This article contains spoilers
A piano sings a simple melody, a breeze hits you while the sun floods your eyes and suddenly, you are there: Cousins Beach. Hit TV series “The Summer I Turned Pretty” (2022-2025) does not merely take place at the beach — it glorifies Cousins as a utopic state. Isabel “Belly” Conklin (Lola Tung) sits at the core of this narrative. Beside her, Conrad (Christopher Briney) and Jeremiah Fisher (Gavin Casalegno) stand together. The brothers both long for Belly’s love, but whom will she choose?
For the past two months, many viewers have indulged in a trip to Cousins every Wednesday. Romance, eye candy and drama all have a diverting nature, and Cousins lacks none of these. “The Summer I Turned Pretty” season 3 premiered on July 16 amid the summer heat.
A lengthy, four-year timeskip between the second and third seasons thrusts the viewer into Belly’s junior year of college. The excitement of summer, however, does not last long when Belly learns that Jeremiah slept with someone else during spring break. This heartbreak sets the stage for the season-long emotional rollercoaster.
While Belly reels from heartache, her best friend, Taylor (Rain Spencer), and brother, Steven (Sean Kaufman), also grapple with their on-and-off relationship in this season. When a sudden car collision injures Steven, all the characters are forced to confront the brevity of life. In the accident’s aftermath, Jeremiah passionately breaks down, confessing his love and regret and proposing to Belly, who stuns viewers by accepting. While some may cheer on Jeremiah’s impulsive proposal as a reminder of his and Belly’s abundant love, many viewers could not reconcile Jeremiah’s mistakes as easily, shaming Belly for her lack of self-respect.
Here, Belly deviates from the core of who she is. Belly has always been a hopeless romantic in previous seasons, but she was previously not as relationship-centered. She had communities she relied on outside of her boyfriend, but as her relationship with Jeremiah progresses, she depends on him for validation and happiness. This reversal of character growth feels intentional to demonstrate the flawed nature of her romance with Jeremiah.
And in the same season, during a viral peach-eating scene in episode five, “Last Dance,” the audience sees Conrad be physically affectionate with Belly for the first time since Christmas. The melody of “Wild Horses” (1971) by The Rolling Stones sweetly sings, “Wild horses couldn’t drag me away,” mirroring the nature of Conrad’s love. The audience sees that no matter how far Conrad travels, his love for Belly remains intact. Belly, too, begins to feel the weight of Conrad’s love, and a piece of her loves him back, but she forces herself to ignore it in light of the upcoming wedding.
In episode six, “Last Name,” Conrad injures his leg in a surfing accident, leading to a charged scene as Belly comes to his aid. This intimate moment finds them in close proximity, haunted by their romantic history. With their faces two inches apart, light shining through the windows, their chemistry radiates throughout the scene. This scene marks a shift in Belly’s outward feelings for Conrad, as she asks herself, “What just happened? What did I almost do?” Here, Belly unveils her thoughts and emotions to the audience and Conrad, presumably by accident. She is no longer in control of how she feels and therefore no longer solid in her commitment to Jeremiah.
After a heated confrontation, the tension between Conrad and Belly boils over, with tears, screaming and confessions of love, leading to Jeremiah calling off the wedding. Following this decision, Belly finally comprehends that she needs to figure out her identity outside of a relationship with the Fisher brothers. Belly makes this choice to overcome the narrative that she was destined for one of the boys. Her life and identity has been tied to who she loves and not who she is; to escape this she simply had to escape Cousins.
In a rash act of self-love, Belly chooses to go to Paris over marriage, entanglement and distraction. She rediscovers hobbies, passions, friends and even fleeting romances. This growth feels radical in a genre that often binds women’s worth to romance. Of course, no one watches romance movies to see a woman rejecting marriage and following her career goals, but all too often, romance makes female characters two-dimensional and impersonal outside of romantic relationships. After nearly a year abroad, Belly reunites with Conrad in Paris. The audience sees how Belly leans into her newfound maturity as she realizes that she still loves him.
Despite this shift in Belly’s mindset, fears and insecurities remain. It is only when both Conrad and Belly confirm their love for one another, existing outside of Susannah’s lingering expectations, that they move forward. However, by the time Belly finally feels grounded in her decision, Conrad is on the way to Brussels.
As the chorus of Taylor Swift’s “Out of the Woods” (2014) drums, Belly runs to Conrad. Swift chants, “Remember when we couldn't take the heat?/ I walked out, I said, ‘I'm setting you free’/ But the monsters turned out to be just trees / When the sun came up, you were looking at me,” paralleling Belly’s internal struggle between loving Conrad and committing to him. The performances of both Tung and Briney portray the climactic reunion with such care and precision that it makes this kind of love feel attainable, even natural.
This season bridged communities across the world. From fan edits on TikTok to weekly watchparties in sports bars, audiences were enticed by the radical act of persistent love. The magic of Cousins rests in its ability to hold everything — heartbreaks, laughter, headaches and first loves. Conrad and Belly may have stumbled along their journey, but the tide carried them back together. As the summer heat of July slips into September, the pair runs back to Cousins — and the audience might come along following the announcement of a “Summer I Turned Pretty” movie.
