The Summer I Turned Pretty: Skip It or Stream It?

This TV series is named after Jenny Han’s well-known book The Summer I Turned Pretty and has been trending for a while. The series premiered on June 17, 2022, and people have been buzzing about it. If you are a fan of Kissing Booth, then you will love it. It has some similarities with this movie hence it will feel like you are watching an upgraded summerish version of it.

The audience who has read the book has already created a vision of how the characters will be portrayed on screen. Although there are quite some differences, the author didn’t disappoint in making the audience gasp once again. It will look like you are reading the same book but with some details that will constantly keep you interested.

Recap of the First Season

The first season’s plot is centered around the transformation of the main character Isabel Conklin (Lola Tung). She is just a random teenager who spends every summer together with her mom and her mom’s friend in their summer house. There she creates a special bond with Jeremiah and Conrad. Both of them are the kids of her mom’s friend. They grow up together and create a strong bond with one another.

One summer the main character Isabel or Belly has a tremendous glow up before going back to the summer house. This is a pivotal moment for them. Belly finds herself in a love triangle and she faces different teenage issues.

The most intriguing part of the plot is how Belly deals with these problems. She is labeled as a mature and strong character that deals with these problems in the best way. This character is so divergent and gives teenagers or anyone different perspectives of how to deal with a situation. During the first season Belly is constantly dealing with teenage issues but at the same time was learning to find solutions on her own and even fails sometimes.

Unlike Belly from the book series, her character in the TV show is more dramatic and is more concerned with dating. Small changes were made to each character just to offer the audience fresh content and create diversity.

The Target Audience

The critics have labeled this show as appropriate and refreshing for teens. On the contrary, this tv show has reached an audience of different ages. People of different genders and ages have been quite enthusiastic about watching it. They feel like they are young again and like they are on camp hanging out with high school friends.

Everyone can find pieces of themselves in these characters. The two different worlds of youngsters and adults collided. Many adults from the audience claimed their similarities with two moms Laurel (Jackie Chung) and Susannah (Rachel Blanchard). Both of them struggle with their achievements and being good parents too. Laurel represents a woman who is recovering from her divorce and now has to learn to be on her own. Her friendship with Susannah helps her a lot to understand herself on a deeper level. This tv show touches on real-life issues that everyone can deal with at any moment in their life.

General Reception

Critics have defined the show as a guide for someone finding and experiencing their first love. They have also noticed the close bond that the author shares with the characters. They seem so real because of how she chose to portray them with all their perfect imperfections. That special bond is also reflected on the screen too. Other than that, Rotten Tomatoes has rated this show 8.5 out of 10, whereas IMDB rates it 7.5 out of 10.

Even though that have been some drastic changes in the plot or characters, the audience still felt comfortable. The TV show being exclusively produced by Jenny Han has managed to splendidly transmit that summer feeling and be poignant simultaneously.

Is There Going To Be a Season Two?

Yes, the production team has decided immediately to film the second season.

The green light to continue with the second season was given before the first season was even aired. They have already started filming and it will be aired probably during the summer of 2023.

There is an assumption that there will be approximately the same amount of episodes as the first season, where there were seven episodes in total. The whole cast will be returning and there were no changes or additional cast members announced yet.

Since the first season has followed the first book, the second season will be based on the sequel “It’s Not Summer Without You”. Hence, since in the first season the author decided to change some details, we are expecting a new exciting plot for this new season too.

If you want to watch a light rom-com TV series and still feel the adrenaline then The Summer

I Turned Pretty is definitely the one. One moment you will feel like a teenager again and the next moment you can relate to the adult life of the characters.

That is all made possible by the amazing writing skills of the author. She has the gift to turn fictional characters into real ones.

Photo: Amazon.com

You might also like:

Non-Cringy Romcoms That Will Make Any Romance-Hater Swoon

Support us!

All your donations will be used to pay the magazine’s journalists and to support the ongoing costs of maintaining the site.