*Contains spoilers from “To All the Boys: Always and Forever”*

The third and final installment of the “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” series premiered on Netflix just in time for Valentine’s Day, and I have a lot to say. “To All the Boys: Always and Forever” made an impact on Netflix viewers seeing as the day after it’s release, it was number one on Netflix’s top ten in the U.S. list. Though many fans of the series may have liked the conclusion to Lara Jean Covey (Lana Condor) and Peter Kavinsky’s (Noah Centineo) love story, I thought it was way too long and the worst one of the series.

The movie starts with Covey in Seoul, South Korea on her Spring break of senior year. While on vacation with her dad, two sisters, and step mother, it becomes evident that Covey is waiting anxiously to see if she had gotten into Stanford University, where Kavinsky will be attending in the fall. 

When she gets back from vacation, she finds out that she did not get in, but accidentally texts Kavinsky that she did while in the process of grieving. Kavinsky then shows up at her house covered in Stanford merchandise and Covey has to play it off as though she’s happy about her acceptance. They then go out to dinner where Covey tries to tell Kavinsky the truth, but is interrupted by Kavinsky asking her to prom. 

Though Covey didn’t get into Stanford, she soon finds out that she got into UC Berkeley, which is only an hour away from Stanford. But then they go on the senior trip to New York City, whereKavinsky takes Covey on a date and she ultimately admits that she didn’t get into Stanford. Kavinsky isn’t mad about this and they make a plan for Covey to transfer to Stanford after her freshman year at UC Berkeley. For the rest of the trip, the group visits tourist spots around the city and Covey falls in love with New York City. She starts thinking more about going to NYU, where her sister, Margot, goes and where she also applied and got in. 

Upon hearing the news that Covey wants to commit to NYU, Kavinsky was skeptical at first, but then came around to accept the idea that she couldn’t turn down this opportunity. 

So it seems all is well and they go to prom.. Kavinsky is named Prom King, but Covey isn’t named Prom Queen. This doesn’t seem to phase her though. After the prom, Covey and Kavinsky proceed to have a fight about how they’re both being distant ever since NYU was brought into the picture. This fight eventually leads to Kavinsky breaking up with Covey. 

The next day is Covey’s dad’s wedding. Everyone is helping set up the backyard for the big day. While Covey is preoccupied with the wedding, Kavinsky decides to reunite with his father that left him at an early age. Kavinsky’s dad regrets leaving him and he said “I should have tried harder to be your dad and I didn’t,”. His dad’s speech unintentionally gives Kavinsky advice about his relationship with Covey and how to fix it.

After the wedding concludes, Kavinsky surprises Covey in her backyard with a love letter that he had written to her that is both sweet and thoughtful. They end up getting back together just in time for graduation. 

Graduation takes place and everyone says goodbye to each other as they take on their new challenge, college. At the end of the movie, we get a glimpse of Covey at NYU and the credits roll with scenes from all three movies. 

This movie was definitely too long for my liking, as this was a little under a two hour movie. It really got drawn out at the end and after all of the things that happened in the film, it still left me unentertained throughout the majority of the movie. I didn’t like the way it was divided up either. It felt very “cookie cutter” because of the way the film was basically put on a timeline and jumped from one thing to another. This element was new to the series, seeing as it wasn’t present in the series before this installment. This movie was also very predictable. I knew that Covey and Kavinsky were going to break 

up and get back together somewhere in the movie’s two-hour duration because it had happened in the previous two as well.

Lastly, this movie felt very out of place. It didn’t fit into the whole reputation that the previous two movies had set. This third installment had a lot more of an artistic style to it that was absent in the previous ones. There were a lot of drawings and artistic elements that moved the film along. It felt very odd to add this element to the third and last movie, especially because audiences hadn’t seen it happen in this series before. 

Overall, I was very disappointed with this film. I was hoping for a nice wrap up to the beloved series that swept Netflix viewers off of their feet, but that’s not what we got. I found myself often confused by the plot and frequently questioned if this movie was actually a part of the “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” series. 

Catch Up On The “To All The Boys I Loved Before” Series