The most recent season of “The Summer I Turned Pretty” concluded on Wednesday. The show tells the story of Isabel “Belly” Conklin, played by Lola Tung, as she spends the summer at Cousins Beach with her childhood friends: Conrad, played by Christopher Briney, and Jeremiah, played by Gavin Casalegno. Belly finds herself in a love triangle as she decides whether to choose her first love Conrad or a new one in Jeremiah.
Season 3 focuses on Belly and Jeremiah getting engaged, rushing to plan a budget wedding to end up calling it off. While this is going on, there are other romances between Belly’s brother Steven, played by Sean Kaufman, and best friend Taylor, played by Rain Spencer. The finale ended with Belly and Conrad reuniting in Paris, finally together. Jeremiah’s story also got a happy ending, with him discovering a passion for cooking and getting together with his former coworker Denise.
Jenny Han, author of the books and showrunner of the Prime series, confirmed in an interview with “Elite Daily” that Season 3 of the show would be a little different from the books. So although Belly ended up with Conrad in the books, there was an added chance that she wouldn’t in the show. Crews went as far as filming fake scenes of Belly and Jeremiah in Paris to keep the audience guessing.
Thinking that Belly could end up with someone else, fans pledged their allegiance to either “Team Conrad” or “Team Jeremiah.” The series had a longer time jump than the book — four years as opposed to two — which led “Team Jeremiah” to argue that they were a more established couple and more likely to stay together. They also felt he was the more emotionally available option, as Conrad had a tendency to push people away when he was struggling.
“Team Conrad” argued that he was the better choice because he appeared to care more about Belly than Jeremiah did, even if he pushed people away. Conrad went to therapy and was willing to put his own feelings aside for Belly’s sake. He even took time to help her plan the wedding while he was still struggling to get over her.
TikTok and Instagram were flooded with edits and memes of things like Belly’s tiny engagement ring, her chase scenes across Paris and, of course, Jeremiah’s $750 two-tiered dark chocolate mirror glaze cake with raspberry coulis. Some fans even baked real life versions of the cake.
The season caused uproar across social media, with everyone voicing their stance, even brands. One popular brand, Chicken Salad Chick, joined in on the fun, showing what they would serve each of the brothers.
“Team Conrad” appeared to be the more popular choice among students, but the other relationships of the season weren’t forgotten.
“I loved Steven and Taylor’s relationship. It was really cute,” said Elizabeth Flaherty, a senior majoring in communication studies.
The Paris episodes were entirely original content, not derived from the books, so fans had no idea what to expect going into them. Some students, including Flaherty, thought the Paris adventure was “kind of annoying.”
“The first Paris episode kind of sucked, especially with the product placement,” said Laney Schmitz, a senior majoring in public relations.
The product placement ranged from Belly spending almost an entire episode chasing down a thief using an Apple AirTag to the rental car that the characters drove, with Schmitz arguing the placement of Conrad’s MINI Cooper was “clear.”
The show is also known for using popular songs in its soundtrack, including a lot of Taylor Swift songs.
Luckily for fans, “The Summer I Turned Pretty: The Movie” was announced shortly after the release of the finale. The movie has no release date as of now, but it will follow “another big milestone” in Belly’s life.
