Season 3 of The Summer I Turned Pretty doesn’t return us to the gentle waves and sunlit ease of Cousins Beach. It throws us straight into the messy reality of young adulthood, heartbreak, and choices with lasting consequences. The first two episodes dive right into the emotional wreckage left behind by past summers and set the stage for something heavier.
Belly and Jeremiah are now in college, trying to hold onto the version of their relationship that once felt safe and uncomplicated. That version no longer exists. Jeremiah has failed to graduate, a crushing blow that leaves him directionless and ashamed. He lashes out at his father, frustrated and embarrassed, while Belly tiptoes around the truth about her own plans. She’s been accepted into a study abroad program in Paris, something she has dreamed about, but she keeps it hidden. Her silence says it all.. she is afraid her happiness will be another burden on him.
Their relationship, already on shaky ground, begins to crack. At a party during finals week, Belly learns the truth. Jeremiah slept with another girl, Lacie, twice. He says they were on a break. Belly didn’t know they were. The heartbreak is immediate and visceral. She cries, throws up, and crumbles under the weight of it. What stings the most is not just the betrayal, but the realization that she had been holding onto something that had already slipped away.
Episode two flashes back to the moments that led to the fallout. Jeremiah called off the relationship impulsively, assuming it would shake things up, maybe even make Belly fight for him. Instead, she walked away, thinking it was over. Neither was honest. Both were lost. The show handles this gray area well. No one is completely innocent, but the emotional cost is real.
Taylor becomes the protective best friend Belly needs. She tears into Jeremiah, reminds Belly of her worth, and admits that she herself had distanced from Jeremiah in the months before. Their friendship had thinned, and now it’s fraying. Meanwhile, Steven and Taylor’s secret romance comes to a screeching halt after a car crash leaves Steven in the hospital with cracked ribs and a concussion. That moment pulls everyone back into focus. Life is fragile. Nothing is as simple as it once was.
Conrad reappears, steadier and more mature than we’ve seen him. He’s in pre-med, focused, calm in the storm. He supports Belly without asking for anything, and quietly proves that he still cares. There’s no declaration, no tension-filled stares. Just presence. It makes his character feel more grounded and believable than ever.
In the wake of all this, Jeremiah proposes. There’s no ring, no grand speech, just raw urgency and fear. He doesn’t want to lose her. Belly, reeling from everything, says yes. It’s a shocking decision, one that feels more like an escape hatch than a plan. It’s not about the future. It’s about trying to hold onto something that feels like stability, even if it’s built on fractured ground. It'll never work.
These episodes are not clean or romantic. They are messy and complicated. They show the kind of love that hurts more than it heals, the kind of decisions that come from fear rather than clarity. The triangle that once drove the story still exists, but the focus has shifted. This is now about identity, grief, and the weight of choices. Belly isn’t just choosing between boys. She’s choosing who she wants to be, and whether she’s willing to keep sacrificing herself for other people’s happiness.
The warmth of Cousins still flickers in the background, but this season is colder, more grown up. The emotional stakes have changed. The story is no longer about first love. It’s about what comes after. And even through the pain, the confusion, and the flawed decisions, The Summer I Turned Pretty continues to pull us in, one heartbreak at a time.
New episodes are available Wednesdays on Prime Video.
