While Belly seems set for a new life in Paris, Conrad keeps reminding her that he’s there in The Summer I Turned Pretty season 3, episode 10. However, a late love interest could disrupt the Conrad/Belly ending to the story.
Caution: This post contains SPOILERS for The Summer I Turned Pretty season 3, episode 10.
We get a time jump in The Summer I Turned Pretty, taking us to three months after the uneventful moments of The Summer I Turned Pretty season 3, episode 9. Belly is working in Paris, while also studying online, giving her a chance to experience life there.
Meanwhile, life goes on for everyone in America, although it’s taking time for some fences to be mended. What we do learn is that Steven and Taylor are still together, but that Jeremiah is sleeping around and crashing at Steven’s place at time, much to Adam’s disappointment, leading to Jeremiah being cut off.
Belly isn’t ready to leave Paris in The Summer I Turned Pretty season 3, episode 10
One thing the books didn’t go into was the growth that Belly could get in Paris. The previous episode didn’t show much, but this episode has a chance to change things. After all, we keep time jumping to see how Belly keeps avoiding the return home.
She has Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year in Paris with her new friends. Then she makes a decision to take on Gemma’s apartment and stay in Paris even longer. Taylor visits for New Year and encourages Belly to move on with Benito, who ends up being a potential love interest at the 11th hour during Christmas vacation.
Over the course of the episode, the focus is on the letters that Conrad sends Belly, but she doesn’t write him back. Not that we can blame her. While part of her still likely loves Conrad, he did go a little bit about things the wrong way. However, she can’t fully blame him, knowing that she and Jeremiah just weren’t meant to be.
Conrad starts to send his letters
We know from the epilogue in We’ll Always Have Summer by Jenny Han that Conrad wins Belly back through letters while she’s in Spain. She may be in France in the show, but Conrad still manages to potentially win her back in the same way.
He starts off unsure of whether to reach out to her, and in the end, he chooses good old-fashioned snail mail. At first, Belly ignores them, but then we get the infamous care package of Sour Patch Kids, Junior Mints, and the stuffed bear that he once won her. Who couldn’t love that?
It’s only when she moves, though, that she finally writes back, sending a simple postcard with her new address. Conrad decides it’s time to bite the bullet and take a plane to France to see Belly in person. That’s not why she gave you her new address, dude!
Jeremiah needs to move on in The Summer I Turned Pretty
Jere is a pretty toxic and annoying guy when it comes to being hurt, and it’s not that surprising to see that he’s sleeping around and crashing at Steven’s place in The Summer I Turned Pretty season 3, episode 10. This character needs some growth, and the episode does start to offer him that.
The first is surprisingly via Denise, who is still working on the startup with Steven. That ends up suffering when Adam finds out, which leads to Denise and Jeremiah getting some unlikely time together. Finally, Jeremiah has the chance to open up about how he’s struggling to move on, and he’s scared about how people will react to him.
Denise has the best advice for him out of everyone. Healing isn’t linear, and it isn’t done in a set amount of time. It doesn’t matter that it’s taking him longer than people want it to. He’s allowed to heal in his own time, and he needs to honor his own needs. With all this being said, it’s clear that something starts to brew between the two of them.
I don’t think it’s right for Jere to move on right now as he’s still healing, but I love that he could have a friend in Denise that could potentially lead to more in the future. I also love that there’s a call with Belly that offers closure for the two of them, an acceptance that their relationship has ended. They both needed that.
There’s also hope for Jere and Conrad in The Summer I Turned Pretty as they run into each other at Susannah's grave on the anniversary of her death. While they’re not best buds again, there is some healing as Conrad truly apologizes and shares his last promise to Susannah. He’s not done a great job of being a big brother right now, but he can change things. He even starts that by telling Jere that he’s written to Belly—not that she’s written back at this point—and Jere is okay with that. Sort of. He’s not happy about it, but he doesn’t want his brother to waste his feelings for Belly. Or her feelings for Conrad.
See, there’s hope for growth for Jeremiah in this episode. I’m glad that we got more than what We’ll Always Have Summer offered after the wedding, because it was desperately needed.
In the end, The Summer I Turned Pretty season 3, episode 10 has set up for the potential of a Conrad/Belly wedding. That is if Conrad can beat Benito. But he did make an excellent point to Jere. Belly isn’t an object, and she can’t be taken, so Belly needs to make the choice, and hopefully, Conrad will stick by his words to allow her that time.
The Summer I Turned Pretty airs on Wednesdays on Prime Video.