Well, that fucked me up.
We’re only two episodes into season two and I am spending a large majority of time crying. I am angry, frustrated, and filled with so many emotions. I am confused. And yet, in all of that, I am happy.
I am happy because I am getting what we deserve with all adaptations. I am getting the complexity of characters, a hook that keeps me going, things that are and aren’t in the book, and the essence of characters that I can’t help but love and always will love.
Maybe the truth is that with other adaptations I have expected too much, but I would also say that I have expected too little. Because The Summer I Turned Pretty does something that others have failed to do. And what is that? Well thats the fact that this show has never forgotten its origin – it’s a world built in a book, but enhanced with perfect casting and eloquent lines.
Maybe it’s because the author is involved that we have these moments that keep both the book reader loving every moment and bring in the potential new book reader.
Whatever they’ve done, The Summer I Turned Pretty, has managed to be a mix of perfection and growth, laughter and tears, and overall a show that this writer can’t get enough of.
Lola Tung, Christopher Briney, and Gavin Casalegno are the magic formula and this episode proves just that.
Conrad Fisher is missing. No one knows where he is, but Jeremiah Fisher is worried. He may not admit that he likes the fact that Belly wants to be there, but you can see that even through his pain, he’s happy to be in her presence.
And Belly… well, she’s happy to be in his.
Lola Tung has the unique gift where she plays a character with strength and confidence, but you don’t really notice it unless you’re paying attention. Instead, you think to a point that this character is going to be overshadowed.
Belly will not be overshadowed.
The Fisher boys are her loves, but she’s also come to realize that the way that she loves them is different. She’s been in love with Conrad and she’s loved Jeremiah, and she is angry feeling that they’ve shut her out.
But what her ending up on a road trip to Cousins Beach with Jeremiah is going to teach her something else. She’s going to learn that she shut them out too. Everyone was wrapped in so many different types of grief that they failed to recognize that grief is not the same for everyone. They both failed to recognize that they were in need of each other in their lives, but both failed to be there for each other.
But more than anything, it was Belly not being there for him.
Jeremiah did need her and Belly was thinking that she had all sides of the equation. She didn’t. Jeremiah wasn’t completely honest with how he felt about her and Conrad. He deserved her being there and she deserved his honesty.
Belly and Jeremiah’s talk when they get a flat tire had me in tears. It was a moment that they needed, but it was also a moment that we, the viewer needed also.
Did I think that they would find peace with each other so easily? No. But that’s the power of friendship. The power of friendship – theirs – is something that we can all learn from. Jeremiah and Belly have a connection that is unlike her one with Conrad, but it’s equally as important.
Their drive to Cousins to see if Conrad, we see a lot of looking back. Belly and Conrad and a drive to Cousins Beach a winter past. A trip that made them realize their love for each other, a trip where she gave every part of herself to him. A trip where he was once again, her first. A trip where she learned just how much she could love, how reckless she could be and still survive, and a trip where Belly learned more about herself.
What I loved is the parallel’s of the drive – hers and Conrads and then hers and Jeremiah’s. I feel like with everything, Jenny Han sets up the world so flawlessly that you can’t help but be torn in the ship that has chosen you. You see the way that each one of the Fisher brothers is good for her.
And just how good she can be for both of them.
I have so many questions though. What happened at the funeral? Why does Conrad seem to unhappy to see her? Why are Jeremiah and Conrad cutting out Steven too?
There are so many issues that I think that we all need answers too. Some we can get from the books, but I also have to wonder, will this show go by the book? What are we going to see? I don’t know. I feel like everything is up in the air and whatever choices are made will most likely shock us.
After all, Conrad seemed to be shocked to see Belly. More shocked than Jeremiah did when Conrad told him the house was for sale.
OTHER THOUGHTS
- Loved Laurels book
- Seeing Laurel go shopping and someone knowing who she is – I feel like that was good for her ego. I feel like it’s important for Laurel to see that she is more than just who she was with Beck
- Steven jealous of Belly, it’s cute. But also – Taylor being a ride or die. We stan.
- Steven needs to calm down and realize that his sister is hurting and support her
- Taylor and Belly need to be on the same page better – cause they got caught.
