Imogen Webb
Thanks to the release of the final season of The Summer I Turned Pretty, 2025 became the summer we all relived the excitement of our teenage years. Here’s how the highly anticipated finale of one TV show has singlehandedly caused a cultural phenomenon which shaped the way we stream: for the pretty, the bad, and the ugly.
Synopsis
The Summer I Turned Pretty is the immensely popular book trilogy to TV adaptation, written by Jenny Han, creator of the To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before trilogy (2018-2021) and XO Kitty (2023-present). With three seasons in total, fans have waited for almost two years for the final season to land on Amazon Prime.
“With weekly episode releases increasingly a thing of the past, it’s been a long time since any of us have been forced to wait longer than it takes for Netflix to countdown to the next episode to continue with a series.”
The story revolves around two brothers, Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno) and Conrad Fisher (Christopher Briney), who both fall in love with the main character Isabel “Belly” Conklin (Lola Tung.) The story takes place in the fictional beach town of Cousins where both of their families spend summer every year at a beautiful holiday home.
Although Belly has romances with both brothers throughout the first two seasons, season three sees Belly become engaged to Jeremiah, which becomes messy when Conrad returns to Cousins for the wedding. And so began the long-awaited final season of The Summer I Turned Pretty.
Social Impact
Although the show’s impact on social media was expected, the impression it’s had on television and streaming is more surprising. Each episode of the show was released weekly starting on 16th July 2025, with the finale 10 weeks later, on 17th September 2025.
With weekly episode releases increasingly a thing of the past, it’s been a long time since any of us have been forced to wait longer than it takes for Netflix to countdown to the next episode to continue with a series.
The episode scheduling has meant viewers needed to savour each episode and in turn resulted in an intense reaction on social media platforms. Trending social media videos saw fans of the show scouting out easter eggs, creating edits of the most meme-able moments, and presenting fan theories as to what was next to come. Even social media users who were not familiar with the show saw such videos creep into their algorithm.
TikTok Reactions
Viewers may not have been able to continue the story until the following Wednesday, but they could definitely relive the episodes biggest moments through viral TikTok reactions. As a result of this reaction on social media, the show has been praised by many for bringing people together and re-sparking the magic of classic 2000s rom-coms.
@kristinagrixti Girlies screaming for Belly and Conrad finally being together!!!😮💨🫶🏻 #tsitp #thesummeriturnedpretty #conradfisher #belly #fyp
Comments and captions on the videos read ‘Peak Girlhood’ and even compared the finale to the Super Bowl.
High-profile influencers also posted commentary videos each week which allowed viewers to hear their opinions voiced online. However, with the weekly bombardment of social media videos arguably becoming a core part of the show’s experience, this could mean avoiding social media altogether in an effort to avoid catching any spoilers before having a chance to watch the latest episode for yourself.
“With weekly episode releases increasingly a thing of the past, it’s been a long time since any of us have been forced to wait longer than it takes for Netflix to countdown to the next episode to continue with a series.”
Public screenings and watch parties have also taken centre-stage in TikTok videos with one such video reaching 2.7 million views. In each video a crowd of young women from the ages of 18-30 dominate the venues, either reacting to the big reveals, or giggling and singing along to Taylor Swift, who has become the soundtrack of the show’s most iconic moments.
Even reminiscent of a crowd at a Taylor Swift concert there’s a girly innocence to the videos, with many of the women wearing hair ribbons and drawn on freckles over rosy blushed cheeked.
@abbi.dicenso do you think we stayed calm @the summer i turned pretty #fyp #foryou #tsitp #thesummeriturnedpretty #teamconrad
“The Summer We Started Acting Normal Online”
The topic of whether fans can differentiate between a character and the actor is not a new one and the new season of the show has massively highlighted how big of an issue this can be in an age where everyone can post their opinions for the world to see, no matter how ugly.
As the show progressed, fans online proudly declared their loyalty for either #TeamConrad or #TeamJeremiah. However one ‘team’ took a lot more of the heat.
The classic love triangle genre is famed for causing a huge divide between fans. The most recently comparable example of how one series caused huge divide and animosity within a fanbase is another cultural phenomenon The Twilight Saga. All of us who are old enough will remember how whether you were team Edward or team Jacob could change your school experience.
Harassment and Parasocial Relationships
However, in today’s world opinions on characters and their decisions exist on every possible social media platform. Between parasocial relationships and the long wait between each episode, the frustration of fans not receiving their ideal series timeline generated a vast amount of frustration towards one character in particular.
Gavin Caselegno, the actor behind the controversial character of Jeremiah Fisher, has recently taken on the heat of the ugly side of starring in a series based on a love-triangle.
“The classic love triangle genre is famed for causing a huge divide between fans.”
In an interview with The New York Times, Casalegno said, “I think it’s important to also understand and realise that this is a fictional story — and it’s also not me.”
“I don’t think there’s a single human being in the world who can handle the emotional negativity to the degree that stuff like this happens.”
In an attempt to combat the widespread harassment of the cast, Amazon and Jenny Han released their own statement: “The Summer We Started Acting Normal Online” across TikTok and Instagram.
Movie Announcement
While some fans expressed their disappointment with a lack of engagement ring from Conrad, there is nothing to worry about as it’s still all to play for! The latest news came just hours after the final episode aired which saw Belly and Conrad finally decide to choose each other.
Amazon confirmed on Wednesday 17th September that a The Summer I Turned Pretty movie is in the works! Fans eagerly await a release date announcement.
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Featured image courtesy of Maddie Leopardo via Unsplash. No changes have been made to this image. Image license found here.
