The first two episodes of The Summer I Turned Pretty season 3 dropped on Prime Video last week, and boy did they come hurtling out of the gate with problems.
Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno) didn’t manage to graduate on time, then proposed haphazardly to Belly (Lola Tung) without a ring, but has also cheated on her in the interim… twice. Add to this the fact that Belly’s brother Steven (Sean Kaufman) woke up from a coma after being in a car accident on exactly the same day Jeremiah chose to propose, and it’s a wonder the hit Prime Video show had anywhere to go after here.
But luckily for us, it does. The main crux of the show is the love triangle that develops between Belly, Jeremiah and his brother Conrad (Christopher Briney) during one of 16-year-old Belly’s annual family summer trips to Cousins Beach. Fast forward three seasons and Conrad is having to watch his brother badly propose to the love of his life, even though Jeremiah is absolutely tanking, if you were measuring the two against each other.
Sadly for Belly, making stupid decisions as a kid is par for the course, with the aftermath of the proposal playing out in The Summer I Turned Pretty season 3 episode 3. Unsurprisingly, nobody is that impressed with Belly’s news, but it’s Conrad’s reaction that’s set to become this week’s viral internet meme.
Prime Video’s The Summer I Turned Pretty season 3 episode 3 leaves us all feeling bad for Conrad
I mean, just look at that face. When Belly shows Conrad her engagement ring, which frankly needs a magnifying glass in order to be seen with the naked eye, Conrad can’t hide his emotions on his face. If anything, it’s the perfect microcosm for the wider issues at play, with Conrad helplessly watching Belly run towards half-hearted efforts she doesn’t deserve. It’s Conrad’s big return to the series as well, and this is the news he’s met with? Can’t the boy catch a break?
What’s even worse is how abundantly clear it is that Conrad isn’t over Belly in the slightest. He’s come back in time (just) for his mother’s memorial garden ceremony to find the girl he loves announcing she’s getting married in a few weeks time. He’d previously been open to the idea of “exposure therapy” to get over Belly, equally being willing to take on a job at Garth’s (Jeremiah Fisher) lab. But now his world has been rocked so horribly, will any of his plans actually happen?
I doubt we’ll even start to scratch the surface of this in The Summer I Turned Pretty season 3 episode 4, with Conrad’s fight to win Belly back likely stretching over the course of the season. There’s no point in assuming any therapy will work on him – not only is he in too deep, but that doesn’t make for a compelling storyline – so the heat will be on Conrad to make Jeremiah accountable for his disappointing actions. If I was Belly I’d ditch them both and just lie on the beach all day, but she won’t figure out life is much more peaceful when she prioritizes herself until she’s at least 30.
