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onceupon · 2 years

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THE SUMMER I TURNED PRETTY THOUGHTS!

I need to be in like a book club or a show-watching club, one that skews toward hyper-fixation… aka tumblr so here we are.

If you don’t know what happens in Books2/3 then spoiler alert!

This is also easily the most nerdy and excessive thing I’ve posted on this app. I don’t even need anyone to read this I just needed to get all my thoughts out of my head lmao

For starters, I never read TSITP series when I was younger, but my angsty, caught in a love triangle with my guy best friend and his best friend teenage self, would’ve ATE THIS UP. Ahh. It was still so fun reading at 22 and feeling that nostalgia of being a teenager again. So I basically binge-read all 3 books this past week and then immediately binge-watched the series. Let’s dive in.

Initial Reactions

So cringe. But in the best way. Like in a way that really highlights the innate cringiness that comes with going through your teens.

I enjoyed the music choice, but too an extent. I know a lot of people loved it but I kind of felt like they were overdoing it? Using every single song popular on Tik Tok was a bit overkill. I love T Swift though so I’ll make some exceptions.

LOVE Lola Tung. Literally such a perfect fit for the role. Adore her. I saw someone on Instagram say they loved how the cast was on the younger side aka more true to the age that they were playing. Basically they didn’t look like adults playing teens, they actually looked like teens.

I really liked how they chose it to be a series rather than a movie, really letting us marinate with the setting and the characters.

Show vs Books

Since I just read the books before watching, all the details are still fresh in my mind. I know the book will always be different, but I’m used to not watching the movie/show until years later. Since it was back to back for me this time, it was fun being able to pick up on so many little things.

Did anyone else pick up on how they sped up some plot points and repurposed/reinvented others from books 2 and 3? Some of these might be a reach… but it kept me thinking “wait! that’s not supposed to happen yet!” Which makes me all the more excited because Jenny Han definitely has some ideas up her sleeve for the next seasons.

First, introducing the Jeremiah-Conrad love triangle in this season. In the first book, Belly rejects Jeremiah when he confesses his feelings. The entire book she only ever has eyes for Conrad. The love triangle doesn’t start till Book 2.

Second, the necklace!? In the books she finds it in Book 2 (post-breakup, when her and Jer go looking for Conrad), decides to wear it rather than ask about it, and when Conrad sees her and Jere kissing in his car, he demands she take it off and give it back because it’s not hers and he never gave it to her anyways. Which doesn’t even COMPARE to book 3 when he gives it to her on what’s supposed to be her WEDDING DAY to JEREMIAH. Like that was such a pivotal moment of the plot. Belly was really standing her ground after his love confession, but when she saw that necklace and he finally admitted it belonged to her and that he got it for her 16th birthday, she was 2 seconds from folding. While they kept the part where it’s for Belly’s birthday and we got that cute scene where she asks him about it in the shower, it didn’t hold as much weight as it did in the books to me? Maybe they’ll continue incorporating the necklace though and it’ll end up carrying as much meaning.

Next, there were several lines from books 1-3 that they used in season 1 just in a different context. Like when Conrad says “you know I think about you, I just can’t right now.” In the show they use it mid-season after they almost kissed on the Fourth of July. Im nitpicking here but I just loved the original context of the line in the book 😭 At the end, after the whole shit show storm, the cancer secret, the fight, everything, Belly kisses him to comfort him, and he kisses her back. Like come on:

Then Taylor being in the car with Conrad after the skinny dipping fiasco and telling him to let Belly go. Taylor and Conrad didn’t have that convo until book 3, at the house, the day before Belly’s wedding.

Further, while I enjoyed the debutante ball addition, it borrowed some themes from books 2 and 3 which I wonder whether they’ll be repeated or not. Such as the prom in book 2 and the whole idea of actively choosing Jere over Conrad which she never did until book 3.

Lastly, Belly tripping her and Susannah at the Fourth of July part. In the first book, there is no Fourth of July party. Instead we have book 2, everyone is at the summer house for the funeral. Belly sees Conrad for the first time after their breakup and he’s with Aubrey which puts her into a fit of rage, telling him to go to hell and that she hates him, making a scene, and tripping up the stairs as she runs away. That’s when we get her dad coming up to comfort her, assuring her Laurel doesn’t hate her. I think I like this change, for Belly’s sake. It made me so sad for her, how much she regretted it, and I think Jenny Han doesn’t want to make Belly in the show stoop down to that level. BUT, then it led to that drunk, crying apology in the ocean to Conrad which had that boy messed UP. Give and take. I think it’s cool how Jenny Han is repurposing various plot points in a way that’s familiar but entirely different.

Honorable mention: Belly and the deb girls skinny dipping in the show vs. Belly wanting Cam to skinny dip with her in the book and him rejecting her.

Characters

Steven in the show definitely had a much larger role which I loved! In the books, he’s only at the summerhouse for the first half of summer, leaving to go on college tours with his Dad and to study for the SAT. However, that gave us one of my favorite Steven-Belly moments that wouldn’t have happened in the show. Because while show Steven was pretty oblivious, book Steven was well aware how the Fisher boys look at his sister, even though he’d never admit it.

Belly and Conrad in the show were less-aggressive versions of themselves than the books. More mature maybe and… soft? Book Belly was far more childish/dramatic and book Conrad was a MAJOR asshole when he wanted to be. When those two fought in the books they were spitting VENOM. Book Conrad and Belly are 100% The Way I Loved You by Taylor Swift. Screaming? Yes. Fighting? Yes. Kissing in the rain? Yes. So in love they both act insane? Yes times a million.

I thought Jeremiah, Cam, Laurel, and Susannah were all pretty spot on. Aside from the new addition of Jere being bi. And sorry to be a hater, but I really didn’t care about Laurel and Susannah’s side-plot romances in the show. I said what I said.

Fave new moments:

- drunk Belly talking to Conrad while he’s showering

- their little texts

- Taylor being a good friend (redirecting the convo during never have I ever - which btw happened in book 3 when Belly is in college)

Fave moments that stayed true to the book:

- the boys first look at Belly when she arrives

- Conrad touching Belly’s hair when he’s drunk in the car

- the scene where Belly is swimming and tells Conrad to quit smoking

What I missed:

I wish they had done more flashbacks! I felt like the flashbacks in the book did a really good job at showing us the foundations of Belly’s relationships with both Jere and Conrad. Jere being the loyal, fun best friend and Conrad always having a soft spot for Belly, looking out for her in a way that was special. Like this one from when Belly is 10:

I also wish they included the scene in the end, after the final kiss, where it’s Jere, Conrad, and Belly, swimming in the pool and goofing off like little kids after all the sadness, promising each other they’ll always come back to Cousins.

What I can’t wait for in season 2:

- if they don’t show us the flashback scenes of Conrad and Belly’s dates, especially when they snuck away to the beach house in the middle of the night in the dead of winter… I’m suing.

- more of Steven and Belly’s relationship like when Steven came to her room after the prom disaster

- Belly’s drunk apology to Conrad during the summer party

- Laurel ripping Adam a new one for wanting to sell the house

What I hope for season 3:

- I hope they don’t get rid of the Jeremiah cheating plot line. A lot of people think that’s out of character for him, but I really really don’t. Jere is this happy, outgoing, charming kid. And he definitely has the perfect storm of personality traits brewing for being a stereotypical frat boy which he totally is in book 3. Even in book 2, he says if Conrad had admitted his feelings he would’ve stepped aside. But if it had been anyone else, he would’ve tried regardless. Like hello? If they include it, and Belly stays with him, which I think she will because I feel like it’s important to the plot and to her growth after, I’m still gonna scream at Belly for being an idiot. But what can you do.

- Book 3 Belly grew and matured a lot (not 100%, but a noticeable difference from book 1). I already feel like show Belly is pretty mature, but I’m sure we’ll see more growth, which we love because team Belly always.

- Immediately following that with Conrad’s growth. Quit smoking, runs, cooks, mended his relationship with his dad, calls Laurel every week, in med school? Man oh man… can’t wait to see this version of our once self-destructive favorite boy.

- Belly and Conrad’s Christmas at the summerhouse of course

- Conrad admitting to Belly he loves her and that she should be with him 😭😭😭

- hearing Conrad’s POV (if it wasn’t already obvious I am 100% team Conrad)

- and I swear, Jenny Han better not leave us short in series 3 like she did in book 3. All that drama and angst just to get a small little epilogue and a couple letters for Belly and Conrad’s relationship when they finally end up together!? Are we serious. She could’ve at least given us a couple chapters. Anything. We barely got breadcrumbs. At least we know they get married and run off into the ocean in the rain like the adorable beach-kid soulmates they are 😌

If you read the whole thing we’re now best friends.

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