Maxton Hall Needs To Bang TSITP While I Watch 

After the internet combusted from the TSITP finale, it didn't seem possible that there'd be another show to take its place. Of course, unbeknownst to me at the time, Maxton Hall had been biding its time.

For those of you who don't know what Maxton Hall is, I would tell you that it's The Summer I Turned Pretty on crack. If you still have no idea what I'm talking about, then I think this might be the wrong article for you. #gowatchitandcomeback

No, seriously, because there's probably going to be some spoilers.

Maxton Hall came out in 2024, two years after TSITP made its debut. In the wait from one season to the next, it was easy to harness the YA romance population— I think the TSITP demographic needed something to tide them over the blankness that was now our life as Belly, yet again, struggled to choose between brothers.

Yes, it is that dramatic, and yes, I was wholly invested.

Like most of these teen romance shows, I came to Maxton Hall super late and reluctantly. First, TikTok tried to put me on it, and then my sister got me to watch the first episode. Sitting on the couch watching the pink pant uniforms scurrying around felt strangely reminiscent of my time getting on board the TSITP train, so maybe that's why I continued past the first episode. I mean, the shows are pretty similar: rich people, love issues, daddy issues... what more do you need?

Maxton Hall follows young Ruby Bell as she navigates the highs and lows of her super elite high school. Ruby comes from a lower-middle-class family, and her dad's disabled. She's at this ultra fancy high school on a scholarship, and her dream is to help pay for a stairlift so that her father can go upstairs. Her other dream, by the way, is to go to Oxford (but that comes later). Anyways, after accidentally stumbling across a moment between a peer and her teacher, Ruby finds herself pulled into a strange situation with the rich, popular dude, James Beaufort.

So the main selling point of this show is that it's supposed to be this fun enemies to lovers trope. From the friends to lovers' thing happening in TSITP, I was like, yeah, I'm up for some low stakes drama. I wanted the repressed spark turned to anger turned to rage, turned to pent up passion. I mean, Belly's story was just the ugly duckling one but with two brothers who are weirdly into her; she took off her glasses ,and it was over. Maxton Hall promised, at the very least, a fun rapport between the two opposing parties.

I mean, if not even a good enemies to lovers, the show did its best to hit us with every possible trope it could find. And, I mean, every single possible one.

Here is a list of some, in no particular order:

Trope #1. Ruby Bell is the quiet, invisible, academically inclined girl with ambition.

Trope #2. Class differences. James Beaufort is the popular, nonchalant, slightly abused/traumatized broody dude with blonde hair. He also lowkey bullies Ruby for a bit.

Trope #3. Enemies to Lovers... Sort of?

Trope #4. Student-Teacher Love Affair / Secret Love?

Trope #5. Teen Pregnancy

Trope #6. Forbidden/Taboo Love Affair

Trope #7. BFF has her background love story

Trope # 8. Abusive rich dad.

Trope # 9. Mom Dies.

Trope #10. Rich kid has a crashout.

Trope #11. Academically inclined protagonist faces an issue bc of the bf.

Trope #12. Mean girl group bullies MC for some reason.

Trope #13. Weird sexual assault scene? Idk. James' crashout made lines of consent blurry.

Trope #14. Mean girl spikes MC's drinks (motivation makes no sense).

Trope #15. Our MC is nice and pure and kind (think Snow White).

Trope #16. Literal bird scene.

Trope #17. Car radio magnifies awkward tension between love interests.

Trope #18. Literal blackmail.

Trope #19. Cheating!

Trope #20. Miscommunication/misunderstandings.

I could continue, but I'm sure you're probably tired. However, the list does lead me to my one major point about Maxton Hall: why is it that, despite having so many plot points and a main character whose life revolves around things outside of romance, the show feels so aggressively boring?

I mean, fine, yes, I am addicted, but it feels more like a duty now than a pleasure to keep up with the latest episode. Even during the first season when I initially started watching it, I don't think there was ever a point where I truly cared about the plot lines. Not that I'm saying TSITP was some phenomenal show, but there was something about it that captured enough of my attention for it to feel memorable. Like Bonrad? I was there. I was rooting for it.

Ruby + James? Rames? Juby? I don't even care, tbh. I mean before there's even a conflict, they're together and the conflict is resolved. Somehow, the stakes feel even lower than with TSITP, which is saying a lot because that show had literally zero stakes.

It really got me thinking. Like, how can a show retain such a huge audience, carry so many storylines and tropes, and still not hit the mark?

Easy answer: slow burn.

That's literally all that TSITP was. It was storytelling in the form of ocean waves. You'd have the wave crest just at the middle-end of the season, where Belly and Conrad almost have their moments, and then the crash. Then, the wave would pick up again and crash. There was buildup that took ages, but it allowed me to really sit with the characters. Also, bless Lola Tung's heart for giving her all to Belly. Despite Belly having zero personality or traits outside of her relationships with the men around her, Tung gave her life and personality, which made me want to connect with her and made Belly feel like a real person.

So plotless or not, the show kept your attention.

Maxton Hall, on the other hand, couldn't get their neon pink pants to garner my attention for long. That show threw everything that it could possibly have at me, too. However, what it didn't give me was time. Every plot point was introduced and then immediately resolved. James begins by blackmailing Ruby— the enemy part begins— immediately, though, they become friends. We don't even get a full episode of seething. Neither characters sit with their emotions or have a chance to process anything. They become friends, joke around. There's another moment of random tension that builds into a fight, but again, it's flung into the story and then immediately resolved. Before we even have a chance to take a breath, an entirely new storyline is shoved into the mix.

Now, imagine if TSITP and Maxton Hall'd just turn their heads. Catch each other's eyes. Let the slow dance begin.

This is what needs to happen. Belly takes on Ruby's ambitions. We can keep her lower class backstory and her thing with the dad, too (I like Ruby's family dynamics in Maxton Hall). James takes on Conrad's goals of becoming a doctor or whatnot, instead of being a rich kid who doesn't want to go to school.

Belly and James meet. Same circumstances because who doesn't love a tinge of drama? Also, James' sister is badass and should be given more time to have her story develop.

Belly's ambition of getting a stairlift is threatened. She retaliates against James, her blackmailer. Chaos ensues. The mess gets worse and worse. Maybe imbue the show with slightly muted colours like in TSITP, just to balance out the crazy plotlines, especially when James and Belly have their moments.

Then we reach the middle-end of the season. James and Belly have a conversation in the aftermath of their fight. Realizations occur. Confusion entails. The wave apexes and the season finale ends with a change of heart.

Cue the forbidden love trope.

So now, Belly and James' obstacle is their class differences. The second season examines that and gives time to develop James as a character. Now the audience is with it, you get me? Like we know who James is, what he wants. We see what Belly represents to him. Belly in the meanwhile is grappling with the insecurity of being in James' life. The wave crests; the two of them have a misunderstanding/falling out. This is finally resolved at the end of season two. They are together, officially a couple. Cue the third season.

Third season, we examine James' crashing out after his mom dies. Ambitions derail. Now we get a more stakes and impactful loss. We can understand why he's lashing out this way. Belly learns to set her boundaries, to move away from romance and give him some time to heal. She focuses on obtaining a scholarship to Oxford.

The thing with Maxton Hall is that it really does contain comparatively more mature themes that are worth exploring. Ruby has so much potential to be nuanced and layered. Same with James. And, both actors do give their all when performing, which is always fun to watch. Their chemistry could be palpable, but the pacing undercuts it.

There was one TikToker, @Brittany Paige, who mentioned that Maxton Hall was equivalent to Gossip Girl. I see it. I'm convinced. Both series had crazy plotlines, and everything was happening all at once. Still, I think Gossip Girl was slower than Maxton Hall. It lets the romances build and grow. (Except for Blair and Dan).

I'm so invested, guys, that I might just write my own Maxton Hall + TSITP baby.

Suggest titles in the comments; maybe I'll actually do it. ... Maybe we can co-write it. Who knows?

The next episode is coming out tonight. Available on Prime.