“Love has different seasons”, says Laurel Parker( Jackie Chung) in a conversation with Belly (Lola Tung) towards the end of the second season of Prime Video’s The Summer I Turned Pretty. As the season maturely dwells into the characters’ griefs, longings and intimacies, you can feel the distinct unnamed phase of love Belly goes through. And the second season, which is more of a sublime depiction of ‘being there for each other’, profoundly finds a space above its first.
It is over the melancholy that gloomed after Susannah’s (Rachel Blanchard) death that the characters find an intersection of their psyche. And this omnipresent absence of Susannah is the propelling action in the plot moving the narrative forward, and is also the factor that credits a purpose to the narrative. Now the people are back in Cousins, and it is revealed that Susannah’s half-sister Julia is about to sell their summer home there. Firming a grip on this hapless juncture, the delicate yet nuanced writing branches out to the varied versions of relationships between Belly and the Fisher boys, Conrad and Jeremiah, Belly and her mother, and Tyler and Steven.
Created by: Jenny Han
Cast: Lola Tung, Jackie Chung, Rachel Blanchard, Christopher Briney, Gavin Casalegno, Sean Kaufman, Alfredo Narciso, Minnie Mills
Streaming On: Prime Video
The conclusions and closures that hang at ambiguity in the love triangle between Belly, Conrad and Jeremiah in the first season have segued into more subtle explorations of convictions in the second season.
The sequel also excels in its presentation of a teenage tale. The writing and staging are on point that when the trio exhibits discomfort and tension with each other, you will also feel the same uneasiness and angst. As the writing subtly keeps a neutral tone, it’s up to your discretion whom to root for and whom not to.
When the tug of love reaches a perennial point where suddenly Jeremiah goes missing for an instant, the audience is bound to feel breathless by the happenings! When Conrad tears up in his element, it makes you grieve. As the emotions transcend from the reel to real, the script makes you believe that you have grown with the characters and developed a sense of attachment and concern towards them.
When the show features the gang participating in doing ‘teenage stuff’ like visiting a carnival or goofing around and making a mockery of each other, it shows the effort that has gone into the writing. But on the flip side, it also comes with the issue of teenagers behaving like adults.
As the plot thickens and when we seek for conclusions, we are bombarded with analysis, diving into the characters’ psyche that reflects the reasons behind their actions, as flashbacks and anecdotes, which occasionally feel somewhat convoluted and unease to discern. The visceral performances are outright enough to oversee the shortcomings. For instance, the deep melancholy communication through the stares between Belly and Conrad convey volumes.
As the summer is here and the sky is clear, in the second season of The Summer I Turned Pretty, I believe that our ‘Special girl’ has learned whole new lessons at her ‘magical place.’ If I were to give her a piece of my mind, I would say, “Ok, Belly, relax! So far, you have done good, but for the next season, you need newer problems other than just relationships and boys.”
#decent #mature #tale #teenagers #Cinema #express
