The Big Picture
Episode 5 of The Summer I Turned Pretty — entitled “Love Fool” — introduced a lot of interesting developments and one of the things that certainly surprised viewers is that the episode was narrated by Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno). This is a pretty big change because, throughout the series, it is really only Belly (Lola Tung) who shares her inner thoughts with the audience. Changes in a show are not all bad, but this particular decision was probably not the wisest.
For a quick recap, “Love Fool” sees the gang altogether. When they realize that the summer house has been emptied out because of it being put up for sale, they all decide to sneak into the clubhouse and spend the night there. The group roams the expansive place — and at one point separated into smaller groups. There is Taylor (Rain Spencer) and Steven (Sean Kaufman) sharing a rather cute moment in the ballroom and Cam (David Iacono) stressing out and trying to avoid any mess to not get into much trouble with his mother. Of course, there is Jeremiah and Belly in the screen room, having fun. A lot of the moments here are narrated by the younger Fisher brother.
Jeremiah Talks About His Life, Family, and Everything in Between
In this particular episode, the audience got to hear Jeremiah’s thoughts about all sorts of things. The first thing is his perspective on his brother Conrad (Christopher Briney). While it may not always be vocalized, we know that Jeremiah has always looked up to his older brother. Conrad is independent, strong, and cares for the people he loves — though he is not the best at showing it. Jeremiah relies on Conrad throughout their lives, because the latter would protect him for a lot of things. They may butt heads here and then, but at the end of the day, they make up and have each other’s backs. But in this episode, we start to realize that he is starting to lose that confidence in his brother, especially about the whole house being put up for sale thing. At one point, Conrad basically asks Jeremiah for his blessing about him and Belly getting together. Internally, Jeremiah shares his doubts and annoyance about this, especially since Jeremiah and Belly happened first. However, later on, he lets Conrad do whatever he wants because he can’t really say no.
The audience also got a glimpse of little, sweet moments between Jeremiah and his mother Susannah (Rachel Blanchard). Since Conrad is off to college at Brown, a lot of the time, the people left in the house are the two of them. Susannah is growing weaker and weaker by the day, and it is clear that she does not have long, but everyone around her is trying to hold on to hope, especially Jeremiah. When Conrad is gone, Jeremiah takes care of her. There is a scene where Susannah video calls the Conklins because Belly and Conrad are off to prom. Jeremiah says that the only ones who see him for who he is are Susannah and Belly, which is why it is difficult to get over Belly.
Moving on to Belly — who is mostly the point of discussion for Jeremiah in the episode. Even though they are not together anymore, and Jeremiah even ignored her for a long while, Jeremiah still has a lot of unresolved feelings towards her. He shares that everything changed when he saw Belly that one summer, and how he has always been there for Belly. They’ve been best friends for so long, so they know nearly everything about each other. Belly was the one who broke things off between them, and it is understandable that he was hurt by it, especially when she explains about her and Conrad. So, he tries to ignore Belly and the topic of her after. But slowly, throughout this season, we see these two amending their friendship and growing closer once more, despite Jeremiah initially not wanting to. In this particular episode, Jeremiah confesses that there would always be something between Belly and Conrad. And before they go to sleep on the golf course, with Belly by his side, he says that his whole life has always been her and his brother, but “maybe, for the rest of the story, it could be me.” This pretty much sets up their relationship — reigniting it, so to speak. However, with all of that said, does the episode really need a narration from Jeremiah?
The Narration From Jeremiah Did Not Really Do Anything
While, yes, understanding a couple of things from Jeremiah’s perspective is not all bad, this particular change does not really do anything for the plot to move forward. The audience did not really need to hear his thoughts, because frankly, it is something that they already know or at least have an idea of. It is not that big of a surprise. Jeremiah was more or less just reiterating some stuff that we already are familiar with or assumed. We already know his jealousy towards Belly and Conrad, how he is the one in the group who always puts on a happy face, and how he cares deeply. It is not something that really deserves to be laid out again, especially via narration from someone who is not Belly.
The decision to make Jeremiah narrate this particular episode is a pretty bold choice. Because if they were to appoint someone to do so, the most realistic choice is perhaps Conrad, seeing as he and Belly have more history and issues, and his character is the one who is so often the quietest about his innermost thoughts. But that’s beside the point. It all boils down to how this impacted the show as a whole, and safe to say, it did not change anything big. There’s no depth to that choice, no valid reason why Jeremiah had to narrate it. The decision was just a bit off and, well, out of place. It throws off the whole atmosphere of the show, and it also lessens the mystery aspect of it all. So, to boil it down, it did not need to happen. If anything, it just proves how Belly should be the only person who narrates the show because she is the main character.
The Summer I Turned Pretty is available to stream on Prime Video.
