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Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for season three of “The Summer I Turned Pretty.”

Syracuse University students turned “The Summer I Turned Pretty,” the teen drama, into a ritual. Some tuned in solo, others gathered in groups as gasps and laughter echoed across campus. Either way, fans have been following the show since its first season aired in 2022, and after a long run, SU students had plenty to say on Wednesday.

“The reactions of everybody … it’s so much more fun to watch with a group of people, because you scream or react to a scene, and you all get to do it together,” SU sophomore Ava Brown said.

The television show is based on Jenny Han’s book series of the same name. Its main character, Isabel “Belly” Conklin (Lola Tung), is caught in a love triangle with brothers Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno) and Conrad Fisher (Christopher Briney). Many of the scenes unfold at Cousins Beach, while the brothers’ mother, Susannah (Rachel Blanchard), battles cancer and eventually dies.

Brown attended a watch party on Watson Hall’s fourth floor, organized by sophomore Ally Price. She watched with classmates Lucy Savarie and Eliza Ginivisian, part of a six-person group that has only met twice but already feels closer because of the show, Brown said.

Much of the show’s popularity comes from fans debating which brother Belly should end up with. Throw a new love interest, Benito (Fernando Cattori), into the mix, and students had conflicting feelings about who they wanted to see her with: Conrad, Jeremiah or Benito? Some argued she shouldn’t end up with anyone at all.

“Belly has chemistry with absolutely nobody and I could care less about her ravaging this family apart,” said SU sophomore Katelyn Pletting.

The complex love triangle in TSITP caused strong emotions for fans. Some hoped for Belly to end up with one of the brothers, while others advocated for her to choose herself. Leonardo Eriman | Photo Editor

This season, Belly nearly marries Jeremiah but calls it off after realizing her lingering feelings for Conrad. She flees to Paris, where she briefly connects with Benito. When Conrad flies to Paris for Belly’s birthday, she finally confesses her love, and the two end up together, to the delight of many viewers.

Junior Jennalyn Williamson organized a watch party at her sorority house, Kappa Alpha Theta. She had spent the summer keeping up with every episode and noticed constant chatter about the show in her Theta’s group chat, which inspired her to host.

At Williamson’s watch party, viewers clung to each other during scenes with Belly and Conrad, squealing at the TV. When the two slept together, the room erupted in screams and claps.

Moments later, when Belly encouraged Conrad to leave because she wasn’t sure of her feelings, the mood shifted as viewers watched him board a train to Brussels without her.

“Belly is annoying, I don’t even know what I want with her, but I just want Conrad to be happy, because I feel like he’s just been sad every episode since day one,” Savarie said.

Other viewers echoed similar sentiments — a deep fondness for Conrad paired with a strong dislike of Belly. In this season, Belly seems to have lost some fans because of her poor treatment of Conrad.

Fans reacted with “Aww”’s, sighs and clapping as they watched the finale episode. The inclusion of Taylor Swift and Phoebe Bridgers songs added to the emotional content. Leonardo Eriman | Photo Editor

The penultimate episode also fueled debate. It ended with Belly in a salon chair about to cut her hair into a French bob, and after the episode dropped last week, fans took to social media to speculate about her new look.

“When you get a haircut in a transitional growth period, it’s either gonna be amazing or it’s gonna be awful, and she’s going into a bob era and those are never good,” Pletting said.

Senior Lindsay Carroll has been watching the show since its first season, even reading the book series. Watching with friends and family has led to both fun and argumentative debriefs, she said. Many viewers also share thoughts on social media after each episode airs, which has only amplified the show’s success.

“Social media has upped the popularity of the show, which has now allowed for there to be more group consensus about stuff,” Carroll said. “I like to see people on TikTok making jokes about the show.”

Some TSITP viewers found Belly’s actions annoying or cringe-worthy. A few predicted her haircut, a cliffhanger from the last episode, would turn out badly. Zoe Xixis | Contributing Photographer

Hannah Schenk, an SU senior, said her favorite couple is Taylor and Steven, who reunite after a toxic on-and-off relationship. She usually watches the show with her roommates and often grows frustrated during Belly’s scenes, calling TSITP a “rage bait show.”

Schenk and other newer fans appreciated how easy it was to follow the series. She missed a few episodes but still understood everything going on. Before watching the finale, Schenk predicted Belly would end up with Conrad and that “she’ll have an ugly haircut.”

Heading into the last episode, students thought the show’s ending would result in a cliffhanger to set the scene for the recently announced film. Brown said she wasn’t sure what the movie would cover, since producers have already exhausted the book material.

Most students, as die-hard members of Team Conrad, were satisfied with the finale’s ending, but many were also disappointed they didn’t see more moments of the couple happy together. Much of their screen time focused on conflict and struggle rather than romance, they said.

Students are hopeful the movie will deliver more of the Belly-and-Conrad content they felt was missing this season.

Emotional closing scenes set to Phoebe Bridgers’ “Scott Street” were tear-jerkers for some viewers, like Schenk, who said she was ecstatic at the episode’s amount of Belly and Conrad content. At Price’s watch party, girls let out a collective “aww” as the song played and Belly and Conrad walked into the Cousins house for the last time.

“It’s just more fun watching shows like this with a group, because when you watch by yourself, you’re like, ‘Oh, whatever.’ But when we’re with each other, we’re screaming and we like, have like, a crash out one episode,” Ginivisian said. “It’s just more fun.”

Disclaimer: Ally Price is a contributing opinion columnist for The Daily Orange. Price did not influence the editorial content of this article.

Published on September 18, 2025 at 2:14 am