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The Summer I Turned Pretty Series Finale: A Scene-by-Scene Analysis/Review

October 22, 2025
The Summer I Turned Pretty Series Finale: A Scene-by-Scene Analysis/Review
By Rebecka Jones, Staff Writer
three people sit on the beach, with the ocean next to them and a house behind them
Poster for “The Summer I Turned Pretty” | Amazon Prime
WARNING: Spoilers for the entirety of the show!

The Summer I Turned Pretty is a coming-of-age romantic drama based off of author Jenny Han’s three-part The Summer I Turned Pretty book series. The show is known for the teenage drama, the romance of first loves, the pop soundtracks, and the general hatred towards its main character, Belly. It is streamed exclusively on Prime Video, and has an upcoming film planned to be a final conclusion to the series and its story.

The Background

The Summer I Turned Pretty follows a young girl named Isabel (Belly) Conklin and her summers at the Cousins Beach house with the two sons of her mother’s best friend: Conrad and Jeremiah Fisher. She navigates through her relationships with both boys and ultimately ends up with Jeremiah by the end of season two. However, Belly’s decision slowly changes in season three when Conrad comes home from college and unintentionally interrupts her plans of marrying Jeremiah. The wedding is called off, and everyone goes their separate ways. Belly goes to Paris to get away from the drama and learn to be her own person, a plan that is quickly foiled by Conrad, who continuously sends her letters asking how she’s doing. Conrad eventually uses the excuse of a work conference in Brussels to go see Belly in Paris.

Now, without further delay, let’s dive into my scene-by-scene analysis and personal review of the series finale that dropped last month.

The Episode

The episode starts with Conrad waiting at the front door of Belly’s apartment in Paris. After waiting forever, he eventually spots Belly pulling up on a bike with Benito, a boy Belly met in Paris. Conrad pauses for a second in anxiety and anticipation after Benito leaves, then he gathers the courage to go up to her and greet her.

I have been rooting for Conrad and Belly from the very beginning, so I was overjoyed he had the confidence to approach her – this is such a step up from his past self. His character development has come such a long way from season one, when he struggled by letting his grief overtake him and would run away from his love for Belly. As the oldest son, he believed he had to be the strong one, promising his mother on her deathbed to take care of Jeremiah and protecting Belly from the grief by pretending everything was fine, quietly carrying these burdens.

Belly is shocked to see him after a year, but they greet each other and she invites him to tour Paris with her as his guide. Throughout the tour montage, Conrad is seen observing Belly and, in one section, they’re in a room full of beautiful, historic art, yet he’s looking at her like she’s a piece of art. His love has been there from the very beginning, despite all the chaos of his mother’s death, almost losing the beach house, and the unsuccessful wedding between Belly and Conrad’s brother; he has always loved her. The montage displays how comfortable Conrad has become with Belly—he almost jumped into a fountain because he felt so free with her! He is more open to being himself rather than hiding behind a mask. In past seasons, he always kept to himself and tried taking on everything—his mother’s death and the temporary loss of the beach house—by himself. His therapy lessons really helped!

The montage ends and shows Belly and Conrad walking through a historical hall together. Conrad tells Belly he always imagined her life in Paris and wants to see Paris as she does, so she takes him to a rooftop and they both stand in silence. The rooftop symbolizes the reflection or change, which is shown when Belly explains to Conrad the reason she loves being up there.

She says seeing Paris from up here helps her see how everything “beautifully comes together,” explaining how hard it was for her to adjust when she first moved to Paris and how coming up to this rooftop helped her calm down.

Belly also gets to see a part of Conrad she hasn’t seen in a while when he starts geeking out about the human body working the same way in the medical field, explaining how it all comes together beautifully when you see how organs work together. They then reflected on their past, when everyone was happier, and Susannah, Conrad’s mother, was alive. More importantly, it’s possible they were also reflecting on their lost love.

Belly recalls when Conrad told her seeing the Pacific for the first time—when he was in California for college—was like being on another planet where anything was possible. She tells him Paris became that for her and decides to invite him to her pre-birthday dinner afterwards.

Things are shifting now. Belly is back to being comfortable with Conrad’s presence like old times.

The scene skips to Belly and Conrad back at her apartment. She’s getting ready for dinner while he’s looking around, observing pictures of Belly with her Paris friends and pictures of Benito, whom Conrad believes she is dating.

His face seems to fall when he sees Benito’s pictures. This is definitely jealousy on his face, but he isn’t upset. Conrad is mature and willing to give her up if Benito is her true love. This is part of his character development—his willingness to give his love up once and for all.

Another poster featuring Jeremiah kissing Belly while Conrad watches. | Amazon Prime

He also stumbles across Junior Mint, the stuffed polar bear he won for Belly at a festival many years ago that’s a reminder of their childhood. It has an infinity necklace Conrad gifted Belly on its neck, a motif to symbolize how Conrad gave Belly more than simple romantic gestures; he gives her everything she could ever want or wish for.

Belly walks out of the bathroom in a black dress and Conrad tells her she looks beautiful and helps her put a bracelet on. He holds eye contact with her, and she’s the first to look away.

Typically, Conrad is the one to look away but now, he’s all in. Times have changed. He is deeply in love with her and will fight to revive what they had in the past. However, he will let go if he finds she doesn’t feel the same.

Later, we see Belly gathered at the dinner table with her friends and Conrad while they eat, laugh, and give Belly gifts. Conrad doesn’t give her a gift yet—a parallel to season one when he didn’t give her that infinity necklace yet because he was scared it would mean too much. This is a reminder of their lost love, except now, they’re grown up and Conrad is not running away from Belly this time. He will give her the gift this time without hesitation, he’s just waiting for the perfect moment.

Conrad told Belly he wanted to bring a piece of Cousins Beach to her, so that’s why he was there – he is that piece of Cousins Beach. He eventually gives her an actual gift too, in the form of a jar of sand from Cousins Beach to remind her of home. Cousins Beach is emphasized through Conrad and the jar of sand, displaying how this beach is their childhood and their place of belonging. It’s also another reminder of their lost love—so many memories of them are held in Cousins.

Conrad moves to sit beside Belly at the dinner table and while she’s watching all her friends laugh and talk, he’s looking at her like she’s the only person in the room. He admires her dearly, and it’s beautiful to me how he still loves her regardless of their past. The desire, chemistry, and sparks are still there.

Her friends pass around a cigarette, and Belly takes it to smoke. Conrad jokes and says he thought she didn’t smoke because it messes with white matter, which is a parallel to season one when Belly caught him smoking by the pool and said the same thing. She even imitates his response and asks, “Do you memorize every little thing I’ve ever said?” This is a little intimate joke between the two, displaying how rooted their ongoing connection is.

As Belly is about to blow out her birthday candles, she looks at Conrad sitting right across from her before she makes a wish. There’s a quick flashback of her birthday in Cousins, the first birthday since she “turned pretty.” She remembers her and Conrad watching each other across a room full of people as everything else is drowned out. The same happens now—everyone is singing “Happy Birthday” to Belly, but she can only focus on Conrad.

She blows out her candles after making a wish. I think we can all assume she made the same wish she made every birthday: to be with Conrad. There’s still that part of her that will always love him and it’s finally reemerging in her brain.

Now it’s late, and Belly and Conrad are walking alone by the canals of Paris. Conrad finally opens up to Belly and tells her he thought she moved to Paris to hide from everything that happened after the wedding fell through. He thought she would eventually come home once she forgave herself, but realized she’s made a life for herself here instead. I personally thought she would come back home, too, because she couldn’t stay away from home forever. She couldn’t stay away from her first love. Even if it meant going back into the life she left behind in Cousins, I would’ve thought she’d go back to rekindle whatever she and Conrad had.

Belly then acknowledges she was the villain who broke the family apart, but Conrad tells her it wasn’t her place to keep the broken family together. They were kids and didn’t know better.

I literally yelled “FINALLY” once Belly said she was the villain because she was! Throughout the entire show, she’s been the one confusing the brothers with her conflicting feelings. She always made them feel they couldn’t do anything to measure up. She was all over the place with her love life, and I think her time in Paris was perfect for her to reorganize her thoughts and get a grip on life. Congratulations to Belly for finally admitting she was in the wrong, even if it took her the entire show to make it here!

Belly and Conrad slow dance, recounting the tragic memories of prom, and she admits to him that his letters to her kept her going; they were like home for her in Paris. She also shows she hasn’t moved on from Conrad when she kisses him; queue “Dress” by Taylor Swift. 

Their kiss is passionate. They were starved, waiting years for the other to be ready to make the move. Taylor’s song is perfect for this moment, backing it with lyrics like,

“All of this silence and patience, pining and anticipation

My hands are shakin’ from holdin’ back from you”

Belly originally held back from Conrad because he fell into a depression after discovering his mother had cancer, so he wasn’t mentally present with her all the time. When he was ready for Belly again, Conrad held back from her because she chose Jeremiah, and he didn’t want to ruin his relationship with his brother or his first love.

Now they’re both present and all in.

Belly takes Conrad back to her apartment, “Dress” still playing throughout their make-out montage.

“Say my name and everything just stops”

Conrad looks at Belly. The music pauses. He says, “I dream about this. You.” Swift resumes,

“I don’t want you like a best friend”

This was never about sex with Belly. He always dreamed about her and the love and life they could have together. True love.

Afterward, Belly goes into the bathroom and has a moment of silence, rethinking her choices. She comes back out and asks Conrad why he’s really here. 

I just wanted to grab Belly by the shoulders and shake her! It should’ve been as obvious as day to her why he was there. He’s been sending her letters to show he cares and still thinks about her and even went out of his way to visit her in Paris to spend time with her for her birthday. I don’t know how much more proof this woman needs to understand Conrad loves her. He’s there because he loves her!

Conrad explains he wanted to tell her he loved her and wondered if any part of her still loved him, and Belly goes silent. His voice breaks as he asks if she still loves him.

We’ve seen Conrad break down many times throughout the show, but we’ve never seen him truly break in front of Belly like this. She experienced his desire turning into hopelessness before her eyes; she was losing him because she was letting go of him, and he was willing to let it happen, although it’s killing him.

She finally responds, saying she always loved him, but she doesn’t know if they love each other because they want to or because they were told to by Susannah. She asks if things would have changed if Susannah had never gotten sick and died.

Susannah always wanted Belly and Conrad together; she even wrote Conrad a letter before she passed away, telling him she always knew they were fit for each other.

Conrad tried everything not to love Belly for the sake of Jeremiah and not to drag Belly down with his grief, way before Susannah got sick. He scared himself when he started to love Belly, but tells her now that the way he feels about her has nothing to do with his mom. The one thing that never changes when everything else changes is that he loves her.

Poster for the show’s third season. | Amazon Prime

Conrad leaves because Belly told him she can’t be as sure as he is about their love. He leaves alone in the dark hopeless, his eyes full of tears. Everything is coming to an end, it seems.

After he leaves, Belly gets a message from her mom in the form of a picture of Belly as a baby, doing something silly at the beach house. It reminds Belly that the girl in the picture is still in her; she followed her heart no matter what, and she is still capable of being loved, no matter her mistakes. Belly picks up Junior Mint and has a sudden revelation that she will always love Conrad.

To me, she should’ve known this WAY sooner. Her love for Conrad is deeply rooted in their past – even as little kids, she loved him. It wasn’t that big of a revelation to me. It was more like a
“no duh.”

This also happened way too fast, from a writing/pacing perspective. She said all that to Conrad, then saw a baby picture of herself and a stuffed animal of her past, and changed her mind. This was rushed, though I expected that based on how rushed the original book’s ending was.

Nevertheless, I thought Belly running to find Conrad with “Out of the Woods” by Taylor Swift playing in the background was refreshing. Although Belly doesn’t deserve him after all she’s put him through, I was able to lie back and relax because the show’s main couple will finally have the ending we all anticipated.

As Swift’s song goes, “They are finally out of the woods and in the clear.”

Belly gets onto Conrad’s train to Brussels, finding him with tears in her eyes and, while holding the infinity necklace he gave her, tells him she chooses him out of her own free will. If there were infinite worlds, she would choose him in every one.

It was cheesy and predictable, but still adorable. They kiss on the train and say their “I love you’s” to each other.

The scene cuts to Belly’s family and friends at the beach house, laughing and having communion together. Her brother Steven is next to her best friend Taylor, the couple stronger than ever after suffering the whole season fighting feelings and trying to stay together. Jeremiah is with Denise, Steven’s coworker, and he’s finally content. Everyone has their happy ending.

Time jumps to Belly and Conrad driving through Cousins. Belly has her head out the window like she did in the very first episode of the show, signifying that she will always have that little girl inside her heart.

Belly narrates as they pull up to the beach house and go inside, saying that the beach house holds many promises of summer. The camera pans from Belly and Conrad together at the beach house as their love full of promises starts now and will be forever. Infinite.

Final Thoughts

I would rate this show overall a 2.5/5; it was honestly one heck of a rollercoaster to watch through. A lot of the characters, like Belly and Jeremiah, were just awful, though I’m glad they learned their lessons. Belly faced the consequences of her actions, but she still got a happy ending, even though she didn’t deserve one after all she’s done.

I’m happy, at least, that Conrad got what he wanted. He deserved a happy ending after all the pain he’s gone through and, although a lot of that pain came from Belly, she still made him happy and that’s what matters to me.
Not long after the finale’s release, the book series’ author Jenny Han announced a The Summer I Turned Pretty movie. I’m curious as to what this movie could possibly be about after the show ended the way it did – perhaps we discover a secret Susannah left behind before she died that could bring up unresolved conflicts between Belly and Conrad. Or maybe we get to unveil backstories of important side characters like Denise and Laurel, Belly’s mother. Whatever the case, I’m getting myself strapped in for this rollercoaster!

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