The season 3 premiere of The Summer I Turned Pretty largely stuck to the events in Jenny Han’s book We’ll Always Have Summer, but there were still some changes leading up to Jeremiah proposing to Belly after he cheated on her.
During the first two episodes, which premiered on Wednesday, July 16, Belly (Lola Tung) and Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno) were still together ahead of her senior year of college. Things were on the right track, with Belly planning a semester abroad in Paris, but Jeremiah found out he was being held back because he didn’t complete the credits he needed to graduate.
Despite the bad news — and Jeremiah’s dad comparing him to brother Conrad (Christopher Briney) — the couple tried to look at the positive. They were celebrating Belly’s upcoming time abroad at a frat party when she overheard a girl named Lacie claiming she hooked up with Jeremiah during a past trip to Cabo.
Belly broke up with Jeremiah and seemed focused on moving on, but her brother, Steven (Sean Kaufman), later got into a car crash and was in a medically induced coma. Once Steven woke up, Belly chose to get back together with Jeremiah despite him being unfaithful twice (which feels important considering it was only once in the book!). The second episode ended with Jeremiah proposing — and Belly saying yes.
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Elsewhere in the episode, viewers got an update on Conrad, who was studying at Stanford while still pining over Belly. He was originally meant to return to Cousins for a dedication in honor of his and Jeremiah’s mother, but a new job briefly kept that from happening. Luckily, the Prime Video show largely followed all the events in Han’s book, so by the end of the premiere, Conrad was fired from his job — leaving him free to reunite with Jeremiah and Belly later this season.
Flashbacks showed Us Belly and Conrad’s Christmas at Cousins, which fans of Han’s book series have been looking forward to ahead of the show’s final season. There was even a subtle nod to the author when a crossword Conrad was doing featured a clue about Han’s other book series: P.S. I Still Love You.
The other thing featured in season 3 was a Taylor Swift needle drop. Han, who is a self-proclaimed Swiftie, has been candid about how the show’s viewers influenced its soundtrack.
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“I think for me just as a fan, to be able to give the book fans that moment is what is really meaningful to me, because if you’re a fan of The Summer I Turned Pretty, I’m pretty sure you’re a fan of Taylor Swift,” she told The Wrap in June 2022. “And I know this because so many fans have asked me to put her music on the show and I just never knew if we were going to be able to or not. So when we were, I just, I couldn’t believe it. That’s probably the most excited I’ve been in the whole process and the fact that we got like five total, which I’m really excited for the fans to see, because it will be like, I think maybe unexpected at times at certain big moments.”
Season 1 used Swift’s discography for romantic cues revolving around Belly’s crush on Conrad, with “Cruel Summer,” “Lover,” “The Way I Loved You (Taylor’s Version)” and “This Love (Taylor’s Version)” setting the scene as the characters fell in love.
The second season raised the stakes with nearly twice as many Swift songs, including “August,” “Sweet Nothing,” “Delicate (Taylor’s Version),” “Bigger Than the Whole Sky” and “Exile.”
In the season 3 trailer, fans heard “Daylight” and “Red (Taylor’s Version)” as they saw hints of what’s to come. The season 3 premiere, meanwhile, featured “You’re Losing Me.”
The Summer I Turned Pretty is currently streaming on Prime Video.
