Note: This story contains spoilers from “The Summer I Turned Pretty” Season 3, Episode 8 and Jenny Han’s “We’ll Always Have Summer.”
“The Summer I Turned Pretty” Season 3, Episode 8 sees Lola Tung’s Belly make a crucial step in ending the love triangle between her and brothers Conrad (Christopher Briney) and Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno), after they decide to call off her wedding to the latter.
The heart-wrenching conversations between Belly and each of the brothers in the Prime Video series stick pretty much to how they play out in Jenny Han’s last book in the trilogy, “We’ll Always Have Summer,” but leave a fair amount to be discovered as the book cuts off the present timeline with Belly’s decision to cancel the big day.
In fact, there’s only one chapter left in “We’ll Always Have Summer” after the wedding is called off, which opens with Susannah’s letter to Belly before Belly explains what her wedding day — several years in the future — looks like. In the book, Belly is 23, almost 24, and explains that after she called off the wedding, she lived with Annika at Finch and eventually studied abroad in Spain, where she reconnected with Conrad via letters. Years later, Belly and Conrad get married, and Jeremiah is present with a date.
But, while there’s just pages left in the book (which also reveal the letters Conrad sent to Belly), there’s still three episodes left in “The Summer I Turned Pretty” Season 3, leaving book fans unclear of how the remaining installments will play out.
The end of Episode 8 sets up Belly’s European adventure, not to Spain but to Paris, after she buys a ticket there at the airport. It’s at the airport that she sees Conrad, though the episode cuts off before we see what happens between them.
If the show follows Belly’s arc of solo adventure in Europe, perhaps Belly and Conrad’s airport interaction will be limited, with the potential promise of a connection — a letter or a visit — down the line, before Belly heads off to Paris by herself. In the book, it’s the distance and space from Belly’s relationship with Jeremiah enables Belly and Conrad to eventually get together, without it being too close to comfort.
But there’s also a chance that space will be thrown out the window and they’ll head off into the Parisian sunset together.
Either way, Paris will be part of the equation. Tung was spotted filming in Paris, as was Casalegno, which throws a bit of a wrench in the works for Team Conrad, with fans speculating that Jeremiah goes chasing after Belly, potentially going off book even further since Belly and Jeremiah end their relationship after the wedding cancellation. But Team Conrad, don’t fear, it’s also likely he will appear in Paris after David Iacono — who played Belly’s early love interest, Cam Cameron — let it slip at the “Jurassic World Rebirth” premiere that he visited Briney in Paris while Season 3 was filming.
While we’re in uncharted territory with these last three episodes, fans can — likely, maybe — assume the series finale will include Belly and Conrad’s wedding — unless Han chooses to completely throw out the end of the book.
“The Summer I Turned Pretty” Season 3 releases new episodes Wednesdays on Prime Video.
