Set four years after the events of the second season, the final season of the hit Prime Video series “The Summer I Turned Pretty” picks up with Isabel ‘Belly’ Conklin (Lola Tung) torn between the Fisher brothers for one last time. Belly, whose first love was the caring, yet flaky older brother Conrad (Chris Briney), finds herself in her “dream” relationship with his outgoing younger brother, Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno). While the season starts off with odd pacing and sloppy writing, it immediately begins to pick up as we prepare for the conclusion of the infamous love triangle in the upcoming final two episodes.
First off, we see almost inverse character paths for the Fisher brothers, as Conrad seems to have matured during his time at Stanford University, and Jeremiah joins a frat at Finch College and becomes completely irresponsible. He sleeps with another girl during his spring break in Cabo while on a break with Belly, and misses an email informing him that he doesn’t have the credits to graduate. Both of these actions seem out of character for the man we saw Jeremiah grow into in season two, who showed up for Belly when no one else did, and was responsible enough to take care of his mother’s bills during her final months. After being forgiven by Belly for what took place in Cabo, he proposes another irrational decision that is the premise for most of the season: marriage.
Despite taking a backseat in the first few episodes, however, Conrad was always present and looming in Belly’s mind. The two share a number of intimate moments throughout the season’s progression that make Belly question her decision to marry Jeremiah. This unspoken tension ultimately leads to Conrad confronting Belly the night before the wedding and confessing his love for her. After Belly tells Jeremiah what happened, he calls off the wedding the day of, and Belly chooses to go through with her semester abroad in Paris. The latest episode, while some have criticized it for being filler, gives us the opportunity to see Belly in a new environment without the Fisher brothers for the first time throughout the three seasons.
Besides the Conklin-Fisher love triangle that consumes the majority of the plot, there are additional plotlines that feel like a waste of time. For instance, we are introduced to Taylor’s mom (Kristen Connolly), an outgoing single mother in debt, but her addition to the show comes off unnecessary and doesn’t add much to the overall plot. We additionally meet Denise (Isabella Briggs), Steven’s (Sean Kaufman) colleague from the office, whom he builds chemistry with over numerous episodes, only for them to realize they don’t work romantically. While Steven and Taylor (Rain Spencer) are probably the easiest couple in the show to root for, a lot of the challenges presented to them this season felt like lazy writing in order to delay the inevitable ending of them being together until the final episodes.
Critical aspects aside, this season is definitely an enjoyable watch with some very strong and emotion-inducing episodes,specifically those that take place closer to the “wedding.” Since there are only two episodes left, one can assume that Conrad and Belly will finally have their “happily ever after,” and it will be interesting to see how the writers tackle the final stretch as we prepare to bid farewell to Cousins Beach.
