All 3 Seasons Of The Summer I Turned Pretty, Ranked

Ain't love grand? "The Summer I Turned Pretty" follows the adventures of 16-year-old Isabel "Belly" Conklin (Lola Tung), who finds her whole world suddenly changing one summer when she returns to her yearly vacation spot. The two brothers with whom she has spent every single hazy afternoon splashing about with now see her as a potential love interest. While she's always had a crush on Conrad Fisher (Christopher Briney), she thinks he'll never see her as a romantic possibility. She's therefore intrigued by younger brother Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno). But as both brothers set their caps at Belly, the threesome have to deal with all of the pains and horrors of growing up, from losing a parent to losing a home to picking a college.

While the series is set to wrap up with a feature-length movie to be released sometime in the future, as of this writing it is comprised of just three seasons. Which one's the best and which one's the worst? Here's a ranking of all three seasons of "The Summer I Turned Pretty."

The second season lands at the bottom of the pile for one reason: It's so heavy with grief, mourning, and soapy complications that its existence as a bridge between the beginning of the Belly-Conrad-Jeremiah triangle and its conclusion is telegraphed from the opening moments.

This is the season where Jeremiah and Conrad's mom, Susannah Fisher (Rachel Blanchard) passes away from cancer. As a result, it's almost entirely about the aftermath connected to that trauma and how it plays out for Jeremiah, Conrad, Belly, and Susannah's half-sister, Julia (Kyra Sedgwick), who has somehow become primary owner of the summer house and wants to sell it out of bitterness toward Susannah. That's a heavy slog to get through, and the endlessly murky triangle between our three protagonists doesn't help speed up things at all. 

Jeremiah and Conrad both struggle in their own ways with the loss, while Belly does what she can to save the Fisher family house from being sold. The rest of the season spends way too much time on the three-way tension between Belly and the Fisher siblings, which reaches a ludicrous peak as Conrad dumps Belly after their Season 1-concluding beachside kiss, only to continue pining for her throughout the summer and end up taking her virginity in a first-time moment that sets up the season's final tragedy. The three find themselves stuck in a motel at the end of the season, and Belly makes a choice — a cop-out that leaves Conrad pining and her future with Jeremiah uncertain. It's a whole lot of nothing that treads water until Season 3 — and Rotten Tomatoes-affiliated critics agree. It sits at only 60% on the Tomatometer.

The series reaches its climax with a season that lands us back in Cousins Beach — but also takes us all the way to Paris and beyond. A time jump brings us to Belly's 21st birthday, and she and Jeremiah are engaged in spite of his earlier infidelity. No one approves of the engagement — including her mom, Laurel (Jackie Chung), who refuses to help her shop for a wedding dress. Planning the ceremony alone snowballs the ceremony into something huge, and Belly becomes more and more certain that she's marrying the wrong Fisher brother. But can she bring herself to break Jeremiah's heart and stick with Conrad?

Fans know that it's pretty much guaranteed that somehow Belly's going to end back up with Conrad, but "The Summer I Turned Pretty" manages to weave some interesting spoilers into the soapy brew, including her French crush Benito (Fernando Cattori). Even more interesting is the subplot between Belly's best friend Taylor (Rain Spencer) and her on again-off again romance with Belly's older brother, Steven (Sean Kaufman). This makes it a livelier experience than Season 2 and thus gets it the middle slot. Critics liked this one a little more – it's at 92 percent approval score on Rotten Tomatoes.

The first season is the winner — mainly because it's the only outing that successfully balances pathos, drama, romantic angst, and coming-of-age themes successfully. Season 3 focuses on the pain of early adulthood, and Season 2 on the rites of loss and romantic pressure. Season 1 is downright innocent in comparison, a simplistic Cinderella story about finally getting the cute boy you were obsessed with in high school to notice you. The kids aren't quite grown up enough yet to be crushed by life, so there's something sweet about the story still, though it doesn't lose its sense of realism.

Much of the season builds toward the debutante ball where Belly — who doesn't have the financial resources to match the fashion of her fellow attendees — will make her debut. It's something most people have gone through while preparing for prom, making it a fine stopping point and the pinnacle of her relationship with Conrad. Season 1 sits at a solid 86% critical approval score, making it well worth audiences' time and helping to bolster its reputation as the best season of the show.