This summer, the final season of “The Summer I Turned Pretty” was released, bringing millions of fans back to Cousins Beach. This show is a global phenomenon created by Jenny Han, following the lives of Belly (Lola Tung), Jeremiah (Gavin Caselegno) and Conrad (Chris Briney) and how they navigate love, loss and self-discovery.
After being in a love triangle between the two brothers she has known her entire life in the first two seasons, season three continues this journey. The story includes a time jump, picking up at the end of Belly’s third year of college beside Jeremiah, whom she has been in a relationship with since the end of the previous season. Belly felt she had her whole life planned out with Jeremiah; she saw a long future with him. When he asked her to marry him, she didn’t hesitate to say yes, but that decision caused problems among the whole family. Despite what their parents said, they decided to go through with wedding planning, except when summer arrived Jeremiah was occupied at work in Boston, leaving Belly alone at the summer house with Conrad. Jeremiah would see her as much as he could, but with his fathers lack of belief in him, it resulted in late nights at the office. Meanwhile, Conrad put in his best efforts to accompany Belly with the planning to take some stress off of her. With the time spent together, old feelings arise. The night before the wedding he confesses to Belly, leaving her confused on where she stood with Jeremiah. Ultimately, the wedding gets called off and Belly flees to Paris to find herself, living there for a year. After being back on good terms, Jeremiah tells Conrad to talk to Belly, so he decides to surprise her for her birthday after not seeing each other since the night everything got ruined. Realizing she is still in love with Conrad after all of those years, Belly makes her choice, picking Conrad to spend the rest of her life with.
Seasons one and two–but especially three–has an amazing sound track. The scenes are elevated and made more emotional due to the well thought out process of choosing what songs are best fit for the scenes. Taylor Swift’s “loml,” “Cardigan” and “Dress” all exceptionally capture the mood of the scenes, intensifying the story. The music selection adds depth in each episode and makes the watching experience a memorable one.
The character development throughout the season was portrayed amazingly. Each character had growth whether they were a side character or the main focus. The difference is drastic from the first to the last season. Belly, Jeremiah and Conrad all evolved and matured. This made it more exciting to watch because you can see how they each dealt with their struggles and ultimately overcame them.
