This article, “why aren’t the fathers at the summer house,” contains spoilers regarding the Amazon original series The Summer I Turned Pretty season 1.
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It becomes apparent very early on in The Summer I Turned Pretty that neither Belly or Conrad and Jeremiah’s fathers will be spending the summer at Susannah’s beach house. This omission of both father figures in the household is not an oversight, but actually has great importance in the show’s overall plot. In this article I’ll be discussing why the fathers aren’t at the summer house and what impact that has on our cast of characters.
The Summer I Turned Pretty season 1 – why aren’t the fathers at the summer house?
Let’s start with Belly and Steven’s father, John Conklin. Belly’s mother, Laurel Park divorced from her husband over a year ago now and their relationship is still a little awkward. This explains why John is missing from the summer festivities. John has moved on, now dating the twenty-seven-year-old Victoria, who acts and appears much younger than her years. Laurel, is still not fully over the break-up, which has led to an unfortunate bout of writer’s block for the novelist. She hasn’t dated since the divorce either, deciding to concentrate on her family instead.
When John visits for the Fourth of July celebrations, Laurel plasters on the make-up in an attempt to make her ex jealous. John arrives with Victoria on his arm and on the face of it, everyone gets along swimmingly. Victoria inadvertently gets Belly rather drunk though and Laurel teases John about the age gap between him and his partner, but overall tensions aren’t that high for the Conklin family. Later, it is revealed that John and Victoria have split up, with the relationship clearly not working. There are no signs of John and Laurel getting back together, but the storyline highlights another fake façade in the show. John is living a lie, trying to appear successful and fruitful in his new life, but it is all just an act.
Laurel’s divorce perfectly explains why John isn’t at the beach house, but why does Susannah’s husband bail on the dream vacation? Conrad and Jeremiah’s father, Adam Fisher, isn’t even expected at the Fourth of July celebrations, but Laurel manages to persuade him to come. When he turns up, Susannah is furious and argues with her husband in private. Again, they try to put on happy families in public, but behind closed doors things are far from perfect.
Susannah reveals to Laurel the reason why she is disgusted by her husband and can’t even be in a room with the man. He has cheated on her with his secretary. This is unforgivable on its own, but the timing makes the situation even more inexcusable. Susannah was in the midst of chemotherapy at the same time Adam was having an affair. She wants to divorce from him, but hasn’t found the opportune moment. Susannah wants this summer to be perfect and didn’t want Adam or her cancer to ruin the holiday.
Both fathers don’t come across all that well in the first season of The Summer I Turned Pretty. John has divorced from Laurel and tries to show off with the youthful Victoria on his arm, whilst Adam has cheated on his dying wife, which is truly deplorable. The sons are deservedly cold to Adam and both fathers struggle to adjust at the summer house. Hopefully Laurel can move on and find a new love, whilst the less said about Adam the better.
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