The Big Picture
- Step 5 of The Summer I Turned Beautiful he brought in Jeremiah as a narrator, which was an unexpected change and not the wisest decision.
- Jeremiah shares his thoughts on his relationship with his brother Conrad and his feelings for Belly, highlighting his doubts and insecurities.
- Although it is not necessarily surprising, the decision to have Jeremiah narrate the episode does not add anything important to the plot and takes away from the mood of the show.
Step 5 of The Summer I Turned Beautiful — named “Love Fool” — introduced a hurt of interesting developments and one of the things that surprised viewers is that the program was narrated by Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno). This is quite a change because, throughout the series, there is only Belly (Lola Tung) who shares his inner thoughts with the audience. Changes to a show aren’t all bad, but this particular decision might not be the wisest.
For a quick summary, “Love Fool” sees the gang completely. When they realize that the summer house has been vacated because it has been put up for sale, they all decide to go into the clubhouse and spend the night there. The group circulates the wide area – and at one point they are divided into smaller groups. There is Taylor (Rain Spencer) and Steven (Sean Kaufman) share a cute moment in the ballroom and Cam (David Iacono) puts pressure on him and tries to avoid any mess so he doesn’t get into too much trouble with his mother. In fact, Jeremiah and Belly are in the screen room, having fun. Many of the moments here are narrated by Fisher’s younger brother.
Jeremiah talks about his life, his family, and everything in between
In this special episode, the audience got to hear Jeremiah’s thoughts about all kinds of things. The first is his view of his brother Conrad (Christopher Briney). Although he may not always be called, we know that Jeremiah has always looked up to his older brother. Conrad is independent, strong, and he takes care of the people he loves – although he is not the best at showing it. Jeremiah depends on Conrad throughout their lives, because the latter would protect him for many things. They may butt heads here and there, but at the end of the day, they make up and have each other’s backs. But in this episode, we start to understand that he is starting to lose that confidence in his brother, especially about the whole house being put up for sale. At one point, Conrad basically asks Jeremiah to bless him and Belly joins. Internally, Jeremiah shares his doubts and confusion about this, especially since Jeremiah and Belly first met. But, later on, he lets Conrad do whatever he wants because he can’t say no.
The audience also got a glimpse of some sweet moments between Jeremiah and his mother Susannah (Rachel Blanchard). Since Conrad is away at Brown’s college, a lot of the time, the only people left in the house are the two of them. Susannah is getting weaker and weaker by the day, and it is clear that she is not for long, but everyone around her is trying to keep hope, especially Jeremiah. When Conrad is away, 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 Susannah and Belly are the only ones who see him for who he is, which is why it’s hard to get over Belly.
Moving on to Belly – who is the biggest talking point for Jeremiah in the episode. Even though they are no longer together, and even though Jeremiah ignored her for a long time, Jeremiah still has many unresolved feelings towards her. He explains that everything changed when he saw Belly that one summer, and as it has always been for Belly. They have been best friends for so long, so they know almost everything about each other. Belly was the one who broke things up between them, and it is understandable that he was hurt by it, especially when she tells about herself and Conrad. So, he tries to ignore Belly and her subject after her. But slowly, during this season, we will see these two change their relationship and become closer once again, despite the fact that Jeremiah did not want that at first. In this special episode, Jeremiah admits that there will 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 him and his brother, but “maybe, for the rest of the story, maybe that it is me.” This pretty much establishes the relationship – rules it, so to speak. But, with all that said, does the program need a statement from Jeremiah?
The Statement from Jeremiah really did nothing
While, yes, understanding a thing or two from Jeremiah’s perspective isn’t all bad, this particular change doesn’t really do anything to move the plot forward. The audience didn’t need to hear his thoughts, because frankly, it’s something they already know or at least have an idea about. It’s not that surprising. Jeremiah was pretty much just repeating some things we know or already know. 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 a lot. Not something that deserves to be rehashed, especially through commentary from someone who isn’t Belly.
The decision to have Jeremiah narrate this special program is a very bold choice. Because if they were to appoint someone to do that, Conrad would probably be the most reasonable choice, seeing how he and Belly have more history and issues, and is a character who is so often the quietest about his innermost thoughts. But that is beside the point. It all depends on how this affected the show as a whole, and safe to say, it didn’t change much. There is no depth to that choice, or a legitimate reason why Jeremiah had to tell. The decision was just a little off and, well, out of place. It throws off the whole feel of the show, and it also lessens the mystery aspect of it all. So, to boil it down, it didn’t need to happen. If anything, it just proves how Belly should be the only person narrating the show because she’s the main character.
The Summer I Turned Beautiful available to stream on Prime Video.
