This article, “who is Susannah,” contains spoilers regarding the Amazon original series The Summer I Turned Pretty season 1.
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The adults in The Summer I Turned Pretty get nearly as much screen time as the teens in this teen drama. With Laurel and Susannah given their very own arcs and backstories. Susannah’s may be the most emotional of the series, with the mother harboring one hell of a secret throughout the first season. Susannah’s storyline is heightened by this shocking news, but she is also an interesting and complex character even before the secret.
Who is Susannah in The Summer I Turned Pretty season 1?
Susannah ‘Beck’ Fisher is the mother of Jeremiah and Conrad, as well as being Laurel’s best friend. She is the heart of the summer house and hosts both families every year. She lives for this summer vacation and genuinely loves all in her gang. This summer happens to be an extra special and vitally relevant one, because of her dark secret. Susannah has been battling cancer in secret for years. She tried chemotherapy, but it didn’t work. Now there is hope with a risky new trial treatment, yet she doesn’t want to go ahead with it.
The mother keeps this a secret from all the children, but Laurel and the other adults are aware. She wishes for one last perfect summer, filled with unforgettable memories, before she tells the others. Unfortunately it all comes out in the most dramatic way possible, ending in a skirmish between the sons on the debutante ball dance floor and Laurel’s children weep that night, despairing at the news. Susannah never wanted it to go that way, but her secret found a way out.
Susannah spends the summer painting portraits of the gang, taking drugs with Laurel and trying to have the best time possible. There’s plenty of parties, celebrations and matchmaking to keep Susannah busy this year. She sets Belly up for the debutante ball and spends a great deal of energy in perfecting Belly’s look. Susannah coerces the boys into asking Belly to the ball and desperately wants one of her sons to date Belly. Unbeknownst to her, both brothers are after her heart.
She has a torrid relationship with her own husband, who cheated on her three years ago, whilst she was undergoing chemotherapy. Susannah wants to divorce the dirt bag and gets into an argument with Laurel, who thinks she’ll need all the help she can get in those awful final months. Susannah tries to ignore her impending doom and live in the moment. It’s a tricky summer, with its own ups and downs, but overall quite the perfect farewell for Susannah.
Susannah has a heart-breaking and painful future ahead of her. Now she has accepted the trial treatment, she will be experimented upon and put through a lot of physical and emotional anguish. Her friends and family will support her through these tough times the best they can and she’ll always remember that last, perfect summer.
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