Spoilers for The Summer I Turned Pretty’s Season 3 finale and the book We’ll Always Have Summer are ahead! Read with caution, and take a trip to Cousins by streaming the show with an Amazon Prime subscription.
To all my Team Conrad girls, you can scream out of joy that Belly and Conrad ended up together in both Jenny Han’s novels and her book-to-screen adaptation of them. That’s right, in the finale of the Prime Video series The Summer I Turned Pretty, Conrad and Belly confessed their love and wound up being endgame for each other. However, the way they got to that point was actually totally different from the source material, and we need to talk about why it was so much more romantic.
How The Show The Summer I Turned Pretty Ends
In the penultimate episode, we saw Conrad get on that plane to Paris to go see Belly, and as the series finale aired on the 2025 TV schedule, we got to see them reunite and confess their love for each other.
Once Christopher Briney’s character made it to France, he was determined to confess his love, and over the course of his first day with Lola Tung’s character, he realized he could do just that on her birthday. After learning that she and Benito were no longer together, the two spent the evening strolling the streets of Paris, and eventually, finally kissed while dancing in the street.
That led to a steamy night in Belly's apartment set to Taylor Swift’s “Dress” (which was a needle drop that about killed me). However, Belly couldn’t help but wonder if they were making the right decision, asking Conrad if the only reason he loves her was because it’s what his mom wanted. Even though Conrad confirms that’s not the case -- saying that even though he’s tried to change everything about himself, “the one thing that never changes is that I love you" -- she still lets him go.
Belly quickly realizes, though, that she really does love Conrad, too. So, she puts on her infinity necklace and chases him down to the train station with “Out of the Woods” by Taylor Swift playing. Once she finds him, she says:
Conrad, I choose you of my own free will. If there are infinite worlds, every version of me chooses you in every one of them.
Then they kiss on the train and say, “I love you!”
Meanwhile, back in Cousins, we see Taylor and Steven happy together after choosing to move west together. Jeremiah and Denise are at the start of a very sweet relationship, as well, and they share a kiss while he's prepping for a big dinner he's cooking (because he's a chef now). Then, the Cousins' story ends with the four of them, plus the parents, celebrating and eating dinner together.
Finally, the last scene of the show sees Conrad and Belly returning to Cousins, seemingly a year or two in the future. And the credits show them spending Christmas together in Paris. They, as far as I know, are not married; they’re simply happy together.
How The Summer I Turned Pretty Differs From The Final Book, We'll Always Have Summer
In all honesty, other than the fact that Belly ends up with Conrad at the end, the finale of this show and the final chapter of the book We’ll Always Have Summer are completely different. There is no Paris; Belly studied abroad in Spain instead. Conrad still sent her letters, and she didn’t respond. However, there's no grand gesture of flying to see her from the older Fisher boy. Instead, they saw each other for the first time at her college graduation, and after that, they got together and then married.
The book ends with them running into the ocean after the ceremony. We also learn that Jeremiah has a girlfriend as Conrad and Belly run off together; however, she goes unnamed in the book.
All in all, the part of the novel that technically aligns with this last episode is four pages long (at least in my edition), and it takes place a couple of years after Jeremiah and Belly's wedding is called off.
However, in the show, they stretched the event of Conrad getting back together with Belly across about three episodes, seeing as Jeremiah and Belly called off their wedding in Episode 8 – “The Last Kiss.” So, we’ve been out of book territory for a while, and navigating the uncharted waters of how Belly and Conrad got back together. And I’m so incredibly happy we got this intensely romantic arc that was not in the original novel.
Why Belly And Conrad's Story Was So Much More Romantic And Emotional On Screen
When I read We’ll Always Have Summer, I was hoping a significant change would happen, and it certainly did. From the jump, it fixed my biggest issue with the book, which concerned Belly and Jeremiah’s choice to get married. Then, it went and one-upped itself but giving Conrad and Belly an absolutely epic and long reunion story that does not exist in the novel.
I always thought the end of Han's book was rushed. It closed out with Jeremiah and Belly calling off their wedding and then immediately jumped to Conrad and Belly getting together. There was no grand reunion; it just kind of happened.
This absolutely epic Paris plotline that was added to the show made their tale so much grander and romantic, and I adored with all my heart. We got to see Belly spend a year in Paris, heal and really truly find herself outside of Cousins, which we needed. Then, we actually got to see Conrad take a major risk and act on his feelings in a very extravagant way.
Their reunion also wasn’t perfect, and it touched on concerns and issues that needed to be addressed – like how the death of Susannah impacted her sons and their relationship with Belly.
Overall, it was anything but rushed, which the book was, and it fully prioritized how and why Belly and Conrad ultimately ended up together. In short, the show really proved why they should be endgame, and validated all of us who have been rooting for these two.
It was candid, sweet, meaningful and utterly romantic, and this finale left me swooning. It also showed off the growth all these characters have gone through, how much they’ve developed over these three seasons, and gave them endings they all truly deserve.
