Rachel Blanchard Responds To TSITP Fans Calling Susannah A Villain
Yes, she's heard the criticism of her character.
In the world of The Summer I Turned Pretty, Susannah is a universally beloved mother and friend. But viewers of the show don’t necessarily feel the same. Though the now-deceased artist is portrayed in an almost saintly light in the series, the fandom is now questioning if Susannah was actually the true antagonist of the story. While that narrative gained some steam during Season 3, Rachel Blanchard (who played Susannah) is not here for it.
The animosity towards Susannah first started picking up during Season 2. As she was dying of cancer, a faction of the fandom felt she had become the cause of her children’s deep-seated issues. Not only did Susannah loudly project her plans for Belly to be with one of her sons during her life, but in the final season, it’s also revealed she wrote a letter to be posthumously given to Conrad on the day he’d marry his future wife. (In the note, she referenced the love she saw between Conrad and Belly.)
Susannah’s hopes for her children’s love lives caused plenty of turmoil in Season 3, prompting thinkpieces about her insidious villainy. But Blanchard doesn’t see her character in this light.
“I don’t really think there is a villain. You’d have to ask Jenny [Han], but I don’t think that was her intention,” Blanchard told Vulture on Sept. 25. “And I don’t think it was Susannah’s intention, either. She just really wanted everyone to be happy and to be true to their feelings. I think some stuff just got lost in translation.”
One criticism of Susannah that’s become especially prominent after the series finale is the belief that Belly and Conrad’s relationship was largely a result of Susannah pushing them together. After hooking up in the final episode, Belly voiced her concern to Conrad that she worried he only loved her because of his dead mother’s wishes.
But Blanchard insists Susannah was never fully sure that Belly would end up with her older son: “I think she always saw there was something between Conrad and Belly, but I don’t think it was ever etched in stone for her.”
