NOTE: this post contains spoilers for The Summer I Turned Pretty season 2 episode 3, “Love Sick.”
Cousins Beach is a magical place, not only for our favorite characters, but the audience and readers who fell in love with the story through Jenny Han’s trilogy. This episode begins the fight to save the beach house and it’s clear that Conrad (Christopher Briney), Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno) and Belly (Lola Tung) aren’t giving up.
The beach house is being sold
Conrad reveals that their Aunt Julia (Kyra Sedgwick), Susannah’s (Rachel Blanchard) half-sister, is selling the house, which had belonged to both of them. Their father says they don’t have the money to buy it from her and legally, there’s nothing they can do. Ever since he left Brown, Conrad has been trying to figure out a way to keep the house, including using his trust. Being back at the beach house, it’s impossible to deny that Susannah is gone, which is weighing heavily on Belly and no doubt the boys.
Aunt Julia has arrived in Cousins and while Conrad hasn’t been able to get through to her, Jeremiah and Belly are ready to try. This allows us to not only meet Julia, but Skye (Elsie Fisher), Jeremiah and Conrad’s cousin. Julia lets them know that there’s going to be an open house tomorrow and that getting rid of the house is not personal.
Jeremiah and Conrad unite to talk to their father about letting them use their trusts to save the house, but the conversation doesn’t go well. Their father says that the trusts are for their future and he’s not gonna let them blow it.
Meanwhile, with Laurel (Jackie Chung) in New York for a book event, Steven (Sean Kaufman) decides that he’s going to Cousins to help and Taylor (Rain Spencer) volunteers to join him. He ends up opening up to her about how he’s been grieving Susannah, explaining that while he misses her, he’s excited about college. Taylor reminds him that everyone processes everything differently and that happiness can coexist with grief.
Conrad and Jeremiah have a heart-to-heart about their father and the house, promising that they’ll figure things out together. He even ends up thanking Belly for her help and being there, which is a step in the right direction for fixing their relationship. Before the episode ends, Conrad has a panic attack and Steven runs after him, leaving us on another cliffhanger.
Prom doesn’t have a fairytale ending
As prom approaches, it’s clear that Conrad is distracted, sharing that the doctors are putting his mother on new medication. Belly tries to convince him that it’s probably just because she’s getting better and needs a smaller dose. Of course, that is not actually the case and this is the beginning of Conrad’s spiral.
When the time has come, the night starts off with the fact that Conrad forgot Belly’s corsage. At the actual prom, he finally asks her to dance, but his heart isn’t in it and his girlfriend can tell. He soon asks if they can go somewhere to talk and Belly tries to convince her boyfriend to stay, only for Conrad to say he wants to go back to school instead of the after prom. He reasons that if he stays, he’ll only ruin the rest of the night for her.
They head outside to talk things out, but they’ve reached their breaking point and despite Belly’s pleading, Conrad starts to leave. She addresses the elephant in the room, ending things before giving back the infinity necklace and crying in Steven’s arms.
What happened at the funeral?
At the funeral, we see Conrad perform a song that his mother always wanted him to play and after that, Belly vows to not leave his side for the rest of the day. When the service ends, they go back to the house and Belly goes over to Jeremiah, saying she will bring him up some food if he wants to go upstairs. He takes her up on it and while she’s making a plate, Steven offers to bring it to him instead, so her next move is to find Conrad.
When she does, he’s with another girl and Belly is clearly upset. He chases her down the stairs and tries to explain, but she’s angry and it’s too much for them considering they just said goodbye to Susannah. Hurtful things are said by both parties with Conrad ending it by saying it was a huge mistake to start something with her. Belly responds that she never wants to see him again.
New episodes of The Summer I Turned Pretty will be released weekly on Prime Video with the finale streaming on Friday, August 18.
