The sun sets on a TV phenomenon, but our fake teenage summer lives on

1 hour ago 1

By Farz Edraki

September 18, 2025 — 10.20am

This story contains spoilers for the series finale of The Summer I Turned Pretty.

And just like that, the sun sets on Cousins Beach.

Belly (Lola Tung), Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno), Conrad (Christopher Briney), Steven (Sean Kaufman) and Taylor (Rain Spencer) in season three of The Summer I Turned Pretty.

The much-anticipated series finale of Jenny Han’s The Summer I Turned Pretty, based on her YA book trilogy of the same name, dropped on Wednesday night, giving fans the on-screen ending they had been waiting for.

Was it worth the wait? And how are we supposed to feel about this resolution with the announcement that there’s now a feature film on its way?

In this already feature-length 80-minute episode, we start to say goodbye to Belly (Lola Tung), Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno), Conrad (Christopher Briney) and Conrad’s watch. The book series ends with Belly and Conrad together after they reunite at her college graduation.

But Han, as creator and co-showrunner, had promised the TV version would diverge from this epilogue. Throw in an extended Paris sojourn for Belly, a potential new love interest in Benito (Fernando Cattori), and the reappearance of Junior Mint: there was a lot on the line in this episode.

I streamed the finale at home with my partner and two of our friends: an audience of four queer Millennial women tensely watching a decidedly heterosexual Gen Z show. We quickly learn that Conrad splurging on an extra US$473 to change his flight to arrive directly in Paris means he lands on the eve of her birthday. She’s turning 22, and her new haircut, red lipstick and heels signal a more mature protagonist – one who goes by Isabel in Paris.

There are flashbacks aplenty as Conrad emerges in Belly’s new life, a reminder of her childhood self. He even gives her a small jar of sand from Cousins Beach, a scene that had many of us groaning (mostly me). In the end, Han gives viewers what most of us expected: Bonrad. But not before a Bridget Jones-style run from an apartment leading to a confession of love on a train.

I’m glad that Han didn’t make their reunion an easy one, or a tidy epilogue. If you weren’t rooting for them to get together initially, you certainly are when Conrad’s forlorn face leaves Belly’s apartment after they have sex and discuss his dead mother.

Fans are already reacting with relative glee. As expected, Team Conrad won. I’ll admit, I wanted them to get together too.

But it was also a bit boring to see Belly return to Cousins in a short scene at the end. She’s ditched her red lipstick for a muted colour as they survey the garden of the stately beach house they spent their childhood summers in. I would’ve liked for Belly to retain her new cosmopolitan identity alongside her relationship, rather than falling back in lockstep with a Fisher boy.

Still, the predictable ending is part and parcel of a romantic series based on a YA trilogy; we want to know there’ll be an emotional payoff after the painful journey.

Jeremiah’s ending is more disappointing. Interspersed with Paris are scenes back in Cousins, where the younger brother has assumed the role of irritable chef, cooking a rehearsal for a large-scale function while things keep going awry. Perhaps this just reminds him of another big event where things went awry.

Not helping the matter is his newly single dad, Adam (Tom Everett Scott), who keeps bringing his son’s botched wedding champagne. While Steven (Sean Kaufman) and Taylor (Rain Spencer) sort out their own drama, Jeremiah finds a romantic pairing with his ex-colleague and current roommate: Denise (Isabella Briggs).

Lola Tung (Belly) and Christopher Briney (Conrad) in The Summer I Turned Pretty.

It’s hard to believe a character who eschews mediocre men in her finance career would find the guy freeloading on her couch a “10”, and their pairing is a very convenient way for us to feel less sorry for Jeremiah.

There’s no doubt this final season has cemented TSITP as a global phenomenon. In just one week, after the season three premiere aired, 25 million people watched it worldwide. People gathered for watch parties, at home or in pubs, to yell at Belly. Viewers have been so invested in the fictional choices of these very fictional characters, at times to the point of online toxicity.

From a narrative standpoint, it makes sense that viewers feel more invested. For much of season one and two, the tension between Belly, Jeremiah, and Conrad is an undercurrent — in season three, it’s a full-force rapid.

It’s by now well known that the show is most popular with Millennial and Gen Z women. What’s less settled is why. Everyone has a theory: it’s escapism! It’s the setting (the same location as Dawson’s Creek and One Tree Hill)! It’s the soundtrack! (I’ll admit, when Bon Iver’s Skinny Love started playing, I was instantly transported to the awkward realities of being a teenager in 2007).

Sydney fans at one of the Chippo Hotel’s famed watch parties.

When the final credits rolled, my friend said: “What do we do now?”

The adolescent summers of our collective imagination are officially over. It’s time to quit pretending we’re teenage girls. There are emails to write. There are bills to pay. There’s … a film confirmed by Prime to continue Belly and Conrad’s chapter, as Jenny Han’s letter to viewers hinted at the end: “Maybe we’ll meet again one summer in Cousins.”

For me, this ending was enough. But will I dust off my spaghetti straps and watch the film? Of course.

The Summer I Turned Pretty is streaming on Prime Video.

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