Yahoo News The Summer I Turned Pretty stars discuss that mic drop kiss: 'It's pretty massive'
Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Summer I Turned Pretty season 2, episode 7, "Love Affair."
Belly (Lola Tung) finally made her choice between the Fisher brothers on The Summer I Turned Pretty — and that choice didn't stay secret for long.
In this week's episode, "Love Affair," Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno) comforted Belly after her mother Laurel (Jackie Chung) slapped her the morning after their house party got out of hand. In that moment, Belly realized that Jeremiah's always been there for her, and decided that there's nothing left between her and Conrad (Christopher Briney) — despite Jeremiah claiming that there would always be something between her and his big brother.
Erika Doss/Prime Video Lola Tung, Christopher Briney, Gavin Casalegno
While Belly was figuring out where her heart lay, she and Jeremiah stayed up all night with Conrad to help him study for his last final. They road tripped together to make sure Conrad got to his exam on time, and while he took the test, Belly and Jeremiah spent a romantic day together exploring Finch College, and things eventually heated up in a steamy make out session. Their timing couldn't have been worse though, as Conrad finished his final and reunited with them as they're furiously hooking up in front of the car. Awkward!
"I was sad for Conrad, but I was very happy that Belly was able to finally have this moment in her journey with Jeremiah where they talk about everything that's happened and and how their relationship has changed, even just over this week that they've been reunited," Tung tells EW. "I was grateful that they were able to take that step because it's what both of them wanted in that moment, and they needed to be able to lean on each other."
Tung doesn't blame Belly for Conrad's devastation, because she points out how Belly tried to have a serious conversation with him about their relationship earlier in the episode — she hadn't realized he had fallen asleep, but still, points for trying. "I think that's one thing that Belly had trouble with with Conrad, the communication aspect of it, so she feels safer and more heard in this relationship with Jeremiah," Tung adds. "For her, it was a win. Obviously seeing Conrad shocked was like, 'Aw, sorry you were in the dark about this, buddy.' But I think it was a good Belly-Jeremiah moment."
Casalegno remembers reading the final scene of the episode during the table read and couldn't get over how it ends. "I think I literally said, 'Mic drop,'" he tells EW with a laugh. "I was like, 'Oh, snap! Good luck with that. That's going to be fun.' I knew on paper it was going to be just a wonderful scene, and then doing it was something completely different. It was fun."
While Briney's character ends the episode absolutely shell-shocked at seeing Belly and Jeremiah making out, the actor behind Conrad has nothing but love for how this changes everything for the central love triangle heading into the last episode of the season.
"It's such a big moment within the story and the arc of the season and for these characters," Briney says. "It's pretty massive. It was a tricky one to approach through the character because you're like, 'How is he going to react to this?' He can be sort of unpredictable. Is he going to lose his s---? Is he going to lose his mind? What is he going to do? This could go so many different ways."
Briney pauses before adding this finale tease: "The answer is: Revert to old habits."
These interviews were conducted prior to the start of the SAG-AFTRA strike.
The Summer I Turned Pretty season 2 debuts new episodes Fridays on Prime Video.
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