Season Analysis

The Summer I Turned Pretty

Season 3 Analysis

Season Woke Score

out of 10

Season Overview

It's the end of her junior year of college, and Belly's looking forward to another summer in Cousins with her soulmate, Jeremiah. Her future seems set, until some core-shaking events bring her first love Conrad back into her life. Now on the brink of adulthood, Belly finds herself at a crossroads and must decide which brother has her heart. Summer will never be the same...

Season Review

Season 3 of The Summer I Turned Pretty completes the show's transition from a traditional coming-of-age story into a platform for contemporary progressive values. The narrative centers on Belly’s individualistic journey to self-discovery, eventually leading her to Paris while abandoning her wedding and domestic expectations. The series continues to rely on a diverse cast that swaps the racial identities of the original book characters, and it frames the central conflict around men who are consistently portrayed as emotionally stunted or unfaithful. By prioritizing personal desire and identity politics over traditional commitment and family structures, the season serves as a polished example of modern media's shift toward the intersectional lens.

Categorical Breakdown

Identity Politics7/10

The series prioritizes a multi-racial cast through the intentional race-swapping of the original source characters. Dialogue explicitly addresses the 'Asian-American experience' and includes meta-commentary on how identity impacts social standing. Diversity is a primary lens through which the characters are presented.

Oikophobia3/10

While the series celebrates the aesthetic of the American summer house, it frames traditional institutions like marriage as restrictive traps. The narrative encourages abandoning family expectations to find personal happiness abroad, presenting the home culture as something to be outgrown.

Feminism8/10

Female characters are portrayed as emotionally resilient and self-sufficient, while the main male leads are defined by toxic traits, infidelity, and emotional incompetence. The story concludes with the female lead prioritizing her individual goals over long-term domestic commitments.

LGBTQ+6/10

The show maintains a primary love interest as a 'sexually fluid' character, a deliberate departure from the source material to align with modern gender theory. Queer identities are presented as normative and used as a tool to modernize the narrative's social structure.

Anti-Theism4/10

The world of Cousins Beach is entirely secular, lacking reference to religious faith or traditional morality. Characters navigate life-altering decisions based on internal feelings and moral relativism rather than objective truth or higher moral laws.