An American coming-of-age drama series The Summer I Turned Pretty is created by Jenny Han, the author, and Amazon Prime Video launched it in the summer of 2022. This series is based on a book by the same name that Han wrote. TechTrends wrote an article on The Summer I Turned Pretty series review to explain why you should watch this romantic drama TV series.
This is a breezy series that revolves around the lives of a few teenagers and their summer romance and lust. The Summer I Turned Pretty is an adaptation of Jenny Han’s book and the lead actors are quite attractive and likable. The first season of this series came out on June 17, 2022 and before the premier, Amazon decided to renew it for another season, on June 8, 2022. The second season is said to come out in 2023. The filming of the series occurred in Wilmington, North Carolina in 2021 and the second season was filmed in July 2022 and ended in November 2022. Since its release, The Summer I Turned Pretty received a lot of positive reviews from critics and the audience.
One critic on Rotten Tomatoes saying, “The Summer I Turned Pretty doesn’t need more time to become a swan, coming out of the gate a solidly charming and sweet rom-com with appeal across generations.” It rates 91% on this website and the IMDb rating of the series is 7.4 as of January 2023. Now, let’s jump into The Summer I Turned Pretty series review to find out why you should add this to your watchlist, if you haven’t watched it already.
The Summer I Turned Pretty Series Review
It is quite enjoyable to watch The Summer I Turned Pretty, with incredible cast members and supporting characters. It is not a complicated show and it does not do anything original. However, it depicts a simple romantic drama between teens with style, bring the book to life. The fact that Amazon Video decided to renew the series for a second season shows how much faith they have in the series. Let’s get into the cast of the show in the next section of The Summer I Turned Pretty series review.
The Summer I Turned Pretty Series Review: Cast
Lola Tung as Belly Conklin
Lola Tung might not be a familiar face to you and do not feel like you have been out of touch! The Summer I Turned Pretty is actually her first acting job and role. It seems like her career is off to a good start and we are eager to see where it takes her. Lola is the main character of the series and she attended the well-renowned LaGuardia High School in New York City, which is among the most famous schools for arts. Timothee Chalamet and Jennifer Aniston also attended that school. Despite being 19 years old, Lola is now on a year out from Carnegie Mellon’s School of Drama Acting and Musical Theater in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania to do her best and dedicate her time to her first role ever.
Aside from acting, Lola Tung has a really great voice. You should check out her cover of Funeral by Phoebe Bridgers.
Read more: Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery Review
Christopher Briney as Conrad Fisher
Christopher Briney attended Pace University, pursuing a BFA in Acting for Film, TV, Voiceover and Commercial. For his experience, he was given the role of the older brother in the Fisher family. He plays the role of Conrad Fisher. The talented actor is 22 years old and has shortly appeared in Under the Covers and Want This. He has most recently appeared in Daliland, the Salvador Dali memoir.
Gavin Casalegno as Jeremiah Fisher
Notwithstanding his young age of 23, Casalegno has a prolific acting career among the cast of The Summer I Turned Pretty. He appeared alongside the likes of Russell Crowe, Anthony Hopkins and Jennifer Connelly. He even appeared in The Vampire Diaries as Young Damon. Some of you might remember his face.
His greatest role till this day is Trevor Strand in the drama Walker, where he appeared in eight episodes. He has also been dating a model named Larsen Thompson since 2016. While some believe that the two have broken up, their pictures are still on their Instagram, which shows that we cannot be sure.
Jackie Chung as Laurel Conklin
Jackie Chung has been in the business since 2005 and is not a stranger when it comes to acting. Being one of the cast members of The Summer I Turned Pretty, however, is her most prolific up to now. Chung is Belly’s mother.
Read more: Wednesday Series Review
Sean Kaufman as Steven Conklin
Kaufman does not like to share much about his private life and we do not know much about him. However, he studied at the LaGuardia High School before going to Purchase College’s Acting Conservatory. He has appeared in FBI: Most Wanted and Law & Order: SVU, but his roles were unnamed. He also was a guest star on Manifest from NBC.
In the series, he plays the role of Belly’s brother and his performance was impressive.
Rachel Blanchard as Susannah Fisher
Blanchard’s career in acting is the most accredited in The Summer I Turned Pretty cast. She has been an actor since 1984 and is a great one. Rachel played the role of Cher in the Clueless TV series and was a regular in Chris Cross, Snakes on a Plane, and Fargo. She plays the role of Conrad and Jeremiah’s mother in this series.
Minnie Mills as Shayla
Minnie Mills was born in London, UK in 2002. When she was only 4, her family moved to New York City. She has a Korean mother and a Canadian father. Moreover, she attended the Atlantic Theatre Company and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts before joining the cast member of The Summer I Turned Pretty. She plays the role of Shalya, one of the girls in the town who is friends with Conrad and Jeremiah.
Read more: Best Daniel Craig Movies of All Time
Summer Madison as Nicole
Summer Madison began her acting career in 2018 and went on to appear in Emergency 2022, The Wonder Years 2022, and Mike. She plays the role of Nicole and is friends with Shalya. She is also Conrad’s on and off girlfriend-type in the first few episodes.
The Summer I Turned Pretty Series Review: Plot
There were seven episodes in this series and the story in each episode is explained below. Spoiler alert!
1. Summer House
Belly, her brother Steven and her mother Laural always go to Susannah Fisher’s house in the summer. Susannah is best friends with Laurel and their house is in Cousins Beach. Susannah has two sons named Conrad and Jeremiah. Belly has had feelings for Conrad ever since she was 12 years old but thinks that Conrad only sees her as a sister. When they arrive, Belly sees that Conrad is acting weird and is not himself. Doing her best to confront her, Belly gets interrupted by Jeremiah and Steven. They ask Conrad to join them as they plan to go to a bonfire party on the beach. Belly’s friend Taylor urges her to sneak out of the house and go to the bonfire.
When she gets there, she sees Conrad making out with a girl named Nicole. In the previous year’s debutante ball, Conrad was Nicole’s escort. Belly then gets into an argument with Conrad and Steven and when sitting alone, a boy approaches her. His name is Cam and the two seem to hit it off and they even kiss. Meanwhile, Conrad gets into a fight, which results in their party being broken up. In this episode, Belly also accepts to go to the debutante, which was suggested by Susannah.
Read more: Best Mystery Movies of All Time
2. Summer Dress
Since Belly accepted to attend the debutante ball, she has to buy a dress. Susannah and Laurel help her out and take her shopping. Next, when Belly goes to her first debutante tea, she gets to know Shayla, who is a rich socialite. She also finds out that Shayla and Nicole are very close friends. Following that, Cam acts on his crush and asks Belly on a date. The two go to a drive-in movie theater. Meanwhile, Laurel, who is an author, is having a book signing. It is then that she comes across Cleveland Castillo, who is also an author. When the two get to know each other, Laurel finds out that his next book is about sailing. Therefore, she suggests that he could ask Conrad for some lessons about sailing.
Conrad, who knows Belly is at her first date, feels bored at the bookstore and tells the guys that they should crash Belly’s date. When they get to her, she becomes really furious and tells them to leave. When Belly gets home, she starts fighting with Conrad about what he did. He then calls her immature and vain. Meanwhile, Steven seems to be starting something up with Shayla, who asks him to be her date to the debutante ball.
3. Summer Nights
Belly’s 16th birthday is coming up and when it arrives, everyone shares gifts with her but Conrad does not. He says that he forgot Belly’s birthday, which comes as a shock to everyone. Later in the episode, Belly and Jeremiah go to the bus station to pick up Taylor, Belly’s friend, when she comes to Cousins Beach. After having dinner, Taylor and Belly decide to go to Nicole’s party. Meanwhile, Cam really likes Belly to ask him to be her date for the ball.
4. Summer Heat
In the fourth episode of The Summer I Turned Pretty, everyone is getting ready for the Fourth of July celebration that Susannah is hosting. Belly’s dad is supposed to attend the celebration with his new girlfriend. Fisher boys, on the other hand, find out that their father Adam, will no be coming. The kids begin to drink too many margaritas and get drunk, with Belly acting weird around Conrad and being frank. Then, they cause a scene at the party as they are so drunk.
5. Summer Catch
At the start of the fifth episode, Susannah and Laurel go to a bar and reminisce old memories and good times. Susannah then meets a total stranger and hooks up with him. At the same time, Laurel and Cleveland get to know each other more and take things to the next level. This episode is quite interesting as Jeremiah admits to Belly that he has feelings for her. The two end up kissing in the pool, which is a really romantic scene. Later, she is seen struggling as she does not know whether she chose the right Fisher brother or not as she has feelings for Conrad.
6. Summer Tides
The annual beach volleyball fundraiser happens in this episode and Belly is so eager to win. Taylor is her partner in the team but in order for Belly to get closer to Jeremiah, she fakes and injury and suggests that Jeremiah should help out. She wins the game with the help of the two brothers. While Conrad is on the board with Cleveland, he has a panic attack and talks about what he has been going through recently. Belly and Taylor, meanwhile, get an invitation to hang out with Nicole on her dad’s boat but they end up alone without their clothes.
7. Summer Love
In the final episode of The Summer I Turned Pretty, the debutante ball is about to happen. Everything seems to be shaping up for that big night. Belly decides to attend the ball with Jeremiah as her date. Moreover, she finally gets the dress she wanted with the help of Susannah and Laurel. Steven, on the other hand, lost his money in a game of poker and has not money to get a tuxedo. Therefore, he has to tell Shayla, but she decides to get him a tux of her dad. While in the ball, Jeremiah grows suspicious of something his mother is hiding.
When he finds out, he cannot go to the ballroom and Belly ends up dancing with Conrad after all. The scene is so romantic and at the end of the episode, the two finally kiss, leaving us hanging on who Belly is going to end up with in the second season.