the season desperately needed.
For far too long, there’s been this void where Laurel and her grief over Susannah were supposed to be. This unspoken cloud lingered over everything but didn’t have any presence whatsoever, which was downright disconcerting.
Yes, this series focuses on Belly and the other teens almost exclusively. Still, there was something lacking without the Laurel component or even certain aspects of the adults in the mix.
It all felt completely off, like vital parts of the story were missing, even if it was how these adults interacted with the primary teens.
We understand that Laurel has been absent from her kids and the Fisher boys’ lives since Susannah died. And they laid some groundwork for that.
But she’s been absent from the viewers’ experience too, which has truly sucked and sucked the life out of most of the season.
As a result, it was both great and irritating that they finally got around to incorporating her into the fold and giving us those craved moments between her and Belly, Steven, Conrad, Jeremiah, and even Julia and Adam.
And it was undoubtedly heart-aching to get more flashback scenes of her and Susannah finally. It may be an unpopular opinion, as I understand that The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 1 strayed from the first novel and thus led to mixed feelings.
However, Susannah and Laurel’s scenes felt vital to that season and some of the best.
Susannah: If your sales don’t skyrocket when I die, I am going to be so pissed. Wherever I am.
Laurel: I hate you so much sometimes.
Susannah: I love you too.
The hour of finally letting Jackie Chung off the bench so that she could wreck us with her emotional performance was overdue.
The opening scene with Laurel and Belly was as intense as it gets. Both women were in so much pain, and neither of them knew what to do with all of it.
Their contentious dynamic when we’ve seen them together has been palpable, and it all boiled over into that explosive scene.
Belly confronting her mother about the tension and how she’s felt Laurel’s disapproval for months was heartbreaking. One can only imagine how difficult it has been on Belly all these months since she lost one maternal figure and had her actual mother unable to even look at her.
She had to feel so lonely, and she already acknowledged how guilt-ridden she was that she made Susannah’s funeral about her drama. Even that was her not being kind to herself.
They all were a mess during that funeral and grieving differently. It’s been a shame that their respective ways of doing that had almost all the characters withdrawn and torn apart rather than leaning into and supporting each other.
The slap heard around the summer house was jarring. You could see the shock in both Laurel and Belly after that moment. And I’m relieved we only went a little while without the two women addressing it.
What I appreciate about this series is they’re fearless in allowing teenagers to hold their parents accountable, not just as parents but as people.
Steven: I know I fucked up, and Belly too, but at least she was here. The second they needed her, she stepped up. You didn’t even tell anyone this was coming.
Laurel: Steven, I’ve been trying —
Steven: Try harder then.
And when the kids do that, it’s not for something trivial and frivolous, but the real stuff. And the parents heed what the kids say, process it, and work to improve.
It’s also refreshing to see adults who aren’t afraid to take ownership of their actions and apologize to kids. They don’t play into this notion that adults are always in the right or that they aren’t flawed people incapable of making mistakes or being just as human as these young adults fumbling through life.
Laurel needed that talk with Belly. She has all this grief and pain bottled up inside her and nowhere to put it, so she opts to be numb.
But the numbness made her cold and distant. It wasn’t healthy for her, nor was it for all the people who loved her or needed her.
Belly, Steven, Conrad, and Jeremiah all needed her desperately after Susannah died, and she couldn’t show up for them. Worse yet, she couldn’t let them see how much she was hurting. She just shut down and was emotionally inaccessible, creating this chasm that explained why they didn’t reach out to her.
I loved what that conversation was like for Laurel because, at some point, it felt like two women talking without the power dynamic at play.
Laurel got to confide in her daughter, and they could start forgiving and healing through that.
And while it was fairly subtle, it was such a strong scene that spoke to womanhood, the need to be strong for everyone else. It acknowledged the pressure that Laurel would feel as a mother to be strong for her kids and keep things together even when it was eating away at her.
The only mistake I made was thinking that you would help. Susannah would never forgive you for abandoning her boys! She would never even believe…
Belly [to Laurel]
And there’s this undercurrent cultural component to it too. Traditionally, as a culture, there is this notion that you don’t open up and talk about feelings; you keep a poker face, keep it together, “conceal, don’t feel.”
Laurel realized that it wasn’t working, and doing her nor anyone any favors was a great moment and a beautiful way of setting precedence so that she no longer felt confined to that concept, and Belly wouldn’t have to either.
But it made sense that Laurel felt as if all the pain would consume her the second she let even a little bit out.
That scene was the type of content I’d been craving since the beginning of the season, so it was a relief to get it finally.
Steven has seemingly done a lot of heavy lifting, serving as the bridge between his mother and sister for months, and it was also great to see him call Laurel out.
When he spoke, he didn’t give her room not to listen, and everything he said was on point. Laurel dropped the ball showing up for the Fisher boys too, and they all know it’s what Susannah would’ve wanted.
Her sharing individual moments with Jeremiah and Conrad was enough to warm a person’s heart. Her scene with Conrad, in particular, was endearing.
They have this special bond that we don’t see often, but it always clicks when we do.
This will be the last thing I do for Conrad Fisher, get him to Stanford. Once he’s there, maybe we can finally let each other go.
Belly Voiceover
It’s no surprise that Laurel was the key to resolving all of this, but it made for such a contrived fix that felt anti-climactic and also frustrating because there’s no getting around how we could’ve avoided all of this needless drama.
It makes zero sense that Laurel wouldn’t mention that Susannah was trying to settle things with the house before she died. It also feels out of character that Laurel never had any follow-up with that.
Laurel not even knowing what was happening with the house, felt ridiculous. And that’s not even factoring how a conversation with Julia where she basically said what Conrad, Jeremiah, and Skye had been saying was enough to change Julia’s mind.
We’re supposed to sympathize with Julia, and we supposedly got a bit more background to do that, but frankly, it made Julia seem even worse.
Literally, all this petty stuff could’ve been avoided if Julia just went to therapy and behaved like an adult instead of a petulant, hurt teenager with emotional baggage.
It’s hard to believe that a 40+-year-old woman was still harping on shit that happened when she was a child to the point of actively hurting teenagers who had nothing to do with any of it.
Susannah wrote her a letter asking her the do the right thing and keep the house in the family, and her solution was to sell it, kids be damned.
Julia feeling guilty about never making amends with Susannah and hurt about not knowing things and Laurel being closer but still doubling down on kicking her nephews while they were down is just outrageous.
In the letter, she told me that she’d trust me to do the right thing and keep the house in the family. But how could I do that when this family never did right by me?
Julia
And Adam, with his going through with selling the house and resisting the idea of buying it “because it was easier,” was equally as ludicrous.
Every single adult being this selfish and self-consumed wither their own feelings and not even considering or prioritizing the kids remains unfathomable.
Fortunately, Laurel and Julia team up, and having to face and hear his sons out was enough to convince Adam to keep the summer house at the expense of their home in Boston.
For the summer house fiasco to be such a driving force of the season, the resolution was underwhelming and highlighted the worst aspects of this particular plot.
Nevertheless, it’s a relief that the boys get to keep the summer house.
And with that out of the way, there’s the idea of Julia coming to spend time there, and the renewed bond with Skye and the boys and Belly ensures that the kids can break the cycle.
Julia went from this one-dimensional evil shrew to this sweet woman. And while the transition was enough to give you whiplash, it’s actually sweet when she and Skye have scenes together, and we see how close they are to each other.
Skye telling their mother about their first kiss was one of the cutest scenes of the hour.
Jeremiah and Conrad were also talking things out, which was a great scene for the brothers. Those scenes with just the two when they can talk about things beyond Belly are gratifying.
Conrad apologized and could make light out of Jeremiah and Belly laying into him during the same night. But he took it all well enough, processed it, and was willing to do and be better.
He’s good that way.
Jeremiah didn’t explicitly apologize for some of the things he said, or maybe the way he said them, because it was harsh, but the sentiment was there.
The brothers promising to talk to each other about things is a good starting point for them.
Jeremiah putting his foot down about the Stanford thing made me smile. Conrad thought he was doing what was best for Jere by staying at Brown.
But, of course, his brother wouldn’t want him to miss out on his dream for him.
The group effort to help Conrad study for his final exam is the type of endearing teen fun that can make shows like this so good and capture that nostalgic feeling along with those family feels.
Jeremiah: I don’t want to be that guy anymore. You know, always smiling whether he’s happy or not. It’s hard.
Conrad: You don’t have to.
Somehow, that felt even better than their adventures on the boardwalk during The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 2 Episode 4.
But it always feels better when it’s just the Conklin and Fisher siblings the way it has historically been, and you can always feel the deep bonds among them and the year’s worth of friendship and being there for each other.
Without the pressure of the house to worry about, they could really let loose in a way they couldn’t at the boardwalk or during the party.
And they could come together for something meaningful, like helping Conrad pass his final so he can head to Stanford. Belly was right in her voiceover; it felt like Susannah would approve of this.
There was no shortage of charged scenes.
Conrad’s eased in another flirty quip when he wondered if he would be getting any other reward besides burgers, and clearly, Conrad got a taste of Belly, and he’s been down bad because of it.
Belly and Conrad getting to watch the stars together, conveniently in the same place they consummated their love was such a special moment.
I was almost relieved that Conrad fell asleep before she could bring up her feelings for Jeremiah as she intended.
But then, maybe if they had that conversation, even if it ruined the moment, it would’ve prepared him for walking up on that hot makeout session between Jeremiah and Belly against his car.
It’s clear that Conrad still has feelings for Belly and regrets how things ended between them. And they got to talk about that and clear the air in a way they both needed.
It was a sweet scene for them, and there was a maturity there that they got to discuss it so openly and freely, acknowledge things, and hug it out.
But every single time one of them uses the past tense of “love” when referencing each other, it feels like they’re forcing themselves to use it because it doesn’t ring true.
Conrad: I hate the thought of you looking back on the night that we spent here together and regretting what we did.
Belly: Of course, it hurts to think about that night. But I don’t regret it. I don’t regret any of the nights we spent together. I loved you, and I know you loved me too.
Conrad: If I could go back and do things differently, I would.
Belly: Conrad, it’s okay. I mean, we both hurt each other a lot.
Conrad: And I don’t ever want to hurt you again.
Belly: I don’t want to hurt you again either. And I don’t know if it’s something we can control, but we can try. Friends?
Belly ending the conversation with “Friends?” almost gutted him, and you could see as he hugged her that he wanted to be anything but just that.
Steven sure as hell sees it. He’s a straight-up Conrad fanboy this season, rooting on this pairing despite being one of the witnesses of how hurt Belly was because of this relationship.
It makes sense because of how close he and Conrad are, but it’s also odd that a protective brother would be as encouraging as he is.
Nevertheless, as someone pining for a girl and finally getting his happy ending with Taylor, and they truly are the cutest, it’s no surprise that Steven would want the same for Conrad.
Conrad has alluded to his feelings for Belly, flirted, and things of that nature, but he hasn’t told her how he still feels and wants.
Sadly, because of that, he missed a window, and Belly’s attention is elsewhere.
They’ve put more work into showcasing Belly and Jeremiah’s chemistry this season, and it’s certainly there. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed Belly and Jeremiah’s scenes because you can feel the friendship between them as it tries to flourish.
They sometimes struggle to lean into the stronger aspects of her and Jeremiah’s connection. They have so much there to them, beyond physical attraction and chemistry, but sometimes the season has undercut their connection by focusing so heavily on that.
Belly: Are you ever going to give me a second chance?
Jeremiah: Belly, if I fall for you again, I don’t think I can take it if you change your mind like last time.
Belly: I wouldn’t do that. It’s different now.
Jeremiah: How?
Belly: You and I, I mean, we’re not the same people that we were. We grew up. I spent so much of my life dreaming about what it would be like to be with Conrad, but dreams aren’t real. And now I want, I want something real. I want you.
Jeremiah: Belly…
Belly: Do you still?
Jeremiah: Yes, yes, I still.
And it’s frustrating that Belly treats Jeremiah like the anti-Conrad even when trying to do better. Sometimes it’s hard to tell if she wants to be with Jeremiah because of Jeremiah or because he’s not Conrad, and it’s “easier.”
I wish they spent more time showing us what she desires from Jeremiah beyond constantly comparing him to Conrad. And by now, it’s like she’s lured him into this romantic relationship stage.
We’ve seen Belly pursuing Jeremiah, unintentionally sending mixed signals as she navigates relationships with both boys with such ambiguity.
Their time at college was sweet. They had a blast together, and you could envision what college would be like for them if they were on campus together.
There is something easygoing about Belly and Jeremiah. It’s rarely angsty; it’s straightforward and fun. There’s never a shadow of a doubt that he loves Belly.
What was puzzling and deliciously messy was that the connection was building that entire day they spent together, but Belly waited until they were in front of Brown, while wearing Conrad’s sweatshirt, against his car to tell Jeremiah how she felt and that she chose him.
We know Belly well enough to say with certainty that she never intends to lead the Fisher brothers on or hurt either of them, but dammit, she always manages to anyway.
Somehow, with that final scene, I was both wary on Jeremiah’s behalf and heartbroken for Conrad.
Belly: Whatever you think you saw last night. You were wrong. There is nothing left between me and Conrad.
Jeremiah: There will always be something between you and Conrad.
Jeremiah has made it abundantly clear that he can’t cross that line with Belly again if it’ll just end in heartbreak for him again and her gravitating back to Conrad.
He seems more realistic about Belly’s connection with Conrad than Belly has been. Jeremiah knows that there is something between her and Conrad, and there will always be, and there’s very little he can do about that.
It’s perfectly reasonable that he’d try to protect his heart. And he certainly wouldn’t want to hurt his brother, either. But he’s also trying to be true to himself and his feelings as well.
And he can never resist Belly. She finally told him what he wanted to hear, so, understandably, his elation and love for her surpassed his wariness and the complications of this love triangle involving his brother.
Something special about her moments with Jeremiah this season is how confident she is as a young woman, even when she’s all over the place with her feelings.
We’ve seen her as the pursuer, and that’s something refreshing to see in the young adult series. When she knows what she wants, even if it’s just in the moment, she goes after it.
She’s bolder, carries herself with more certainty, and hasn’t been afraid to tell Jeremiah what she wants. It felt natural for her to be the one to lay it all out there, initiate contact, and fall into that searing hot kiss.
And it’s what the series needed to sell that angle of the love triangle better. We also needed to see that Belly had a genuine interest in Jeremiah, and it wasn’t one-sided.
The fallout from that makeout will be a mess, but goodness, these Fisher boys are smooth.
Belly: Are you ever going to give me a second chance?
Jeremiah: Belly, if I fall for you again, I don’t think I can take it if you change your mind like last time.
Belly: I wouldn’t do that. It’s different now.
Jeremiah: How?
Belly: You and I, I mean, we’re not the same people that we were. We grew up. I spent so much of my life dreaming about what it would be like to be with Conrad, but dreams aren’t real. And now I want, I want something real. I want you.
Jeremiah: Belly…
Belly: Do you still?
Jeremiah: Yes, yes, I still.
Holy, hotness! The height difference, the way Jeremiah pulled her in at the waist and held her face as if it would physically pain him to let go as he finally gave in, made for a perfectly steamy kiss.
Whenever there’s a romantic, one-on-one moment between Belly and Conrad or Belly and Jeremiah, it’s hard not to get wrapped up in it and forget everything else.
Over to you, The Summer I Turned Pretty Fanatics.
How are your little ‘shipper hearts? Was the summer house conclusion anti-climactic? Sound off
The season finale of The Summer I Turned Pretty airs Friday on Prime Video.
Jasmine Blu is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. She is an insomniac who spends late nights and early mornings binge-watching way too many shows and binge-drinking way too much tea. Her eclectic taste makes her an unpredictable viewer with an appreciation for complex characters, diverse representation, dynamic duos, compelling stories, and guilty pleasures. You’ll definitely find her obsessively live-tweeting, waxing poetic, and chatting up fellow Fanatics and readers. Follow her on Twitter.