Note: This story contains spoilers from “The Summer I Turned Pretty” Season 3, Episode 11.
“The Summer I Turned Pretty” concluded its third and final season with its series finale on Tuesday, which saw Lola Tung’s Belly finally get her happy ending and return to Cousins, but the conclusion of the Prime Video series didn’t give us the ending fans of Jenny Han’s book trilogy were expecting.
The finale, fittingly titled “At Last” — a contrast to the “lasts” Belly had with Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno) that have comprised the Season 3 episode titles — picks up another six weeks or so after the events of Episode 10, which saw Belly decide to skip graduation and extend her stay in Paris for another year. Unlike Episode 10, which jumped from the holidays to the start of summer, Episode 11, for the most part, takes place in one day: the day before Belly’s 22nd birthday.
The series finale kicks off with Conrad (Christopher Briney) arriving in Paris to see Belly, with her fresh new bob and driving a Vespa with Benito in the back, only they exchange a friendly goodbye kiss before Belly sees Conrad. She isn’t as enthusiastic to see Conrad as he expected, and makes it clear she has plans later in the evening, but is happy to explore the city with him in the meantime. In her apartment, Belly promises herself she’ll play tour guide for a few hours “and then send him on his way.”
Meanwhile in Boston, Jeremiah and Denise catch fans up on the happenings of the last several months: Jeremiah has been crashing with Denise as he plans a four-course dinner for 30 people in an effort to prove his chops as a chef, and he seems to have made peace with Belly and Conrad’s impending reunion.
Denise reveals that she’s preparing to move to the West Coast in a month after she and Steven secured the seed funding for their startup, contingent on both of them moving to San Francisco. Steven hasn’t shared the news with Taylor yet, though she overhears Denise and Jeremiah’s conversation and, in true Taylor fashion, becomes adequately enraged, all while delivering the news that the venue for the dinner party has a leak and they’ll have to move the event. We learn that Taylor has since moved to Boston and secured a marketing gig, and is planning the logistics for the dinner for her job, and the three of them plan to pivot the dinner to take place at the Cousins house.
Back to Paris, Belly and Conrad have been busy exploring nearly all of the city’s offerings, including the Louvre and Versailles, before Belly takes Conrad to a rooftop, where she opens up to him about how far she’s come living in Paris. Belly eventually invites Conrad to her pre-birthday dinner that evening, saying it’ll be nice to have an “old friend” there.
As the pair gets ready, Conrad spots a photo with Benito in Belly’s apartment, though he learns at the dinner that Belly broke it off with Benito about six weeks ago after he asked her to come to his grandmother’s birthday celebration in Mexico, but still unveils a rather intimate photo of Belly as her birthday present. During the dinner, Belly’s friends dig into Conrad’s pre-wedding confession, which he’s a good sport about, before Conrad and Belly exchange some candlelit flirts. He also gifts her a vial full of sand from Cousins that makes him feel closer to the beach, and Belly looks right into his eyes as she makes her birthday wish.
In Cousins, Jeremiah, Denise, Taylor and Steven prep for the dinner with some chaos as Taylor takes out her anger on Steven for keeping her in the dark on the move as Adam shows up with even more leftover champagne from the wedding. Taylor and Steven finally have a confrontation, first in the kitchen and then at the dock, where Taylor says she will happily move to California with Steven to keep pursuing PR and they have a PDA moment.
Sparks also fly between Jeremiah and Denise when she applauds his culinary chops and calls him a “ten,” leading to Jeremiah kissing her in the Cousins kitchen.
Adam, Laurel and John are in attendance at the dinner, and Adam reveals that Kayleigh left him, while Laurel and John appear to not be sneaking around anymore (Adam says he knew they would flame out, and even suggests the trio go on a singles cruise in a crude nod to Laurel). Adam gives his approval of the dinner to Jeremiah and tells him he’s proud of him. All is well in Cousins.
Back to Paris, Belly and Conrad walk along the Seine and Conrad asks Belly to dance with him, leading up to the pair finally kissing before Belly asks Conrad to come home with her. They kiss in the cab ride home, in her stairwell and eventually hook up in Belly’s apartment to Taylor Swift’s “Dress.”
They cuddle in bed afterwards, where Belly reveals she would wish for Conrad every year for her birthday, but the joy doesn’t last for long as Belly quickly pulls away from Conrad, encouraging him to take the 5 a.m train. Belly gets in her own head and tells Conrad her concerns that their romance was shaped by Susannah’s wishes for them to be together, which Conrad refutes, saying, “The one thing that never changes is that I love you.”
Belly sends him on his way to the train, but minutes later realizes the mistake she made and frantically chases after him, eventually finding his train car and telling him “every version of me chooses you” before they kiss on the train.
Flash forward to another summer in the future — it’s unclear how long this time jump is — and Belly and Conrad return to Cousins together and walk through the house and into the backyard. There was no final wedding scene, like what was written out in Han’s “We’ll Always Have Summer,” with no sign of a ring either, but it’s clear Belly and Conrad are here to stay.
“The Summer I Turned Pretty” is now streaming on Prime Video.
