The couple Summer Blake and Warren Lockridge
	Home   Cette page en Français

As the sun sets over the bay and the city of Santa Barbara seems to find some calm, on the beach, the rhythmic music of a hit by Cindy Lauper escapes from a jukebox. Around the round tables, couples settle down, groups of young people put their surfboard and take place on the wooden benches. Waitresses in pareo bring the first cocktails to the customers, the young upscale generations of the city. After Cindy Lauper, it's Madonna's last hit that resonates. Clients are mainly young Lyman Prep students who have recently returned to high school; it is no surprise that Ted Capwell, Laken Lockridge, Jade Perkins and Danny Andrade regularly come here to share a moment of freedom. We also regularly find lifeguards after their working day, recognizable by their red shorts, who watch over the beach. Among them, Laken's older brother, young Warren Lockridge, although heir of the Lockridge dynasty, is a lifeguard whose main occupation is to flirt with young girls on the beach. A stereotype of the sporty Californian, more interested in his physical appearance than the world around him, Warren surfs between the beach, the beach bar, the fashionable parties far, very far from the city museum. Much to the chagrin of his mother and grandmother, Warren does not feel able to take back the reins of the family, whose aura and fortune are on the decline.

It is there, at the beach bar, in the middle of the affluent youth of the city, that Warren's road crosses that of a young blonde woman who will transform his life. Summer Blake is Gina's younger sister and she is the opposite of Warren : graduated of a master's degree, passionate about art and, after working at the L.A. County Museum, she is looking for a job at the art museum of the city. It was after an exhibition in France on impressionist painters that Summer devoted herself body and soul to art. Sensitive to Summer's visible differences compared to the other young women that he rubbed shoulders with until then, Warren approaches her while she goes to choose a jukebox music, and begins to flirt with her. Surprised, Summer refuses the invitation of this stranger. But quickly their roads cross again and, this time, Summer lets herself be approached by Warren : she proposes to heal his wounded hand (he burned himself during the fire of the archives of Rudy's pawn shop that he lit himself). The blonde young woman does not hide her trouble, awakened by the contact of Warren, as she was until then only focusing on art. A lifeguard friend of Warren's, Chuck, is the privileged witness of the beginning of their story, of this moment so particular where an exchanged look is the beginning of beautiful promises.

Eager to offer all the chances to their budding relationship now that Summer is going to stay in Santa Barbara (she got a job as a curator at the city museum), Warren invites Summer to the Lockridge mansion to present her the family's private collection. Summer is very touched by this attention, even if her first meeting with Warren's mother is not the most pleasant (Augusta seems jealous of Summer, of this first woman who could distance Warren from her). Whatever the peaks of Augusta for the lovers, a bright future seems to be ahead of them. Warren proposes to help Summer to find an apartment in town : a new apartment for Summer will offer them more freedom, Summer currently living with her sister Gina in a suite of the Capwell Hotel.

However, their relationship must overcome much harder difficulties than their differences of interests to be able to flourish fully. Because Warren is a Lockridge. A detail that might not matter, but here, Summer finds herself related to their rivals, the Capwells. Summer is Gina's younger sister, who begins a relationship with C.C. Capwell. Among the difficulties they have to overcome, the one related to the gold coins stolen by Warren from the Capwells is undoubtedly the one that will most severely threaten their budding relationship. It is an old Spanish gold coin that will cause trouble in their relationship. Given to actress Sophia Wayne years ago by Lionel Lockridge, the gold coins were stolen at the Capwell mansion before Channing Junior's murder, and today one of them has passed from the thief's hands to Summer's, to end up in the hands of Kelly Capwell. Furious with himself, Warren first attacks Summer... But very quickly, he comes to his senses, fully aware that everything is his fault and that Summer is on his side. Summer chooses to move away from Warren, not understanding the importance he attaches to this gold coin. And, although Warren does his best (he buys her a jewel, he helps her to move to her new apartment), to make peace with her, she keeps her distance. Even if at some point, they find a certain complicity (Warren confides to her to have been friend with Channing Junior), the first ties uniting them broke. Thus, Summer understood well that, unwittingly, she finds herself at the center of a conflict between Warren and Kelly (and therefore the Lockridges and the Capwells), and that beyond the theft of the gold coins, it would be possible that the thief of these coins could also be the murderer of Channing Junior.

As a twist of fate, a storm strikes the city of Santa Barbara. After sharing a moment of great trust during which Warren partially lifted the veil on his former acts related to gold coins, Warren and Summer find themselves stuck in the elevator of the Capwell Hotel. With the help of promiscuity, they eventually get closer and, when they leave the elevator, they exchange a kiss... A kiss that almost has the flavor of the very first one as their beings had missed each other. Not wanting the magic of this moment to spread with the storm, they spend their first evening together. And, to Summer's delight, they spend the evening chatting, revealing each other by words. Summer is happy, she was not mistaken about Warren : he is not this carefree young man, eager for pleasure and easy encounters that one can imagine. Warren is very different, far from the image he gives.

This first evening is a beginning, a beginning to a story. If they meet several times, Summer can not be completely relaxed in his presence. This tension has nothing to do with Warren, it is something that she carries in her, a poorly healed wound that prevents her from abandoning herself completely. Warren, if he had supposed it at the beginning of their meeting, has confirmation of it one day, after having taught her the basics of diving; while he approaches her to deposit a kiss on her lips, Summer departs with violence and a certain fear can be read on her face. Yet the former frivolous lifeguard does his best to try to break down the barriers that hold Summer prisoner. Aware that he is sometimes not very romantic and the importance of art in Summer's life, he strives to meet the expectations of the one he loves : he organizes one evening a night picnic in a museum room. The evening is perfect, Summer would almost surrender to the ambient romanticism : an idyllic setting, a charming attentive man, who covers her with delicate attention. Unfortunately, very quickly the charm is broken when Warren tries to kiss her to immortalize the moment... Summer, panicked, runs away and takes refuge on the beach. In her mind, another replaced Warren. It is not Warren's fault, but Summer cannot ignore the shadow of this other one who, in an instant, erased Warren's sweet presence and transformed him into the presence of a monster.

Their story could have stopped there, but Warren's heart fell deeply in love with Summer. Patient, considerate, Warren's personality has transformed at her side, and the man Warren is becoming feels the need for her presence at his side. He organizes another romantic dinner of the most original, this time at the Capwell Hotel. In order to be alone and not to be disturbed, the dinner takes place in one of the elevators of the restaurant. This place was not randomly chosen by Warren, since it is in an elevator that they exchanged their very first kiss. Warren opens his heart and entrusts his feelings to Summer. Touched by his attentions, Summer accepts Warren's proposal : to finish the evening in the room he has reserved. There, in the intimacy of the room, Warren slowly manages to break down barriers, their lips join, their bodies approach, eager to be fully united with each other. Suddenly, invaded by the memories of a violent past, Summer flees again, while Warren's caresses became more pressing, leaving him even more distraught.

Panicked, her body stretched to the extreme, Summer fled to the beach bar, as if to drown her memories in the crowd and noise. Accosted by a drunk man, Summer feels overwhelmed by her fears. Fortunately, Warren comes to her rescue. Reassured and soothed by Warren's words, she apologizes for her behavior. However, she does not dare yet to reveal the real reasons for her discomfort to Warren. It is through Gina that he ends up discovering the anxieties that gnaw Summer's daily life : she was raped years ago by Gina's former boyfriend, Hank Judson.

In addition to this drama of her own past, Summer, if she wants to be able to fully love Warren, must face another past : that of Warren. Questioned by Mason Capwell about the gold coins, the fragile Summer shows herself strong and determined to protect the one she loves. And because Summer trusts the man she is discovering, because she believes in the man her heart is learning to love, she rebels against Kelly, Mason... No, Warren can't be who they think he is. And, certainly because he is in danger, Summer feels ready to overcome her own fears to help, protect and simply be with the one she loves. It is also because of her love that Summer will be trapped by the carnation killer. Deceived by Peter Flint, Summer's fate will end tragically, since she is the second victim of the killer. Drama in this drama, Warren will be one of the very first to find the body of the one he loves...

With a bruised heart and soul, Warren struggles to recover from Summer's disappearance. Upon her contact, his personality awakened and it is impossible for him to go back and become the young hothead he was a few months before. Profoundly changed, he can only continue his transformation; transformation that will continue in contact with Maggie Gillis.

First great love story for Warren Lockridge, this one could unfortunately not end otherwise than in pain. Trapped in their own past, Summer and Warren had no or too few solutions to flourish in their relationship : he a Lockridge and she an indirect member of the Capwell clan. It will have missed an epic breath, a great adventure to their story so that it can take a whole other scale. Especially since their story was not rich enough opposed to Laken and Ted's, who also found themselves trapped in the crosshunts between Capwells and Lockridges. The death of Summer also demonstrated to all that in the writers' minds, with a few exceptions, none of the characters is immortal - viewers will have painful proof of this on several occasions with the death of Mary DuVall or Amy Perkins...

Texte écrit pour ce site par Lilian