WARNING: This article contains spoilers.
The hit series “The Summer I Turned Pretty” returns in season two with the third episode, “Love Sick”. In this episode, a very serious problem surfaces: the beloved house in Cousins Beach is for sale. Here’s an honest review of this issue and how characters reacted (or overreacted) to it, as well as several other events that will be addressed and judged in the episode.
First, a quick recap! At the beginning of “Love Sick”, Conrad informs Belly and Jeremiah that the house is being put up for sale by none other than Julia, Susannah’s sister. Julia had never cared much for the house or her sister, therefore she doesn’t find it very difficult to sell the beach house and get some extra cash for her and her child, Skye.
This is most upsetting to the boys and Belly, but they know they can’t just give up and let the house they shared so many happy memories in be sold to some random family who will never love it as much as it deserves. Jeremiah decides to go talk to Julia, but Conrad tells him he’s already done that and she wouldn’t budge. Although, everyone knows how Conrad is; he isn’t the nicest to those who do things to upset him.
Jeremiah decides to go talk to her anyway, but he ends up getting the same results. He and Conrad then decide to call their dad and see if they can use their trust funds to save the house.
After arguing with their dad on the phone, they are unsuccessful and realize there’s only one thing they can do: sabotage the open house. Soon after this distressing phone call, Taylor and Steven arrive.
There is then a flashback set at prom, where Conrad is taking Belly. From the get-go, it is obvious he’d rather be anywhere else. He forgets Belly’s corsage, doesn’t bother with getting a tux, and acts overall miserable both before and during the dance. Halfway through prom, Conrad talks to Belly outside and breaks up with her, saying he’s disappointed Belly too many times and he is incapable of change. This breaks her heart and she runs crying to Steven.
Throughout this whole episode, Conrad insists on doing everything alone and pushes others away. This rebuilds that close bond Belly and Jeremiah once had since they either are working together on helping Conrad with his problems or spending time with each other when he is being difficult (which happens quite often for the two of them).
Nearing the end, there is yet another flashback of the iconic funeral scene where Conrad performs “Last Kiss”, his mother’s favorite song. Belly decides she wants to comfort him for the duration of the funeral despite their rocky relationship and recent breakup. However, when she makes him a plate of food and brings it up to Conrad’s room, she finds his ex-girlfriend comforting him as they sit on the floor together.
Belly runs out of the room with Conrad chasing after her. He claims he always knew it would be a bad idea to start something with her, to which she physically pushes him and yells that he hates him, then rushes out of the house.
“Love Sick” wraps up with the whole gang hanging out together at the house, while Conrad receives a phone call that sends him into a full-blown panic attack.
Now that everyone’s caught up, what are fans’ honest opinions on the various problematic occurrences in this episode?
Although there’s a whole debate about whether Jeremiah or Conrad are the better fit for Belly, viewers have begun to form an immense dislike for Belly altogether.
Verrado senior and Summer I Turned Pretty fan Ava Anderson says, “Belly just adds to Conrad’s stress. His mom had just died and yet she continues to be emotionally immature, selfish, and self-centered as always. I’m not necessarily ‘Team Jeremiah’ or ‘Team Conrad’, I just hate Belly.”
When asked about Belly, sophomore Hannah Bruce states, “Belly handles her emotions very badly. To be honest, she’s very selfish. I understand that Susannah’s death could have had an effect on her actions, but even before she knew about Susannah’s cancer, she was still a horrible person. She can’t communicate and just decides to settle on whichever brother will take her at any time.”
The amount of times Belly runs back and forth between Conrad and Jeremiah with them still taking her back is astonishing. Despite her breaking their hearts for what has felt like hundreds of times by this point, it almost seems like a competition between the two boys. It makes viewers wonder what exactly is so special about Belly Conklin.
Now, the iconic singing at the funeral scene has to be addressed! Even though it’s supposed to be an emotional scene in the show, truly showing how broken Conrad is, fans have been making fun of it instead. Which is well deserved, considering how excruciatingly embarrassing his voice was.
Ava made sure to express her feelings about Conrad in this scene, saying, “Conrad’s voice is unmatchable. I hope to see him on tour one day.”
To conclude this review, people have some strong feelings about the way Jeremiah handled getting the house back. Some would claim that he’s a little too sunshiny and happy. When he confronts his aunt about her selling the house, he completely disregards that she may have a reason for this. Instead, he chose to believe it was some sort of punishment and/or Aunt Julia was pure evil.
This is an interesting thing to think about because Jeremiah’s whole thing is always being optimistic and looking on the bright side. But perhaps his constant positivity causes him to be arrogant or oblivious. Maybe a normally great quality to have can have its limits!
To tie things up, season two is starting to get a whole lot more interesting. The story is starting to build and the flashbacks are beginning to piece together to form what happened in the past. Make sure to stick around for next week’s review where the fourth episode, “Love Game” will be covered!