Spoiler alert! This story discusses The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 3 through the August 6 episode. Stream the series with an Amazon Prime Video subscription if you need to catch up.
Over the past few weeks I have become completely enthralled with the saga that is Belly, Jeremiah and Conrad’s love triangle on The Summer I Turned Pretty. As the series inches toward its conclusion on the 2025 TV schedule, it’s nearly impossible to ignore how much some parts of Belly and Jeremiah’s relationship mirror Ross and Rachel’s on Friends. Fans’ reaction to this has been amazing, but I’m actually really upset about one parallel and what it means for Belly.
Season 3 of Jenny Han’s book-to-screen adaptation sees Belly (Lola Tung) and Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno) planning their wedding on their own, after their respective parents chose not to be involved. During this whole ordeal, Belly decides she’s not going to study abroad in Paris, as previously planned, because she doesn’t want to be away from Jeremiah in the early months of their marriage. Fans were quick to point out the similarity the story has to Friends, with one posting:
the category is:should’ve gone to paris but stayed with mediocre boyfriend instead pic.twitter.com/nfzRmwOcGTAugust 7, 2025
In the final season of Friends, Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) gets an amazing job opportunity in Paris, which she ultimately doesn’t take in order to rekindle her relationship with Ross (David Schwimmer) seven seasons after they were first “on a break.”
I’ve read the entire The Summer I Turned Pretty series, and I was still shocked and upset when Belly decided to deprive herself of this opportunity. I mean, we even saw in “Last Dance” that Jeremiah isn’t going to be making any similar sacrifices to his own career for Belly’s sake.
However, that’s not the only comparison fans are making between the two series. Possibly even more obvious is the whole “we were on a break” situation. In Season 3, Belly learns that Jeremiah cheated on her over spring break when the two had temporarily split after a fight. It all played out in eerily similar fashion to when Ross admitted to sleeping with the girl from the copy place. One TikToker posted:
Seriously, down to Jeremiah and Ross being down on their knees, these two scenes are just duplicates, another fan said:
And it may not be Ross and Rachel, but Jeremiah’s apology/proposal was very Monica and Chandler in Season 5, when Matthew Perry’s character got down on one knee because he didn’t know how else to tell Monica (Courteney Cox) he was sorry for their fight.
At least Monica had the sense to say no! Some TSITP book fans had hoped Jeremiah wouldn’t apologize for cheating on Belly by asking her to be his wife, but at least the series ages them up a bit, and Steven’s accident does help to justify the grand gesture.
It really was the Ross and Rachel of it all that had fans posting to X things like:
- The fact that “The Summer I Turned Pretty” is using not one, but TWO “Friends’” tropes is crazy! Not just the, “We were on a break!” cheating debate, but Belly’s ALSO leaving for Paris at the end of the season?? They really said CTRL-C and CTRL-V. – MaryTylerMoreno
- This second episode of The Summer I Turned Pretty is literally just a Friends reenactment 💀 like ok Ross and Rachel. – duchessofchaos
So, the big question is, were Belly and Jeremiah on a break? Author Jenny Han and Lola Tung certainly have their thoughts on the matter, but regardless of whose side you fall on, there’s no questioning that the tides seem to be starting to turn for ole Isabel Conklin. After “Last Dance,” even formerly hardcore Team Jeremiah girlies are starting to convert to Team Conrad.
There’s still plenty of drama left in this series, so tune in to see who Belly ends up with and if Friends provides any more inspiration for her Fisher love triangle. New episodes drop each Wednesday on Prime Video.
