Warning! SPOILERS for Pretty Smart Season 1
Netflix's Pretty Smart season 1 ends on a cliffhanger that upsets the balance between two key characters - here's what the ending means and how it may affect season 2. The campy show was created by Jack Dolgen and Doug Mand, and among its producers, Pretty Smart also counts How I Met Your Mother director and sitcom veteran Pamela Fryman. Season 1 was released on the streaming platform on October 8, 2021 to overall middling critic reviews, throwing the likelihood of a season 2 into question. However, Pretty Smart did reach Netflix's US top ten list, suggesting that there is potentially enough interest in the show to warrant another season.
The show focuses mainly on sisters Claire (Olivia Macklin) and Chelsea (Emily Osment), who start living together for the first time since they were 13 at the beginning of the season. Chelsea is supposed to stay only a few days at her sister's place, which she shares with friends and roommates Solana (Cinthya Carmona), an ex-lawyer that preferred becoming a spiritual healer, Grant (Gregg Sulkin), Claire's ex-boyfriend and personal trainer, and Jayden (Michael Hsu Rosen), a full-time influencer. Instead, she ends up moving with them when she realizes the life she was about to start with her boyfriend was all a lie, as he planned to stay at Harvard, leaving her to move to Los Angeles by herself.
The sitcom's first episodes set up Claire and Chelsea as polar opposites: one is easy-going, almost impossibly well-meaning and friendly, while the other is book-smart, snobbish, and socially inept, especially with new people. Their relationship suffered greatly because of their parents' divorce when Claire went to live with their mom, while Chelsea moved in with their dad. Throughout Pretty Smart season 1, the two sisters grow closer and wiser together, with both of them overcoming some of their biggest obstacles by the end of the season.
The whole season hints multiple times at Claire's people-pleaser personality, which comes up when post-breakup Chelsea disrespects Claire's roommates and doesn't call her out on it, but also in all the little things she does for other people. Claire repeatedly lies to herself, Jayden, and Grant when talking about her past relationship with the latter, refusing to accept she might still have feelings for him. That she decides to split from Dave, who she describes as good, sexy, and kind, to profess her feelings for Grant is major for Claire, especially considering her proven track record of short-term relationships.
Chelsea (The Kominsky Method's Emily Osment) is also impacted by the revelation. The scene stops with her entering the living room, where Claire had just kissed Grant, so it's unknown what she knows. Nevertheless, as she spent the whole season trying to get over Grant before realizing he actually liked her back, how her sister truly feels about him might make her change her mind about a potential relationship with Grant.
Claire's declaration obviously affects Grant as well, as he pined for her affection since Pretty Smart episode 1. He had to go through many heart-to-heart discussions with both Chelsea and Jayden before recovering from the heartache of being rejected. Knowing that the woman he loved for years has feelings for him too, right after he decided to embark on a new relationship with her sister, puts him in a difficult position.
The Netflix show masterfully built up the potential love triangle: Chelsea, Grant, and Claire would never do anything to hurt each other voluntarily. Even so, the show underlined the unresolved history between Grant and Claire from day one while also laying the foundations for a well-suited relationship between Chelsea and Grant. They would have never considered acting on their attraction for one another if Claire had not been in a relationship with Dave, yet there were so many clues of their mutual affection.
Chelsea liked Grant from the moment she realized how unexpectedly wise he was, as she was often taken aback by how easily drawn she was to him. They frequently helped each other: Chelsea inquired over Claire's feelings for Grant, and Grant saved Chelsea from choking and inspired her to get back to writing her story. They have proven how good they'd be for each other were they in a relationship.
Netflix released Pretty Smart in October 2021 and has yet to confirm a second season. It's unknown if and when that will happen. From its cliffhanger ending though, it can be assumed the showrunners would want to develop further the love triangle between Chelsea, Grant, and Claire. The start of a potential season 2 would also be the perfect moment for conflict to arise: Chelsea and Claire finally have an equal relationship where they both support each other, and Grant seems to have made peace with Claire not reciprocating his feelings. However, now that she does have feelings and he knows this, everything might change for him, and his intentions with Chelsea might change as well.
The sitcom's ending ties up loose ends: it resolves Solana's acceptance of her past as a lawyer and reunites Jayden (Tiny Pretty Things' Michael Hsu Rosen) with his estranged mother. Pretty Smart season 1's ending curtails the balance between the two sisters, potentially setting back Claire and Chelsea's relationship to its rocky past over their affection for Grant. The show's season 1 cleverly ends right after Chelsea tells Claire she wants to talk to her, without specifying that she's thinking about the guy her sister just kissed. It can only be hoped that Netflix not only confirms a Pretty Smart season 2 but also, if it does so, decides to examine a potential return to conflict between the two sisters.
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