Fans have packed their beach bags full of sunscreen, infinity necklaces, and tissues in anticipation of season two of The Summer I Turned Pretty, and in addition to another chapter of Belly’s love story, we’re also getting a peek at the way her heart holds a special place for both Conrad and Jeremiah Fisher.
When we first arrived in Cousins Beach last June, we met the Conklin and Fisher families and quickly realized that Belly and Conrad had an otherworldly pull to one another. There was something that connected them on a level that was hard to describe; Conrad was Belly’s first love, the first boy to teach her about the majesty and wonder of life, and he was the only boy to awaken within her a desire to give away her forever.
She didn’t need forever anyway if she didn’t have Conrad, and while we saw Belly’s heart skip a beat for Cam Cameron and Jeremiah last summer, it never felt the way it did with Conrad. It was never as passionate or life-changing, never as intense or as beautiful.
So as Prime Video has shared promo clips and teaser trailers for season two, there’s really only one thought we’ve got on the brain: Conrad and Belly are endgame.
Belly and Conrad haven’t had a “fair shot” — yet
Belly has loved Conrad since, well, the moment she understood the meaning of the word; he was her best friend, she grew up seeing in him something she failed to recognize in anyone else, and in the midst of the summer she “turned pretty” she didn’t realize that Conrad was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.
She thought, instead, that he was pulling away from her, forgetting the things in life that he loved, and changing his opinions and thoughts. He was no longer the boy that inspired magic within her; he simply ignited heartache where passion once existed. There were moments, however, when the Conrad she knew seemed to reappear, offering a whisper of her name, a compliment about her hair or the effect she has on people, and trying desperately to be close to her before life threw something in their path.
Those moments were enough for Belly, and while she tried to experiment and look towards a future with someone else holding her hand (and heart), it never stuck. At the end of the day, Conrad showed up in all the ways it counted.
The thing is, there was always something standing in their way. From Conrad keeping the secret that he knew his mother’s cancer had returned, to feeling like he had to give up any semblance of joy or happiness to devote his life to caring for her, and then picking up the pieces as they fell, he didn’t have time to wake up and smell the roses, so to speak.
Belly and Conrad are meant for one another, and in those moments when he felt brave enough to be vulnerable with her, we saw that. Unfortunately, life, circumstance, or Jeremiah had a way of breaking each of them wide open and ruining that sacred space, but they’ll get it back — their love story is written in the stars.
Plus, there’s that whole infinity thing
In addition to being souls that were meant to cross paths, Conrad taught Belly about the most important thing — infinity. He taught her about the shape, the curves, and how you can travel endlessly around them. Infinity. Forever. Belly and Conrad.
Belly’s first thought when she hears the word is Conrad, the first boy she ever loved, the first boy she wished and hoped for, the only boy who knows her deepest secrets and biggest hopes. Conrad didn’t make things easy for Belly last summer, but things weren’t easy for him either. He had to sit in the knowledge that his mother’s cancer had returned, he had to wonder what life might look like without her, and he had to do it all on his own.
Unfortunately, season two is going to bring more heartache for Conrad, and the moment he hoped would never come will soon greet him; it’ll present itself to all of them, and for a while, it’ll send them spiraling away from one another.
Of Conrad’s season two arc, Briney called it a “journey” while speaking to Cosmopolitan:
“I’m thrilled. I’m excited. I think there’s not much I can say about it, but I can say that I’m excited for it to be out there. We had a lot of fun doing it. He’s not always the—well, there’s a few words I can use, but he’s not the most considerate. He’s on a journey, and it’s fun to see someone on a journey. I think it’s fun to see someone learning things about themselves.”
Conrad has a lot to learn about himself, and following the untimely death of his mother and the loss of stability that comes along with it, he’s feeling disconnected from the things in this life that he loves, perhaps afraid to continue loving something that can be lost. His character needs more understanding and compassion than he knows how to ask for, but even then, he can’t expect to be coddled when he pushes everyone away; it’s a catch-22 of sorts that he finds himself in. Luckily, someone loves him enough to help him through it, but it’s not easy.
The road to love never is, however, and if the series follows the path of Han’s books, we can anticipate seeing a lot more of a roller coaster ride between Belly and Conrad. But, we know where they end up; it’s infinity, remember? It’s an everlasting, constantly traveling, always-in-motion love — it’s beautiful in all of the ways it ebbs and flows.
Now is the perfect time to catch up on The Summer I Turned Pretty and pick your team; even the Empire State Building has done so, and it chose wisely. Here’s to Conrad and Belly finding their way back to one another and Jeremiah’s journey to happiness, too. Hey — so we don’t ship him with Belly, but that doesn’t make us monsters; we still want his heart to be well cared for.
Published: Jul 6, 2023 11:33 pm