‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’ Season 2: The Biggest Differences From the Books
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The television show of the summer for teens sprang from the pages of Jenny Han’s “The Summer I Turned Pretty” trilogy. Season 2 of the Prime Video series, which debuted July 14, takes on the events of the second book, “It’s Not Summer Without You.” As with Season 1, several changes were made to the adaptation for the small screen, such as the addition of new characters and the expansion of certain storylines. Other details, large and small, make the show a bit different from Han’s second book, but with the author also serving as showrunner on the series, these changes come naturally.
Season 1 had its own changes that ripple into Season 2, such as Jeremiah’s bisexuality, Laurel’s career as an author (she is a professor in the books) and more. Kyra Sedgewick and Elsie Fisher joined Season 2 as completely new characters that don’t exist in the books. Cam Cameron (David Iacono), Taylor Jewel (Rain Spencer) and Belly’s brother Steven (Sean Kaufman) also have bigger storylines this coming season.
Broken down by episode, here are the biggest changes made in “The Summer I Turned Pretty” Season 2:
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Episode 1: “Love Lost“
Something moves Belly (Lola Tung) to call Jeremiah at the end of the first episode, but in the books, it’s Jeremiah who calls Belly to deliver the news that Conrad has disappeared.
Jeremiah’s whole grudge against Belly doesn’t play as big a role in the second season in the books because Jeremiah and Belly didn’t kiss in the books, though he was her first kiss in a previous summer during a truth or dare game.
Episode 2: “Love Scene”
Belly’s mom Laurel Park’s (Jackie Chung) latest book is referenced in the first episode, but the title, “It’s Not Summer Without You,” doesn’t get revealed until the second episode. The memoir that Laurel wrote, “It’s Not Summer Without You” tells the story of her time with Susannah (Rachel Blanchard) as her best friend. The title nods to Han’s own book, the second in the trilogy.
The infamous hot cocoa scene that Han kept word for word in the show involves Conrad Fisher (Christopher Briney) and Belly sneaking away to Cousins during the winter in hopes of seeing a snowy beach. This night was a peak in their relationship, almost the opposite of the prom scene earlier on in the story, but the show takes it a step further to suggest that Belly and Conrad have sex. That was not as explicitly described in the book, though they did talk about Conrad being more experienced in that area than Belly.
Episode 3: “Love Sick”
Instead of the boys’ dad Adam (Tom Everett Scott), Aunt Julia (Kyra Sedgwick) is the one putting Susannah’s beach house up for sale. While Adam wants to sell it in the books, Susannah’s older half-sister Julia justifies her decision by claiming she doesn’t have enough money to maintain the house. Julia also does not remember Cousins in the same fond way that Susannah did. She is looking for closure in getting the property out of her possession. Elsie Fisher also brings a new spin to the series as Sky, Conrad and Jeremiah’s non-binary cousin.
In the books, Conrad was in summer school, not a regular semester at Brown. His roommate was also described as red-headed, but Eric Trusky (Samuel-Taylor Augustin) is Black in the show.
Steven’s decision to go to Cousins — bringing Taylor along once she asserts that she wants to go with him — provides one other major difference that sets up this season. A small detail that changed in Taylor’s storyline involves her boyfriend’s name — it’s Milo in the show and Davis in the book.
