Caution: This article contains spoilers for the Season 3 finale of The Summer I Turned Pretty.
It has been an extended period for devotees of Conrad Fisher. Since the third and ultimate season commenced on July 16, the introspective elder Fisher brother (portrayed by Christopher Briney) has faced considerable hardship. Nevertheless, adherents of Team Conrad who remained steadfast until the series’ concluding episode on Wednesday were finally rewarded by witnessing him reclaim his true love and secure a fortunate resolution.
Drawing from the best-selling young adult novel trilogy by its creator and co-showrunner, The Summer I Turned Pretty has transformed into a worldwide television sensation since its initial season launched in June 2022. Following a transition to a weekly release schedule, Season 3 debuted with a two-episode premiere that garnered significant viewership across its first seven days of availability on Prime Video, representing a 40% increase compared to the Season 2 launch. Season 3 is also recognized as the streamer’s most-watched television season ever among women aged 18 to 34 and ranks as the fifth most-watched returning season on the platform overall (trailing only Reacher Seasons 2 and 3, an unmentioned title, and The Boys Season 4). Subsequent to last week’s penultimate episode, a publication reported that nearly 200,000 posts related to the series had been shared on TikTok over the past month alone, collectively generating 2.9 billion views.
To articulate it more simply, virtually everyone, including their fleeting summer acquaintances, has been tuning in weekly to discover whether Isabel “Belly” Conklin (Lola Tung) would ultimately select Conrad, Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno), or an entirely different course when the 11-episode season concluded on September 17. After she canceled her wedding to Jeremiah in Episode 8, the subsequent two installments have depicted Belly exploring new horizons in Paris and even engaging in a romantic relationship with someone outside the Fisher family over approximately nine months in the City of Love.
However, when Episode 10 ended with Conrad boarding a flight to Paris in pursuit of Belly, fans began preparing for an intense—and potentially emotionally impactful—finale.
Who did Belly choose in the Season 3 finale?
Much like in We’ll Always Have Summer, the third novel in The Summer I Turned Pretty series, Belly reunited with Conrad and ultimately ended up with him before the show’s final credits appeared. Nevertheless, certain specifics regarding how the pair reached this point were altered from the book series, a possibility that Han had previously intimated.
“I truly enjoy surprising people,” she communicated to a publication in an interview published earlier this week. “I feel strongly about ensuring the audience experiences the anticipation of not knowing what will occur next…even though I understand that others are likely impatient to see how it all concludes.”
In the literary versions, the timeline of events was somewhat different, as Jeremiah and Belly were together for less than two years before he committed infidelity and they subsequently became engaged, meaning Belly was only entering her junior year of college when the wedding dissolved. Belly departed to study abroad in Spain rather than France, and commenced receiving letters from Conrad there. The two finally reconnected in person at Belly’s college graduation and became engaged approximately a year later. The brief epilogue then concluded with the newlyweds contentedly embarking on their life together.
In the television adaptation, following Conrad’s unexpected arrival in Paris the day before Belly’s 22nd birthday, the pair spent time exploring the city before attending a party Belly’s Parisian friends organized for her. That night, they became intimate and at last discussed their feelings for one another. However, while Conrad asserted his love for Belly was genuine and not merely a consequence of the trauma they had collectively experienced due to his mother’s death, Belly remained uncertain. Fortunately, moments after he left for the train station, Belly realized she was preventing herself from achieving everything she had ever desired and rushed from her apartment in a frantic pursuit to catch him, underscored by Taylor Swift’s “Out of the Woods.”
A declaration of love ensued, and while it was revealed that Belly remained in Paris for a period, #BellyConrad was officially confirmed as the final pairing. A moment for celebration, Team Conrad.
