Lee shows Rachel his plans for them to see each other on holidays while going to colleges across the country from each other, while Elle is suddenly faced with Berkeley's deadline.

Simultaneously, Elle struggles with accepting her father's new girlfriend, Linda (also a friend of her late mom), fearing that she'll replace her.

That night, Elle fights with her father over Linda, accusing him of only dating her for his own pride; in response, he angrily recounts the sacrifices he has made for her and her brother Brad and that she is not the only person who deserves to be loved.

Elle sees Noah for (presumably) the first time since their breakup there, where he reveals he has job offers at law firms in both LA and NYC.

[6] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 36 out of 100, based on 8 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews.

She wrote: "King continues to breathe life into Elle, even when she's making ludicrous, immature decisions, while Elordi is reduced to looking mad and Courtney is saddled with some serious crying jags."

She wrote that the series as a whole "could deliver a more adult, honest look at teenage lives, but it prefers to pull way back into chaste, wholly immature territory.

"[9] Monica Castillo of RogerEbert.com gave the film 1.5/4 stars, writing: "To Marcello and co-writer Jay S. Arnold's credit, there are a handful of surprises that defy some of the more expected youthful rom-com tropes.

"[10] Peter Debruge of Variety wrote: "there's plenty of fan service ... but also a late-arriving sense of identity that gives this junk-food sequel just enough nutritional value to help its young audiences reconsider how to determine their own post-high school priorities.