Warning: This review contains spoilers for The Summer I Turned Pretty season 3, episode 4.While we can all admit that the main draw ofThe Summer I Turned Prettyis the love triangle between Belly, Conrad, and Jeremiah,The Summer I Turned Prettyseason 3, episode 4, turns a much-needed spotlight on one of the show’s other most important relationships: the one between Belly and her mother, Laurel. Life is about more than romantic love, after all.
After the chaos of last week’s dramatic family reunion, during which Belly (Lola Tung) and Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno) proudly announced their plan to get married just a few months later in Cousins,The Summer I Turned Prettyseason 3, episode 4, “Last Stand,” starts relatively quietly, and that’s for the best.
It’s Belly’s 21st birthday, but rather than looking forward to a big celebratory bash, she gets treated to a rejection at breakfast and a wedding dress shopping trip sans Laurel.While a part of me felt bad for Belly during this episode, my frustration couldn’t help but fester, too. If everyone in your life is telling you that getting married now is"ridiculous,“doesn’t that mean something?
Belly’s Characterization Doesn’t Feel Right In The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 3, Episode 4
There’ssomething off about Belly’s characterizationin this episode – a problem that started in episode 2. Once again, Belly and the show have chosen to completely forget Belly’s reason for wanting to break up with Jeremiah inSummerseason 3’s double-episode premiere. She’s now so incredibly fixated on getting down the aisle, on marrying Jeremiah this summer, that she’s become almost unreasonable.
It feels like the show wants us to believe in Belly and Jeremiah’s love for each other at all costs. There’s a strange sense of urgency and forced proximity behind their shared scenes, as if we need to be rooting for them rather than wondering about her potential future with Conrad (Christopher Briney). Unfortunately, their scenes made my skepticism worse.
I’m having a hard time understanding what the show is aiming for here. Does it want us to root for Jeremiah, or is it preparing us for Belly’s turn towards Conrad?
This is most painfully obvious in the scene where Belly and Jeremiah are saying goodbye to each other. Belly tells him that she can’t stand the thought of being away from him for five whole days and decides she won’t go on her study abroad course in Paris. Jeremiah enthusiastically agrees. I’m not ashamed to admit that I almost threw my remote across the room.
It doesn’t help thatI’m not sold on Lola Tung’s and Gavin Casalegno’s chemistry, either. I’m having a hard time understanding what the show is aiming for here. Does it want us to root for Jeremiah, or is it preparing us forBelly’s turn towards Conrad? And if it’s the latter, then why has Belly practically ignored and barely thought about Conrad in the last few episodes?
Thankfully, this episode wasn’t solely about Belly and Jeremiah’s upcoming nuptials. It was also about Belly’s relationship with her mom (and, to an extent, Rachel Blanchard’s Susannah).
Laurel Is The MVP Of The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 3, Episode 4
I’m not saying Laurel (Jackie Chung) is completely in the right. While I agree with her stance that Belly and Jeremiah’s wedding plans are over-the-top and that there’s no reason they can’t wait at least one more year until they finish school, it does feel like she could have made Belly feel less small and insignificant for her choices.
That being said,Chung’s performance was genuinely powerful, and I’m pleased to see this season giving her a meatier storyline.
We already know Belly and Laurel have a complicated relationship; their fight inTSITPseason 2 proved that. Belly has mostly had two moms at her disposal all her life, and now she has to make do with one: the mother who’s more practical, less romantic, and significantly less invested in her daughter’s relationship with Jeremiah Fisher.
As Belly spirals further in her romance with Jeremiah, I find myself more interested in the other relationships around her.
As an aside, I don’t think Laurel ever believed Jeremiah would be the one to become her son-in-law, either. Did you see the look on her face when Jeremiah suggested that was the case? I also wasn’t a fan of his invoking Susannah’s memory to explain their need to get married, and I’m glad Laurel reminded him that they’d never truly know what Susannah would have wanted.
This episode realistically portrays the divide between Belly and Laurel post-Susannah. We can see where Belly’s stubbornness comes from, andthat flashback sequence drove home how far apart Susannah’s death has driven them. Using Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide” in that scene was a powerful move; we know they love each other, but they don’t understand one another.
This is beautifully emphasized when Belly pulls out the debutante dress her mother bought her in season 1. That was one of the few times Belly truly felt like her mother understood this older, sort of grown-up version of her. Will they ever be able to get that back? I’m arguably more excited to see how their relationship progresses than I am to see what happens between Belly and Jeremiah.
All in all,The Summer I Turned Prettyseason 3, episode 4, was an undeniably important yet emotionally frustrating episode. As Belly spirals further in her romance with Jeremiah, I find myself more interested in the other relationships around her, and I’m glad this installment used Belly’s and Jeremiah’s plans as a segue to study one ofThe Summer I Turned Pretty’s most interesting secondary characters further.
New episodes ofThe Summer I Turned Prettyseason 3 premiere weekly on Wednesdays, exclusively on Prime Video.
