Note: This story contains spoilers from “The Summer I Turned Pretty” Season 3, Episode 5.
“The Summer I Turned Pretty” flipped the script on Belly, Conrad and Jeremiah’s love triangle with Episode 5 of the Prime Video series’ third and final season, which saw Christopher Briney’s Conrad take over narration from Lola Tung’s Belly.
The switch in narration, which is true to Jenny Han’s bestselling trilogy, happens as Conrad and Belly stay in Cousins together, with Conrad busying himself with housework to avoid Belly, who’s busy planning impending wedding to Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno).
His efforts seem nearly lost, however, when running an errand together turns into a stop at a peach farm. Belly indulges in several juicy peaches that lead to a romantic moment between the pair, as Conrad wipes off the juice from Belly’s face with his shirt.
“That moment is one where he loses touch of the reality the situation for a little too long and gets lost in whatever golden hour peaches was going on,” Briney told TheWrap. “There’s some losing himself in that.”
The peach scene is among the many close-to-comfort interactions for Conrad in Episode 5, which also sees Conrad get mistaken for Belly’s fiancé at the florist before the pair re-routes their plan and finds themself in a joyful haze of fake flowers at Michaels after Conrad suggests ditching the expense of real flowers.
“His attempt is to just be there for her because he cares a lot about her,” Briney said. “I do believe his general attempt in life is to help and provide aid … for people he cares about.”
As the narration focuses on Conrad’s perspective, Briney noted that viewers aren’t actively getting Belly’s POV in the episode, which only helps to illustrate the sticky situation he finds himself in as his ex-girlfriend and brother plan to tie the knot.
“That plays into Conrad being like, ‘F—ck … I don’t know what she’s feeling. I only know what I’m feeling, and I feel like I cross the line,’” Briney said. “I think that’s cool. It’s unique.”
Below, Briney breaks down Episode 5, reveals his observations about Conrad coming into Season 2 and reacts to the fandom rallying around team Conrad.
TheWrap: What was it like to shift to Conrad’s perspective and was there a moment or line in the episode that stood out to you from Episode 5?
Briney: I’ve always loved the “shoot myself in the head with a nail gun repeatedly.” I just think it’s funny and it kind of rolls off the tongue. Making space for voiceover is a funny thing — we’ve all had to do it because there’s a lot of voiceover in the show, so it wasn’t completely new, but the stuff at the beginning with the roof … there was like a big camera move … and Jenny [Han] was queueing me, but the timing of that was so weird, because I just had to pretend to hammer nails into the roof for a good 15 seconds, and then I had to turn, and Lola wasn’t there for most of the coverage, so I had to pretend she was there. It’s a funny thing, lots of imagination.
That nail gun is a fan-favorite. Is that a line you had been aware of?
Yeah. When Jenny and I first talked about this episode, I asked. I was like, “it’s in there, right? I get to say that again?” But it is a little changed from the books. He says, “and I hate myself for it,” or something which, take it as you will.
Episode 5 gave us a flashback to Conrad and Belly in the Conklin guest room, and they seem so comfortable together. What did you, Lola and Jenny want to come through in that flashback?
I think that’s what Jenny was was trying to show, because so much of the second season is like flashbacks to them being in a really rough place and I think it just informs the timeline … because there’s some dialogue where like Conrad is trying to be comforting and hopeful and semi successfully in the hopeful part. I think it’s just to share some light on the familiarity that they had and in moments they shared as young adults.
Episode 5 also gives us this very emotional flashback with Susannah and Conrad. What was it like filming that?
It’s always hard to film like scenes like that, but Rachel [Blanchard] is wonderful, and we have such an understanding crew and team, and Jenny was respectful of space and gave me and Rachel time — you need some time to sort of settle into it, and then once you get going, you don’t really want to stop. So you really want setups to be quick, because it’s hard to cry for five hours. It’s a mixed bag, because once you finish that, there’s some catharsis of, “Oh my God, thank god that’s over. Thank God. I feel like I did my job, hopefully.” We moved on, so Jenny’s happy, our crew gets to move to the next location, but it’s hard,
Is that something you think he’s brought up in therapy?
I don’t know if he’s brought that up in therapy. I would imagine, not verbatim, but maybe he’s insinuated at that.
Fans have also been loving that scene of Conrad and Belly at the dinner table, and even seeing some parallels to “The Notebook.” What was it like filming that? Do you think there’s any moment where Conrad almost crossed a line there?
Filming that is fun. It’s always hard to play a little tipsy and loose, because that’s part of the context of the scene … they’re both just sort of reminiscing and shooting the s—t, and there’s a lot of smile until your body believes it, and make yourself laugh. But it’s easy, we have such rapport, and it’s a really fun dynamic shift to play as an actor, when Jeremiah comes in and you’re like, “Oh, right, here we are.” I don’t think he crossed the line, but I do think he does get lost in a little bit.
There was a four-year time jump since we last saw Conrad. Going into the season, how did you fill in the gaps with Jenny about how Conrad as grown since Season 2?
All the information is there the first two times you see him. I mean, the fact that he’s in therapy speaks volumes, and I think that just speaks more so to the fact that he is trying to move on with his life and trying to grow. There’s four years of him moving his life in this direction, across the country and through med school, and we’re working on this career and making new friends and new memories. He will always have Cousins, and he’ll always have those memories, but he’s working so hard on doing what’s right in his eyes. And right is in California and growing and making new friends and focusing on his career and and so that’s the direction he’s going in, and then, as the story goes, he gets pulled and sort of back in other directions. And obviously, now he’s in Cousins again.
How do you think getting fired from the clinic impacted Conrad?
It’s a little crushing. Conrad is a very smart person. I don’t think he makes that many mistakes. If you think about the way people talk about him in the world and the expectation that he feels — whether it’s real or not — he feels an expectation to be perfect, and that is incredibly obvious evidence that one is not. It was sort of a rude awakening of like, “I’m not quite who I think I am, and maybe I have not grown as much as I think I have.”
Fans have been latching on to the yearning Conrad has been doing all season. What’s your reaction to that? How do you feel about the fandom rallying around you?
I’m not on socials that much, so I haven’t really seen it. I like to think that the story is crafted in such a way that at times, you really root for certain characters, and that ebbs and flows, and so if people are hype on it, then I’m hype about that.
Do you think that will hold for the rest of the season?
I don’t know. People are already really rallying around him?
Yes, just fully “Team Conrad, screw Jeremiah” — that’s really where the fandom has been this season.
There’s still six more episodes, I feel like people will just get tired of supporting and start hating. That’s how the internet usually works.
You probably also haven’t seen online, but one thing that fans have been loving is the scenes between Conrad and Agnes as well. Can you see why fans latched on to those?
I think Zoé [de Grand Maison] is great, which helps to have a really good actor, and I think their relationship is more … there’s a few words I could use here … I think it’s comfortable. I think it’s mature in a way. Conrad, Jeremiah, Stephen, Belly, they’ve been young throughout the show, and there is a time jump, and I think this is one of the more real, adult relationships that we get in this show. I don’t want people to take that the wrong way — all I mean is, as they grow up, they’re forming these more mature relationships, and I think that’s sort of new for at least Conrad, because so much of his past relationships have been fueled by being young and having feelings and going through something and being that version of himself that he was. They just sort of get each other.
Conrad’s style has also been a highlight for fans. What did you think of his style this season?
I give full credit to our costume designer Jess[ica Flaherty], who is the most wonderful person, and she and Jenny have a lot of discussions. I mean, the jeans were a little tight and sweaty some days. I think he’s dressing older. It was great.
What can you tease for how the rest of the season plays out?
You never know. I can’t spoil anything, but, I mean, we’re only five episodes in. There’s like six more, so a lot can happen.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
New episodes of “The Summer I Turned Pretty” are released Wednesdays at 12 a.m. PT/3 a.m. ET on Prime Video.
