“Belly, cacao is the bean.” The annoyance I felt after hearing this statement come out of the mouth of Jeremiah Fisher (Gavin Casalegno) captures the emotions I felt while watching the last season of “The Summer I Turned Pretty.”
“The Summer I Turned Pretty,” an Amazon Prime TV show based off of the book series by Jenny Han, tells the story of Belly Conklin (Lola Tung) and her love triangle with the Fisher brothers, Jeremiah and Conrad (Chris Briney). At the end of the second season, Belly chose Jeremiah, the younger brother, but it seemed she still had feelings for her first love, Conrad. The most recent and final season picks up with Belly, now in college and having dated Jeremiah for four years.
I was really disappointed by how the Fisher brothers were portrayed in the new season. Jeremiah and Conrad’s personalities seemed to shift drastically, a change that is definitely less apparent in the book series. The screenwriters painted Jeremiah as a manchild Belly had to take care of and Conrad as the successful, mature, emotionally intelligent brother. However, in previous seasons, Jeremiah was friendly, social and had “golden retriever” energy, while Conrad was much more moody.
Earlier, I rooted for Jeremiah because he seemed to genuinely care about Belly rather than giving her mixed signals like Conrad did. This season I was left with no choice but to switch sides. I couldn’t deal with Jeremiah’s newfound neediness and immaturity, especially compared to his brother.
I also thought the acting was forced at certain points throughout the series. For example in the scene where Taylor (Rain Spencer) tells Belly she will support her decision to get married to Jeremiah, it was very apparent that they were actors who were acting. As a viewer, it wasn’t very believable and felt scripted, which wasn’t engaging or entertaining.
Despite this, I absolutely loved Steven (Sean Kauffman) and Taylor’s romantic storyline. While at the beginning of the season, the two continuously deny they have meaningful feelings for each other, they eventually end up getting back together. Their characters are perfect for each other, and their scenes felt far more realistic than Belly and Jeremiah’s. I was so glad when Taylor agreed to go to San Francisco with Steven; if they had broken up, I would have cried. Their relationship carried the show, and if it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t have bothered to watch the rest of the season because of how annoyed I felt about Belly’s actions.
When it comes to Belly, I have many critiques. First of all, why was she so selfish? She constantly acted like the victim, and I strongly disliked her reaction to Conrad’s love confession. She acted as though he was completely in the wrong for expressing how he felt, when she was clearly having doubts about her fiancé even before Conrad confessed his love. When Belly arrived in Paris, she made another strange choice that puzzled and annoyed me: she brought her gigantic suitcase to the club. I was genuinely confused, because who does that? The fact that none of the other characters even commented on her suitcase in the club only furthered my irritation.
While in Paris, Belly makes many new friends, one of which is a romantic partner named Benito (Fernando Cattori). While I was glad Belly finally stopped bouncing between brothers, I watched with my fingers crossed hoping he wasn’t who she would end up with.
The series ends with an emotion-filled, suspenseful finale episode. It is the best episode of the season; the acting is outstanding, the storyline is great and I thoroughly enjoyed watching it. The finale had me feeling many emotions.
It’s safe to say the third and final season of “The Summer I Turned Pretty” wasn’t my favorite, but I did really enjoy certain plotlines and how the season ultimately ended.
Published and digitized October 2025.
