After Jeremiah called off the wedding and sent Belly running to the airport, fans were eager to see what would come next as the show entered its final chapter. Unfortunately, The Summer I Turned Pretty season 3 episode 9 didn’t live up to expectations.
Belly literally spent most of the episode running around Paris trying to get her stolen bag, everyone kept piling on Conrad, and Jeremiah left me wondering how anyone was still Team Jeremiah with how he treated everyone around him. While most of the episode felt like one big waste of time, the ending finally moved things along.
In the final minutes of the episode, Conrad concluded that he wasn’t ready to give up on trying to get Belly back. Meanwhile, Jeremiah literally told Belly to lose his number after she called to tell him she was going to take some time to stay in Paris for a bit and that there was no way they could simply go back to how things were before their wedding day.
This paved the way for the show to really enter uncharted territory. The final book in Jenny Han’s trilogy comes to an end with Jeremiah calling off the wedding, and the epilogue then skips ahead a few years to Conrad and Belly’s wedding. In the epilogue, we learn the pair found their way back to one another, but we don’t get the full context of how they rekindled their love. What we learn is that Conrad began sending Belly handwritten letters once a month, and they didn’t actually see one another for a year after the wedding was called off. Aside from that, there are a lot of gaps in the story to fill, so how did the penultimate episode begin to fill them?
The Summer I Turned Pretty season 3 episode 10 brings a time jump
As the episode opens, we learn that a time jump has indeed happened, as it’s Thanksgiving and Belly has been living in Paris for several months now. That’s right, three months have passed between episode 9 and 10 with Belly juggling working under the table while attending school online.
It’s clear that Belly is feeling homesick and lonely, but she’s not ready to head home as she’s still figuring things out. Her new friends suggest she go home for the holidays, but she’s not ready to end this adventure she’s on.
Returning home from work, Belly gets a little taste of home courtesy of a FaceTime call with Taylor. In the process of the call, we learn that Steven and Taylor are still together and Jeremiah has been throwing himself into a series of hookups. We also learn that Jeremiah has been crashing at Steven’s place, and he’s also ghosting Conrad ever since the wedding.
Speaking of Thanksgiving, Steven and Taylor’s Friendsgiving brings about some unexpected drama when Jeremiah’s dad drops by and tensions quickly rise. After learning that Jeremiah has been keeping secrets from him for the last few months, lying about his living situation, Adam informs him that he’s going to cut him off. Luckily for him, Max extends an olive branch and gives him a place to stay.
We finally get to see Conrad's letters to Belly
As our journey through the episode continues, we finally catch up with Conrad, who is spending Thanksgiving alone. He calls up Laurel, and their conversation eventually leads to Belly.
When Conrad asks about how Belly is doing, Laurel lets him know she’s doing okay and clues him in on her decision to stay in Paris for the holidays. Conrad has been thinking of reaching out to Belly, but he’s unsure if she’d want to hear from him.
The conversation seems to inspire him to finally reach out, but not via phone. Instead, he begins to pen his first letter to Belly.
In his first letter, Conrad talks through what he imagines Belly’s life in Paris has been like, one he hopes has given her everything she’s hoped for and more. As we hear him narrate the letter, we see Belly continuing to make new memories with her new friends in Paris, and the weeks roll by to Christmas.
Jeremiah and Belly begin to move on in unexpected directions
As Christmas arrives, Belly is spending the day alone at the bar where she works. She texts Jeremiah to wish him Merry Christmas, and while he begins to type back, his three dots disappear and Belly decides to indulge, pouring another glass of wine and dancing it out. While she’s dancing alone, she’s surprised by Benito, whose holiday plans have changed, leading him to Belly.
Is a new suitor really entering the race this late in the game? It seems that way as the pair race off together on his scooter as we cut back to the States.
We head back to Cousins, where everyone is gathering to celebrate. Things are still icy between Conrad and Steven, but Steven assures Conrad he doesn’t hate him; he just doesn’t know how to be around him after everything that happened. Conrad is eager to repair their relationship and is also hoping Christmas will give him a chance to finally start repairing his relationship with Jeremiah.
Unfortunately, he doesn’t get that opportunity as Jeremiah can’t bring himself to go inside and ends up leaving after a heartfelt chat with Laurel in his car.
After heading home, Jeremiah is surprised by Max, whose own holiday plans fell apart when Adam learned about her and Steven’s plans to try to start their own business. The pair begins to chat as Jeremiah opens up to her about his struggle to move on and face everyone, to which she reminds him that his healing timeline is his own healing timeline. It’s clear something is beginning to form between the two as she invites him to join her in grabbing dinner with her grandma.
Conrad sends Belly that care package from the books
The time jumps keep coming as we fast-forward to New Year’s as Taylor arrives in Paris to ring in the new year with her best friend. Taylor quickly picks up that something seems to be brewing between Belly and Benito, but the conversation doesn’t go far as Jeremiah ends up calling Belly.
The pair shares a sweet chat as he updates her on his new job working as a busboy, and she begins to apologize. As Belly tells him she regrets how things ended, he cuts her off and tells her he doesn’t want to talk about the past. Rather, he wanted to let her know he’s good and that he hopes she’s good too.
As they say goodbye, their words of “I should probably let you go” seem to be more than just a goodbye, but a moment of them finally accepting their relationship has ended.
Following the call, Belly gets another message from a different Fisher brother in the form of the iconic care package from Conrad. Inside the package is a pack of Sour Patch Kids and Junior Mint, the polar bear stuffed animal he won her years ago. Sadly, we don’t get to hear Conrad’s letter that came with the box, which was a key part of the epilogue in the book, but book fans were sure to recognize the care package and its meaning.
Because cutting Conrad’s letter wasn’t enough heartache, we see Taylor push Belly to move on. Belly takes her friend's advice as she embraces Benito and the pair kiss as the new year rolls in.
Conrad and Jeremiah finally patch things up
As we jump ahead to spring, Belly is preparing to leave for graduation when Gemma encourages her to take up the lease on her apartment and stay in Paris. While talking through the decision with Laurel, Belly’s reminded that it’s the anniversary of Susannah’s death and we get a sweet flashback of Susannah and a young Belly. The key takeaway being a reminder that Belly has always known what she wants, which Belly seems to pull inspiration from in deciding to stay in Paris and take the apartment.
The anniversary of Susannah’s death also serves as the catalyst for Jeremiah and Conrad finally coming together and beginning to repair their relationship.
As the brothers talk through everything, Conrad tells Jeremiah he’s going to keep doing everything he can to make up for things as he misses having his brother in his life. He apologizes for being unable to stop loving Belly, as he reminds Jeremiah that he hurt him too when he began dating Belly a month after Conrad and Belly broke up.
Conrad finally tells Jeremiah about the promise he made to their mom before she died, that he would protect Jeremiah and try to prevent him from getting hurt. This was something he tried to do, but he couldn’t stop loving Belly, no matter how much he tried to deny his feelings. Jeremiah then opens up about the promise he made to Susannah that he wouldn’t let anything come between them. He jokes that they both screwed up as he then makes it clear to Conrad that he still needs his brother.
After hugging it out, Conrad comes clean to Jeremiah about writing to Belly and lets him know that Belly hasn’t written him back. In a moment of real growth, Jeremiah encourages his brother not to waste the opportunity.
The Summer I Turned Pretty paves the way for Belly and Conrad to be endgame
Following his conversation with Jeremiah, Conrad writes to Belly once again. He tells her about finally seeing Jeremiah and that they’re doing better now. We learn that Belly took the apartment and is still with Benito.
As the letter continues, Conrad lets her know that he still thinks of her and doesn’t blame her for not writing back. Belly finally responds with a short postcard back to Conrad, sharing her new address and wishing him well.
In the final moments of the episode, Conrad boards a plane to Paris with the intention of going to see Belly and try to win her back. Meanwhile, Belly is getting ready to celebrate her birthday weekend by getting a new look for the summer.
Clearly, the pieces are being put into place for Belly and Conrad to be endgame, and we can only hope that the pair end up together in the series finale when it arrives on Sept. 17!