‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’ Season 2 Recap: What To Remember

The wait for one last summer at Cousins Beach is almost over with The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 3 arriving next week on July 16.

With a larger gap in production than expected due to the writers and actors strikes at the end of 2023, certain details from Season 2 might be fuzzier going into the new episodes. We think it might be important to brush up on them ahead of what creator, author and showrunner Jenny Han calls a “supersized” third season, consisting of 11 episodes.

Season 1 actually began with Belly dreaming that she was back in Cousins with both brothers, and that she was dating Conrad, but the ringing of the school bell woke her from her reverie and plunged her back into high school, away from the place she’d rather always be.

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One tiny detail that eagle-eyed fans may have spotted in Belly’s dream is that, besides the infinity necklace Conrad got her for her birthday, she is also wearing crescent moon and stars earrings, reflecting a very special line in Jenny Han’s third book We’ll Always Have Summer.

Find a detailed outline of what else to remember from Season 2 of The Summer I Turned Pretty on Prime Video below:

Susannah Died

Despite saying to her sons at the end of Season 1 that she would undergo a cancer trial, Susannah Fisher (Rachel Blanchard) died in between Season 1 and Season 2 of the show. There are plenty of flashbacks involving Belly’s second mom, from her FaceTiming Laurel during prom photos to her farewell to Belly.

Steven Graduated High School & Gives a Great Valedictorian Speech

Belly’s older brother Steven (Sean Kaufman) got into his dream college, Princeton University, and he of course was valedictorian. His speech contained a quote Susannah was fond of. While the Fisher brothers didn’t attend his graduation, Belly and Taylor did in addition to his parents.

He had a grad party, but Steven got pretty drunk, and he yelled at Belly for “messing things up” with both brothers, which we will get more into later. She ditched him as his designated driver, so he had to hitch a ride home with Taylor and her boyfriend Milo (Will Spencer). Milo’s band played at Steven’s party.

Taylor Dated Musician Milo

Taylor and Milo had gotten together at some point between Seasons 1 and 2. Steven had issues with Milo, but Taylor seemed pretty head over heels for Milo.

The Cousins Beach House Was In Danger of Being Sold by Aunt Julia

Now we get to the main plot point that drives Season 2. In Jenny Han’s second book, It’s Not Summer Without You, the Cousins Beach house was put up for sale by Susannah’s husband Adam Fisher. But, in the show, it’s her half sister Julia (Kyra Sedgwick) who puts this process into motion because the house gets left to her after Susannah passes.

Belly happens to find this out because she calls Jeremiah on a whim, and he asks her if she’s seen Conrad, because the older Fisher brother has gone missing from Brown just before his second semester of freshman year there ends. She decides to help Jeremiah go find him, even though they aren’t on the best of terms, all three of them. Turns out, Conrad heard from their neighbor in Cousins Liam that there was a For Sale sign outside the house, so he booked I there to try and put a stop to the sale.

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Jeremiah and Belly joined, and during a visit to Aunt Julia in which Jeremiah tried to charm her, they learn that Jere and Connie’s cousin Skye (Elise Fisher) has accompanied their mom to Cousins to help with selling the house. Add Steven and Taylor after Steven sees through Taylor’s cover up for Belly’s absence, and there’s a whole team to fight the battle. Even Cam Cameron (David Iacono) re-enters the picture when they have a fun day on the Boardwalk with competitive games like Belly used to with the boys.

The Boardwalk

When Aunt Julia begged the boys, Belly, Taylor and Steven to get out of the house (after Steven tampered with the AC to break it and stall for time), they headed to the Boardwalk and took Skye with them. There, a competitive round of games ensued including Laser Tag, Dance Dance Revolution, Shoot Your Shot, Capture the Flag and Go Cart Racinc. During Shoot Your Shot, specifically, there was a vibe between Belly and Conrad, but then, because Belly made a side bet with Conrad that if her team lost, she would have to ride the Tower of Terror, there was also a vibe between her and Jeremiah on that rollercoaster, which drops from terrifying heights and forced the pair to hold hands.

It turned out that while the group bonded at the Boardwalk, Julia got all of the furniture moved out of the house, so their return to it was pretty devastating. The group spent the night on the golf course at the Beach Club thanks to Cam’s mom’s key card.

Belly and Conrad Had Given a Relationship A Go, But Things Fell Apart At Prom

Featured in flashbacks, Belly and Conrad’s now doused flame wavered a bit because she had also just kissed Jeremiah a few times in Season 1 before Conrad professed his love for her. Belly decided to tell Jere, but he was understandably angry at her, so she didn’t want to jump into anything with Conrad to spare Jeremiah’s feelings. Eventually, the two couldn’t stay apart and Conrad showed up to Belly’s house near Halloween after they had been talking on the phone a lot, him at Brown and her back in her family home.

In Episode 2, viewers learned that Belly and Conrad had sex at the Cousins house, which wasn’t in the books. Hot cocoa and snow on the beach was involved, but the needle drop during the snowy beach scene was Taylor Swift’s “invisible string” instead of another classic that would have paired well.

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Unfortunately, Belly felt Conrad pulling away ahead of her junior prom when ordering a tux rental slipped his mind. She tried to be understanding because Susannah’s treatment was up and down, but then on Prom night, Conrad forgot Belly’s orchid corsage, and he tried to get her alone to talk to her about how he felt he couldn’t be there for her, but she tried to delay it. Then they did go outside and talk, and Belly made the breakup final with Conrad driving away. Steven was there for his sister in the moment of heartbreak.

Laurel Wrote Another Book — It’s Not Summer Without You About Susannah

Belly and Steven’s mother Laurel (Jackie Chung) is an author in the show, and she channeled her grief over losing her best friend into a memoir titled It’s Not Summer Without You, just like the title of Han’s second book. She goes to a conference in New York to sell her book, and she reconnects with Cleveland Castillo (TK actor name) there. The pair struck up a romantic spark in Season 1. Throughout Season 2, Laurel is seen processing her big emotions around the loss of Susannah, and she seems more at peace with it towards the end, especially when she attends a happy hour event where she reads a passage about Belly’s birth from her book.

Taylor And Steven Got Together

When the crew decides to throw a party at the emptied out, sold house as one last hurrah before they might lose it forever, Milo shows up and confronts Taylor about all the time she’s been spending with Steven. He wants her to come home. Steven stands up to him, and the two pick a fight, egged on by both Fisher brothers. Taylor gets them to stop, but she realizes it’s over between her and Milo when he can’t even tell her her middle name: Madison. Steven remembers it, and they share a sweet moment set to Taylor Swift’s “Snow on the Beach.”

Belly’s Feelings for Jeremiah Grew

Following the breakup between Belly and Conrad and the residual sadness from their unraveling, Belly realized she started to have romantic feelings for Jeremiah, who has always loved her but played the background best friend to his older brother’s moody love interest.

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Midway through the show, they share a heartfelt moment set to Taylor Swift’s “Delicate (Taylor’s Version)” in which Belly pushes Jere into the pool. This is the start of her realizing she wants something real that is in front of her. The final two episodes of Season 2 got a bit messy with Belly kissing Jeremiah on Conrad’s car when he got back from his biology final exam to see it.

Then the three of them drove home from school, but Conrad was a menace to the two of them. After they spent the night in a motel because a big storm closed the highway, Conrad acted like he didn’t mean his confession of love to Belly and left the motel.

Jere then drove Belly to her volleyball camp, where she pleaded with her coach for another chance to be on the team. The show ended with a triumphant shot of Belly playing volleyball alongside Taylor and her teammates, leaving an open “future” she claimed to still be hers.

Conrad Got Into Stanford

Also in Episode 2, Conrad found out that his application to transfer to Stanford University had been accepted. He got the notification on his phone, and he left the movie night with the others because he had a panic attack.

Steven was there for Conrad in that moment too, finding him on the beach hyperventilating and talking him out of the panic to distract him. He congratulated his friend, and he said he didn’t have to decide right then, because Conrad was worried about leaving Jere at Finch University since that college was so close to Brown.

Conrad did end up transferring to “go find himself on the West Coast” as Susannah wished for him. Jere, Steven and Belly helped him study hard for his biology final by pulling an all-nighter so that he could pass and have the grades to transfer.