Spoiler warning: Spoilers for It’s Not Summer Without You and The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 2 follow. It’s been about a week since Season 2 of The Summer I Turned Pretty premiered on Prime Video, and I can’t stop thinking about this TSITP fireplace scene from the second episode (Conrad’s back muscles, hello?). It’s intimate, tender, realistic, and romantic. Leave it to Jenny Han to write one of the sweetest sex scenes in teen drama history — although that wasn’t what she originally intended.
The fireplace scene is a huge departure from the books. It’s a crucial fact in the Summer series that Belly chooses not to have sex, a decision which is especially relevant to the plot of the third book (if I were Team Jeremiah, I’d be very scared for Season 3). I’m not here to debate how progressive or regressive Belly’s virginity status may be in the books versus in the show; what matters is that she’s making an active choice about it in both.
In the books, Belly is confident in her decision to wait to have sex until the timing is right. It never is, even in the original version of the fireplace scene in It’s Not Summer Without You. The show follows the book’s description of Belly and Conrad’s winter escape in Cousins to a T, except Belly clearly tells readers in Chapter 16, “All we did that night was kiss.” She’s stronger than me, TBH.
Season 2’s fireplace scene is an act of divine (i.e. Jenny Han’s) timing. Considering the circumstances and how strongly Belly felt about Conrad, her decision to move out of makeout territory makes perfect sense. She’s in control of the situation the entire time, consenting to Conrad that she wants her first time to be with him.
Han’s revised version of what happened that night feels just as true to Belly’s character as the version she originally wrote down, an aspect of page-to-screen adaptations that’s honestly more important than getting every plot point right.
“I felt like that’s where Belly was in her journey,” Han told Variety. “These two characters were very much in love and had known each other their whole lives. I felt like they had really been through something together, and we had been with Belly through many first times. It was important for the audience to be with her for that one.”
The audience couldn’t agree more. The online response to the scene has been overwhelmingly positive, with fans jumping onto Twitter and TikTok to share their candid reactions to the fireplace scene (I’m screaming right along with them). Some Summer series readers are wondering how the change will affect the plot of the next season, but honestly? I think the fireplace scene might be a fan favorite.
The song that plays over the scene is another stroke of Han’s genius. It’s a seemingly out-of-touch slice of ‘90s gospel to most, but to the trained ear, it’s the star-crossed lovers’ anthem. “Kissing You” by Des’ree appears in the 1996 movie Romeo + Juliet (the one with young Leo) when the characters fall in love at first sight.
Romeo and Juliet obviously don’t get their happy ending, and since the fireplace scene cuts to a now-broken-up Belly and Conrad, we know they don’t either. The song is a perfect mix of the romance and heartbreak that defines Team Conrad’s experience with Season 2. Let’s hope any other rewrites keep favoring the most important team of all: Team Belly.