Lara Jean should have picked John Ambrose in To All the Boys 2

Look. I know it’s been a year, and this battle was lost in the source material six years ago, but sometimes you have to plant your flag on a hill and keep waving it. My flag bears a Team Ambrose standard because, yes, I walked away from Netflix‘s To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You believing Lara Jean made the wrong choice. Sure, she followed her heart, but Peter Kavinsky just wasn’t serving the “I’m the guy for Lara Jean” energy he had in To All the Boys I Loved Before. In fact, he was serving “I deserve to get dumped” realness.

Let’s review the facts. Peter took Lara Jean to the same restaurant he took Gen to which later got thrown in Lara Jean’s face by Gen. The poem he had her floating on air about was by Edgar Allen Poe, not him. He passed it off as his own which led her to getting embarrassed again.

Peter was also still communicating with Gen because her parents were going through something, which he didn’t share with Lara Jean until she confronted him using a recent picture of him and Gen embracing. And in the middle of that confrontation, Lara Jean found out that Peter had actually been waiting for Gen in the hot tub in the first movie, which means he and Lara Jean getting together was incidental.

The amount of Ls Lara Jean took in To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You concerning Peter was infuriating. The boy had her out here clueless. While I’ll note that Lara Jean didn’t tell John Ambrose that she was dating Peter, which wasn’t okay, the movie did a better job showcasing why she should pick him over Peter than it did maintaining the spark between her and Peter.

John Ambrose was the better choice for Lara Jean

The romance element of the film was executed to its fullest with Lara Jean and John Ambrose. From Lara Jean’s inappropriately swoony reaction to John Ambrose’s letter to their dance and kiss in the snow. Their reunion was even given the meet-cute treatment complete with Lara Jean embarrassing herself in front of him only for him to find it cute.

It’s the type of rom-com nonsense that will have you grinning into your pillow. And don’t even get me started on the childhood flashbacks displaying their nerdiness, creativity, and drift compatibility (Yes, I’m busting out a Pacific Rim reference for them!).

Not to mention, the best scene in To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You is John Ambrose admitting to Lara Jean that the only reason he goes by his first and middle name is because she called him by his first and middle name, and he didn’t want to correct her because he liked her. Mind you, he did this all while playing the piano beautifully.

Other than the strength of the memory of his performance in To All the Boys I Loved Before, the quality of his puppy dog eyes, and going to pick Lara Jean up because she hates driving in the snow, what did Peter really bring to the table in the sequel? The boy just kept messing up and not in an endearing way.

While personal preference concerning character dynamics, tropes, narrative arcs, and viable canon or endgame status play a large part in where someone lands on a love triangle storyline, sometimes it’s undeniable who the better choice is. The way To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You is structured and written, John Ambrose is by miles the better choice.

I recognize that Lara Jean chose Peter, but I’m still going to be that person hoping for John Ambrose to make an appearance in To All the Boys: Forever and Always even though I know that’s not likely to happen. My heart wants what it wants despite not getting to choose how this fictional world works.