Der Sommer, als ich schön wurde

It's alright, good binge material if you're bored.

Decent acting in season 1, the second season however fails to deliver. The story lacks depth in both seasons and is very predictable.

The source material feels as though it was taken straight out of Wattpad, no idea why there's so much hype out there.

I take it the books are better?

If you've seen one glossy American teen drama, you've seen them all - and The Summer I Turned Pretty is no exception. This series follows the same tired formula: privileged kids spending their summers in gorgeous beach houses, worrying about which boy likes them more, while the real world seems miles away - both literally and emotionally.

The show tries hard to pull at your heartstrings with slow-motion scenes, indie music, and pretty lighting, but underneath all the aesthetics is a painfully shallow and predictable story. The characters rarely resemble actual teenagers in their behavior or dialogue - they're overly dramatic, self-absorbed, and seem completely detached from any real-world problems. Everything feels sanitized and idealized, as if the biggest hardship in life is choosing between two equally dreamy boys.

It's the kind of show that wants to be deep but ends up being emotionally hollow. Even moments that are supposed to be serious (grief, illness, coming-of-age struggles) feel like they're handled with a Pinterest-filter level of depth. The dialogue is cringey, the pacing is sluggish, and the relationships are overly romanticized in a way that just doesn't reflect real teen experiences - unless you're a rich, conventionally attractive kid from a Nicholas Sparks novel.

In short: The Summer I Turned Pretty is just another chapter in the ever-growing saga of whiny, spoiled, unrealistic, sugarcoated teen dramas from the U. S., centered on characters who have everything but act like their lives are falling apart. If you're looking for authentic storytelling or relatable characters, this isn't it.

I have to say this series deserves a way less rating than it got- was expecting a 'to all the boys I've loved before' vibe, bur doesn't even come close. Instead got a bunch of insufferable and frankly speaking annoying characters. They're forcing the love triangle down our throats when there's zero sparks or chemistry between the characters. Have not read the book but majorly bored by this series *yawn*

Ps belly is the most frustrating character ever.

I kinda liked season one. It was sweet, although a bit messy. Belly ended up with the right brother.

But season two?

Oh, my ... What a trainwreck. It makes no sense to me why anyone would ruin a nice romance story like that.

I also don't get how teenagers get to do whatever they want with whomever they want whenever they want, and noone is keeping an eye on them. Belly is only 16, and the boys not much older.

The whole thing with Aunt Julia also seems forced and ridiculous.

The entire season two is just one, big, ridiculous mess. I hope they won't make a season three, 'cause I will have to watch it to see what happens to the only likeable brother.

This is more like a 6.5/10 for me. It was a sweet and fun. I liked the setting and the chill beachy vibe. It was a pretty easy binge watch too. But it felt a little shallow and repetitive. I feel like we've seen this story many times already. And that's totally fine, but I just wished this series had had something more interesting that would have made it stand out from the other stories. Some of the interactions between the characters felt unnatural to me as well.