Everything is complicated. When it comes to The Summer I Turned Pretty, everything is complicated. But things with the Fisher brothers and Belly is never simple. Life is never easy for any of them – Conrad, Jeremiah, Belly, Taylor, and Steven.
But they are all finding a way – it’s just that the journey, sometimes takes a bunch of twists and turns.
And this episode wasn’t so much about the complications that everything in their lives can bring, it was more about Conrad, Jeremiah, Belly, Taylor, and Steven… well and Skye, they all needed each other. Sometimes it’s just starting the journey that makes you remember that.
But that being said, where these is happiness, there is sadness, and nothing was as painful as seeing the end of this episode and watching all of them loose Susannah over and over again.
THE BEACH HOUSE
Aunt Julia. Lord, she’s just a miserable person. And even though we know she’s miserable, we have to believe that there is something that we are missing that happened between her and Susannah. We’re missing something that Aunt Julia hasn’t let go of.
But what it is and what it has to do with this house, I am sure we will find out, but the pain that we’re gonna have to go through is wrong.
The kids want to hold onto this house, so they are determined to crash the open house and make things go wrong. Yes, ultimately what happens is the open house gets cancelled because the air conditioner goes out.
There is no love lost between Julia and Conrad, but there is also no familiarity. Somehow I think that they are both angry and confused and neither know why. Julia thinks she’s sparing her nephews pain by not telling them her side of the story, but all she’s doing is causing more pain.
I don’t like her, but I actually feel bad for her too.
And I feel bad for Skye, who is caught in the middle. Honoring everyone in your life isn’t an easy thing. It’s actually painful, because no matter what you do, someone is going to be hurt.
Do I think that Skye knows what her Mom ultimately is doing? No. I think she really just wants to have family and for her cousins to understand that her Mom isn’t evil. She’s hurting.
LAUREL
The admiration for Laurel is there. I think that she’s strong and she’s full of heart. But I think that she’s trying, but that her grief is so big that she doesn’t even know how to deal with it.
She thinks that she just has to compartmentalize her grief, because in doing so, she’s there for her kids. However, what she doesn’t realize is that she’s not fooling them. She’s showing them that they need to just cope. They need to just get through.
Steven is being supportive, trying to be a rock for his Mom and tell her that she’s doing good. He’s trying to encourage her. He’s trying to tell her that she’s okay.
Laurel is in New York trying to sell her book, and she’s doing a horrible job. She’s not embraced her book because she feels like it’s talking about Susannah and that would mean embracing her grief. I wonder if she understands that she needs to embrace her grief, because in order to be the best parent she can be, she needs to heal.
Healing isn’t linear. I think that one of the beautiful things about this show, is that it’s showing healing and grief in its different forms, letting you know that no way is wrong. It just lets you know that you can feel. You can experience love, loss, pain, grief, and healing in your own way.
Being happy isn’t a sin when you’ve experienced pain. Laurel and the rest should know that Susannah wouldn’t want anything less than their happiness.
I loved that Conrad and Steven had their moment. They had their moment of bro hood and Conrad being open about his panic attacks, which I do believe was so important to change their relationship.
Steven has every reason to hate Conrad, but he doesn’t. He idolizes him. He wants what is best for him. And hey, I love that they can rise above. Do I understand bro-hood? No. Because I am petty. BUT that being said, I wish that I could be like a guy and just move forward.
BOARDWALK GAMES
With the air broken, Conrad, Jeremiah, Belly, Taylor, and Steven decide to go to the boardwalk and they invite Skye to come. She does, reluctantly. If anything I believe that it’s a good moment for the cousins to bond.
They are having a competition – boys against girls. It sends them all bonding and it’s really fun to watch them all come together. It’s fun to watch them open up. You see the way that Conrad and Belly start to open up and find calmness around each other. You see Jeremiah and Belly finding each other. You see Skye and Conrad and Jeremiah bond. You see Taylor and Stevens attraction.
We get the return of Cam Cameron.
But I will stand on the hill that what is the most important thing about this day is that all of these characters were able to grow around their pain. All of them were able to find a peace that they don’t normally have.
The grief is there, but they are all learning to grow around it. It was a day filled with competition, but that was a moment that makes them all move forward. And we needed that. We needed a moment to see them all find that moving forward doesn’t mean forgetting.
TOWER OF TERROR
When you lead up to the end of an episode that has been filled with happiness, you know that the end is going to come and this is going to be painful. Do I think that this episode was needed? Yes. It was needed because the group had to bond. The group had to come together.
It was an episode that was needed to change the game.
With the girls having lost and Belly’s side bet, she has to go on The Tower of Terror. Leave it to Jeremiah to be the person that reminds her that she doesn’t have to do it alone.
While Jeremiah has never been my favorite in the books, this version of Jeremiah, I do love. I love the innocence and the beauty, I love the love and heart that he gives. I love the look on his face when he looks at Belly. I love the way he doesn’t ever give up on his brother. I love the way he’s stronger than I ever gave him credit for.
And I love that he got on the Tower of Terror and held her hand. I love that he didn’t let of her hand. I love that he still looked at her with the same love and heart when they hit the bottom.
While I respect peoples right to ship who they want, I hope that people respect mine. I have shipped Conrad and Belly for a decade, and it’s just not gonna change. But that being said, I do think that there are reason for everything and I trust Jenny Han. Knowing that she’s involved, and knowing Belly and Jeremiah’s relationship in the books, I won’t question what is happening here.
I will know it’s necessary.
Maybe it’s cause my mind quickly changes and heads straight to hating Aunt Julia. They all get back to the house and everything in the house is gone. All of their memories, all of the things that their mother picked out… everything.
The look on Conrad and Jeremiah’s face – it was as if they had just lost their Mom again and that was a lot to take. How Julia couldn’t have realized that she would be destroying them, I don’t understand. What I do understand is that whatever Julia and Susannah’s beef was, transferring it to their children, taking it out on those boys… that was one of the cruelest things that Julia could have ever done.
There is no redemption for her.
OTHER THOUGHTS
- I missed Cam Cameron
- Conrad Fisher can be such an asshole
- I miss Susannah so much, but I am so happy
- Belly can give big burns
- Aunt Julia emptied out the house? I still hate her for this.
- I love the thought of Steven and Taylor together
- Steven telling Conrad that he senses something between him and Belly… bad timing.
- I really am hoping Skye isn’t in on her Moms shit. I’d be so mad.
- Why do I think that Conrad and Jeremiah’s Dad is involved in the beach house issues? I feel like that’s plausible.
- Belly’s memories of Conrad and Jeremiah from when she was younger tells a lot about them and her
- The giraffe… and Junior Mint will never be the same
- Conrad needs hope. So does Jeremiah. And well, we get it
