About the latest episode of The Summer I Turned Pretty

Did I fall into a hole? No, luckily not!

Did I fall into a hole? No, because this morning the creators brought the joyful news that *The Summer I Turned Pretty* is coming back with a movie, so Conrad, Jeremiah, and Belly will stay in our lives a little longer. But did I find the episode perfect? Of course not. I always have something to complain about.

What was strange about *The Summer I Turned Pretty*

Let's be honest, *The Summer I Turned Pretty* is not a series that excels in continuity and content precision. Just look at my article about the backpack scene in Pariss. There are many things that are illogical, like an afternoon at an amusement park that is stretched over three-quarters of an episode, where Susannah's death suddenly occurs very abruptly. But that doesn't matter, because the fun things about the series are overwhelmingly in the majority. If Jude Law smacks or lets out a little burp after eating, I would forgive him that too. Anyway, that's how it is. But after the high of the last episode, I do have a point for improvement for the creators.

Why the Paris part in *The Summer I Turned Pretty* was not perfect

Delightful, the scenes with Conrad in Paris, romance at its peak. But that moment when she takes him to her ‘secret’ place where she has a beautiful view over Paris, can we zoom in on that? That view, isn't it drawn? Or is it a greenscreen or was AI used? I don't understand it all, because they clearly filmed in Paris, but perhaps the permission for a certain location with a view didn't go through or was too cumbersome, but this came off as very silly. When Conrad and Belly are together on screen, you see Paris very blurry in the background, while if you choose a viewpoint, you want to see one thing clearly: the view. I thought it was a missed opportunity.

And then those photos at the end: that Christmas song

The ending was delightful, everything went exactly as I hoped it would. And as a viewer, you clearly feel the love of the creators in the credits. Here, Jenny Han, the author of the book *The Summer I Turned Pretty*, who was also closely involved with the series, thanked the people for watching and for empathizing with Belly over the years. Meanwhile, the love of *SPOILER ALERT* Belly and Conrad (but you saw this coming anyway) is celebrated by a Christmas song, with a shot of flipping through a photo book with pictures of Belly and Conrad. And there, dear friends, I had something to complain about. Because first of all: where did that Christmas music suddenly come from? I felt like we were still halfway through Belly's birthday (and that's in the summer, we know that, because she always celebrated it during their legendary summers in Cousins) and suddenly it's boom, Christmas. Okay, you might think the creators want to let us know that Belly and Conrad are still together at Christmas, but it felt really a bit strange. I would have preferred to see photos across multiple seasons, so you understand that they live happily ever after. And then the photos. We really see thirty photos of Belly and Conrad in the same situation; she in red-and-white polka dot pajamas with Conrad in her apartment in Paris during breakfast. They laugh, take a bite, Belly unwraps a gift. But, you don't stick thirty photos in a scrapbook of one moment? As creators, you could have planned a day to photograph Belly and Conrad in multiple places and in different outfits, then it would have made sense. This was a typical case of a nice idea, but not executed well. Maybe a suggestion to do that a bit better in the movie. A tip for the creators: look at the “bonus” in *Paddington* and *Wonka*, those are real extras worth staying for. And after the success of the series, the creators should have all the time and budget for that in the movie.

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