On most Wednesday nights, once homework and activities are finished, Lisa Berns and her 14-year-old twin daughters, Aliya and Joleigh, grab some popcorn and get comfy in front of the TV in their Buffalo Grove home — even if it’s almost midnight — to watch the latest episode of “The Summer I Turned Pretty.”
Every once in a while, a TV show becomes an instant hit with mothers and daughters alike. Think “The Gilmore Girls,” “The OC,” “Gossip Girl.” Since 2022, the must-see hit has been “The Summer I Turned Pretty” on Amazon Prime.
The popular TV series is based on the young adult romance books by author Jenny Han, who also wrote the books “To All the Boys,” which became a Netflix film series.
“The Summer I Turned Pretty” follows Isabel “Belly” Conklin and her love triangle with the Fisher brothers, Conrad and Jeremiah. The series finale drops Wednesday, and Han has promised a surprise ending that strays from the plot of her book trilogy.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, 25 million viewers worldwide watched the premiere of the third and final season when it aired in mid-July. And each Wednesday since, a new episode has given mothers and daughters something to look forward to — together.
“It’s definitely an event. It reminds me of back in the day watching ‘90210’ when I was in college,” Berns said. “It’s like a whole ritual of just getting together and getting ready for it.”
The show leads to important conversations in the Berns household.
“It’s helped us to talk about what happens in relationships and healthy relationships versus unhealthy relationships,” Berns said, adding that she feels “like it’s been really multigenerational because while (my daughters are) really interested in what’s going on with Belly and the boys, I’m kind of connecting with the parents and what the parents are going through with illness, loss, divorce, infidelity.”
Katie Glick, of Deerfield, said the show offers a great opportunity to have mature conversations with her 14-year-old daughter, Abby.
“What we didn’t necessarily have growing up was our parents talking openly about sex, drugs, alcohol, dating or feeling what it’s like to be stabbed in the back by your bestie,” Glick said. “Now parents are more open with their kids to have conversations. And I think a TV show that is chock-full of that type of stuff gives you an opportunity to talk about it.”
Based on the show, Glick has one strong piece of advice for her daughter. “I told her: Definitely don’t date brothers,” Glick said. “Draw the line right there.”
But Glick also explores deeper topics with Abby. (Some Season 3 spoilers ahead.)
“We had conversations about when Conrad had the secret that his mom was dying, and nobody else knew. We recognized that he was feeling a lot of heaviness and a lot of weight … and didn’t know how to process his feelings. And you find out later that now he’s going to therapy,” Glick said. “And then, when Jeremiah cheated on Belly in Mexico, we had conversations about respecting your self-worth as a girl, and that your college boyfriend doesn’t need to be your husband just because that’s what you know at the moment.”
While some mother-daughter duos watched from the beginning, Farrah Watson, of Lake Bluff, got hooked on the series later, after seeing how much her daughter Nyah, 16, enjoyed it. “I think it’s kind of like a modern-day soap opera, if you will,” Watson said.
The show has strengthened her bond with Nyah, she said. “It’s fun to watch my daughter’s reaction,” Watson said, noting that the differences in their perspectives make it interesting.
She also likes the depth of the relationships the show explores. “We have people that are close to us in our life that aren’t necessarily blood relatives or family, and we’ve talked about how important they are in our lives,” Watson said. “So similar to the two moms (Laurel and Susannah) featured in the show, we have a little bit of that in our family with some of my lifelong friends.”
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Chicago resident Vivian Lee — who watches the show with her 19-year-old daughter, Kira Carpenter — also relates to the Laurel and Susannah storyline. The characters are best friends who raise their kids together.
“I see a lot of myself in Laurel and the way she would do things,” Lee said. “And Susannah reminds me a lot of my older sister, who is a doting aunt. She’s a psychiatrist, and she has a different style of not only parenting, but clothes and things that I wear. I’m more of a common-sense, no-fluff kind of girl. And my daughter’s a very girly girl. So she gets a lot of hand-me-downs from my sister, and she reminds me a lot of Susannah, who’s polished.”
Lee said the show provides a safe space to have bigger discussions about the characters and “what they’re going through and what not to do at times, and actually seeing certain things play out, knowing that people’s actions do have consequences.”
The music Han selects is a significant part of the show, and Glick said she loves that her daughter is discovering new “old” performers.
“I think some Goo Goo Dolls songs will come up and play,” Glick said. “She’s like, ‘I love this song.’ I’m like, ‘You do? I saw them in concert when I was in college, before they were big.’”
The songs are multigenerational, ranging from Gen Z performers such as Taylor Swift and Harry Styles to Gen X acts such as Red Hot Chili Peppers and U2.
“I actually favorited ‘The Summer of I Turned Pretty’ soundtrack on Spotify,” Glick said. “I listen to it in the car. It’s a great mix.”
Laura Hallagan, of Chicago, agrees: “I love the soundtrack! I love Otis Redding and my daughter loves Radiohead.”
Hallagan and her daughter, Norah Noonan, 16, have their own viewing ritual. “We sit on the couch in my room, under blankets –– no matter the season. Sometimes we have to crank the AC, but blankets are important,” she said. “After the episode, Norah always asks, ‘Thoughts? Questions? Concerns?’”
While some families are quietly watching the show, Jennifer McDonnell, of Wilmette, and her 14-year-old daughter, Emma Lopez, are active commentators.
“We talk throughout the entire show. And then we have to pause it and then we (re)watch parts of it because we’ve been talking and yelling at the TV,” McDonnell said, explaining that they are yelling about “Belly’s decisions, the boys’ decisions, the things that they’ve done wrong, the things that they’re doing that we would not do. We’re criticizing them.”
It’s not just the characters’ choices they disagree with. Emma is on Team Conrad and McDonnell is on Team Jeremiah.
“So we don’t agree on that, but we do agree that neither one of us likes Belly,” McDonnell said. “We both think she’s very selfish and impulsive. So, we’re always yelling at the TV.”
Most moms said they were Team Conrad, but not Lee. “I’m actually Team Stephen,” she said, referring to Belly’s brother.
No matter the team, the show has moms and daughters growing closer, just like Laurel and Belly in Season 3.
With summer break over, Carpenter, who attends Northwestern University, is back on campus in Evanston. Lee said they will watch the finale separately and then call each other to discuss it.
Carpenter said she cherishes watching the show with her mom. “As someone who grew up in a Korean American household, it means a lot to me to see stories about Korean mothers and daughters,” she said. “I feel kind of sad about the show ending and being at college, away from my mom. I cried during (this week’s) episode since it was my first episode this season without my mom, and Belly spent the whole episode (in Paris), an ocean away from hers.”
Kelly Haramis is a freelance writer.