Two episodes after the explosive announcement about Belly and Jere’s engagement in the final season of The Summer I Turned Pretty, “Last Stand” (Season 3, Episode 4) reveals that their parents haven’t budged too far from their initial reactions. Laurel, especially, is worried about her daughter getting married so young (this episode reminds us that they both haven’t finished school yet) and giving up her identity before it has even formed—something Laurel regrets doing herself when she got married young.
But Belly is as headstrong as ever, and as she officially turns 21 in this episode, she is hellbent on declaring herself an adult. She’s taking extra shifts at the restaurant to help fund their wedding, even as she lives at home while she does it. Belly thinks that Laurel will come around on the wedding eventually and keeps poking the bear, especially as it pertains to wedding dress shopping, but Laurel holds her position and refuses to participate, breaking Belly’s heart and causing her to ask Taylor and her mom to come instead. She finds a plain dress with some back detailing (which matches her plain ring), but even though she has a Greek chorus to sing her praises, Belly can’t help but feel the absence of her mom.
Jere, meanwhile, has accepted an internship at his dad’s company in Boston to prove that he’s capable of adult responsibilities. When Belly’s 21st birthday shapes up to be a bit of a downer, he drives all the way to Philly to surprise her with an oreo cookie cake and gifts her a key to the Cousins beach house. He even brings a bouquet of flowers for Laurel, hoping to change her mind about the wedding. Unfortunately, that conversation could not go worse, and it ends with Laurel saying she won’t attend the wedding at all and Belly moving out of her childhood home in retaliation. When John, Belly’s dad, comes over later, he calls Laurel out on her stubbornness and reveals that if the wedding does happen, he will be in attendance supporting their daughter even if she’s not.
Things aren’t much better at work where Jere is being lightly hazed for being a nepo baby. His coworkers aren’t wrong—despite his status as intern, he gets to sit in on a meeting that Steven and his coworker/frenemy Denise are much better suited to understand. Later in the episode, Steven and Denise bond over their knowledge of gaming and what they believe is a bad deal the company is embarking on, and it’s clear that sparks are flying between the two of them. Or maybe it’s just mutual respect, finally? Only time will tell.
Still, Steven has a soft spot for Taylor. She spends the whole episode trying desperately to get her mom’s salon business back on track before she leaves for her own NYC PR internship, but Lucinda is more interested in shopping for dresses or buying expensive cold foam drinks. Steven calls Taylor to let her know that he looked into Lucinda’s ex Scott (whom she is considering taking back) and found out he opened a bunch of credit lines in her name, plummeting her into debt. Taylor refuses Steven’s offer to front half of the money and instead decides to back out of her summer internship to stay home to help her mom get back on track with a home salon. (Who knew that Taylor would be the most adult of the teen characters, even if her decision is a heartbreaking one?)
At the beach house, Belly and Jere live in a blissful summer bubble. They swim together and watch movies while cuddled up, so when the prospect of returning to their real world responsibilities comes up, they chafe at it. In fact, they resist it—and the idea of being away from each other so soon after they get married—that Belly does what we knew she would do from the premiere. She decides not to go to Paris for the study abroad program. Jere, who had previously been supportive of her going, reveals that he’s happy she’s not going. Sigh. Belly, I’m begging you to watch The Hills and learn from LC’s mistakes!
Their reverie is immediately interrupted by Conrad, who has been hiding out in Cousins ever since finding out about their engagement. And by hiding out, I mean Conrad has been avoiding Jeremiah’s calls and going “off the grid” entirely. So when his brother tries to talk to him about being his co-best man (alongside Steven, who mainly accepts so that he can plan a wild bachelor party), Conrad continues to put up walls. Jeremiah finally breaks through by calling him out on his avoidance, but when he asks him the question, Conrad can’t help but be truthful. He thinks they’re too young and that they’re being kind of “ridiculous”—vocabulary that Belly and Jere seize and throw back in his face later. It’s still crazy to me that they don’t see how much their overt happiness adversely affects him, but we carry on.
Conrad’s saving grace is his burgeoning medical career and he gets a call from Agnes relaying some good news: he was accepted into the lab program. As expected, Conrad is all flight, no fight, so he books a ticket out of town without telling anyone and is ready to slip out the door unnoticed. The only thing that stops him is the sound of Belly crying in her room (soundtracked to Fleetwood Mac’s perennial “Landslide”), upset over unspoken memories of her mom and Susannah in this very house, and the idea that she’s lost both of them prior to one of the most important moments of her life.
That’s enough to change his mind. With Jere at work, it’s just him and Belly at the house, which allows him to relax (slightly). He accepts the co-best man position, makes a few jokes and wishes her a happy birthday via baked goods. She’s surprised that he remembered when it was; he says he always does. But when she comes in for a hug, The Summer I Turned Pretty ditches Belly’s voiceover in favor of Conrad’s. “What have I done?” he wonders just before the credits roll. We were all thinking the same thing.
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.