This article contains spoilers for “The Summer I Turned Pretty” Season 2. All interviews with actors were conducted before the SAG-AFTRA strike.
It’s not summer without “The Summer I Turned Pretty.”
Prime Video’s hit teen drama has returned for Season 2. The first three episodes, which dropped on July 13, re-introduced its rabid fanbase to the world of 16-year-old Belly Conklin (Lola Tung), who spends summers with her family and friends at an idyllic house in Cousins Beach. Caught in a love triangle between two brothers, Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno) and Conrad Fisher (Chris Briney), Belly navigates romance and friendship — and, in Season 2, grief, for the first time.
A New York Times bestselling series written by Jenny Han, “The Summer I Turned Pretty” debuted on Prime Video in 2022, where it became the No. 1 show on the streaming service in its debut weekend. Han is also the co-showrunner of the series, alongside Gabrielle Stanton in Season 1 and Sarah Kucserka in Season 2. Besides Tung, Casalegno and Briney, the cast also includes Sean Kaufman as Steven, Belly’s brother; Jackie Chung as Laurel, Belly’s mother; Rachel Blanchard as Susannah, Jeremiah and Conrad’s mother; and Rain Spencer as Taylor, Belly’s best friend.
The Season 1 finale included the reveal that Susannah has been re-diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. But Season 2, which takes place about a year after Season 1, almost immediately sets the tone by revealing that Susannah died during the school year, leaving Belly, Jeremiah, Conrad and their families grieving in the wake of her death.
In addition to mourning Susannah, Belly is also grappling with a breakup with Conrad. Season 1 ended with the two kissing on the beach, but through flashbacks, we learn that the two decided not to pursue a relationship right away. Over the course of the school year, however, they spend more time around each other and eventually travel to Cousins Beach in the winter, where they witness snowfall by the ocean. This is a fan-favorite scene that first appeared in the book; however, for the television show, Han added one very crucial scene that doesn’t exist in her original novels. In the second episode, it’s revealed that Belly loses her virginity to Conrad by the fireplace in the house at Cousins Beach after the snow at the beach scene.
“I felt like that’s where Belly was in her journey,” Han tells Variety. “These two characters were very much in love and had known each other their whole lives. I felt like they had really been through something together, and we had been with Belly through many first-times. It was important for the audience to be with her for that one.”
“I thought no matter what happened in the future, this will always be a moment that she shares with her first love,” she adds. “I approached the show in some ways as if I was writing a story in this moment in time. That’s what I would have done if I was writing it today.”
When asked about filming the scene, Tung says that she and Briney talked with an intimacy coordinator individually and together on set while filming the scene.
“I felt very safe in that environment,” she says. “They were trying to do everything that they could to make us feel safe and and make it as easy as possible for us to do our jobs… I feel very grateful that we were able to check in with each other and to bring the scene to life in a really beautiful way.”
Briney concurs, saying that there was an “intense focus on comfort and making sure everybody’s comfortable.”
“It’s a closed set situation,” he says, adding that the sex scenes are generally “very choreographed.”
Belly makes this decision, Tung says, because “she is really in love” with Conrad.
“For her in that moment in time, it is the the right thing and something that she wants to do and something that I think they both want,” she adds. “So it feels right to them. They both have a lot of love for each other, and they feel safe together too. So it’s familiar, and it’s comfortable, but also new and exciting for them.”
As for Conrad, Briney says, “He’s really terrified. He maybe has never cared about something more in his life and is afraid of ruining it or overstepping or being insensitive. He’s in uncharted territory of his own in how much he cares about it and that scares him.”
This moment of intimacy is embedded in the grief that Belly experiences in the aftermath of their breakup, which happens on her prom night. Conrad, devastated by his mother’s deteriorating condition, retreats into himself and pushes everyone away, leaving Belly by herself (and without a corsage) at her own prom. Then, at Susannah’s funeral, Belly makes the situation worse by lashing out at Conrad, telling him, “Go to hell.”
So when Jeremiah calls her weeks later to tell her that his brother has gone missing, Belly knows it’s her shot at redemption and, possibly, healing. When the two set off for Cousins in Jeremiah’s red Jeep, we understand that not only are they searching for Conrad, but they’re also chasing the chance to repair the relationships that formed them so deeply.
“The Summer I Turned Pretty” Season 2 episodes drop weekly on Prime Video through August 18.
