If you’re anything like me, your social media feed has been bombarded for the past couple of months with clips and discourse surrounding the Amazon Prime Video Series “The Summer I Turned Pretty.” The show follows Isabel (Belly) and her never-ending love triangle with brothers Conrad and Jeremiah as they spend their summers together. Every Wednesday at 3 a.m. Eastern, a new episode drops, and the internet eats it up immediately. Some of you, like myself, welcomed this social media takeover. Others did not. Some have and will dismiss this show as a “silly teen show” with little to no substance, and they’re not necessarily incorrect, as it can be very surface level. I just think that doesn’t matter — there are more important aspects to deem something meritable than just a meaningful plot — namely watchability and entertainment value, of which it has both. Therefore, I think “The Summer I Turned Pretty” is worth a watch, especially before it concludes this Sept. 17.
The best aspect of “Summer” is the weekly release schedule. “Summer Wednesdays” have the same effect as the infamous “Euphoria Sundays.” It’s a fun thing to watch and talk about with your friends and seemingly every person on your timeline, too. A new episode every week builds up the anticipation, and you can have a weekly routine that comes with each release. It sounds dumb, but it really is a way to build community, to have a continual shared interest. Some of my favorite conversations I have each week start off with “have you watched the new episode yet?”
In a television environment dominated by HBO dramas, where shows like “The Bear” are nominated in the same category as “Abbott Elementary,” shows that don’t exist just for mature audiences and award notoriety are important. Society loves to discuss the loss of tween and teen culture, but “Summer” is rated TV-14 and is very much made with that demographic in mind. We need shows like this that create this balance, especially with the internet’s love of “adultifying” children and the deletion of content with them at the helm.
“Summer” is also brushed off as a stupid show meant specifically for teenage girls (since its based off a Young Adult Romance book series). People love to dismiss the interests of teenage girls as trivial and frilly, not important because “serious” people aren’t interested in them (i.e. men). Just because something is tailored to its prime marketable audience (teen girls are notoriously committed fans, just look at any boyband or pop girl ever), doesn’t make it fully inaccessible to anyone else. But even if it’s just a show enjoyed by young women, why does that erase its value? Just because something is playful doesn’t make it worthless.
Still, my recommendation for “Summer” doesn’t absolve it of its faults, of which there are many. For one, it isn’t on the same quality level as shows typically celebrated on their weekly release, like “Euphoria” or “Succession.” Obviously, there are no Emmy caliber performances on this show — at times the acting can be flat and the script awkward. But that doesn’t lessen its watch value. Liking something because it’s fun, silly, or lighthearted isn’t anything nefarious. No one needs to “film bro” this teen summer show. It’s not aiming to be a cult classic masterpiece, it’s aiming to entertain, and it’s more than okay to enjoy it. I am also firmly against the brother love triangle trope and have even written a previous article saying that shows that follow this trope should stop coming out. I still stand by that, but “Summer” is already released, I can’t erase its existence, but I can support it for what it is outside of that trope.
“Summer” may rely too heavily on popular music (having included 19 Taylor Swift songs as of Season 3 Episode 9), probably in the hopes of the inclusion going viral on TikTok (which it does), but one could argue that it’s part of the fun. It also has its fair share of cringy moments like the “Cinderbelly” nickname, the “Team Jellyfish” moniker or when Milo wrote a diss track about Stephen (a real song that you can stream on all platforms). The “Belly” of it all is enough for some people to write the show off completely, which is the case with my older sister, because seriously, why do they call her that? Despite these attributes, the show at its core is a fun summer show. You put it on with your friends every week and shut your brain off, because no matter what you’re going through, Conrad Fisher still has it worse. So no, this show isn’t groundbreaking or God’s gift to television, but that’s precisely the point: it shouldn’t have to be.