‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’ Series Finale Review: That Rushed Ending for Belly and Conrad Robbed Us of the Best Book Scenes

I first made my acquaintance with Jenny Han’s The Summer I Turned Pretty trilogy when I was in high school, and I was looking for something to distract me while alone in the woods for a solo weekend-long camping trip. Suffice it to say, the books more than did the trick of captivating my attention, because here we are over a decade later, and I am just as invested in this world and these characters now as I was then. We have finally made it to the series finale of this show that I love so much, and while we got some moments that I’ve been waiting for for years, as the adorable credits rolled, I couldn’t help but think to myself, “Huh… that’s it?”I am a longtime and hardcore fan of Han’s literary works, and I was as particular about each change made for the To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before adaptation as I am now with The Summer I Turned Pretty. One change that I actually loved was the addition of Belly (Lola Tung) and Conrad’s (Christopher Briney) time in Paris together for the series finale, but I was still hoping that we would get that final moment from the epilogue of their wedding to top things off. Overall, my feelings about the The Summer I Turned Pretty finale are generally positive, but I’ll admit: I am feeling a little disappointed.

In ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’s Series Finale, Belly and Conrad Finally Reunite in Paris

Since Belly first arrived in Paris three episodes, I’ve been champing at the bit for Conrad to go visit her there, but I have to admit, the actual occasion is a little lackluster. Now, I’ve read all the books multiple times, and I know that Belly loves Conrad so intensely that she has to act apathetic just so that that love doesn’t take over when she’s trying to hide it. The problem is, that doesn’t translate into the show without Belly’s voiceovers, so she does come off as disinterested for quite a bit of the episode. She doesn’t act particularly excited to see Conrad, and she acts like it’s a bit of an inconvenience to go sightseeing with him. When Belly realizes that Conrad is still Conrad, though, she starts to let herself relax and just be with him. She takes him to her early birthday dinner to meet her friends, and then they spend the night together at her apartment.

Things are going well until Conrad mentions forever, and Belly panics. What we get next is a harsh but long-overdue reveal of Belly’s insecurities. Now that Belly has had enough time to reflect, the thing keeping her from Conrad was not really Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno) or what happened at prom (which Belly indirectly apologizes for); it has been Belly’s fear that Conrad only fell in love with her in the first place as some sort of tribute to a dying Susannah (Rachel Blanchard). Did this feel a bit out of nowhere and ridiculous to me, a viewer who’s been watching Conrad pine for Belly all season? Yes, but she’s always seen him as unattainable, even when they were together. Conrad says all the right things to assuage Belly’s fears, but it’s not enough, and she sends him away for what very well could have been the last time.

It is after Conrad leaves that Belly realizes that her rejection of him now is actually a rejection of her past self, so she makes peace with all of it and then chases him all the way to the train station. It’s exactly the sort of grand gesture that I love to see in rom-coms, and it works well here, because Belly is finally letting herself fight back for Conrad. She gives a sweet, if a little heavy-handed, speech on the train where she says that she chooses him and would in any reality, and then they kiss and officially get back together.

‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’s Series Finale Spends Too Much Time Back Home on Everyone Else

In a perfect world, we would have gotten a penultimate episode dedicated to Belly and Conrad’s reconciliation in Paris, and then the series finale would have been a victory lap that brought everyone back together in Cousins for their wedding. In this one, we spend way too much time cutting away from all the good parts that we’ve been waiting for, for three whole seasons, just to follow Jeremiah on his odd, culinary-themed side quest. My big problem with The Summer I Turned Pretty‘s uneven pacing this season is that it’s led to so many moments where I question out loud: “When did that happen?” Some of the things that have come out of thin air the last two episodes are Jeremiah’s newfound passion for cooking and his budding and-they-were-roommates romance with Denise (Isabella Briggs), and the show uses them to give Jeremiah a rushed resolution without ever trying to properly redeem him or hold him accountable.

Steven (Sean Kaufman) and Taylor (Rain Spencer) have already been solidified as an endgame couple, so I found it an odd choice for the show to dedicate so much time in the finale to a storyline where they fight and subsequently make up about the fact that he hid his impending move to San Francisco (notably not too far away from where Conrad lives, even though, frustratingly, Steven and Conrad don’t have any contact this episode). The parents get a brief resolution too, as it’s revealed that Laurel (Jackie Chung) and John (Colin Ferguson) thankfully aren’t back together, and Adam (Tom Everett Scott) gives a nice but unearned speech to Jeremiah about how proud he is of him. It’s probably an unfair criticism to say that this episode’s biggest problem was that the show needed just one more, but I felt like Episode 9 could have been majorly condensed, and that’s really why this one feels so rushed.

Belly and Conrad Deserved More Screentime in ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’s Series Finale

The Summer I Turned Pretty ends with a letter from Jenny Han herself, which serves the dual purpose of thanking fans of the show for tuning in, and teasing something more to come. Because this episode felt so incomplete, I think it would be reasonable to hope for a reunion episode of sorts for Belly and Conrad’s wedding, which I would love. What I’ve really been wanting, though, is a prequel series about Laurel and Susannah’s college years, which I think The Summer I Turned Pretty has more than enough material for. I am happy that Belly and Conrad got back together, and I love the flash-forward to their return to the Cousins house, but I do feel like we were robbed of both their wedding and meaningful scenes of them with the other characters in the show.

As it stands, if we get one more episode or a movie down the line, I will look back on the complete work as a nearly perfect ending. Right now, though, I’m disappointed that The Summer I Turned Pretty wasn’t able to wrap everything up in an eleven-episode final season (which is very short, but for streaming, should have been enough for a proper resolution). I can’t help but believe that the wedding was left out for the purpose of a future episode, but I am still sad that the show didn’t stick to the events of the epilogue. At least Belly and Conrad still ended up together, though, even if we didn’t get to hear the book’s excellent final passage: “This is our start. The moment it becomes real. We are married. We are infinite. Me and Conrad. The first boy I ever slow danced with, ever cried over. Ever loved.”

The Summer I Turned Pretty is available to stream on Prime Video.