Well, it’s official we have come to an end of one of the most iconic, joyful moments in YA television history (and by end, I mean until the upcoming movie). If you’ve just finished the The Summer I Turned Pretty finale and you’re still emotionally hungover, same. But let’s shake off the finale tears for a sec and deep-dive the delicious pile of Easter eggs Jenny Han and the show’s team sprinkled across season three, episode 11 .
Yes, even your emotional trauma is filled with hints, winks, and one or two screaming-loud references to the past and to what possibly lies in our future.
PS: this article is spoiler city, so please read at your own risk.
1. Conrad sitting on Belly’s bed in outside clothes
Okay, this is maybe more about my love languages than Belly’s (Lola Tung) and Conrad’s (Chris Briney), but Conrad sitting on Belly’s bed in his outside clothes and then realising what he was doing and jumping off was everything to me. I mean the man already keeps a shoe-free Asian-style household — it’s simply a match made in heaven.
Although, I will never forgive Belly for lying on her new bed in her overalls when she first moved into her second Paris apartment.
2. The hair tells all
Obviously that French lob on Belly was EVERYTHING — a physical sign that she was leaving the past behind and a push back to when Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno) told her to keep her hair long. We explain that in our break down of season three, episode ten, if you’re feeling lost.
However, I also noticed that Conrad immediately compliments her hair when they see each other in Paris, establishing a clear contrast to what could have been Jeremiah’s reaction.
It wasn’t just Belly’s fuck ass bob that stood out to me — Conrad’s toupee style hair was also catching my eye. Now, this is no shade to the actor Chris Briney, he has been and always will be gorgeous, but there is no denying that Conrad Fisher’s hair has been all shades of wrong this season.
It’s giving flat and it’s giving lifeless. BUT, when Belly and Conrad are about to head to her birthday party, he asks her if he looks alright and she goes in to mess his hair up. To me this was her helping him come back to the boy he knew — with messy (less flat looking) hair. Conrad then tidies it up a little, signifying that although he might always be the boy Belly knew (and loved) he’s changed.
This may be a farrrr reach, but with the line, “I’ve changed everything about myself, and the one thing that never changes is that I love you,” about to be dropped by Conrad on Belly later that night, I feel like my theory at least has the illusion of legs.
3. Handing over the joint
At Belly’s birthday dinner her friend Celine (Isaline Prévost Radeff) — who I want as my best friend by the way — gifts her the ultimate gift of a doobie. A generous queen indeed.
As the joint passes around the table landing on Belly, Conrad says, “I thought you said marijuana messes with white matter.”
If you got caught up in all that intense eye contact, then you might not have remembered that in the very first episode of the show Conrad goes to smoke a joint as he chats with Belly who was on one of her late night swims. Belly in that moment reminds him that he used to say that marijuana messes with your white matter.
Coming back to Paris, Belly replies to Conrad, “Do you memorise every little thing I say?” and then he said YES?!! Just clear the table now!!
4. Conrad’s birthday present to Belly
Cast your mind back to season one’s heart-wrenching scene where Conrad refused to give Belly her birthday present, aka the infinity necklace. It was because it was incredibly personal and he didn’t know how he felt about her and couldn’t bring himself to give it to her, which of course made Belly spiral.
However, we are now in a new era where Conrad is no longer scared to give Belly something personal, in this episode he gives Belly a little jar of sand from Cousins Beach to remind her of home. Let me tell you, my watch party was sobbing at this point. What could be more personal??
5. Belly’s birthday wishes finally came true
Speaking of birthday traditions, we learn in season one that Belly has wished for Conrad every single summer and she finally got her man!! That is the power of manifestation baby!!! It only took blowing up a family to get it, but it sure as hell happened!
There is simply no denying that when Belly was about to blow out her candles that she wasn’t thinking about those wishes as the man of her dreams was literally beaming right in front of her.
6. They finally had their dance they deserved
After the party, Conrad and Belly take what seemed to be the world’s longest walk through the streets of Paris. Belly takes Conrad to an idyllic spot with a live musician readily positioned for Conrad to ask the love of his life to dance.
The pair talk about the last time they danced — aka the Prom from hell — and they laugh about the past. This moment was special, not only because they finally got their perfect dance together, but also because they were able to joke about all the pretty shitty parts about their past, showing that they’ve really moved on and are finding closure.
7. Did Jeremiah finally get his cake?
We saw Jeremiah enter his chef era this episode (maybe a little too much for my liking — I wanted to get back to Paris), and he seems to be killing it. Taylor (Rain Spencer), the PR queen organised an influencer event where Jere was able to showcase his culinary skills.
For dessert he made what seemed to look incredibly similar to a dark chocolate cake with a raspberry coulis filling and a mirror glaze on top.
While it may be missing the two tiers and the mirror glaze, it’s definitely got cacao in it and seems to have some pink raspberry energy to it on the top. I think this lower key version, is a sign of Jeremiah getting the things he wants on his own — minus the brattiness of it all. Hopefully he moves to the real deal soon in his career because after all, the cake “is [his] one thing”.
8. Everyone moving to California
We learn that Steven (Sean Kaufman) and Denise (Isabella Briggs) finally got their seed funding for their app, but it is contingent on them moving to San Francisco. This causes a whole hullabaloo with Taylor not knowing the news, but ultimately making up with Steven and agreeing to move to San Fran too.
Do you know who else lives in California? My close, personal friend Conrad! He is finally getting some family near him, thank goodness!
I thought Jeremiah was going to freak out about everyone leaving him, but he was actually super chill — accepting that he needs to learn how to be alone. When Conrad was away from everyone at Cousins, he did his most growing — maybe this could be that moment for Jere too… Or at least give him an opportunity to fill his time with therapy.
Jeremiah does go ahead and kiss Denise after this convo, so I don’t know how that leans in to the whole being solo thing, but I trust Jenny Han knows what she’s doing.
9. Belly leans her head out of the car window
In season one when Belly, her mum and brother are driving into Cousins, she leans her head outside the car window — she feels safe and excited for the summer, she feels at home.
Fans have noticed that Belly did not lean her head outside of the car window during her relationship with Jeremiah, but did when she was in the car with Conrad. So getting a shot of her leaning out that damn window this episode, with the wind in her hair was EVERYTHING. Basically, Conrad is home.
10. The ending shot of the entire Cousins house
In each season Belly has a scene where she stands in a doorway looking out to the pool and dock of the summer house, but we’ve never seen the entirety of the summer house before. I think the fact that the last scene was Conrad and Belly stepping outside of that doorway meant that Belly is finally in the life she always dreamed of.
Plus, she finally got that house!
11. Jenny Han’s letter
This may be the ultimate easter egg for the whole damn show. If you somehow missed it the creator, author and genius behind TSITP, Jenny Han, left viewers with a letter at the end of the episode. In the letter she wrote, “Maybe we’ll meet again one summer in Cousins. Until then.”
What the Belly does that mean Jenny Han??? Surely that means this universe isn’t fully coming to an end.
When PEDESTRIAN.TV caught up with the author earlier this year, we asked her if she would ever consider doing a spin off — maybe even with a throwback Susannah (Rachel Blanchard) and Laurel (Jackie Chung) series where we explore how they met. This is what Jenny had to say: ” I would always be open to coming back to this universe because I love Cousins, I love all the characters and all the actors. What would it look like I don’t know?”
She continued, “I think then it would have to be something I was really excited about creatively and figuring out what that was.”
So what I’m hearing is, there is hope!
You can watch the rest of the interview here:
So there you have it! It’s an end of an era. Thanks for coming along on this journey, it has been such a celebration of girlhood.
Till next time Cousins!
(Lead Image: The Summer I Turned Pretty)
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