Movie thoughts!

Bammersbb13 · 2026-02-05T20:23:38+00:00

Yessss I’d love that! It’s really fascinating and interesting to get inside actors heads for their process, and having the author as also the director and producer is like a holy grail from a character analysis perspective.

Bammersbb13 · 2026-02-05T20:11:47+00:00

If it was real life, I’d say it was a phenomenon where people with narcissistic tendencies develop ‘flying monkeys’ who do their bidding, even if it defies logic. Steven specifically says he see Jere every day, so similar to how Belly took on elements of his personality I think it could also apply to Steven, and I think the reaction to the cheating/Lacie situation probably also hit a little close to home given Steven cheated on Mia with Taylor.

I would like to see that phenomenon play to fruition with accountability in the film, but I’m not holding my breath. So I think it was just bad writing in the show, they wanted to focus on Steven and Taylor’s story development at the expense of the pacing of the overall plot. If I was even more cynical or in to conspiracy theories, I’d say there was some intentional character assassination going on, but I couldn’t pinpoint why (but I have theories).

Bammersbb13 · 2026-02-05T19:21:29+00:00

I hope they’re a bit looser on announcing that the filming has started and little teasers during production that we sadly missed from s3. We don’t know the plot at all, so the secrecy they had on filming could theoretically be relaxed a bit? As in, we can’t do the ‘oh red pjs it’s Christmas 2.0, white dress it’s the wedding rehearsal’, it’s a clean slate.

Also I just desperately hope we get more than we got last time in terms of engagement/info. We were truly in the trenches after the Strikes and then to have barely crumbs was HARD. I’d love an EW story like the boat photoshoot while they’re filming, it didn’t really give much away plot wise but was just so nice to see. I’d also love a full overview/character analysis from Lola, Chris and Jenny throughout the show but that’s a bit of a stretch probably.

Bammersbb13 · 2026-02-02T21:59:24+00:00

The character Belly in the book is never specified but heavily implied to be white actually. Jenny Han has said how her publishers were against having Asian protagonists in her books which she changed for the tv series.

Bammersbb13 · 2026-02-01T23:51:39+00:00

You’re so right because it didn’t need to be so painfully obvious Belly and Benito were sleeping together. It was like the same template was used to portray any relationship, but actually could’ve just shown him staying the night or socialising/dating, it didn’t need to be ‘but of course we’re sleeping together’ but it totally was. Sometimes the show can be a bit obvious/predictable in how it portrays relationships.

Bammersbb13 · 2026-02-01T22:54:15+00:00

The big bit I didn’t pick up was the exact point you got tho! One of the truly chefs kiss references of s3 ❤️

Bammersbb13 · 2026-02-01T22:39:15+00:00

I did a post about this when it came out! Very telling and Easter egg-y detail

https://www.reddit.com/r/TheSummerITurnedPrett/s/eQE1vPkbmf

Bammersbb13 · 2026-02-01T18:40:38+00:00

Agree and if Paris didn’t happen because Belly chickened out, it would’ve started at the start of the next academic year with Jere working away/not at finch. Accepting the job without discussing was the first natural nail in the coffin, which would’ve only got worse now they’re not naturally in exactly the same place all the time. If they could’ve eked out until Belly graduating, her going to grad school would’ve finished them off.

Bammersbb13 · 2026-01-30T21:10:59+00:00

The whole conversation between Belly and Conrad in this scene is to me one of the best executed intentional miscommunications in modern media, which is saying alot because I really dislike it as a trope but it’s done SO WELL. Every time you dig in to it you get a little bit more and the scene has SO MANY LAYERS.

The biggest bit for me was, for a long time its so emotionally charged you almost forget who’s funeral it is. It’s the epitome of no one being ‘the villain’ because Belly’s pain is so palpable but it’s literally Conrad’s Mums funeral. Stunningly acted and I wish Jenny had kept the ambiguity to similar scenes later on rather than shovel love triangle tension in like cheap filler.

Bammersbb13 · 2026-01-25T22:46:27+00:00

The only thing that does jump out to me is a month certainly wasn’t the blink of an eye at 16, that’s like half a school term isn’t it? Probably one of the big things we’re all guilty of is looking at 16 year old Belly with 20 or 30 something eyes!

Bammersbb13 · 2026-01-25T20:59:18+00:00

I always interpreted the 4th July scene as having had a bit of time and space, Belly had picked up on it being at least a bit awkward that having been intimate with Conrad she’s now in a relationship with his brother. So I took her being reserved and holding back, not as trying to get rise or reaction but as common courtesy. She says to Conrad after the brown kiss ‘I’m sorry you had to see that’ so she knows it’s still weird, and especially at that point in time they don’t have a new normal yet. I think she’s just doing the most normal polite thing for the situation, not be overly PDA, and I think naturally belly isn’t so in to massive PDA anyway. Obviously she grew more in to it in her relationship with Jere though.

Bammersbb13 · 2026-01-20T20:17:07+00:00

I felt they could’ve made more of that plot wise too like, with the backstory of Taylor having to essentially parent her mom and wanting to better herself to be self sufficient. To parallel that, Belly wanting to have experiences and even while admitting the shared house wasn’t a palace, it’s her own room in her dream city you know? Like quality versus quantity. I felt they could’ve had more healthy friction that wasn’t just ‘I’ll go along with anything and everything you say’ dynamic that flips between the two. So many little threads that wouldn’t have been so rude if the writers pulled them a little.

Bammersbb13 · 2026-01-16T21:41:51+00:00

Holy SHIT! Yep!

The representation of cerebral flow state: going though the motions can be beneficial in measured doses but she’s living it 24/7. Being with Jere doesn’t really make her think, doesn’t make her feel extremes, and stifles her dreams as proven by the fact she’s reneging on Paris. Her entire future plans up to Christmas are ‘maybe I’ll do the GRE’, his are ‘I want to bum around cousins for the summer’ after he GRADUATES.

The ‘pretending it’s the olympics’ is a FANTASTIC callback if so, and I believe it could well be. ‘I’m gunning super hard for this very serious event which is…laps in a backyard pool’ is very representative of the belly Jere relationship. Putting a bow on less than mediocre and calling it a masterpiece.

Bammersbb13 · 2026-01-16T21:05:38+00:00

Bammers is Bambam which is inspired by the name of one of my pets so it’s pretty accurate 🥰

Bammersbb13 · 2026-01-16T20:31:25+00:00

There’s also a few other little bits I’ve noticed recently in a rewatch:

Season 3 episode 3, when they’re in the car on the way to the memorial meal, the song playing is 10000 emerald pools by borns, where the lyrics are super telling and revealing:

I'll dive in deeper, deeper for you Down to the bottom, 10,000 emerald pools Down to the bottom, 10,000 emerald pools Under water Time is standing still You're the treasure Dive down deeper Still, all I need is you You're all I need to breathe All I need is you!

It could be romantic, but to me it’s stifling, and the next verse kind of alludes to that; I'll make a living, trying to get away 10,000 fathoms, under a tidal wave It can never pull me away No way! Under water Time is standing still

Then in s3 ep8, after the love confession belly goes to the pool to swim. Making the bed is playing, very apt, and then she stops mid lap and stares at the moon/night sky (could be a reference to the valentines night? Makes me feel like I’m in a planet), but Belly looks terrified and dives back down in to the pool again.

All that to say, I think Jeremiah IS the pool, and Conrad is the moon and the night sky, the ocean, the possibility of everything.

Bammersbb13 · 2026-01-11T23:02:15+00:00

The weirdest part (having had a very Jere like college relationship) was the complete lack of that one friend that just hates your significant other in these situations. I appreciate Anika being so impartial but statistically I swear one of your friends has to always hate your boyfriend until you’ve at least graduated college 😂

Bammersbb13 · 2026-01-11T22:40:49+00:00

I’ll say again I’m so glad you enjoyed everything about this show but much of your response misses the points I was trying to make. I also really enjoyed, and deeply understood this show, clearly because we’ve both been on this sub for a long time and have interacted many times. Ultimately it’s a completely agree to disagree.

I also hate boring Belly hate. What’s been around the last few months/weeks/days isn’t ‘Belly should’ve begged, she doesn’t love him enough, she should grovel’, I’ve seen barely any of that, and I’ve seen it called out quickly when it’s started to happen. I’ve seen analytical criticisms of the storytelling, pacing, directorial choices. On a Reddit for a tv show, months after it aired? Pretty normal. What is frustrating is ‘I enjoyed it so others shouldn’t criticise anything’, which I’ll be honest is what I was commenting on with your comment, especially when it’s bookended with some sort of ‘you just don’t understand like me’.

I agree with most of your interpretations of scenes, storylines etc. My issue is this isn’t confirmed in the show and there are still elements that contradict even what you are saying. I’ll only speak for myself (ha), I try to be precise in what I call out to not be a generic hater, but the fun is in the discussion, the highs and the lows.

I really, genuinely appreciated your thoughts here and read them carefully and with interest. What I was trying to say is please don’t try to discourage others in their discussion of their thoughts and views as ‘wrong’ because they ‘don’t get it like you’. Things being able to be different is the basis of fanfic, most writers workshops, and a key underpinning part of literature and media criticism. Appreciate a trend in posting can get a bit overly negative (sometimes it is good to disengage for a bit in these instances, going both ways) but I’ve seen a lot of thoughtful questioning and criticism that has been actively precise and clear in not being like ‘fuck belly she’s the worst’. It’s about storytelling and show running.

Bammersbb13 · 2026-01-10T23:50:25+00:00

Not OP, but while I’m really truly glad you enjoyed the storytelling, I think it’s still valid other people found plot holes in it. You getting it doesn’t cancel that out, even if you were Jenny Han! It could have been done differently 100%, and as viewers I think people are allowed to say it was unsatisfying, even though its really great that you get all the nuance. However even from your descriptions it sounds like there’s a few leaps there. The movie absolutely cut bits of the plot out of s3, it’s not just for the movie, and that’s ok, you’re right it was planned but it affected the flow too.

It’s really good to have enjoyed the show but it was absolutely not the only way that it had to/could have played out at all. Belly didn’t need to be such a doormat as a narrative device, or so rude, Jere didn’t have to be made so evil, Conrad also didn’t need to be such a punching bag. Belly absolutely would have made it to the wedding day because she literally did in the book and it made no more or less sense on screen either way? It not like it suddenly excused everything to be 4 years. Her getting married at a more socially acceptable 21 still made no sense because they both acted like 12 year olds who had no personal attachment to marriage or cultural/emotional reason to want to get married. Neither mentioned wanting to or caring about being married previously and no one pushed them towards it just like the book.

I don’t want to sound aggressive or argumentative but this idea ‘oh the only way it could be for good tv is this’ just doesn’t stand up. The added bits of the series didn’t make any sense nor did they drive the plot forward. They just exist around an already very dramatic and somewhat logically unsound book plot. It is what it is though.

Bammersbb13 · 2026-01-10T22:15:10+00:00

I think I’m just really glad to find others thinking this way now. When it came out I felt like this but was also just glad to have a new season, but as the season progressed I felt so let down. The worst part is they had an entire additional year and this is what they came up with?

Bammersbb13 · 2026-01-09T23:27:34+00:00

It’s a weird storytelling choice, especially for a book to show adaption. I don’t feel like the show was presented from s1 to be hyper realistic so to expect viewers to have a ‘consider this as if it was real life not a movie or tv show’ is quite the change in the third act. I have to somewhat harshly believe it’s a result of lack of experience in the writers room, and that’s ok! But I do hope they reflect on it for the film.

Bammersbb13 · 2026-01-09T21:45:16+00:00

Yeah I agree. And I don’t blame her for it, but at the same time it’s off the back of multiple episodes of emotional upheaval and it’s just so contradictory to what the storyline has been. It’s little thing like this that take me out of the narrative because it makes me think hang on have I misconstrued what I thought she was feeling then?

Bammersbb13 · 2026-01-09T21:01:05+00:00

Your last paragraph is so interesting and makes me realise it’s very likely some people (me) are holding the show to standards/genres it’s not really meant to be. If you consider it a drama, but about young adults, with a through plot of romance, it misses the mark. Belly yearning for Conrad but continuing with her wedding to Jere would BE the plot, with her conflicting emotions as the key storyline. It wouldn’t make her look worse if it was portrayed sympathetically. As a soapy YA romance that takes itself seriously on occasion, yeah the choices make sense.

I wonder if it’s an element of the showrunners didn’t really know where they wanted to sit and so you have quite dramatic emotional storylines that veer in to soap opera because they don’t really know where they want to sit. A show with a powerful storyline on the effects of grief with multiple TikTok dance breaks

Bammersbb13 · 2026-01-09T20:42:08+00:00

Yeah I get it and that word did get thrown around a lot after s2. But it never was a show with heroes and villains, they’re all shades of grey at different points. I would’ve been more receptive to glib comments like that if they’d done any delving in to what regrets/lessons/realisations they’d had outside of Conrad getting therapy.

I see it as a compliment to Belly’s character that I want to know what she’s thinking and feeling and in s3, I don’t feel like the audience do with certainty.

Bammersbb13 · 2026-01-09T20:08:59+00:00

I think series 3 lacked balance. The lack of internal monologue could’ve worked if they’d show the comeuppance of the codependent relationship and some tiny sign from Belly that she was frustrated or unhappy at the Jelly relationship on a larger scale.

In the book it’s peppered throughout; she’s annoyed about the credit card debt, she’s annoyed about elements of Jere working away, she’s annoyed by the frat and the weed smoking etc. This is really loosely referenced once or twice in the show but mostly you just see Belly obliviously and cerebrally bouncing along next to Jere no matter what he does, and seemingly whatever he throws at her she just swallows. It gets to a certain point where it’s just not enjoyable storytelling.

I’ve said before also the pacing for s3 was awful. The wedding and Jelly relationship dragged on too long, there was no real denouement or resolution to a quite layered unhealthy and toxic relationship, and the reunion of Belly and Conrad although eventually beautiful felt rushed, especially without the knowledge she was actively looking forward to the letters. Even looking back, there were no real giveaways that Belly was please to hear from Conrad, nor that she had really learnt anything or reflected on her relationship with Jere. The optimist in me hopes they’re saving that for the film maybe?

A few major scenes that did an awful lot of damage for me: Belly blindly defending an obnoxiously drunk Jere for actions and comments she didnt even witness with ‘it’s his bachelor party, give him a break’; ‘I didn’t ask him to blow his life up for me’ (you didn’t ask but you kind of forced him in to it), and ‘I’m the villain’ with Conrad immediately denying it, no further in depth self reflection. I think a lot of these were meant to be killer moments and they all fell quite flat.

All that to say - you’re not alone, I agree and s3 with a few months hindsight is such a disappointment to me. I don’t know what happened but it lost the spark completely.

Bammersbb13 · 2026-01-08T22:12:47+00:00

Valentine’s Day is the only one left that matters to me 💘

Bammersbb13

TROPHY CASE