SPOILERS: This column contains spoilers for Season 3 of 'The Summer I Turned Pretty.'
They say, “love is a marathon, not a sprint.” But, in the case of Amazon’s “The Summer I Turned Pretty,” it’s barely even that. Comparable to a long, agonizing walk through the summer heat, Season 3 of the series seemed to take its sweet time dragging viewers to the finish line.
The show follows the tumultuous love story between Isabel “Belly” Conklin (Lola Tung) and the Fisher brothers, Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno) and Conrad (Christopher Briney). Season 3, which released its first episode July 16, begins four years after the events of the previous season, primarily focusing on the sudden engagement between Belly and Jeremiah.
While the book series of the same name was well-established in the young adult romance space prior to the Season 1 release of the show, it wasn’t nearly as popular as it is now. Season 1 took the number one spot on Prime Video during its premiere weekend. Season 2 of the series reached a whole new level of success as “one of the 10 most watched seasons of any series ever on the service,” according to a press release from Amazon MGM Studios.
After the soaring success of the previous seasons and the cult following the show has gained since, it only made sense that the third season would do just as well, if not better. It has romance. It has drama. What’s not to love?
Turns out there’s a lot when all the show seems to do is rage bait you.
Season 3 trailers made it seem like a dramatic engagement and romantic declarations from both Fisher brothers were in store for the final season. As a fan, I was ready to be on the edge of my seat like I had been during the release of previous seasons.
I read the book series before Amazon even announced their TV adaptation. This meant that going into the show, I already had a pretty clear idea of the major events that would happen. So, when the end of Season 3 crept up and fans took to social media with fear that Belly would choose the wrong brother, or even worse, “summer” itself, there was no doubt in my mind who she would end up with.
Still, it was fun to see the moments I’d loved reading translated onto my screen.
This was largely due to Briney, who taught a masterclass in yearning when it came to his portrayal as Conrad. I mean, it’s hard not to root for the angsty-but-caring man who thinks he must let go of the woman he loves to do what’s right. Throughout the show I, along with at least half the people watching this latest season, found myself yelling at the screen during every longing glance, almost kiss and the general heartfelt moments Belly and Conrad shared.
But one character can’t carry a whole season, and for the most part I wasn’t yelling out of love for one couple but instead out of sheer anger over everything else. And, if there is any critique to be made about the latest installment of Season 3, it’s that it tries to do too much and still manages to do nothing at all for the plot.
Belly’s brother, Steven (Sean Kaufman), and best friend, Taylor (Rain Spencer), are the first of many great examples of this issue. Though neither character plays a major role in the books, their relationship is a big plotline in the show. In Season 2, when they officially begin dating, the slow burn romance was maybe one of the most intriguing parts of the season for me. The two were funny characters and their relationship was by far one of the cutest on the show. Season 3 ruins that immediately by making them cheaters.
An on-again, off-again relationship with both of them cheating on their respective partners, who aren’t important to begin with, was not what I signed up for going into the season. And just when you think everything will be fine and Taylor is ready to tell Steven she loves him, he turns her down and thus begins an infuriatingly long plot of the two complaining constantly about the one thing they could have fixed at the beginning.
Still, their constant miscommunication and maddening relationship was no match for the long, pointless journey the last few episodes took me on.
For context, Conrad and Belly’s romantic rekindling happens in the epilogue in the books. It’s only a couple of pages and, while it did need to be expanded on for a television concept, it’s short. The show expands this short chapter into three episodes that are all over an hour long.
All three episodes could have been combined into one, especially since Belly and Conrad don’t even fully reunite until the last one. We mostly just see Belly build a life in Paris — without a visa, I might add — and then cut her hair. The questions I had throughout the series were never fully answered. In fact, more came up as I watched.
The last episode wasn’t all bad. Conrad and Belly confessing their love to each other was sweet, and the soundtrack, which has never ceased to impress me, made for one of the most iconic moments on the show when they played Taylor Swift’s “Dress.” But the very end, which features Conrad and Belly driving through the fictional beach town of Cousins, is underwhelming.
I wasn’t even happy when Amazon announced a movie for the franchise at the series finale red carpet event in Paris. I was even less so when I learned that a release date for the film hadn’t even been determined. I was just disappointed. I have waited three years since the first season released in 2022 to see the conclusion to this love story play out, and I couldn’t get a satisfying ending because of a movie that hasn’t even been filmed yet.
Every Wednesday, from July to September, I have sat on the couch and watched Belly make twice as many wrong decisions as she does right ones. I have seen the brothers’ mother, Susannah (Rachel Blanchard), haunt the narrative in every way possible. And I have waited for an ending that, after this latest installment, I’m not sure I will even like once it comes. So, while I am far too hooked to tell anyone not to watch, I will warn you that what waits at the end of the series might be infuriatingly underwhelming.
