We’re calling it right now: The Summer I Turned Pretty‘s second episode of its sophomore season—titled “Love Scene”—features quite possibly the most romantic moment ever on TV between two star-crossed lovers: Lola Tung’s Belly and Christopher Briney’s Conrad.
Set to a sweeping score of a full orchestra, the two—via flashback to the previous winter when Conrad’s mom, Susannah, was still alive, and so much sadness and drama didn’t exist—make love in front of the fireplace at the Fisher summer house on Cousins Beach. It’s sensual, it’s romantic, and it’s the kind of scene that you want to rewatch over and over again. (Btw, when Belly whispers to a sleeping Conrad that “… there’s only you. There’s only ever been you,”…I mean, we may never recover.)
The moment is also handled delicately, as it’s Belly’s first time, and Conrad wants to make it clear he didn’t bring her to the house for this purpose. They both consent to each other’s wishes and actions, allowing for a beautiful dialogue to unfold without feeling like an after-school special.
Of course, for the actual filming of the scene, the show’s intimacy coordinator worked closely with Tung and Briney. “It’s a closed set situation, so only the people that need to be there are ever going to be there,” Briney tells Glamour. “It’s all meticulously choreographed and timed out, and there are beats that you hit. Scenes like that are very technical. You’re just trying to hit your marks and not lose your light and not block somebody else’s light.”
Tung tells Glamour that she had a nudity rider for that scene, given the delicate nature of it. “All the rules about what’s going to happen are laid out for you, and you get to look over those scenes and [usually] approve them. And [creator and co-showrunner] Jenny Han really wanted us to feel safe in that scene and had this really beautiful and artistic vision for it.”
Of course, it helps immensely when the actors themselves have a strong working relationship together, and Tung and Briney credit their bond with making the scene as special as it could be. “In order to do a scene like that,” Tung says, “I was very grateful that we already did have a solid friendship and work relationship…because it takes a lot of trust to feel safe enough to be vulnerable in those moments on set.”
