‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’ Season 3 Episode 7 Recap: “Last Hurrah”

The seventh episode of The Summer I Turned Pretty’s third and final season is aptly titled: continuing with the “last” word play, “Last Hurrah” takes us to Belly and Jeremiah’s bachelor/bachelorette parties that are taking place in Cousins. (Duh, of course Belly and Jere would have a jack and jill party at the beach house.) And even though this is a young adult-centric weekend (and episode), the parents are also in town as the wedding is right around the corner. Laurel and John are presenting a united front—and even share a passionate kiss at the bar—especially in the face of Adam bringing Kayleigh to Cousins, which was a sacred space for Susannah.

The bulk of the episode is situated at the bachelor/bachelorette parties, which gets everyone out of their comfort zones. Belly has to deal with Jeremiah’s penchant for smoking weed, Conrad is forced to put up with his brother’s annoying frat bros, and Jeremiah…well, actually, Jere is pretty happy getting his way with everything. And things start out okay! Aside from Conrad and Steven, Jere’s party includes a bunch of guys whose faces we’ve seen briefly and only one whose name I remember (Redbird), while Belly only has Taylor and Annika by her side. The boys are quick to get the party started, lighting up a joint in the house and asking where they can set up the beer pong table. They’re directed to go outside, but it’s clear that the bros disrespecting this house is getting under Belly’s skin. Of course Conrad, who is built from the same cloth, tries to help Belly keep the house clean, but since her recent interactions with him have left her flustered, she ropes Jere in for clean-up duty instead. 

The day drinking turns into a rehearsal for the dances each gender is preparing for the reception, after which Jeremiah drops some big news on Conrad: He’s going to accept an offer from their dad for a full-time position at the firm. Conrad is taken aback and tries to talk Jere out of it—after all, this has never been his dream. But Jere, hellbent on both impressing his dad and maybe also becoming him, insists this is the right move for his future. (Belly’s future, meanwhile, doesn’t seem to be on his mind at all.)

Before the two factions of the party divide for the night itinerary, Jere finds some alone time with Belly. They sleep together and make a pact to meet up at the beach after all of the partying so that they can end the night together. But once they’re out, Jere’s squad encourages him to drink heavily even though he’s a known lightweight, and it’s pretty clear that Jere will not be finding his way to the beach in a few hours. 

Belly is also turning up in her own way. Annika suggests they all take shots for the number of men they’ve slept with, and is then floored when she realizes Belly has only ever slept with the two Fisher brothers. (Honestly, God bless Annika as the audience’s avatar throughout this episode.) Belly orders a round of 10 shots between the three girls, putting her right in that happy tipsy place where you just want to love on your friends. She tells Taylor how much she appreciates her, especially for talking Laurel into coming to the bridal shower. When Taylor doesn’t take credit, Belly immediately knows that Conrad is responsible.

Just like in the daydreams of her youth, Conrad magically appears around the corner right as she has the revelation. It unlocks a memory of how he always looked out for her, flashing back to an incident in their youth when she accidentally lost track of time on his watch because she was playing with glass figurines. While he scolded her, he bought her the glass unicorn for her birthday the next year. In Belly’s life, Conrad has always been her protector—something she seems to only be realizing now. 

In her drunken stupor, she confronts Conrad about his conversation with Laurel. Initially, he hesitates to admit that he intervened but eventually comes out with the truth. Still trying to keep cool about his brother marrying the love of his life, Conrad keeps it simple: “You should have everything you pictured,” he tells her before catching up with the bachelor party.

Belly is shaken by this revelation and agrees to take an edible for the remainder of the party, which puts her in a weird head space. She initially blissfully dances at the club, but is then assaulted by daydreams of Conrad while Ariana Grande’s “We Can’t Be Friends” plays in the background—a bit on the nose. First it’s his face, then the injury from last week’s episode, and the peach incident from earlier in the season, but soon it’s a montage of their entire relationship dating back to childhood. Freaking out, she heads to the bathroom with Taylor who tries to calm her down by reminding her that she’s just around the corner from the day she’s always dreamed of. That sets her off; Belly word vomits that the only part of her wedding that she’s ever dreamed about is Conrad. Big yikes. 

Taylor is low key one of the MVPs of the season. She’s a good friend to Belly during this tumultuous time while still harboring real feelings for Steven. The bachelor/bachelorette parties would be the prime place for them to rekindle their relationship—something that her mom Lucinda encourages—but Taylor is focused on trying to forge a friendship with him despite her lingering feelings. She gets him to admit he has feelings for Denise and then offers to be his wingwoman, which she puts into play at the club when she gets a moment alone with Denise. Taylor encourages her to text Steven, saying that Denise is the kind of girl she always thought Steven would end up with, subtly throwing some heartbreaking shade at herself. 

While Taylor doesn’t take out her self-loathing on Denise, Lucinda is the recipient of some nasty (though true) words about her dating history later that night. Lucinda proceeds to get drunk at the Cousins Inn bar and goes on to unknowingly (or knowingly?) cock-block Steven from going up to Denise’s room at the end of the night. Seeing him help Lucinda to her room earns Steven some points with Denise, though, and it’s only a matter of time before they actually act on their mutual feelings.

The rest of the boys are still out at the bar and Jere is so hype about hearing that same Ariana Grande song at the bar, he spills his drink on Conrad. Once the big brother is out of earshot, his frat bros start making jokes about how Jere has only slept with Belly until Redbird sets the record straight—he also slept with Lacey, apparently “the hottest chick at Finch,” in Cabo. Conrad arrives just in time to hear that last part and is filled with rage about his brother cheating on Belly (as he should be). He follows Jere to confront him but the man of the evening is busy puking his brains out, so the conversation has to wait.

But that doesn’t mean that Conrad can’t play the hero with Belly. He’s on the beach when Belly gets there and doesn’t waste much time informing her about Jere’s indiscretion. To his surprise, Belly admits that she knows about it and has accepted his apology. Conrad is incredulous. To make matters worse, Belly says that she put up with worse from Conrad, which only speaks to how much deeper her love for him was compared to Jere because the heartbreak with Conrad felt that much more earth-shattering. When Conrad points out that the wedding isn’t what she wanted, Belly screams that Conrad doesn’t know her anymore. 

Sensing his window is closing, he spits out the words he’s been holding onto for four years: he tells her he’s still in love with her. She doesn’t react kindly. He tries to explain himself, apologizing and saying that he meant the words he said in the motel room, but he didn’t want to hurt her and tried to let her go instead. He loves Jere because he’s his brother, Conrad says, but he hates him when he sees him with Belly. 

It’s all Belly has ever wanted to hear from Conrad, but a few days before her wedding is clearly not the time. Instead, she lashes out and says that Jeremiah loves her no matter what and doesn’t take it back when things get hard, which is an objectively incorrect statement in the face of him cheating on her. Then she pushes the dagger further: “You and I were never anything,” she tells him coldly before running away. Once she’s far enough away to feel the weight of Conrad’s confession, she falls to her knees and sobs.

There are A LOT of pop girl needle drops in this episode (Sabrina Carpenter, Ariana Grande, Charli XCX, to name a few) but the saddest one comes at the end of the episode. “LOML” by Taylor Swift soundtracks the final scenes as Belly slides into bed next to Taylor, refusing to talk about what just happened on the beach, even though Taylor knows she wasn’t out there with Jere. She lays there, turning over Conrad’s words in her head, while Conrad sits shellshocked at the dock, processing what he has just done. As a last ditch effort to make her relationship with Jeremiah front and center, she sits up in bed and knocks on the wall separating her room from his. But he’s passed out drunk and doesn’t hear her—perhaps a metaphor for their entire relationship.

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.