'The Summer I Turned Pretty' Review: Help! I Think I'm Team Jeremiah
Contains spoilers for The Summer I Turned Pretty.
I started covering The Summer I Turned Pretty for work.
As a millennial who grew up on Team Pacey and resented my mom for not being Lorelai Gilmore (Sorry, mom, I know better now), summer TV meant reruns, Summerland, and the occasional TV movie if our cable package at the time included Disney.
TITP is part of a batch of teen dramas I thought were exclusively for Gen Z and below. But I’ve never complained about having to watch anything or read YA novels for work.
The truth is — everyone is nostalgic for breezy nights at the beach, wearing oversized sweatshirts, watching the sunset with a cool beverage for company.
Cousins Beach is for everyone, no matter your age.
As I read the trilogy by Jenny Han and caught up on the show, prepping for “Details You Might’ve Missed” lists and chronicling each example of how the show is different from the books, I had one team — Conrad’s (Christopher Briney).
Susannah Fisher’s (Rachel Blanchard) dark, twisty, brooding son won me over. Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno) was too blond, busy, and boisterous for me. But one of the biggest reasons that TITP works so well is that Belly (Lola Tung) has separate but equal chemistry with both brothers.
I was Team Conrad through the whole debutant ball (although only Jeremiah could’ve done that escorts-only dance), the prom debacle, Susannah’s death, the funeral freak-out, the icy road trip with Jeremiah and then the trip back with both brothers … you get the point.
He’s on the edges of the page and screen, always in love with Belly but never exactly ready for the relationship emotionally. He is a man of action, not words. He knows when she’s cold, even when she denies it, and SPOILER ALERT: he’s never cheated on her.
Reading the books, the conclusion of Belly’s journey was obvious to me… and quite satisfying. So far, the show has stayed loyal to Han’s original work, making Team Conrad a pretty cozy place to be.
We’re at the beginning of the end of Belly’s saga. I pride myself on being a very loyal human (although I did once crack my No Strings Attached CD with my bare hands when the Backstreet Boys lost the fan-voted VMA…I don’t know what that proves more). I love it when TV shows are loyal to the novels they’re based on.
So, someone please tell me why, after watching Season 3 Episode 2, “Last Christmas,” I don’t think it would be the worst thing in the world if Belly married Jeremiah.
He cheated on her with a random sorority girl on spring break and borrowed a line from Ross Geller, one of the fictional characters I hate the most out of all the fictional characters in all universes, real and imagined.
I love Han’s work, but I can’t believe we’re debating “We were on a break!” again and giving Friends precious headline space.
But I can’t unsee Jeremiah’s ocean eyes. Gavin and Lola have sparkly chemistry —and sure, it must be fun to banter about literature with the future doctor, but it’s probably equally as fun to just dance with someone as alive as Jeremiah.
I still think they’re doomed. I’m still Team Conrad. But it’s so strange to notice the Team Jellyfish potential this late in the game. The TITP novels never took Belly to Paris. But I’ll be excited if we go with her, and if there are a few plot twists I can’t anticipate before the wedding, I won’t be mad.
That includes Staylor and the Belly’s parents getting back together, too.
The music is pretty, too…
Don’t call me a Swifty, but I like Taylor and her music is essential to TSITP.
Jen Malone, Nicole Weisberg, and everyone in charge of TSITP‘s music team are geniuses with all the music choices.
Here are my favorite musical moments of Season 3 Episodes 1 and 2, “Last Season” and “Last Christmas”:
The Cranberries, “Dreams” (Opening moments)
Taylor Swift, “You're Losing Me” (Cliff of “Last Season”/Spring break confession)
Ariana Grande, “I wish I hated you” (Belly has flashbacks of her relationship with Jeremiah)