‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’ Season 3 Episode 10 Recap: “Last Year”

You know the saying, “to get over someone you have to get under someone else,”? In the penultimate episode of The Summer I Turned Pretty (“Last Year”), Belly finally takes that advice to heart (at the urging of Taylor, of course). But when we first catch up with Belly, her Parisian life isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. She’s working multiple menial jobs while taking classes online and she shares a dilapidated apartment with a bunch of cold roommates—a French stereotype. Happiness seems like a farfetched idea.

The episode traverses a large chunk of time, beginning with the first Thanksgiving after the broken engagement, then Christmas, New Year’s, and all the way until what should be Belly’s college graduation weekend in the following spring. Thanksgiving is brutal as it’s her first one away from family and the stuffing she attempts to make falls extremely short of Jeremiah’s. There’s a Taylor Swift needle drop almost immediately in the form of “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” as Belly’s voiceover details how this Paris adventure is the first time she’s ever done something on her own and how difficult it has been to find her way in a foreign country. But even after Gemma and her friends (the ones impressed by her ability to track down her backpack thief in last week’s episode) suggest she go home for the holidays to assuage her homesickness, Belly persists in Paris. She doesn’t feel like she’s changed enough to go home and face everyone, and even more than that, she’s afraid she wouldn’t come back.

One of her few connections to home is Taylor, whom she FaceTimes during a Friendsgiving that Taylor and Steven are throwing. They make plans for Taylor to visit her for New Year’s, and after they hang up we get a good look at how Jere’s recovery is going. Spoiler alert: it’s not going so hot. He’s also abiding to the “get under someone else” theory, but in a more destructive way. When we first see Jere, he’s sucking face with someone at the party, and Steven and Taylor soon make it clear that he’s been making the rounds within their colleagues and friend groups. (How Steven is still friends with him after finding out about Cabo is not clear!)

To make matters worse, Adam shows up unannounced with a bottle of champagne from Jere’s would-be wedding. With everyone sitting around a table in Steven’s apartment, we learn that Jere didn’t end up taking the job at Adam’s firm, opting to go back to school instead. But it turns out that he didn’t really do that either. Redbird accidentally reveals that Jere isn’t sleeping at the frat house like he told his dad, and Adam has finally had enough. He cuts Jere off, saying he’s never had to be accountable in his life. And honestly, where is the lie? 

Laurel and John are also preparing for Thanksgiving together (it’s not entirely clear, but the show seems to be suggesting these two crazy kids are back together) when Conrad calls Laurel to ask for advice. He wants to come home for Christmas, but he also isn’t sure if Jeremiah will be okay with his presence. Conrad uses the phone call to get some intel about Belly too, but Laurel informs him that she will be staying in Paris for the holidays. When he asks her if he should reach out, Laurel says she doesn’t know and that he’ll never know until he tries. In a great bit of dialogue, Conrad laughs about how much she is echoing his therapist, who has been encouraging him to be more okay with uncertainty. Instead of texting or calling her, he only has the courage to do it the old school way: by writing her a letter.

And then it’s Christmastime in Paris. Belly texts Jere to wish him—their first communication since August—but the three dots suggesting a response never materializes into anything. She made peace with spending Christmas Eve alone, but her plans are thwarted when her friend Benito arrives unannounced at the bar where she works. They flirt and when he suggests she join him for a rendezvous in the snow, she counters by having him teach her how to ride a motorcycle. 

Back in Cousins, it’s a full house at the beach house. Steven and Conrad finally hash out some feelings while waiting for Jere to arrive from his restaurant job—Conrad asks if Steven still hates him as he has still been icy towards him, and Steven responds that he just doesn’t know how to be around him anymore. But they ultimately make amends, and Steven gives him some hope saying that the brothers will work things out. 

However, Christmas doesn’t seem like the time for their reunion. Jere arrives at the beach house but can’t get out of the car. When Laurel comes out to talk to him, he reveals he can’t face Conrad yet. He feels like his brother got everything and ruined the beach house for him, and Laurel doesn’t refute any of his feelings. He apologizes for how he spoke to her at the wedding, and after she forgives him, she mentions that Belly has been wanting to hear from him. He’s not ready for that, either, and decides to opt out of spending Christmas with his family, sending Laurel back into the house with his gochujang glazed carrots and the gifts he brought. 

While Laurel is outside, Conrad goes upstairs to get the box of ornaments, but is drawn to visiting Belly’s room. Her essence is in the air of that room, and he sees the infinity necklace teddy bear he gifted her on the top shelf of the closet. Downstairs, Steven gets a text notifying him that the funding for his and Denise’s side gig has been unceremoniously pulled. He’s freaking out when Adam walks in and smugly reveals that he’s the reason the funding was pulled. But instead of firing him on the spot, Adam says he was impressed by their balls. Steven surprises him by spontaneously quitting. 

Speaking of Denise, Jeremiah is still crashing at her apartment and when she stops at home to pick up the gifts for her nephews, she’s surprised to find him there instead of in Cousins. Denise is the only person with whom Jeremiah is being extremely open about his feelings, and he says that losing Belly is more painful than losing his mom, because Belly is still out there somewhere versus the finality of Susannah’s death. Denise clocks the fact that he hasn’t fully grieved the end of his relationship and gives him advice he needs to hear: forgiveness will free him, because right now it has a hold over him. 

Those are some wise words that he takes to heart pretty quickly. On New Year’s Eve, he finally calls Belly while on break at his job. He accepts her apology and offers her an olive branch, hoping for her happiness. When he’s nudged to get back to work, they exchange an “I should let you go,” loaded with a double meaning. 

Belly doesn’t have too much time to dwell on it because Taylor has arrived in Paris. They visit cafes, go shopping, and live a more glamorous life than we’ve seen Belly actually live day-to-day. As Taylor is observing Belly’s life, she notices the flirty energy between her bestie and Benito, and suggests she give him a chance—even if it’s just as a rebound. Belly is squirmish about it at first. But after Taylor opens a thoughtful care package from Conrad with her favorite Sour Patch Kids candy and the teddy bear from Cousins, she suggests that these offerings from Conrad might be holding Belly back. Belly admits that there’s truth to that, but more than anything she’s afraid of hurting someone again. The show’s MVP Taylor continues to prove why she has that title, reminding Belly that that’s part of life and that she can’t let that possibility hold her back. That’s exactly the push that Belly needs. When the clock strikes midnight, she pushes her way through the crowd and plants her mouth on Benito’s receptive lips. As Taylor poetically puts it, it’s the closing of a chapter with the Fisher boys. 

…But not if they have anything to say about it. In spring, the boys finally face each other when laying flowers at their mother’s grave on her death anniversary. At first, they talk about how much they don’t remember about their mom, as the details have started slipping away with the passage of time. But soon, Conrad is apologizing (again) and Jere takes the opportunity to go in on him. He calls him a “snake in the grass” for hanging around that summer and accuses Conrad of not knowing what it’s like to build something with someone. Conrad counters by asking how he could sleep with someone else if that’s how he felt about Belly, and finally tells him off for treating Belly like an object that one of them can control. He goes further, pointing out how Jeremiah wasted no time getting with Belly after she and Conrad broke up. 

It’s a much-needed catharsis for both of them, and while they don’t completely see eye-to-eye, it reminds them of the promises they made to Susannah. Conrad was supposed to look out for Jere and make sure he doesn’t get hurt, while Jere promised to not let anything get between them. Two broken promises. Having somewhat called a truce, Jeremiah leaves Conrad with an opening: he knew he could never compete with the love they had, so now Conrad should do what he needs to do. Jere won’t be happy about it, but he also tells his brother not to waste the opportunity. 

What neither of them know is that Belly is finally happy—without them. She’s dating Benito, who has invited her to Mexico to meet his family; she’s taking over a 1-year apartment lease from Gemma; and she’s planning to do a year-long psychology course at the Sorbonne. The episode’s second Taylor Swift song “the 1” plays as Conrad writes another letter baring his soul, telling her how much he thinks about her. Like Swift’s lyrics say, he’s all but screaming, “we were something, don’t you think so?” When she finally returns the favor, it’s a postcard with a short and sweet message on it thanking him for the candy and providing him with her new address. No declaration of love or desperation to see him. “It would’ve been fun, if you would’ve been the one,” Swift’s lyrics pinpoint yet again. 

Understandably, Conrad noodles over the meaning of this short note. He adorably keeps the postcard folded in his wallet, and when he gets an opportunity to go to Brussels for a medical conference, his friend Agnes suggests he take the train over to Paris. But the next thing we know, he’s changing his flight entirely to go directly to Paris, the $473 fare differential be damned. 

It’s apparently Belly’s birthday weekend and while Conrad is flying across an ocean to surprise her, she’s making another big change of her own. Right before the credits roll, our girl sits down in a salon chair, seemingly ready to make a big chop to her beautiful locks. New hair, new friends, new life: When Conrad arrives in town in next week’s finale, I wonder if he’ll even recognize the girl he’s flown all the way to see. 

Radhika Menon (@menonrad) is a TV-obsessed writer based in Los Angeles. Her work has appeared on Paste Magazine, Teen Vogue, Vulture and more. At any given moment, she can ruminate at length over Friday Night Lights, the University of Michigan, and the perfect slice of pizza. You may call her Rad.