The Summer I Turned Pretty episodes 1-3 spoilers follow.
The Summer I Turned Pretty was always in that sweet spot between adorable and cheesy.
In season one, fans watched as Belly's summer of romantic reawakening blossomed into not one but two ship-worthy love stories (and yes, we purposely discounted her brief fling with Cam-Camron because, come on).
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For Belly (Lola Tung), it was only ever really Conrad (Christopher Briney). That was until he rejected her and his brother Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno) started looking like more than just best-friend material.
Cheesy or not, fans became hooked on Belly (Lola Tung) flip-flopping between the two as she navigated this new world of relationships.
While the season-one finale reconciled the tension between Belly and Conrad, ultimately ending in the two cementing their relationship with a kiss, there was still the question of Jeremiah.
Poor, sweet Jeremiah who still believed he was in with a chance.
This, along with the boys' mum Susannah (Rachel Blanchard) making the decision to fight her terminal cancer should have made the perfect breeding ground for an absorbing, gripping season two.
*Sigh*
Things do kick off in that vein. BEWARE the massive SPOILER we're about to drop.
Susannah's health doesn't just take a turn for the worse. Season two debuts with the absolutely heart-wrenching reveal that she has passed away. Those who didn't watch the trailer were in for a shock when Susannah's death was delivered in a simple, matter-of-fact sentence.
Jeremiah later expresses that it happened fast, which pretty much echoes the feeling viewers were left with. Just like for Jeremiah (in particular, who hadn't known about Susannah's illness for long), it was quick for the fans too which, oddly enough, feels appropriate.
It honours those real-life experiences where there isn't always time for long goodbyes – a fact not often explored in teen shows. It also makes Susannah's flashback scenes even more meaningful and integral as it speaks to the impact she had in their lives.
What we perhaps did not need were three consecutive episodes anchored in flashbacks that move the story on at a glacial pace. These flashbacks spilled out from Susannah's fate and the aftermath, to explaining the messiness of the Brothers/Belly love triangle that ultimately ends with her dating neither.
This feels somewhat futile given that three things are made crystal clear from the jump. Susannah is dead, Belly and Conrad are over, and she and Jeremiah are no longer on speaking terms.
Yet despite establishing these facts very early on, the show spends the debut three episodes of season two lamenting these facts and combing over how they came to be instead of being present in the story at hand.
By the close of the premier we really only learned one thing that was not spelled out for us at the beginning, which is that the summer house, their hub of joy, has been put up for sale by Susannah's sister.
Given the loss of Susannah, the threat of losing the summer house does hit hard. Their love for her is tied into their love for the house and their bonds with each other, so it does tug on those heartstrings a little.
Is it enough to encourage us to hang on for another week? Barely.
Likewise, the flashbacks of the fledgeling romance building between Conrad and Belly failed to hold the same appeal knowing the eventual bitter outcome. Similarly the longing looks of regret and wanting being tossed back round and round between Belly, Conrad and Jeremiah in the present feel flat.
We get it. Those feelings of passion still exist, yet for us, the passion feels like a waning continuation from season one. What intrigued more was the bubbling romantic tension between Belly's best gal Taylor (Rain Spencer) and her brother Steven (Sean Kaufman).
Despite their efforts to suppress their feelings for one another it is clear their kissing days are far from over.
Things are made even more complicated by the fact that Taylor is supposedly head over heels for her new boyfriend and Steven will soon be leaving for Princeton.
Overall, it's a bland start to the season, however with just three episodes under their belt we're hoping things turn around soon.
Episodes 1-3 of The Summer I Turned Pretty season 2 are available to watch now on Prime Video with new episodes dropping weekly on Fridays.
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TV writer, Digital Spy Janet completed her Masters degree in Magazine Journalism in 2013 and has continued to grow professionally within the industry ever since. For six years she honed her analytical reviewing skills at the Good Housekeeping institute eventually becoming Acting Head of Food testing. She also freelanced in the field of film and TV journalism from 2013-2020, when she interviewed A-List stars such as Samuel L Jackson, Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson. In 2021 she joined Digital Spy as TV writer where she gets to delve into more of what she loves, watching copious amounts of telly all in the name of work. Since taking on the role she has conducted red carpet interviews with the cast of Bridgerton, covered the BAFTAs and been interviewed by BBC Radio and London Live. In her spare time she also moonlights as a published author, the book Gothic Angel.
