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The Summer I Turned Pretty season 3 ending spoilers ahead.
And just like that, summer has come to an end. Yes, despite all of the rumours and conspiracy theories, The Summer I Turned Pretty ending is finally upon us.
As we bid farewell to Cousins Beach and its very weird fraternal love triangle, I'd like to say a heartfelt thank you to a show that, against all odds, gave us millennials so much: Ethereal remixes of Taylor Swift. Endless Dôen, Reformation and Sézane outfit inspiration. Delectable references to classics like Notting Hill, Sabrina, Casablanca, Bye Bye Birdie, and so many more. And, of course, one of the great romantic leading men of the modern age. The Summer I Turned Pretty may look and feel like your average soapy teen fare, but it was so much more. And a big part of its appeal was thanks to Christopher Briney's Conrad Fisher.
But who does Belly end up with? Here's The Summer I Turned Pretty ending explained and our thoughts on it all. After all, it's been a long time coming.
It all comes down to this.
The Summer I Turned Pretty season 3 recap
A little recap of the saga: Belly grew up spending summer with the Fishers, family friends who owned a very nice New England beach house. She harboured a child-like crush on older brother Conrad. The destined pair embarked on a doomed relationship in their teens (you know, after she ‘turned pretty’), but that quickly turned sour when the death of Conrad's mother exacerbated Belly's insecurities and Conrad's poor communication. He forgot her corsage at prom. She told him to go to hell at his own mother's funeral. And so, the infinity necklace he had given her was torn off and she swore she would never let herself go there again. She spent the next four (4!) years dating his younger brother Jeremiah.
In The Summer I Turned Pretty season 3 Belly and Jeremiah got engaged, much to the horror of all of their friends and family. The wedding seemed more and more doomed as the “happy” couple debated over pretty much every detail of the event and Belly and Conrad got closer. You know. As future siblings-in-law. Siblings-in-law who gaze into each other's eyes and wipe peach juice off of each other's chins. All very above board. Eventually, Conrad confessed he still loved Belly, but she still couldn't bring herself to believe him. Nevertheless, the wedding was, inevitably, called off and Belly finally left Cousins to go do some growing up without either of the Fisher brothers hanging around. She spent a year in Paris. She got her own flat. She got a new boyfriend. She got new friends. She got a haircut!
Who does Belly end up with in TSITP?
All of this brings us to The Summer I Turned Pretty finale when, finally, Conrad and Belly reunited, and, finally, they were both ready be brave enough to admit their real feelings and commit to being a real couple once again. Cue happy screeching all over the land.
Now, it troubles me greatly to even have to say this, but it was always going to be Conrad. The Summer I Turned Pretty may have pretended to give us a worthy opponent in the form of Jeremiah, and creator Jenny Han may have pretended that she was even going to change The Summer I Turned Pretty ending of the books and give us a Jere-Belly ending… but let's be real. Conrad was always the right choice.
Jeremiah truthers will complain that Conrad couldn't communicate. That he treated Belly badly in season one. That he never fully opened up to her. That he never made Belly actually happy.
To these complaints, I say this: Conrad is literally 17 years old in season 1. Not only is he shouldering the weight of his mother's terminal illness, he is also saddled with huge expectations from both his mother and his father to step up and be the responsible guiding force in his younger brother's life. Any relationship he had in this state was going to hit the rocks.
Belly's final summer in Cousins is upon us — but which brother will she pick?
Conrad loves Belly so much, he even puts aside his own feelings so that she can go off and date his younger brother. You may remember the end of season 2 when Conrad “took back” his declaration of love to Belly so that she could, he thought, be free to be with someone who made her truly happy.
By season 3, Conrad became nothing short of the perfect partner for Belly. He was learning to open up. He was in therapy. And he was a grown-up. He did chores without being asked. He made Belly meals. He did the dishes. He fixed up things around the house. He was, in other words, the female gaze incarnate.
And he was still trying to support Belly and Jeremiah's relationship because he still loved her so much, her happiness was all that mattered. Did I mention his hot dad attire? The rolled up shirt sleeves and the Casio watch?
Meanwhile, Jeremiah spent most of the season proving just how unsuitable he was for Belly. When she found out she had gotten into Paris for a semester abroad, her first thought was of Jeremiah and how she couldn't leave him behind. When he found out he had to do an extra semester before graduating, she soothed him by stroking his head in her lap as though he were a child. When they went out for a summer sports day, she tried to smear sun lotion on his nose as he tried to squirm away. It's giving codependent – because, for the most part, Belly was acting not as his girlfriend but as a replacement mother.
In contrast, Conrad treated Belly like an equal. Just take his wedding shopping expedition with Belly: He listened to what she wanted. He found the perfect, simple decor. Meanwhile, Jeremiah was screeching down the phone at Belly about how he needed a two-tier, dark chocolate wedding cake with a mirror glaze and raspberry filling like a spoiled child – with a surprisingly refined palate.
I also need to talk about the surfing incident. Belly and Conrad were alone at Cousins when he limped into the house having wounded his leg. We then got a scene that, shot for shot, mirrored that painting scene from The Titanic as Belly gazed into Conrad's woozy eyes as she tended to his wound. (How much blood did this man lose?!)
My point here being: Belly and Conrad's longing stares are, to put it bluntly, hot. The yearning is real. And Han took her sweet time to build it up for the oh so satisfying The Summer I Turned Pretty finale — the finale that proves my point once and for all: Conrad was always the one for Belly.
The Summer I Turned Pretty ending explained
Ok, so let's unpack The Summer I Turned Pretty ending once and for all. Conrad doesn't arrive in Paris with the intention of blowing up Belly's life. He's just there because there's nowhere else he'd rather be. He just wants to see her. And of course they can't help but be drawn to each other. And of course her fling with Benito crumbles within a few hours of their being back together. And of course Conrad was, once again, willing to walk away from Belly when she, once again, struggled to let him in – because he always puts her first. And guess what? He would have walked away still loving her no matter what. (Could the same be said for Jeremiah? No. In fact, we know that when Jeremiah walks away, he immediately hops into someone else's bed in Cabo.) Thankfully, Belly finally took the plunge and, after all that growing in Paris, realised she was mature enough to believe in Conrad, too.
We have all just spent three seasons watching a truly great love story and an even better romantic leading man. For five years, Conrad loved Belly without reason. Without encouragement. Without hope. All while he slowly became the person he needed to be for her to finally admit that she loved him the whole time, too. And, sorry to Team Jeremiah, but that is a real love story.
The summer I turned into a Summer I Turned Pretty truth-er.
