Summer Dress
Episode 2 of The Summer I Turned Pretty starts with Belly rushing down to the shore to take the whaling boat with Cam. Only… she’s too late. The ship has sailed, and Belly is forced to watch helplessly. Meanwhile, Conrad suffers from a hangover, and much like Belly he’s got bruises across his face. This is soon brushed over though when Susannah (called Beck as a pet name) shows up, excitedly chirping about the Debutante Ball. She’s excited to go shopping with Belly and help pick out a bunch of outfits for the big day. Montage time! Susannah and Laurel head out and watch as Belly tries on a number of different dresses and outfits. She eventually settles on a white dress that wows both of them. After buying her gear, she’s dropped off at the country club. Laurel is worried and tells Belly to message her if she gets anxious or needs a quick getaway. Laurel’s little girl is growing up and these brief snippets of dialogue are a nice addition. Anyway, when Belly shows up at the club, Jeremiah is shocked at how good she looks. He escorts her inside, where all the girls suddenly turn silent when they see the newbie. She’s introduced as Isabelle to the group, and she’s seated next to the girl Conrad was kissing, Nicole. Shayla is also there too. It’s super awkward, especially when she’s probed about Jeremiah and Steven. Just before she can answer though, they’re interrupted by their teacher, who’s ready to teach them etiquette history. Thankfully, the girls come prepped with alcohol, passed around the table to ease their nerves. Belly notices Cam walk past and rushes outside. After their failed whale-boat drama, they set up a second meet, this time for a Drive Thru movie. They exchange numbers, and Belly comes back in beaming. The date goes ahead, and there’s a really nice moment as the pair both hold hands while watching the film. At the same time, Conrad ends up drinking at Laurel’s book signing. Laurel however, ends up meeting Cleveland, the author she was badmouthing in the previous episode. He’s about to write a book about sailing, but he actually doesn’t know anything about it. To offer up a solution, Laurel offers Conrad an opportunity to help teach him. The thing is, this comes off the back of Susannah encouraging him to get a job and he immediately thinks it’s his mum’s doing. Instead, Conrad decides to skip out on that and go to the Drive-Thru with Steven and Jeremiah. Of course, they immediately tease Belly and ruin her big night. Conrad eventually decides to leave and gets second thoughts when he sees how distraught Belly is, who remains annoyed for the rest of the night. That is, until she kisses Cam. Fireworks are abound, while Steven meets up with Shayla down on the beach and agrees to go to the Debutante Ball with her. Later that night, Belly returns home and butts heads with Conrad, pointing out that he knew exactly what he was doing and was trying to ruin things for her. Belly calls out his jealousy and how he spent his Saturday night crashing her date for fun. The pair trade insults, before eventually rounding out with Belly reflecting on how her crush has ended with a whimper.
The Episode Review
Sparks are abound in the latest episode of The Summer I Turned Pretty as Belly finds herself having a great time with Cam, learning etiquette lessons and getting chummy with all the other girls in town. There’s not much in the way of conflict, unless you count fighting over two boys, but that’s not actually that much of an issue, given what the show is trying to do. This is a very simple, breezy love triangle and the series has done a decent amount of legwork to set this up. The music in this show is pretty good too, although one could argue that it’s a bit overkill with the sheer number of montages this show has. But hey, the tracks chosen are fantastic so I’m not complaining! There’s definitely enough here that fans of teen romances will enjoy, and that will undoubtedly carry this through the 7 episodes.
