Spoiler warning: This article contains plot details from “The Summer I Turned Pretty.”
The third and final season of “The Summer I Turned Pretty” concluded on Wednesday, Sept. 17. The conclusion cemented the series as the definitive love triangle story of the 2020s, defining and generating conversations about romance, for better or worse, for young viewers around the world. The season delivered an impactful finale following an atypical season.
The season was based on the third book (“We’ll Always Have Summer”) in Jenny Han’s young adult novel series of the same name. Now, on TV, the series has a captivated base, with viewers tuning in each week to learn which Fisher brother—broody Conrad or jocular Jeremiah—will finally reign supreme in their pursuit of their mutual childhood friend Isabel “Belly” Conklin.
The series follows Belly and the summers she spends at her wealthy family friends’ New England beach house, complete with an outdoor pool, beach access, and the two Fisher brothers.
The third season picks up three years after the conclusion of the second, with Belly and Jeremiah happily dating and in college, a stark departure from the usual beach house setting. As the season progresses, Jeremiah and Belly shock their families with a sudden engagement, a hasty wedding, and a dramatic breakup at the altar.
As one might expect from a love triangle, fans formed alliances, rooting for the brother they wanted to see end up with the heroine—Conrad, the future doctor older brother, or Jeremiah, the frat boy younger brother? Although Team Jeremiah did have its supporters, especially in the earlier seasons, most fans (including myself) decisively hoped for Conrad and Belly to end up together, with some on social media commenting that the relationship between Conrad and Belly was the only factor motivating them to watch the show.
Viewers first saw Conrad in the final season attending therapy sessions to aid with his grief over the death of his mother while working towards completing medical school in California. Belly spends the season attempting to justify her staying with Jeremiah despite his infidelity and subsequent proposal, which was really a ploy to win her back, all while still holding feelings for Conrad. Watching Conrad chase Belly throughout the season is both incredibly charming and, at some points, painful. Although I was all-in on wanting Conrad to get the girl of his dreams, sometimes it seemed as though he would be better off without Belly and their family drama.
In the end, Team Conrad won the love triangle war, with the show wrapping up in Paris, where Belly had run away following her canceled wedding. Viewers watched Conrad fly across the Atlantic to win Belly back. He eventually succeeds, and the two have a grand romantic reunion by the Seine. After a long two seasons of flirtation and obstacles, their reunion was incredibly satisfying.
In a departure from the timeline of the book series, this season takes place three years following season two. In the original trilogy, Belly and Jeremiah only date for about a year before getting engaged, and while lengthening the time jump makes the prospect of Jeremiah proposing more realistic, this engagement is supposed to be offputting both to the audience and to other characters. This time skip actually works against the characters, making Conrad appear creepy for still being enamored with his high school girlfriend and making Belly seem even more indecisive.
The series aired weekly on Amazon Prime, drawing viewers week after week throughout the summer. According to Variety, the show’s premiere was streamed by 25 million viewers in its first seven days, and it became Prime’s fifth most-watched returning season.
The weekly release schedule allowed the show’s viewers to analyze and discuss the show as each episode was released. The show’s official TikTok account accumulated 3.8 million followers, and 1.2 million TikToks were uploaded under the “The Summer I Turned Pretty” hashtag. The show’s viral success transformed For You pages, sparking watch parties in bars and living rooms across the country. Tuning into the series each week and lovingly debating friends on the other side of the love triangle aisle became a highlight of my week. With an entire “The Summer I Turned Pretty” community having formed on social media, I was able to further re-evaluate my sympathies.
Season three’s departure from the typical beach setting came as both a nice change of pace and an unfortunate loss of the show’s niche. On one hand, getting to see Belly grow up outside of her usual locales made her a much more compelling character, and her life in Paris in the final episodes of the season provided her with friends and interests outside of the Fisher family. On the other hand, the selling point of the show had always been the summer aesthetic, and season three was not able to entirely capture this same feel.
This season includes music by 2025’s most popular artists. Episodes featured several Taylor Swift songs, as well as others by Olivia Rodrigo and Sabrina Carpenter. While the soundtrack perfectly links certain songs to memorable moments, some people criticized the soundtrack for being too cliché and taking viewers away from the moment. This feature of the show spawned many viral moments and some of the most memorable parts of the season, such as the scene when Conrad and Belly stop for side of the road peaches, accompanied by “Wild Horses” by the Rolling Stones, or the scene when Ariana Grande’s “we can’t be friends” plays on the speakers at Belly’s bachelorette party as her mind spins with memories of her time with Conrad.
The social media impact of “The Summer I Turned Pretty” will certainly be replicated by other shows in years to come. By using chart-topping music and active engagement with fans, the show has defined itself as a concretely Gen Z story. Just as young people in the early 2000s had “The O.C.” and many remember it now for its distinct fashion and aesthetics, “The Summer I Turned Pretty” will become a time capsule of the 2020s.
Although initially marketed as such, the third season will not be the final appearance of “The Summer I Turned Pretty” on our screens. On the day of the finale’s premiere, a movie was announced to follow the original saga. This is a departure from the original three seasons, which are all based on Han’s book series. Since the conclusion of the third season aligned with the end of the final book, the movie will be entirely based on original content, presumably (and hopefully) showing us Belly and Conrad’s final happily ever after.
Leah Ziskin can be reached at lziskin@wesleyan.edu.
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