Warning! This article contains spoilers for The Summer I Turned Pretty season 3, episode 7.
WhileThe Summer I Turned Prettyseason 3, episode 7, “Last Hurrah,” doesn’t throw us any narrative curveballs, it does finally bring (most) of the truth to light. After all, there’s no better time to get drunk and confront your secrets than during your bachelor or bachelorette party. When Belly (Lola Tung) downs a few unplanned shots of tequila, her repressed feelings forConrad (Christopher Briney)are almost enough to scare her sober.
The lack of acknowledgment ofJeremiah’s (Gavin Casalegno) “we were on a break” cheatinghas been a point of annoyance for me this season, as we’ve barely heard a peep about it since episode 3. I should have trusted Jenny Han andThe Summer I Turned Pretty’s writers, though. They certainly do know how to drop a bombshell at just the right dramatic moment.
When Conrad overhears Jeremiah, Redbird (Tanner Zagarino), and their frat friends gleefully discussing Jeremiah’s illicit spring break rendezvous, everything angrily slots into place for him. Suddenly, there’s an opening for Conrad to confess his feelings for Belly. How could she truly be happy with Jeremiah after what he did? I’ve been asking myself that same question every week since the season’s premiere.
Jeremiah Fisher Enters His True Villain Era In The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 3, Episode 7
It’s no secret that I haven’t been Jeremiah Fisher’s biggest fan this season. While he was previously believably depicted as the fun, sweet, and most importantly, open-hearted brother, that version of him has been hard to find this time around. If we put aside the cheating and the “please forgive me” marriage proposal for a second, he’s also been distant, insecure, and jealous.
Up until now, his behavior could have been written off as Jeremiah simply being oblivious to Belly’s needs while he tried to sort out his relationship with his dad. Irritating, perhaps, but also understandable. He’s in his early 20s, after all. Who has it all figured out at that age?
InThe Summer I Turned Prettyseason 3, episode 7, though, Jeremiah’s possessiveness rears its ugly head to an almost outrageous degree. I have to hand it to Gavin Casalegno. I’ve never truly been convinced by his chemistry with co-star Lola Tung, but his performance in this episode perfectly showcases Jeremiah’s most unattractive qualities.
This is especially apparent in the scene where he has a little talk with Conrad during the bachelor party bar crawl. Crucially, this happens before Conrad discovers Jeremiah’s affair in Cabo. The script for this scene is strong: how Jeremiah speaks to his brother and essentially lays claim to Belly as his"family"is oppressive, and the way he turns Conrad’s care for him into Belly’s new responsibility is sharp and painful.
The script, combined with Casalegno’s body language, the fake smile, and even the look in his eyes, is discomforting; it’s almost chilling. Conrad and Jeremiah have been foils for each other from the beginning. Yet this episode, and Casalegno’s performance, depict Jeremiah as a vulture rather than a viable love interest for Belly more than ever before.
Now, we could do a whole deep-dive analysis of Conrad Fisher’s moonlit love declaration. In short, Briney’s performance was heartwrenching, and you can truly feel the ache beneath his words. His confession provides a great continuation fromThe Summer I Turned Pretty’s previous two episodes, which put Conrad’s experiences front and center, pulling at the tension between the eldest Fisher brother and Belly.
Belly’s reaction to Conrad’s words, however, feels strangely out of place, as if it’s a response to a different version of the love triangle than the one we’ve watched unfold in the show. Now, I haven’t read the books, so I can’t be sure if Belly’s monologue was copied straight from the pages of Jenny Han’sWe’ll Always Have Summer, but it would explain the odd disconnect.
Belly’s words, including"You will never be what Jere is to me. He loves me, no matter what. He doesn’t take it away when things get hard. Nobody has ever treated me the way that he does,“and the coldest of all,“You and I were never anything,“doesn’t feel like a true response to Belly’s feelings or the events of this season.
Yes, we know that Belly is lying to herself; the wedding is happening that same weekend, and she recently suffered from a panic attack in a club bathroom thinking about Conrad and wanting to confesstheir"nothing happened"Christmas weekendto Jeremiah. We know she believes she loves Jeremiah, too.
“You and I were never anything,“doesn’t feel true to Belly’s inner thoughts and flashbacks, however. And given Conrad reminds her of what Jeremiah did in Cabo, could she genuinely believe that he"doesn’t take away [his love] when things get hard”? He didn’t talk to her for a year between the events of seasons 1 and 2, either, remember?
I don’t know if the divide between Belly’s speech and the narrative is because of the surprising lack of first-person narration from her this season, so we have less of a grasp on her state of mind, or the fact that this season has barely shown us any of Jeremiah’s redeeming qualities, instead (understandably) focusing on the bad, but it once again felt like Belly’s agency was being torn away from her.
These didn’t feel like her words. They felt like something she was forced to say, either because of the book’s legacy or the ghost of Jeremiah looking over her shoulder. That being said, Tung’s performance, when she breaks down on the beach after successfully pushing Conrad away, was a gut punch. Despite Belly’s flaws this season, I genuinely do feel for her as a character.
As the big day finally approaches, I get the sense that I know exactly how the rest of the season is going to play out. Whether that’s a good thing or not remains to be seen; it all depends on the execution. Drama-wise, though,The Summer I Turned Prettyseason 3, episode 7, certainly went in for the kill – I can only imagine how explosive the wedding will be.
New episodes ofThe Summer I Turned Prettyseason 3 premiere weekly on Wednesdays, exclusively on Prime Video.
The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 3, Episode 7
Cast
The Summer I Turned Pretty, released in 2022, follows a pivotal summer in the life of Belly, who turns sixteen during her family’s annual stay at the Fishers' beach house. This transformative season involves first love, heartbreak, and personal growth, marking a significant journey of self-discovery.
