PARIS MELTDOWN: The Summer I Turned Pretty S3E9 sends Belly (Lola Tung) off to Paris — but her “fresh start” explodes into heartbreak and chaos 💔✈️

🔥 Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno) throws a tantrum, Conrad (Christopher Briney) makes a shocking move, and the love triangle isn’t over.

👉 The review that proves this summer is far from finished…

The Summer I Turned Pretty season 3, episode 9, “Last Call,” dives into uncharted narrative territory, and all I can really say is: welcome back, Belly! “Last Call” is the first of three episodes that will essentially act as a super-sized epilogue, as Belly (Lola Tung), Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno), and Conrad (Christopher Briney) deal with the fallout of the canceled wedding.

After the intense drama of the last few episodes, this installment offered a brief respite, including a realistic portrayal of Jeremiah’s pain, Conrad’s guilt, and Belly’s need for a fresh perspective. I’m excited to find out what happens next, as two of the most co-dependent characters ever put to screen are finally separated from each other.

While you do have to forget about the terrors of the real world for a few minutes as Belly chases her stolen bag through the unfamiliar streets of Paris, this episode acts as the beginning of what will hopefully be a romantic and satisfactory ending. It remains to be seen whether two episodes are enough to provide that all-important, rewarding conclusion, however.

Belly Finally Chooses Her Own Path In The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 3, Episode 9

One of my biggest issues with this season of The Summer I Turned Pretty season 3 has been Belly’s frustrating lack of agency. Yes, she needed to lose a part of herself in her relationship with Jeremiah; otherwise, why would she fight so hard to convince everyone around her that they’re meant to be together? The entire season’s drama hinged on it.

And yet, as the season progressed and Belly passed up life-changing opportunities, let her wedding get hijacked, and continued to lie to herself, she started to feel more like a plot device than an actual person. Everything was happening to her and around her, rather than her being actively involved in moving the story forward.

That all begins to change in episode 9, and I’m glad creator Jenny Han and writer Sinead Daly didn’t have Belly flip-flopping between staying in Paris or coming home to comfort Jeremiah for long. Her arrival in the City of Lights may have been absolute chaos, but it was her chaos, and no one else’s.

While Belly’s high-stakes Apple Airtag chase was a bit of an extreme and unnecessary way to have her find her self-sufficiency again (I also can’t get over the fact that she was more worried about Jeremiah’s ring than her passport), it did lead her to where she needed to be – surrounded by new people, in a new city, with a new future ahead of her.

Will Jeremiah & Conrad Ever Be Able To Fix Their Relationship?

I’ve said this before, but Casalegno’s acting in The Summer I Turned Pretty is never more convincing than when Jeremiah Fisher is being vindictive. When he and Conrad see each other for the first time at the Cousins beach house, Jeremiah understandably lashes out at Conrad.

It’s not just anger or heartbreak. It feels like genuine hatred, and both Casalegno and Briney play this tense reunion with emotional surety. Conrad’s fidgeting betrays his overwhelming guilt, while Jeremiah’s vengeful delight in telling Conrad that Belly didn’t choose him, either (and that’s all Jeremiah’s ever really wanted, isn’t it?) was visceral.

That said, the focus on Jeremiah’s drunken stupor, along with everyone doing everything in their power to comfort him, dragged. As a viewer, it’s frustrating to know everything that Jeremiah’s done wrong this season while all the other characters continue to fawn over him.

If the show wants to give audiences the happy ending that Belly and Conrad deserve, it will need to focus less on Jeremiah in the last two episodes. Given all the sympathy he’s gotten throughout the season, however, I’m not convinced they’ll be brave enough to cut his character out.

There’s Still Some Romance Left In The World

There can’t be an episode of The Summer I Turned Pretty without a bit of romance, and since we weren’t going to be getting it from Belly, Jeremiah, or Conrad, that part of the plot came down to Steven (Sean Kaufman) and Taylor (Rain Spencer).

I haven’t been completely sold on their relationship this season. Still, their vulnerability in this episode finally felt like a breakthrough, especially after watching them circle each other for nine episodes. They were cute, and in a season filled with soap opera levels of drama, a bit of cuteness was sorely needed.

Hopefully, now that their relationship is settled, it also means that the final two episodes can focus on what matters most: Belly and Conrad.

While some viewers may feel cheated that they didn’t get to see more of Belly and Conrad here, I understand what the writers were trying to do. The story (and Belly) can’t keep jumping from one romance to the next. Everything, and everyone, needed some time to breathe.

That’s exactly what this episode of The Summer I Turned Pretty season 3 provided, even if it felt like an unnecessarily direct continuation of every storyline that came before, rather than a fresh new start. We’ll have to wait and see whether two episodes will be enough to wrap everything up.

New episodes of The Summer I Turned Pretty season 3 premiere weekly on Wednesdays, exclusively on Prime Video.