Belly is in Paris, and oui, this girl is a happy camper.
Why? Because it’s the type of development she’s desperately needed for a while now.
The season is still all over the place, but The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 3 Episode 9 focused a great deal on the fallout, and in a welcome way, it paved the way for some potential growth, clarity, and evolution.
TSITP’s Characters Remain Wildly Inconsistent
So much of this season has felt like they’ve explored things “too little too late,” mostly offscreen, and they’ve been guilty of telling us things rather than showing us.
And that is carrying on even in this final stretch, where many aspects of the season don’t feel like the series has earned them.
But there were a few striking aspects about the installment, primarily the cycles and boundaries, and how difficult it is to break them, face them, and even uphold them.
Conrad and Adam’s dynamic, in particular, was a fascinating development. Mainly because up until this point, the series seemed to forget that Adam did, in fact, have some amount of depth once upon a time, before they reduced him to the emotionally abusive narcissist who causes his sons pain.
Part of the issue is that TSITP has relied mainly on its characters as tools to drive certain plots. All of them are wildly inconsistent from one episode to the next, and their development, or lack thereof, has been frustrating.
However, what has been consistent, even if it’s potentially unintentional, is how frequently TSITP roots Conrad in the past, associating him and his dynamics with nostalgia.
Conrad’s Ties to Nostalgia Continue
Nearly everything that relates to Bonrad ties to the past. In many ways, he gets caught up in the whimsy of fantasy and idealizes to the same degree as Susannah.
We’ve already discussed a bit about why that’s one of many reasons Bonrad has been a tough sell for those of us who don’t have any real stake in the love triangle.
Conrad is still in love with the version of Belly that he dated years ago when she was in high school.
However, the nostalgia factor also extends to Conrad’s relationships with others in the present, and the hour delved into that in subtle ways that just made me sad. Conrad’s wedding gift to his brother and Belly was a picture of them as kids that he literally just found in the garage while cleaning it out.
It’s a sweet gesture (and a book nod) on the surface, but still rooted in nostalgia because he doesn’t actually know who Jeremiah and Belly are in the present.
The Reason Conrad Feels Out of Place is Because He’s Been Out-of-Touch
He’s avoided them for so long that he’s out of touch. That’s essentially why he dug back into the archives of their time together to make the gesture with red Gatorade and food.
It’s one of the only things he can cling to about his brother, because they haven’t been close — because of him.
Even Conrad retrieving clothes for his brother was fascinating. He unironically gave his brother an ensemble that resembled that of his own (a bit of a blow given Jeremiah’s constant state of being in his brother’s shadow), mostly because he doesn’t really know what this current version of Jeremiah even is.
It’s why Conrad’s connection with Steven is also fractured, and why the tension between him and Taylor is palpable. Although kudos to Taylor for extending grace to everyone in this situation. I genuinely wish everyone were like her in that regard.
One can understand why Steven felt so passionately about this situation, Cabo or not (and seriously, as an actual cheater, who would he have been to judge?), because it all goes back to the fact that, as much as many can sympathize with Conrad, he hasn’t been a fixture in anyone else’s lives in years.
It adds clarity to why his behavior is so jarring for everyone, and it’s captivating to see Conrad have to reconcile with that.
He’s essentially stuck in the past, at least four years ago, and he doesn’t seem to properly grasp that while he isolated himself and faded away, life moved on without him.
But what’s also fascinating with this reckoning is that it’s the first real time the consequences of what Conrad has done sink in. It’s the first time he genuinely seems afraid of how his actions could impact his dynamic with his brother.
Fraternal Implosion — Can They Ever Walk This Back?
Their brotherhood has had this weird, fraught vibe that has overtaken them for a while.
What we’ve seen, whether people want to acknowledge it or not, is that Jeremiah often tries to maintain the brotherhood dynamic despite his own insecurities about Conrad, frequently combating Conrad’s inclination to retreat.
But Jeremiah always chases him and keeps it alive. This time, it finally clicks for Conrad that maybe that won’t be the case.
Conrad doesn’t really know how to handle it when people stop making the effort. We’ve seen that often with Belly. He’s his most vulnerable and open with her, less inclined to do the push/pull game with her when he feels that he’s going to lose her for good.
Every time Conrad really puts himself out there with Belly, it’s when he feels like she’s no longer going to look at him like he hangs the moon, and he lives for that.
Conrad Finally Doesn’t Treat Jeremiah Like an Afterthought
Ironically, he does the same with Jeremiah. Even at their worst, Jeremiah has always idolized his brother. They could make amends and move past things. Even an upset Jeremiah reaches out and makes an effort.
But this time it’s different. The first time we really see Conrad legitimately panic about his brother, not just Jeremiah + Belly, is in this moment when it finally hits that maybe he went too far.
People often talk about how Jeremiah takes Conrad for granted, but that certainly works both ways. Conrad has always been able to rely on and trust that, even with Belly between them, Jeremiah still loves him.
He has taken that for granted, but this time, he genuinely could lose his brother forever.
It’s the first genuine crack that reveals how Conrad’s concern for Jeremiah in equal measure, not just as an afterthought or extension of Belly.
Conrad has never gotten to Jeremiah so badly that his younger brother doesn’t want anything to do with him. That realization that he went too far put him in interesting territory.
Mirror, Mirror — The Adam/Conrad Parallel Hits Like a Freight Train
It only lands further when he actually talks to Adam. Because the series finally draws the parallels that Conrad dreaded in this great scene of clarity.
They are in many ways the same person in a different font, and it’s exactly what Conrad had been afraid of for so much of his life.
Conrad having an adult conversation with his father forced him to see Adam as a man rather than just his dad. Then it forced him to confront the fact that his emotional and conflict-avoidant patterns were things he had inherited from his father.
The moment when Adam realized that Conrad was more like him than he realized was amusing in ways. That facial reaction to the confession certainly earned the right to be Memeable.
There was also the extra layer and reminder that not only is Adam an out-of-touch father, but also, so much of Conrad’s behavior and actions are dictated by what’s going on in his head, but he doesn’t actually make people privy to his thoughts.
We can glean things as observers of him, and when we get bits of his perspective and narrative, but those around him don’t.
Conrad’s lack of communication is a fascinating disconnect between his actions and intentions, based on his internal thoughts and feelings, and what he actually verbally expresses to those around him.
A Little Growth Goes a Long Way
But the Sins of the Father falling on the son made for a compelling angle.
It also forced Adam to recognize how he had burdened his son with the responsibility of playing his role, and his son isn’t much better at functioning in that regard, but Conrad at least tries and means well. Adam can’t say the same.
It seemed like both Fisher men walked away with some clarity and perhaps the motivation actually to make a real change. Adam finally showed up for Jeremiah instead of forcing other people to do it and bailing because he “makes things worse.”
And Conrad finally departed, recognizing that some things don’t have easy fixes when you’re a large part of the problem.
The throughline between Conrad and his father simultaneously exposed one of his deepest flaws while also adding more texture and layers to Adam by giving us more access to his perspective than we had before.
Essentially, Conrad tried so hard to break a cycle that he never realized just how much he still upheld it. We can never really escape them. However, through them, there are pathways to growth.
His persistence with Jeremiah was more about his own guilt and fears, rather than what Jeremiah needed. It was also about him hoping that Belly would show up.
This time, Conrad’s retreat was about real sacrifice, rather than self-preservation masquerading as sacrifice. And it was him respecting a boundary rather than pushing them– something he routinely does.
For Conrad, this time, he leaves people behind, but it’s not on his terms. It’s a fascinating place for him to be in, and one that could result in real growth, rather than the illusion of it that they tried so desperately to sell us on all season.
Eternal Foils — Taylor and Steven …. Cycles and Yada Yada
Last Call also attempted to deliver on the breaking cycles aspect with Steven and Taylor.
Essentially, the reunion of the two of them this time, particularly as they’ve often served as the foil to the triangle’s couples, is supposed to represent some form of growth.
Presumably, part of why we wasted so much time on Taylor and Lucinda was to fill out Taylor’s arc as someone who, like Conrad, tried so hard not to end up like her mother, that she screwed herself up in the process.
She didn’t know how to be in a healthy relationship with Steven, nor how to translate all the things that make her a great friend into what would make her a great girlfriend.
And it’s all because she never wanted to be reliant on a man like her mother was, or to fall so hard that she risks getting hurt, being too vulnerable, and relying on anyone.
I can see where the series was going with this and why, this time, the pair’s reunion makes a difference and has permanence. It’s a quick fix to help her overcome her own obstacles and find a pathway through.
Taylor is making peace with how to best navigate her own cycle: figuring out how she can still fall in love without becoming her mother. Again, the weird pacing and execution disrupt this arc, but Steven and Taylor are happy now, so there’s that.
Boundaries Look Messy; Embrace the Mess
Whereas for both Belly and Jeremiah, it’s about boundaries, self-preservation, and self-discovery.
Jeremiah’s “crashout” was pretty tame.
We spent a season of watching Conrad drink to numb the pain, and two seasons of him pushing people away and lashing out when he was hurting. Who am I to judge Jeremiah for resorting to the same coping mechanisms in the two days since his failed wedding?
The hour did well in capturing how he was going through all the forms of grief: the denial was incredibly strong.
We saw the bargaining, the sadness and depression, and the anger. He’ll get to the acceptance, too. However, he also tried to establish his boundaries, and perhaps people don’t respond well to those.
It was harsh (though not as bad as I thought it could be) when he set a boundary with Laurel. They’ll likely make amends (probably offscreen because TSITP has zero investment in that dynamic — it was their only one-on-one scene in three seasons!), but Jeremiah’s sentiments were fair.
Because, like Conrad, Laurel is someone who also struggles to articulate her thoughts at times.
One sit-down with Jeremiah before everything blew up could’ve cleared the air and helped him understand where she was coming from. Her lack of explanation, actions, or even inaction with certain things muddied the waters.
And because we haven’t seen Laurel there for him in any other way, her showing up then (only because Adam bailed) didn’t go over well.
But somewhere in all of that, Jeremiah dropping the pretenses was a pathway toward him establishing boundaries in a way that he doesn’t actually do.
Adult Belly Comes Through! That’s My Girl!
It’s similar to Conrad, though anger also fuels him. In his mind, Conrad did all of that, and sacrificed their relationship, and he still didn’t get Belly. And we see the anger again with the emotional whiplash that was his phone call with Belly.
She makes the right call 100%. It’s clear they don’t know how to be apart from each other, and sowing back up would’ve been more of the same. Jeremiah was too hurt to face the reality of that, but he also eventually realized that he can’t do halfway with Belly right now, and that’s fair.
Hopefully, it will start him on his own path of self-discovery, as they have both relied heavily on each other as a safe space for one another.
Meanwhile, Belly in Paris was everything I could ever want for her and more. We’ve already seen a different side to her – a more mature woman who can hold her own and figure things out beyond her family and the Fishers.
Her voiceover about removing the pillars was sound, and it took seeing Belly make new friends and come into her own to really reveal just how stunted she was, as her family, friends, and the Fishers back home had hampered her growth.
Isabel Conklin Finally Gets Her Growth Arc (in the Final Stretch, Oof)
In this instance, running around from her problems back home is a blessing in disguise and what she needs. Ripping that band-aid off serves her well.
Placing an ocean between her and everyone she knows and setting her own boundaries in the interim allows her to thrive and discover what she’s truly made of.
And what we saw is that she’s a fiery, capable, messy woman who can handle herself.
Also, Belly going peak American, channeling her inner Philly girl to take down a French pick-pocketer? I could practically hear the Bald-Eagle squawking in victory.
It’s almost too bad we won’t have a good half of a season of this version of Belly.
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Belly isn’t the only one in Paris, you can check out our Emily in Paris content, too. Messy love triangles with brothers? Check out My Life with the Walter Boys. And if you like juicy family drama, check out This Is Us and Parenthood.
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