And, apparently, there are Easter eggs to back this theory up. For instance, in one video (set to Taylor Swift’s “Mastermind,” duh) a fan explains her theory that there are four more episodes coming – because of a comment from the official Summer I Turned Pretty account and something about October 8 matching the Conrad-coded infinity sign. There are plenty of similar fan videos going around.
Now, I could be wrong, but sadly, I don’t think so – I think it’s all coming to an end with just one more episode. And what’s more, I think it’s high time it did. Please bear with me while I explain.
The Summer I Turned Pretty so far
First, a quick recap to get us all up to speed. Based on Han’s popular YA trilogy, Prime’s The Summer I Turned Pretty follows Isabel “Belly” Conklin, a teen who spends her summers hanging out in Cousins (a fictional coastal New England town) with her mom’s best friend, Susannah Fisher, and her sons, Conrad and Jeremiah. The whole thing (all 36 episodes of it) is basically a dance of will-Belly-choose-Conrad-or-Jeremiah. For the uninitiated, yes, this is a fraternal love triangle we’re talking about here.
In season 1, Belly’s long-standing crush for Conrad finally seems to be about to pay off. However, unexpected flirtation with Jeremiah throws a spanner in the works. In season 2, she has a brief relationship with Conrad, but things fall apart after Susannah dies and Conrad struggles to be a good boyfriend. (Belly could have been a little more understanding about him forgetting her corsage after, you know, the death of his mother, but she is a teenager after all — and that is a topic for another time.) Anyway, they breakup and somehow, everyone thinks it’s ok for Belly to start dating his younger brother, Jeremiah.
In season 3, we fast forward four years and Belly and Jeremiah are still together having dated all through university. Conrad has disappeared to studying premed on the other side of the country where he silently pines for Belly. Jeremiah and Belly get engaged, seemingly as a way to prove their relationship after he cheats on her (or at least hooks up with a rando hours after they take a break). As Jeremiah becomes more and more annoying and less and less appealing, Conrad sidles back onto the scene and he and Belly have a lot of yearning moments in Cousins in the run up to the wedding. Conrad tells Belly he loves her, Jere tells Belly he knows she still loves Conrad, and the wedding is called off. And this is where we found ourselves two weeks ago with three little episodes left to go.
Erika Doss/Prime
Why fans are up in arms about The Summer I Turned Pretty coming to an end
At this juncture, it’s important to note that in the books, this is basically the very end. In the books, we get just a few pages of exposition to tie things up after the failed wedding. Belly takes some time for herself, studies abroad, and, eventually, after a suitable amount of time, she and Conrad find their way back together and get married. The end.