The long-awaited third and final season of the hit TV series, “The Summer I Turned Pretty,” debuted with 25 million global viewers in its first week. With a weekly episode rollout on Prime Video, fans have been captivated by the highly anticipated third season, anxiously awaiting the finale. The series draws fans in by creating a global debate: Team Conrad or Jeremiah?
“The Summer I Turned Pretty” series follows the lives of two families, the Fishers and the Conklins. Susannah and her two boys, Conrad and Jeremiah, along with Laurel and her two kids, Steven and Belly, spend every summer together at Susannah’s beach house in Cousins. Things become complicated when Conrad and Jeremiah both admit to having feelings for Belly. She goes back and forth between the brothers throughout the show, and after dating Conrad, Belly ultimately chooses Jeremiah at the end of season two. We pick up with the two of them together in college at the beginning of season three. As if one love triangle is not complicated enough, throughout the show, Steven and Belly’s best friend, Taylor, have a very on-again, off-again relationship. This season introduces a new character, Denise, giving Steven a love triangle of his own.
The author and show-runner of the series, Jenny Han, stated in an interview that season three would have “no filler episodes,” and she was not lying. Just in the first two episodes, there are multiple cheating scandals, a near-death accident and an engagement. Considering “The Summer I Turned Pretty” is a book-to-series adaptation, there are many scenes that take place in this season that have been long-awaited by the book fans, and they have not been disappointed. Another fun element of the series is the beloved soundtrack. The series is filled with songs from audience-adored artists, including Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, Gracie Abrams and Billie Eilish.
The Conrad or Jeremiah dilemma heats up this season when Jeremiah and Belly decide to take it to the next level and plan to get married at the end of the summer. The realization that Conrad will be losing Belly forever hits hard and makes him question everything. Conrad has to face his problem head-on when he and Belly end up being alone together in the beach house for most of the summer. Considering Conrad is Belly’s ex-boyfriend and she is now marrying his brother, it is not surprising that the events leading up to the wedding do not exactly go smoothly. Belly is left with huge decisions to make and a self-discovery journey becomes necessary for her to decide who she wants to be and who she wants to be with.
The target audience for “The Summer I Turned Pretty” is generally teens and young adults, but it is a show enjoyed by a wide variety of people. The series is known for its incredibly passionate fans when it comes to the global debate over Conrad or Jeremiah. The official Instagram account for the show even posted a statement ahead of one of the most climactic episodes, saying, “We have a ZERO tolerance policy for bullying and hate speech,” and continued to warn fans that any sort of hate or bullying against the cast would result in them being banned.
As the much delighted series comes to an end, there is no doubt that it will go down in history as one of the best love triangle stories of all time, and the four year debate over which brother is better will finally be settled once and for all.
