The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 2: Let Belly Grieve

Whereas watching the primary three episodes of “The Summer season I Turned Fairly” season two — launched Friday, July 14, on Amazon Prime Video — I got here again to 1 thought time and again: can somebody be good to Stomach?! Cease studying if you have not watched but, however when the present picks up, the varsity yr is about to finish, and Stomach (Lola Tung) is bereft as a result of their household buddy Susannah (Rachel Blanchard) has died a few month in the past. Susannah’s sickness has hung over the entire college yr, with Stomach’s mother, Laurel (Jackie Chung), spending a number of time going backwards and forwards to the Fisher home to help to Susannah, Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno), and Conrad (Christopher Briney).

Stomach, in the meantime, has struggled mainly because the final summer season ended. Her grades aren’t nearly as good. She underperformed on her volleyball workforce. In fact, this all is smart given what she’s gone by way of, however nearly each single particular person on “The Summer season I Turned Fairly” is outstandingly imply to Stomach about it.

Take Stomach’s steering counselor. She notes that Stomach’s grades have dropped, and Stomach reveals that their household buddy died. The steering counselor cruelly notes that the drop has been yr lengthy, not simply after the dying. One way or the other a educated steering counselor would not know {that a} yr of getting a liked one slowly die of most cancers would have an effect on how somebody would do at school for all 10 months.

However Stomach’s family are no higher at acknowledging her grief. When her mother questions her about her grades and Stomach factors out that all of them had a protracted, onerous yr, Laurel tells her to cease making excuses. However grief will not be an excuse — it is the reality. Just about everybody in Stomach’s life (moreover her finest buddy Taylor, performed by Rain Spencer) refuses to provide her an inch of help and love.

A part of why everybody’s obliviousness (which veers into downright cruelty) hits so onerous for me is as a result of I have been by way of one thing much like Stomach. My 12-year-old cousin died at first of my senior yr of faculty. I attempted to inform myself I used to be positive and it wasn’t affecting me, however I ended up dropping the ball in a number of massive areas of my life. It is nonetheless onerous for me to assume again on that point with out some disgrace concerning the folks I let down. I’ve sadly misplaced different relations since, however within the intervening years, I’ve realized that being affected by a liked one’s sickness and dying is completely regular, and I want I might identified to provide myself house and style.

Stomach will not be an ideal particular person, and he or she makes some questionable selections in season two. However that is as a result of she’s a teenage woman going by way of one thing horrible. In fact, Stomach’s household can be grieving, however for her mother to deal with her so callously was actually surprising to me. I want “The Summer season I Turned Fairly” modeled what it means to take care of and help a grieving particular person in these early episodes.

New episodes of “The Summer season I Turned Fairly” debut Fridays on Prime Video.