The end of yet another love triangle era has ended. The Summer I Turned Pretty, a book adaptation that was streamed by Prime Video, had its final episode on Wednesday, September 17th. From the beginning of the third season Wednesdays have become a comfort to many fans. Bringing curiosity to viewers, and questions that lasted 3 seasons. Which Fisher brother will Isabel Conklin (played by Lola Tung) end up with? Will she choose herself? And finally, after about a year of non-production due to the WGA (The Writers Guild of America), the show returned this summer with the first episode streamed on July 16, 2025.
We land in the third season with Belly going off to college, in a relationship with Jeremiah Fisher (played by Gaving Casalegno) while Conrad is becoming a doctor in Stanford, California, and going to therapy! After a gap of 4 years we see Belly in her Junior year of college. Her relationship with Jeremiah has been going strong, courtesy of Conrad keeping his distance from them during this time period. During a fight between the happy couple, Jeremiah ends up “breaking up” with Belly, and spends spring break in Cabo with his fraternity friends and acquaintances. Turns out the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree because Jeremiah threw a 4 year long relationship in the trash, within a week of the so-called break up. He cheats on Belly with Lacie Barone like his father did with Susannah (his mother) with Keighley, his receptionist. And so they end up breaking up, with a slap in the face and the echoes of ‘’You’re Losing Me’’ by Taylor Swift. How long did they stay broken up? A WEEK… MAYBE TWO. Jeremiah decides to apologize with a MARRIAGE PROPOSAL to Belly. And her being in a vulnerable state of mind, due to Steven’s car accident that happened a few hours back, doesn’t take a minute to think about the fact he cheated on her and hid it from her.. Outside of the hospital, Jeremiah, who doesn’t even have a ring to propose with, asks Belly to marry him. Unfortunately, Belly says yes.
When Jeremiah proposed, he didn’t seek their parental blessing or approval. So, when Jeremiah and Belly decided to announce their engagement, their parents did not give their blessings. Belly’s mother disapproved of the marriage, believing they were too young and immature for such a big commitment. She didn’t know who she fully was yet. Unfortunately, Conrad was present when they announced their marriage. You could tell by the look on his face that he hadn’t let go of Belly, but he felt like he had to honor the promise he made to his mother before her death. In a moment of heartbrokenness, as everyone left the restaurant, he stayed behind, his solitary figure lost in the echo of ‘’No surprises’’ by Radiohead.
The wedding is being planned to take place in Cousins Beach, at the summer house. Where coincidentally Conrad is staying, since he no longer has his internship with Dr. Namazy due to a mistake he made the day of Stevens’ accident. It is by helping Belly plan her wedding, and spending time with her, that Conrad slowly realizes he can’t hide his feelings from her anymore. While she tries to push all the memories they ever had down, but then their chemistry will always be there; Last Christmas, the peach stand, buying vases at a local Michaels store, Conrad hurting his leg while surfing, it all just floods their senses of not being together to the broom.In episode 7, Conrad finds out Jeremiah cheated on his soon to be wife, and we get the famous line ‘’Don’t be with him, don’t marry him, be with me.’’ from Conrad, who doesn’t hesitate to speak his feelings out loud from there on: ‘’You broke my heart last night Belly, is that what you want to hear?’’, ‘’I love you, I will never not love you’’, ‘’I’m not pretending for you anymore’’, ‘’I need you to know that whatever happens, it was worth it to me, Being with you, loving you, it was all worth it’’. So, the wedding gets called off when Jeremiah realises he can’t be with Belly, not if a part of her always loves Conrad. And to Belly, Conrad is the sun and when the sun comes out, the stars disappear; Jeremiah is a star to her.
Leaving the wedding behind, Belly goes on a journey to Paris, to run from all the drama and guilt she feels, which leads her to grow into herself. While she’s there she runs after a pickpocket who stole her bag, makes new friends, starts working, visits attractions from France, kisses Benito, moves to an apartment we have no idea how she affords to pay for, and receives letters!!! Letters from Conrad, who writes to her letter, and she only writes back to him when she is sure Jeremiah forgave her.
Leading Conrad to gather up the courage to go get his girl after she replies to one of his letters. Conrad gets an opportunity to go to Brussels for a medical conference since he is in med school. He uses that opportunity to visit Belly for her birthday since Brussels is only a train ride from Paris. He shows up unexpectedly at her door, but when he sees her, she’s riding a scooter with Benito… once Benito leaves, Conrad approaches Belly. Obviously, Belly gets caught off guard; she wasn’t expecting to see him, especially a day before her birthday. She grabs his bag and takes it to her apartment, leaving him outside, alone. After she puts the bags in her apartment, she starts freaking out; she calms herself down and goes back outside to him. Belly takes Conrad around, showing him the beauty of Paris. Belly takes him to a rooftop, a rooftop that has a personal meaning to her. After talking, you can see a bit of tension, but Belly interrupts it and invites Conrad to a birthday celebration her friends are making for her. He accepts the invitation and they go back to her apartment to get ready. She comes out with a stunning black dress, leaving Conrad in awe.
At the birthday party, we learn that Benito is a bit snappy at Conrad, especially since Belly friend-zoned him, leaving him egoless. Sassy Conrad makes an appearance again in the last episode, when Belly throws comments around the table, he gives off guard responses, ‘’And I will always be the first boy who taught you how to ride a bike,’’, ‘’Do you memorize everything I ever said? ‘Yes’ which is also an inside joke from the first season conversation they had during the first episode. At the party, there are a few scenes where you would think “yeah, this is the part”, but no, it’s a very slow burn episode. After the party, they go to a lake view. The song “I Only Have Eyes for You” playing in the background makes the whole scene so heartfelt. Conrad asks Belly to dance, and finally… It happens… Conrad and Belly kiss under the moon, and stars of Paris, to the sound of ‘’Dress’’ by Taylor Swift.
Conrad and Belly get together. But they hurt each other years ago, and by doing so, she had a sore heart to start something again, she feels an uncertainty towards their love for each other. So she holds back from him in fear of getting hurt again. Conrad confesses his love for her, telling her he had changed everything about him, but he could never change the fact that he has always loved her. He ends up leaving at 5 in the morning though, because Belly pushes him away. But once he leaves she contemplates how she really feels, what she wants: ‘‘All this time, I wanted to believe I changed. That I’m not the same girl I was. But I am still her, and was that girl so bad? She followed her heart no matter what. And despite all her mistakes, I have to believe she’s still worthy of love. I still love her. And I still love him. I have brown hair and brown eyes, and I will always love Conrad Fisher.’’
Finally, the moment we all have been waiting for… Conrad gets his happy ending, the one he yearned and waited for, the one we discussed and fought all over social media for. Belly runs after Conrad to the sound of ‘’Out of the Woods’’ by Taylor Swift and finds him inside the train to Brussels. ‘’If there are infinite worlds, every version of me chooses you in every one of them.’’. So Team Connie baby for the win!!
The show might be over, but we might see them again in the near future, for a possible movie.
‘’Maybe we’ll meet again one summer in Cousins . Until then —‘’ (Jenny Han)
