B Movies Blog

Hello, Movie Mavens! Welcome back to the B Movies Blog. Today, we’re popping The Summer I Turned Pretty into the ol’ VCR.

Welcome back to another edition of “Baillee watched a show meant for youths and now has big opinions about it.” (as seen with Emily in Paris) 

We all know that I love teen dramas. 

The O.C. is even one of my favorite shows of all time. 

Every now and then, a new teen drama comes out that I obsess over for 3-5 months. 

And friends, I finally watched The Summer I Turned Pretty…and have ordered the entire book series. 

With the final season dropping next month, I thought it only fair to talk about my hot takes in three sections. 

But let’s back up. 

The Summer I Turned Pretty tells the story of the Conklins and the Fishers, two families whose mothers are best friends. Each summer, both moms and their kids vacation at the Fishers’ beach house, but during one faithful summer, Isabel “Belly” Conklin (Lola Tung) manages to gain romantic interests in the Fisher brothers, Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno) and Conrad (Christopher Briney). 

Houston, we have a love triangle. 

Now, I’m going to try to keep things as spoiler-free as I possibly can, but I’m going to have to address some plot points when discussing my hot takes. 

If you want to go in without any information, I would hold off on this piece and come back when you’ve watched the first two seasons. 

Alrighty, that should do us for introductions and disclaimers. 

Without further ado, here are three of my big hot takes about The Summer I Turned Pretty. 

Jeremiah and Belly have no chemistry

I said what I said. When I saw my jaw hit the floor whenever we found out that Jeremiah had feelings for Belly. I never saw their relationship outside of anything platonic until the POV shifts from Belly’s to Jeremiah’s. IMO, they act like brother and sister and/or best friends, and I think it’s a really word choice to throw feelings in the mix. I haven’t read the books yet, so it might be portrayed differently, but in the show, those two have the chemistry of a potato and a paper bag.

I don’t think Belly is easy to root for. 

Belly is giving me Rory Gilmore energy, and we all know how I feel about Rory, especially in the later seasons. Whenever Nicole (Summer Madison) clocks her at the deb ball, I almost fell to my knees in gratitude. Belly isn’t innocent in the whole Jeremiah/Conrad situation because she kisses both of them and then breaks up with Jeremiah because Conrad, the brother she’s had a crush on since childhood, finally tells her he wants to be with her. WHAT. I also fully agree with Taylor’s reading Belly for having main character syndrome. Speaking of Taylor…

Taylor is a more interesting character than Belly. 

I don’t know if it’s because Rain Spencer’s portrayal of Taylor is compelling (or how differently Taylor is portrayed in the book series), but I enjoy watching Taylor’s storyline more than Belly’s. There are things I like about the main storyline, but overall, Taylor’s character is much easier to root for than Belly’s. I understand that Taylor is a little rough around the edges, but her heart is usually in the right place.