The Summer I Turned Pretty season 2 premiere recap: Still pretty, infinitely sadder

The boys (and girl) of Summer are back for season 2, which finds a sadder but wiser Belly coping with grief, loss, and real estate.

When we saw her last, Belly (Lola Tung) had just experienced the most dramatic "boy steps in to dance with his brother's date in an archaic public ceremony that the town elders care more about than the youth" scene since Damon squired Elena onto the dance floor while Stefan was off being a ripper.

While Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno) was off being devastated by the news of his mother Susannah's (Rachel Blanchard) cancer and guilting her into entering an experimental trial, Conrad (Christopher Briney) finally delivered the swoony, passionate kiss that Belly had dreamed of for years. So it's all smooth sailing from here, right?

Um. About that. Let's recap the first three episodes of The Summer I Turned Pretty season 2. Have tissues handy.

Episode 1: Love Lost

Susannah is dead.

I'm sorry to be so blunt, but her absence is the defining factor of the season, richocheting through the thoughts and actions of everyone on screen as we bounce back and forth between the present — the last day of school — and the events of the preceding year.

In flashbacks, we learn Jeremiah took the news of Belly and Conrad badly and bitterly informs her that Conrad's going to break her heart. She's crushed by his anger, but it's hard to stay upset when Conrad tells her, "You're it for me, Belly."

In the present, Belly's grades are in the toilet, her volleyball captaincy got revoked, and she's reluctant to hit the big grad party that weekend.

The rest of the family's also struggling. Before her death, Susannah arranged for Steven (Sean Kaufman) to receive a graduation care package and a hand-written note, and Laurel (Jackie Chung) can barely look at it. Steven, meanwhile, blames his sister for making things so awkward with the Fisher brothers that they didn't come to the ceremony.

In a flashback, Belly suggests that she and Conrad pause things so he and Jere can focus on their mother's cancer battle. He reluctantly agrees but insists that she keep the necklace he bought her because no matter what, they'll still be infinite. Their "cool it" plan doesn't last long, as their first tentative phone calls morph into marathon 2 a.m. conversations while Conrad's at Brown.

But in the present, Belly is not wearing the necklace as Princeton-bound Steven gives his valedictorian speech, which includes this killer line: "There are times where it feels like the world is happening to you, but remember that you are also happening to the world."

He reminds his classmates to live for today, dropping the f-bomb for emphasis. (Just imagine how your high school administrators would've reacted if your valedictorian did that.) His words convince Belly to go to volleyball camp and hit that grad party after all, which delights Taylor (Rain Spencer).

At the graduation party, Steven watches in dismay as Taylor — her eyes bedazzled in a style that I, an Old, think of as Euphoria-lite — gushes about her new man Milo, a Machine Gun Kelly wannabe who tries to pass off Aerosmith's "Don't Wanna Miss a Thing" as a song he wrote for his girlfriend.

Things get worse when Water Gun Milo rips his shirt down the front to perform a sluggish version of "My Own Worst Enemy," and Steven, with an eye on Taylor, tries and fails to crowd surf shirtless, knocking Belly over.

From there, the night gets worse. In her attempt to get over Conrad by getting under someone else, she misreads the signals from a classmate who's actually interested in her friend Marcy.

When she tries to leave the party, Steven gets upset becasue she's his designated driver. They have an ugly public scene, with her accusing him of not caring about Susannah's death and him calling her selfish for toying with both Conrad and Jeremiah and ruining his friendship with both of them.

Belly shouts that she was out-of-her-mind in love and races to her car. The beeping as it starts morphs into "Driver's License," a musical choice that feels as inevitable as the tides at Cousins Beach.

In a flashback, we learn that Conrad showed up on Belly's doorstep in October to announce that Jeremiah seems to be over her, but he's not and might never be. She flings her arms around his neck and kisses him.

But in the present, she cries all the way home. Something clearly went awry between Halloween and graduation, and it may involve something that happened at Susannah's funeral. So, uh. Stay tuned for that.

When Belly arrives home, Laurel tries to have a mom-versation about her poor school performance this past year, and Belly lashes back about Laurel's absence as she cared for Susannah and the boys.

It's gutting to watch everyone's pain over Susannah's death cause them to hurt others carrying the same grief. Everybody's at fault but nobody can be blamed as they're mired in the darkest stages of loss.

Laurel, at least, grabs onto a glimmer of light when she reads Susannah's hand-written note to Steven, which includes the phrase he used in his graduation speech: "You are happening to the world." It convinces her to say yes to a meet-and-greet for the book she wrote about Susannah's death, which she'd been avoiding. 

In bed that night, Belly scrolls through pictures of her and Savannah, then Savannah and the boys, then her and Conrad. Feeling like she's lost all of them, she calls Jeremiah, who surprises her by promptly picking up.

But he only answered because Conrad's been missing since he left campus the day before, and Jere's hoping he's with Belly.

He's not, and they reluctantly agree to form a search party of two.

Kissin' Cousins corner

• In case you were worried, Steven makes it home from the party safely thanks to Taylor and Water Gun Milo, but he hates every moment he's stuck in the backseat watching them make out. Same, and I'm not even harboring secret feelings for Belly's best friend. Also, Milo's hoping to get signed with Cancel Culture Records, which is at least half a dozen red flags righ there.
• Line of the episode goes to Belly and Steven's dad John (Colin Ferguson), who tells Laurel, "Glad the whole not-going-to-therapy thing is working out for you." Laurel. Ma'am. No therapy? None? Get thee to a couch to talk it out!
• Speaking of John, he encourages Laurel to share her beautiful book with the world and offers to cheer her on since Susannah can't. If these kids have the energy to do a Parent Trap situation here, I support it. After all, as Belly's graduation-dinner fortune cookie says, "Happiness is an activity."

Episode 2: Love Scene

Belly makes two trips to Cousins Beach in this episode. One will make you swoon. One will break your heart. Both involve the same guy.

At Christmastime, Belly quietly packs a bag and sneaks out to meet Conrad, who's all smiles as he hands her his coat so she won't get cold.

In the now, Belly gets on a bus to Brown, where she meets a downright chilly Jeremiah. He refuses the coffee she brings him and snarks about the fact that she never visited Conrad's dorm room.

The awkwardness isn't helped when Conrad's roommate recognizes Belly's name and says Conrad fell into a depression after they broke up. But at least she and Jere get confirmation that he's at Cousins Beach and that he needs to be back on Thursday or he'll flunk his bio final. (He's a pre-med major now!) When Belly grabs his laptop, she finds her infinity necklace tucked underneath it.

Jeremiah insists that the only reason for her to come along is for Conrad's sake, but she recognizes that he's scared and wants her there too. After all, it's only been a month since Susannah's death.

A flat tire interrupts their awkward drive. Jeremiah wants to call AAA, but Belly insists that can fix it themselves. They can't, and Jere end up shouting at her about hooking up with him, then hooking up with his brother, then everyone expecting him to be fine with it. It's a fair critique.

She apologies for that but more importantly, for only being there for Conrad while Susannah was dying, leaving her best friend all alone. She hugs him, and he breaks down in her arms. Oh, this poor, sweet boy.

Things almost feel normal after that, and when they stop for blueberry pie at Rosie's, they bump into Nicole (Summer Madison) for a stilted conversation that reinforces how nothing will ever be the same at the beach.

Before we got to the really good stuff, let's catch up with Steven and Laurel. He's pleased to hear she's doing the New York book event, and they grab lunch. We learn that with Laurel distracted all year, Steven gamed the college scholarship system with an extensive database and some carefully tailored essays. Good for him!

Laurel then goes clothes shopping for the New York event. The saleswoman helping her has read her first book, and we learn the name of her second one: It's Not Summer Without You. Yep, that's also the name of Jenny Han's second book, which is the basis for this season. At the reminder of Susannah, Laurel manages to hold it together in the dressing room, but barely.

Steven, meanwhile, realizes that Belly's lying about her whereabouts when she texts that she and Taylor are crying over Titanic after Taylor's break-up with Water Gun Milo. Too bad for Belly that Steven's literally talking to Taylor at a bookstore.

Taylor gamely tries to cover for her bestie, but she eventually admits that Belly and Jere are searching for Conrad.

Steven's upset that Jeremiah didn't call him, and Taylor begs him to let Belly fix things on her own. Oh, and before he uncovered Belly's lie, he got off a few "wow, I hated that guy" zingers about Milo that I hope will eventually pay off with more Steven/Taylor smooching.

Okay, let's get into the part of the episode that everyone's been waiting for. As Belly and Jeremiah pull up at the house, she both yearns for and fears her reunion with Conrad. Then we flash back to the two of them arriving for their secret winter getaway. 

The house is cold when they walk in, so Conrad builds a fire as Belly makes them hot cocoa. (Book readers, did you peep that Simpsons mug??)

They bundle up and head outside, and although they're literally frolicking in the snow on the beach — it is weird but effing beautiful! — the Taylor Swift song playing over their giddy joy is "Invisible String." 

Belly and Conrad settle in front of the fire as "Kissing You" by Des'ree floats into the scene. (Check in with all the young Gen X girlies; we are NOT OKAY after that needle drop.) They kiss, and Conrad's Cousins Rowing shirt comes off as they negotiate what comes next, with Conrad telling her that he didn't bring her to the beach house for this and Belly assuring him that it's what she wants.

Soon enough, they're skin to skin and backlit by the flickering of the fireplace, and it's sweet and tender and everything. Afterward, Belly whispers, "There's only you. There's only ever been you" to a sleeping Conrad.

In the present, Belly barely has time to process the news that Conrad drops: the beach house is being sold. Then he fixes his eyes on her and stonily asks, "What is she doing here?"

Kissin' Cousins corner

• Gather 'round, ye Zoomers and Millennials, and let me tell you about a little movie called William Shakespeare's Romeo+Juliet. In 1996, a generation of us imprinted on "Kissing You" as the most romantic song in the world when a baby-faced Leonardo DiCaprio freezes at the first glimpse of a dewey Claire Danes in a pair of angel wings we all wanted for ourselves. Jenny Han carefully chose the song for this huge moment from the book, and it's perfect. PERFECT. Go forth, you cool cats, and make this song a "Running Up that Hill"-style hit. I want to hear it every time I open TikTok. I want Des'ree booking talk show gigs. I want a world tour with this as the closer every night.
• Hey EW critic Rob Brunner, who gave Romeo + Juliet a C+ in 1996 while absolutely savaging the top-notch, I'm-listening-to-it-right-now soundtrack: where you at? I just wanna talk.
• Imagine being rich enough to have a Smeg stand mixer for your summer home.
• Props to Christpher Briney's hair acting in that last scene. So flat! So sad! Definitely the hair of a depressed college freshman whose mom just died and whose ex-girlfriend did something ominous at her funeral. And we're about to find out what that was…

Episode 3: Love Sick

So that's what happened at the funeral. It's somehow both not as bad as I feared and as devastating as I expected.

But first, meet Aunt Julia (Kyra Sedgwick). She became the sole owner of the Cousins Beach house after the death of her half-sister, Susannah, whose funeral she didn't attend.

Not even a full charm-offensive visit from Jeremiah and Belly can dissuade her from selling the house, and she all but shuts her motel door in their faces after informing them that an open house is scheduled for tomorrow.

Is she this season's easy-to-hate villain, or will she and her child Skye (Elsie Fisher) have more to their story? My money's on the latter — especially since Belly mentions that Susannah once said Julia encouraged her to pursue her art — but since both of these characters are show creations, none of us know for sure.

With Julia not budging, Conrad's trying to tap into his trust fund to buy the house outright, perfectly happy to turn his back on college. Seeing the "for sale" sign in the yard felt like losing his mother all over again, and he's prepared to handle it alone.

But Belly and Jere decide to stay put, as they both know that Conrad pushes people away in a crisis. 

We see a heartbreaking example of this in a flashback when a clearly unhappy Conrad sleepwalks through the run-up to prom before abruptly leaving Belly on the dance floor to head back to college.

Belly follows him outside to confirm that their relationship is truly over. Her gorgous prom dress gets soaked in the rain as she removes the infinity necklace and pushes it into his hand, then collapses into Steven's arms as Conrad drives off.

Poor Belly. It's impossible to fully blame a 19-year-old whose mother isn't responding to her long-shot cancer treatment, but it doesn't make her heart any less broken.

Steven's also been singed by the change in his relationship with the Fishers, and, frustrated at being excluded from the Conrad hunt, he lies and tells Taylor that he's been summoned to Cousins Beach.

She decides to come along and arranges to grab more clothes for Belly. Queen Taylor! Steven can barely contain his delight that she's riding shotgun until she informs him that Water Gun Milo doesn't feel threatened that the two of them are on a road trip together. Apparently their make-out sesh last summer was a big ol' nothing for her.

This leads to Steven getting snooty about Milo's intelligence — to be fair, Milo is terrible — and Taylor lashes back about his treatment of Belly at the graduation party.

As an apology, she drives the last leg and tells him that it hurts her feelings when he acts smarter than everyone else. Steven seems stung that she doesn't realize he considers her one of the smartest people he knows, and he confides that he's torn between sadness over Susannah and excitement over college.

Queen Taylor says therapy taught her that grief and happiness can coexist, which is an amazing reminder for us all, and she assures Steven that the Fisher brothers still love him.

At the beach house, things between Belly and Jeremiah are back to normal. He teases her about how mean she gets when she plays volleyball and makes her promise that she'll actually go to the camp this summer.

Conrad's also more like himself; he's open to Jere adding his trust to the buy-the-house fund, and he asks Belly to stay too since it's as much her house as theirs. It's a nice callback to a conversation Susannah and Belly had at the end of last summer when Susannah asked her to keep the beach magic going after she's gone.

But Susannah is gone, and in a flashback, we finally learn what happened at her funeral.

At the church, everyone in the pews is in various stages of crying, about-to-cry, or just-finished-crying-and-will-probably-cry-again.

Conrad gets up with his guitar to sing a downbeat version of "Last Kiss," choking up when he makes eye contact with Belly.

Although she promises to stay by his side for the rest of the day, she loses track of him at the wake. When she finds him, he's in the rec room curled up in the lap of his ex-girlfriend Audrey. Audrey!!! *shakes fist at the heavens*

She runs from the room, and he follows, which results in an exchange of hateful words in the front hallway. Conrad says getting involved with her was a huge mistake, and Belly hisses that she never wants to see him again.

The scene is staged so the terrible things they say to each other mostly go unnoticed by the mourners in black around them until Belly stumbles and falls as she tries to storm out. It's not as dramatic as a meltdown in the middle of the funeral service or something equally public, but you just know that every night before she falls asleep, Belly sees the look of disappointment on Laurel's face before her mother turns away.

Although she promised herself that she'd never give Conrad the chance to crush her again, she's by his side as they talk to his father. Adam (Tom Everett Scott) refuses to let the boys use their trusts to buy the house, no matter how upset they are. At the end of the tense conversation, Steven and Taylor burst in, brandishing pie and shouting "Surprise!" It is definitely not the vibe.

Jere's crushed that he wasn't able to change Adam's mind, and Conrad apologizes for trying to push everyone away. He promises that they'll figure something out, starting with being total nightmares at the open house.

Back inside, the group settles in to watch It Happened One Night on DVD (for some reason I'm amused that they're using physical media) while Belly silently vows to preserve this place however she can.

When Conrad's phone buzzes, he slips out. We don't see the message, but Steven follows him to the beach as he struggles to breathe through a panic attack.

Kissin' Cousins corner

• There's not a lot of Laurel in this episode, but she does pop up at the wake to criticize Belly for wearing a dress that's too small. Again, it's hurt people hurting people, but it's also no wonder that they're all in various stages of breaking down in the present. Nobody can be there for the people they love because they can barely keep their own heads up.
• Oof. It's hard to watch Belly toss out the hot chocolate from her "Kissing You" night with Conrad, isn't it?
• I know nothing of beach property values. What do we think the asking price is here?
• From here on the show airs one episode a week. See you next Friday for episode four!

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• Jenny Han breaks down The Summer I Turned Pretty season 2 script page of major Belly/Conrad moment
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• First look at Jenny Han's The Summer I Turned Pretty TV series reveals epic summer love triangle