Does Belly End Up With Conrad In Season 3, Episode 11?

After three books, three seasons, a devastating death, an engagement, a peach scene, a trip to Michaels, a canceled wedding, two tickets to Paris, more than two dozen Taylor Swift songs, and one of TV’s most highly-debated love triangles of all time, The Summer I Turned Pretty‘s third and final season has come to an end. And yes — at long last, we finally know who Belly (Lola Tung) ends up with.

Ahead of TSITP‘s Season 3 finale, even fans of Jenny Han’s beloved book trilogy were in uncharted territory, left to wonder what would happen when Conrad (Christopher Briney) touched down in Paris ahead of Belly’s 22nd birthday.

“There is so much that is going to surprise fans about how much we’re showing of Belly in Paris and the whole ending,” Han told Entertainment Weekly. “It’s not just an epilogue.”

So what happened during The Summer I Turned Pretty‘s Season 3/series finale? Did Jenny stay true to the books? Belly and Conrad end up together?! Did Belly and Benito (Fernando Cattori) break up? And did Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno) end up with Denise (Isabella Briggs)?

From the second detail-oriented fans see TSITP‘s significant series finale title, “At Last,” they’ll know how the story ends. But the joy lies in the journey, so buckle up, grab the tissues, and get ready to go to Paris! We’ve waiting for answers long enough! So without further ado, Decider’s The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 3 finale recap awaits. Just be warned, major (potentially life-ruining, depending if you’re Team Conrad/Team Jeremiah/Team Benito/Team Belly) spoilers lie ahead!

The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 3 Ending Explained: TSITP Season 3, Episode 11 Recap, “At Last”

TSITP‘s Season 3 finale picks up with Conrad in Paris, looking up at the door of Belly’s apartment building. He rings the bell, but there’s no answer. Then, after waiting for a while, he’s simultaneously exhilarated and crushed to see Belly ride up on the back of Benito’s scooter. She takes her helmet off to reveal her fresh birthday bob, and as Conrad’s feelings for her flood over him, he flashes back to them on the beach together.

After Benito takes off, Belly is visibly rattled by Conrad’s presence. He tries to downplay his visit, saying he’s there for a Brussels conference, he casually remembered it was her birthday, and it’s totally fine if she’s too busy for him. For a few seconds, Belly hesitates to let him back into her heart and show him her new world, but she agrees to show him the sights until her plans at 8:00 p.m. It isn’t until she drops his bag inside her apartment and reapplies red lipstick that we get a peek behind the curtain at her true feelings. “What the fuck are you doing. Just play tour guide for a few hours and then send him on his way,“ her voiceover says as she stares in the mirror.

Back home, Jeremiah is going on six months crashing at Denise’s apartment and he’s furiously cooking a make-it-or-break-it meal for 30 food influencers, after a TikTok of him that Taylor posted popped off and gave him the chance to become “Boston’s hottest up-and-coming chef.” As he preps for his big day, he tells Denise that Conrad is in Paris with Belly and he’s finally OK with them. She shares some news of her own: That she’s moving to San Francisco in a month because her and Steven finally got seed funding for their video game. The only problem? Steven hadn’t told Taylor yet, and she overheard Denise break the news while coming to tell Jere the venue for his dinner flooded and they needed to find a backup. Much to Jere’s dismay, Denise thought of the perfect place: the Cousins beach house.

Meanwhile, in Paris, Belly and Conrad were seeing the sights as palpable tension loomed between them. When Conrad asked Belly quit the typical tourist tour and show him Paris through her eyes, she took him to a rooftop that overlooked the city and revealed she used to go there a lot when she first arrived and was struggling to fit in. “One day I came up here to watch the sun rise, and I remembered that thing you said about the first time you saw the Pacific. You said that it felt like you were standing on another planet. Like anything was possible. Paris has become that for me. It was really hard but I stuck it out and now I get to live in the most beautiful city in the world,” she admitted. “Paris never stood a chance,” Conrad mused. And after the authentic moment of connection, Belly invited him to stay for her pre-birthday dinner with friends.

Before I go on, let me stress just how compelling the Paris parts of this episode were, and how utterly maddening and agonizing it was — despite our love of Cousins and other characters — to keep bouncing back to the beach to see Taylor passive aggressively baiting Steven in hopes that he’d tell her about the San Francisco opportunity, then Jeremiah navigating growing obstacles standing in the way of his perfect dinner party. So for the love of summer, we’re keeping these sections short! Adam arrived, uninvited and broken up with Kayleigh. Steven and Tay Tay talked things out. And Denise was consistently there for Jere whenever he spiraled. Now back to the main event!

As Belly and Conrad got ready for their own big night, he flashed back to winning Junior Mint for her, said she looked really beautiful, and helped put her bracelet on. That forcefield Jere described between them? It’s still there, and the more they resist, the stronger it becomes. Belly’s friends welcomed Conrad to her birthday dinner with open arms, but spared no playful punches. (Queen Celine couldn’t resist saying, “Fuck me sideways, you American slut! If this one’s this hot, what did the other one look like?!”) During dinner, they address all the elephants in the room, including Belly breaking up with Benito pre-Mexico trip, the wedding that wasn’t, and the brother love triangle. “If anyone was the villain, it was me,” Belly reflected. But Conrad quickly made it clear he didn’t think of her that way, revealing he switched his flight to bring her a little piece of Cousins on her birthday.

After an especially seductive joint-smoking scene, we learned what, exactly, he meant by that. Conrad gifted Belly a vial of Cousins Beach sand that he collected when they were there for that fateful Fourth of July a few years back. “I knew that I wasn’t gonna be back for a long time. And so, whenever I really miss home, I take this out, and it makes me feel closer to everybody. And I thought since, I don’t know, since you won’t be back for a while, I thought you might want to have it.” SWOON CITY! Help!

After cake, the two hit the town, and as they walked and talked along the water, Conrad admitted he thought she was hiding out in Paris, punishing herself for everything that happened, like he did for a long time. Though she built an amazing life for herself there, she said he was right, at least at first, because she couldn’t forgive herself for breaking up his family. He tells her she didn’t, that Jere knows he’s there and wished him good luck. And suddenly, under the full moon, something shifted. As they slow danced in one of Belly’s favorite spots, they revisited their fallouts at prom and Susannah’s funeral, which felt like “a million years ago.” Belly revealed that Conrad’s letters kept her going in Paris, and the only reason she took so long to reply is because she had to move on and let go of the past first, but as she stood there in front of him, she was right back in it.

At LITERAL last, Isabela Conklin and Conrad Fisher shared a kiss! And another! And another! And sooooooooo many kisses, in the cab, on the stairs to Belly’s apartment, against her wall, on her bed — like, trust and believe, Jenny ATE with these scenes, set to Taylor Swift’s “dress.” As the two undressed on Belly’s bed, Conrad paused their passionate love-making sesh only to announce, “I dream about this. You.” And tragically, the perfection of the moment was dashed only by my fears that no real life man could ever live up to the expectations Miss Han’s pen and Connie Baby set for us. ANYWAY, back to the show!

As the Parisian lovebirds laid in bed post love-making, the mood shifted when Conrad offered to skip the first day of his conference to stay with Belly longer. She told him he shouldn’t change his plans for her, and she had no intention of changing hers — or abandoning the life she made in Paris — for him. When everything she’d wanted from them was finally within reach again, Belly self-sabotaged. She coldly told him to take the next train, and when he asked what was wrong, she replied, “How are we supposed to know if we love each other because we want to and not because we were told to? If we didn’t lose Susannah, would it loom so large for us? What if you only love me because that’s what your mom wanted and then your mom died.”

A baffled Conrad delivered one of the show’s best speeches, assuring Belly, “That is not why I love you. I have tried everything not to love you, for the sake of Jere for the sake, of not dragging you down with me in my grief. I fought it, way before the summer my mom got sick. You’ve always been a precious person to me. I’ve always cared about you. And then at some point I started to see you differently and that scared me because i didn’t want things between us to change, but the way that I feel about you, Belly has nothing to do with my mom. If I met you fort he first time tonight I would love you. Because I’ve changed everything about myself and the one thing that never changes is that I love you!”

To that heartfelt show of vulnerability, a shockingly closed-off Belly simply replied, “Conrad, I wish that I Could be as sure as you. But I can’t. I’m sorry.” He got dressed and tearfully left to grab the train. In his absence, Belly picked up Junior Mint and had her epiphany. “All this time I wanted to believe I changed. That I’m not the same girl I was. But I am still her, and was that girl so bad?” Belly thought. “She followed her heart no matter what. And despite all her mistakes, I have to believe she’s still worthy of love. I still love her. And I still love him. I have brown hair and brown eyes and I will always love Conrad Fisher.”

Like so many good romances before it, The Summer I Turned Pretty switched into romantic chase mode, as Belly raced to the train station and frantically searched for her man. As “Out of the Woods (Taylor’s Version)” blared, Team Conrad fans finally AT LAST, got out of those fucking woods! Belly spotted Conrad on the train, asked “Is this seat taken?” and said, “I choose you, of my own free will. If there are infinite worlds, every version of me choose you in every one of them.” With a passionate kiss and an “I love you” exchange, we got our endgame, our happy ending, and then some!

Back home, Steven and Taylor talked through the San Fransisco dilemma and vowed to stay together, no matter where life took them. Adam pulled Jeremiah aside and finally told him he was so proud of him and he loved him. And after Denise helped Jere build his back confidence up, the two finally kissed — in the Cousins house, no less! (We approve, obviously! But also RIP Redbird/Jere endgame.)

So how did Belly and Conrad get back home? In her final TSITP voiceover, Belly explained, “I didn’t go back that summer. But eventually I did. Nothing beats coming home after a long, long time. And just as it always had, the beach house held a million promises of summer. And what just might be.”

Before the series concluded, Conrad drove Belly (who was wearing her infinity necklace again) through Cousins, the two went back to the beach house, and the final shot was of them holding hands out back overlooking the beach. Well, almost the final shot. The series actually ended with a “Christmas in Paris” scrapbook, which showed snapshots of Belly, Conrad, and Junior Mint enjoying the holidays abroad after declaring their love for each other. And after getting a glimpse at their lives abroad, we got a goodbye letter from Jenny Han herself:

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for the love you’ve shown The Summer I Turned Pretty all these years. Whether you’ve been with Belly since the very first book or joined us with the show I’m so grateful you’ve made Belly’s story part of your summers.

We put our whole hearts into this show and we’re so thankful to you for coming along with us on the ride. Maybe we’ll meet again one summer in Cousins.

Until then —

All of my love always, Jenny

The Summer I Turned Pretty Seasons 1 through 3 are now streaming on Prime Video.