‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’ Just Made a Huge Mistake by Not Including This Book Scene

Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 3, Episode 3 and the book We’ll Always Have Summer, which the season is based on.The third episode of The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 3 has now been released, and the final season of the show is officially on track to bring everyone to Cousins for the events of the third book in the Jenny Han trilogy. Belly (Lola Tung) and Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno) have just announced their engagement to their families, which resulted in an explosive lunch that ended with all of them storming out and leaving a heartbroken Conrad (Christopher Briney) alone at the restaurant. At this point in the book, the Conklins and Fishers have to deal with the fallout of the announcement, which includes Belly moving to Cousins for the summer after a fight with Laurel (Jackie Chung). As Belly plans the wedding, she ends up getting help from Conrad, who’s also staying at the house for the summer. Meanwhile, Jeremiah interns for Adam (Tom Everett Scott), and he drops the ball on the majority of the wedding duties.

Season 3 of The Summer I Turned Pretty has already added in a number of new storylines, including Steven’s (Sean Kaufman) car accident, Taylor’s (Rain Spencer) mom’s (Kristen Connolly) financial issues with her salon, and the brief rekindling of Laurel and John’s (Colin Ferguson) relationship. Still, though, the season remains faithful to the final book, We’ll Always Have Summer, with one notable exception. The show’s most recent episode, “Last Supper,” left out a significant book scene, in which Belly has a dream about Conrad the night of her engagement to Jeremiah.

In ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’s Third Book, Belly Dreams About Getting Lost With Conrad

In We’ll Always Have Summer, the night that she and Jeremiah get engaged, Belly has a dream about Conrad. In the dream, they are running around the yard of the Cousins house and playing together like they did as kids. Conrad is a child in the dream, though, while Belly is her current age. When it gets dark outside, Belly tells Conrad to go home to Susannah (Rachel Blanchard), but he tells her that he is lost. The dream changes so that the two of them are now lost in the woods together, and then Belly wakes up crying in the middle of the night. Belly goes back to sleep, then she has a hard time remembering the dream when she wakes up that morning, so she shushes Jeremiah in order to take a moment to recall the image of Conrad.

Throughout We’ll Always Have Summer, Belly tries to fully throw herself into her engagement with Jeremiah, but she is unable to let go of Conrad. Belly accepts that a part of her will always be in love with Conrad, but she categorizes this part of her as a piece of her past, just like her old rollerblades. Still, Belly thinks about Conrad constantly, and she even dreams about him. While in the show’s third season, Belly seems to be more oblivious to her lingering feelings for Conrad, he is frequently on her mind (and in her subconscious) for the duration of the third book. As a result, it doesn’t come as a surprise when she is ultimately unable to ignore her feelings for him anymore.

‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’ Season 3 Should Have Included Belly’s Dream About Conrad

The TV adaptation of The Summer I Turned Pretty seems to be more intentional about subtly building up to the reveal that Belly still has feelings for Conrad, but cutting her dream about him is still a huge mistake. The series could still add the scene in later on in the season, but it means more when Belly has this dream on the night of her engagement. Belly has been in love with Conrad for most of her life, and he played a major role in her fond memories of Cousins Beach. Through getting engaged to Jeremiah, Belly is cutting off both her last real connection to Conrad, as well as this major part of her past. This is why Belly dreams about getting lost in the woods: this decision has separated her from this part of her history, and she feels lost, even as she tries to convince herself that she knows what she’s doing.

It certainly adds some suspense to the show if viewers believe that Belly is committed to marrying Jeremiah, instead of wondering how she could go through with the wedding when she still has feelings for Conrad. Ultimately, though, Belly’s dream is necessary to understanding how torn she still feels between Conrad and Jeremiah. That Christmas with Conrad in the Cousins house brought all of these feelings back for Belly, and it meant so much to her that she was unable to tell Jeremiah about it. When she sees Conrad for the first time since Christmas at the dedication ceremony for Susannah, Belly is left standing there frozen, and all of her focus goes to him instead of Jeremiah. There are a number of subtle nods to the little details in We’ll Always Have Summer in “Last Supper,” like the band-aid on Belly’s leg, which Conrad reveals in his book perspective, is the thing that makes him see that her old self is still in there. Still, though, the dream is an important part of Belly and Conrad’s story, and it’s disappointing that the show cut it.

New episodes of The Summer I Turned Pretty will be released Wednesday at 3:00 A.M. EST on Prime Video.

The Summer I Turned Pretty

Release Date

2022 – 2025-00-00

Network

Prime Video

Directors

Erica Dunton, Jesse Peretz, Jeff Chan

• 

  Lola Tung

  Isabel ‘Belly’ Conklin

• 

  Christopher Briney

  Conrad Fisher

• 

  Gavin Casalegno

  Jeremiah Fisher

• 

  Sean Kaufman

  Steven Conklin