‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’ Season 2 Showcases a Sharper Love Triangle

This feature contains spoilers for The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 2 Episodes 1-3.

The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 2’s first three episodes are somber as they explore grief and wistfulness in this coming-of-age story. The success of this tonal shift and the narrative lies in the subtle storytelling choices this season takes that differ from its debut season — and the books.

Based on Jenny Han’s YA trilogy, this season takes heavily from the second book of the series, It’s Not Summer Without You, which switches up perspectives by offering a few chapters from Jeremiah’s point of view alongside Belly’s. Conrad’s perspective doesn’t get any written accounts until the third book, We’ll Always Have Summer.

Consequently, Belly’s limited perspective offers biased depictions of both brothers until more insight comes with Jeremiah and then Conrad. TV gives The Summer I Turned Pretty the real estate to honor all three characters and elevate the love triangle while still telling most of the story from Belly’s point of view.

The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 1 thankfully cracks Conrad open a lot more than the first book, but it falls a bit short in depicting the connection between Belly and Jeremiah because Belly is, ultimately, so focused on Conrad.

With just three episodes, Season 2 improves on every account and uses sympathetic lenses that grant exceptional depth to Belly, Conrad, and Jeremiah. This season sharpens every corner and bolds every line of their love triangle.

The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 2 Episode 1, “Love Lost,” showcases this because even though it favors Belly and Conrad’s relationship, the cliffhanger is that Conrad is missing and it’s the first time Belly and Jeremiah speak in a while.

This twist — known by book readers — hits every pairing in the triangle.

Principally, “Love Lost” hinges on just that for Belly with Conrad. The payoff of her layered grief works as the flashbacks open up their relationship and dig deeper into the characters. Though predominantly depicted through Belly’s perspective, the writing and Christopher Briney’s performance provide insight into Conrad.

Bridging distance through long-winded phone calls and clandestine meetings, Belly and Conrad pull themselves together with an invisible string. 

Conrad, who spends most of Season 1 bottled up and isolated, releases a pressure valve around Belly. He tells her things he’s never told anyone else, and in turn, Lola Tung’s performance makes it easy to get swept up in this love story with Belly.

Those scenes compound with the vulnerable milestones during The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 2 Episode 2, “Love Scene,” while Belly and Conrad celebrate Christmas at Cousins, making their collective heartbreak all the more shattering to experience on The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 2 Episode 3, “Love Sick.”

There’s a comfortability between Conrad and Belly that Conrad doesn’t feel for anyone else, and Belly has always yearned to have reciprocated from Conrad, and all of that comes crashing down at Prom after a gradual build-up of deterioration.

It’s a heartbreaking scene where Tung and Briney pull out all the stops.

Both Belly and Conrad’s pain and fears burn on the surface of that scene, and the beautifully poignant rain can’t put them out. It’s a gut-punch depiction of Belly reaching for Conrad, who not only doesn’t feel worthy of that love but doesn’t want to pull her down with him. The nuances of these pivotal scenes are never lost.

That tension escalates right through the wake of Susannah’s funeral when The Summer I Turned Pretty adapts a brutal passage from It’s Not Summer Without You with such tenderness. The show’s ability to get inside Conrad’s head makes the scene a dynamic viewing experience — the layers behind their dialogue are visible.

The same is true for Jeremiah more than ever this season because the first three episodes strengthen his characterization. More specifically, elements of his book counterpart come into sharper focus during “Love Scene” and “Love Sick.”

The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 1 highlights Jeremiah’s charisma and touches on his and Belly’s friendship but subverts some of the character’s other angles because Conrad is the only one who knows about Susannah’s cancer — unlike in the books. 

The first of Jeremiah’s few appearances on “Love Lost” shows how that weight looks when it’s more evenly placed on both boys’ shoulders, but even then, Jeremiah is still adjusting to the news about his mother when he learns about Belly and Conrad.

The Summer I Turned Pretty breaches Jeremiah’s process of understanding with sympathy, as it does in Season 1 when Conrad goes through his version. That scene also hones in on this love triangle’s messy complexity. Belly, Conrad, and Jeremiah are so tangled in each other during an impeccably transformative time.

Gavin Casalegno delivers his strongest performance yet when Jeremiah puts that into words for Belly on “Love Scene” — one of the best scenes from the three episodes.

Jeremiah is a bright, positive force for Belly and for the majority of Season 1 — until his world permanently changes in an instant. The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 2 gives Jeremiah the space to express how he feels. The jeep’s tire popping is a clever metaphor for the holes in Belly and Jeremiah’s friendship that they need to patch.

Palpable emotions course through the scene when Jeremiah finally breaks and tells Belly, “But I needed you, and you just weren’t there. You left me.” Regardless of the romantic relationship at that moment, the realization of Belly and Jeremiah’s fractured friendship hits hard. That support system is invaluable and irreplaceable.

“Love Sick” pick up those pieces with scenes that inform their dynamic and showcase how much they mean to one another, which Season 1 could have done more often. Smaller beats like Belly swooping in when Jeremiah shuts down in front of Julia, or Jeremiah recognizing that coming back to Cousins must be hard for Belly too, add up.

For The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 2 to best utilize its love triangle, all aspects of it need to work. Fans need to feel that pull that Belly has for both brothers. “Love Lost,” “Love Scene,” and “Love Sick” make great strides on all accounts, including the underrated brotherhood between Conrad and Jeremiah.

Season 1 has so few one-on-one scenes with the brothers that the ones on “Love Sick” are as emotional and impactful as any Bonrad or Jelly scenes. The episode infuses the reciprocally supportive and protective tendencies between Conrad and Jeremiah from the books, elevating the collective angst and drama with Belly.

Ultimately, these first three episodes bode well for a majorly faithful TV adaptation of a beloved YA book trilogy. The stories, romances, and characters mature from the freshman season and lean into the growing pains of love and loss in ways that only make this show stronger — a true feat in the teen drama subgenre.

The Summer I Turned Pretty‘s sophomore outing welcomes fans back to Cousins with an emotional tidal wave that embraces the characters’ complexities. So, even as Season 2 converses with change, one thing won’t roll out with the current — Conrad, Belly, and Jeremiah’s love triangle gains definition every summer.

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The Summer I Turned Pretty streams new episodes every Friday on Prime Video.

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