On July 16, 2025, the first episode of the third season of “The Summer I Turned Pretty” was released. Since then, an episode has come out every Wednesday. Since the beginning of this new season, new plot lines have been introduced to captivate the audience.
At the start of the season, Belly’s at college with her boyfriend, Jeremiah. After going to a frat party, she finds out Jeremiah cheated on her when he went on a trip to Cabo. They break up, until her brother gets in a car accident, and she decides to get back with Jeremiah after realizing that she would never forgive herself if something like that happened to him and she wasn’t there for him. After getting back together again, Jeremiah asks her to marry him, and she says yes.
So far, the rest of the season has been about preparing for Jeremiah and Belly’s wedding. At first, neither of their parents supported their marriage, but in the last few episodes, both parents have come around, and Jeremiah’s father is paying for the wedding. Belly’s brother, Steven, is also going to be Jeremiah’s co-best man, along with Jeremiah’s brother, Conrad. This season, Conrad has also had to deal with the fact that he cannot have Belly, despite the fact he is madly in love with her.
This season, they’ve also introduced a new love triangle. Steven and Taylor have been off and on for the past two seasons, but now Denise, a co-worker of Steven, comes into the picture. Steven, after his car accident, has decided to move on from Taylor, and has been flirting with Denise the last few episodes. However, Taylor is still in love with Steven, but so is Denise.
The third season, so far, has been a perfect way to end the show. With the countless references to the first season, everything is coming together perfectly.
For starters, the reference in the season three poster was flawless. In the first season, Belly’s first ever date, with Cameron, is at a drive-in movie theatre with the movie Sabrina playing. She mentions how much she loves that movie while on the date, which is later interrupted by Conrad and Jeremiah, the two love interests of this season.
There’s also flashbacks to the first season throughout the show. There are flashbacks to debutante ball preparation while Belly’s at the clubhouse to prepare for the wedding, Conrad’s flashbacks to Susannah’s death, and flashbacks to when Belly and Conrad were dating.
On the topic of Conrad, the episode from his point of view was beautifully written and heartbreaking. We get to see how much he truly loves Belly, and why he’s been so distant towards his family. Conrad wants to protect Jeremiah because he knows it would break Jeremiah’s heart if Belly left him, and he also doesn’t want to risk breaking Belly’s heart again. It was gut-wrenching to see how much pain he’s going through being so close to Belly, but not being able to love her like he wants to.
We’ve also seen a completely new side of Jeremiah this season. First, the season starts off with us finding out he cheated on Belly. It was very disappointing, considering how in love he’s been with Belly these past few seasons, but not surprising. They’ve always made it very clear that he’s a player, so nobody should be too shocked.
There’s also been the upper-class side of him that’s come out this season. He’s definitely seemed spoiled, at least in comparison to the other characters. It starts off with him finding out he has to repeat a semester, and blowing it off. Anyone else who hadn’t grown up rich would be panicking. Most people can’t afford to pay for an extra semester of college. It’s understandable that Jeremiah’s father was angry when he was told the situation, because even though they are rich, no one wants to have to pay extra money for a problem that could have been fixed or avoided.
Then, there’s family dinner in which Jeremiah orders one of the most expensive items on the menu, even though he knows Belly’s mom cannot afford it.
Last, but most definitely not least, he was overly picky about the wedding cake. Despite the fact that they were on a budget at that time, Jeremiah demands a two layer chocolate wedding cake, with a mirror glaze, and raspberry filling. It’s made very obvious that they cannot afford such a fancy cake, but he argues that he deserves the one thing he wanted. It seems unfair, to me at least, to demand such a thing, considering that at that time, Belly was shopping for on sale dresses as her wedding dress. If they couldn’t even afford nicer flowers, a wedding dress,there was no way they were going to be able to afford the cake Jeremiah was demanding.
Another heart-breaking part of the show was watching Laurel and Belly fight. Laurel was so scared to lose her, or that her Belly was gonna make a mistake, that she wasn’t even realizing that she was losing her Belly and making a mistake. After Laurel tells Belly she won’t attend the wedding, and Belly going to the house at Cousins’ Beach, the flashback that followed was heart-wrenching. Seeing how close Laurel and Belly were when Belly was little, versus how distant they were at the moment, was enough to make anyone cry. Although Laurel still isn’t thrilled with the wedding, it’s likely for the best that she decided to be there for such a huge part of her daughter’s life. If she hadn’t been there, it’s unlikely she would have been included in further important moments in her daughter’s life, like her graduation.
Which leads to the topic of Belly’s chance to study abroad in Paris. It’s idiotic that Belly has decided to stay at Finch instead of taking the chance to go study abroad in Paris. She loves Jeremiah very much, but this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Belly should also consider the fact that now that Jeremiah’s father is supporting their relationship, and even paying for their wedding, he might be willing to give Jeremiah the money to travel to see Belly every so often. Even if he didn’t, it’s still plain stupid for Belly not to go. She would get to experience the world, meet new people, learn about other cultures, etc. Instead, she chooses to spend her next semester with her super senior boyfriend, at the college she chose to go to based on where he went.
Overall, this season has been an emotional roller coaster, with few ups, and a lot of downs. It’s going to be exciting to see how this season turns out. Who will Steven end up with? Denise, his co-worker or Taylor, his ex-girlfriend and his little sister’s best friend? More importantly, who will Belly end up with? Will she stay with her fiancee Jeremiah, or will she go for Conrad after spending months with him at the summer house? Hopefully, episodes eight through eleven will continue to be as beautifully written and wrap up this entire show as well as the first seven.
