<i>The Summer I Turned Pretty</i> Season 3, Episode 9 Recap: One Wild Night in Paris
Spoilers ahead.
The last episode of The Summer I Turned Pretty saw the dramatic end of Belly and Jere’s happily ever after, with a canceled wedding and trip to the airport for our heroine. After buying a ticket to Paris, Belly saw Conrad across the lobby. Would she approach him? As season 3, episode 9 commences, Belly does start towards him, but then it’s time to board. Somehow, she resists approaching the man of her childhood dreams and maturely moves on to her life in Paris. Conrad doesn’t see her, but appears to sense a vibe shift in the air. He does see a call from his dad, Adam, who wants to know how Jeremiah is doing. Adam is pissed at Belly even though Jere is the one who called it off, but this is all news to Conrad. Stunned, he realizes this means the path is clear to Belly. He just doesn’t know she has boarded a plane to Europe.
Jeremiah is drowning his sorrows with his groomsmen and Denise. Steven sees Taylor through the bar window and is too busy being in love to care that much about Jere’s situation. He and Taylor go talk about this “crazy night,” but the subtext is: “We should make out.” They both feel a bit guilty to be happy to be together in light of the day’s events, but before they can get into it, Taylor sees Conrad through the window, too. She tries to intercept before Jere commits fratricide.
It seems like Steven doesn’t know where Belly is either, expecting her to be with Conrad. Taylor decides to handle the eldest Fisher brother herself, rather than the drunk former groom. Conrad manages to ask after Jeremiah and admits this was all his fault. Taylor softens and says it’s only “like 50 percent your fault.” Conrad wants to help, but he’s just not the right person to be by Jere’s side right now. When he asks about Belly, Taylor doesn’t know how her bestie is doing either—but she does know that the failed bride needs some space. Conrad leaves for the house in Cousins.
At the club, Laurel and Adam are dealing with the fallout of a canceled wedding. Laurel decides to bring up Kayleigh, Adam’s former affair partner and current girlfriend. The parents are working out their bad feelings together, so Adam brings up how Laurel abandoned Belly after first learning of the engagement. They suddenly start laughing about how absurd the whole thing is before taking the wedding food to a shelter.
Steven, Jere, and Taylor are the last ones standing at the bar and Jere is in rough shape. He wonders if Belly ran off with Conrad or left to meet him in California. They tell him Conrad is at the beach house and far from Belly, wherever she is. It doesn’t seem like Steven and Taylor know about Paris quite yet.
They get Jere back to his honeymoon suite where a note from the staff calling him and Belly “Mr. and Mrs. Fisher” sets him off. He wants to call her! Thankfully, Taylor and Steven talk him down. Even more thankfully, they’re finally alone.
Belly is also feeling alone on the plane, thinking of the ocean between herself and everyone she loves. She is still wearing Jere’s tiny engagement ring and symbolically removes it. It gets tucked in with her passport, then gets lost on the floor of customs, where she’s grilled about her nonexistent student visa. She finds the ring, but gets designated a tourist instead of a student. Belly seems to think she can easily rejoin the study abroad program she previously turned down.
Once she gets out of the metro, Belly is enamored by the iconic city. She finds her way to her school, which has a charming library. But when she tries to enroll, it turns out Belly has missed the deadline and they gave away her spot. Belly insists she spoke with a staff member, Antonin, who told her she could still register. But he was looking at an old spreadsheet and she is now here for no dang reason. Antonin is on thin ice and Belly is devastated.
“I really, really need this,” she begs. But the French registrar says there’s no way. She offers to call Belly’s parents for her, but Belly says no and walks away for a good wandering cry.
She calls Laurel, finally, and admits she’s on another continent. Laurel tells her daughter to come home. Belly says she can’t return to her college or “face everyone.” She’s worried everyone hates her and Laurel says they’ll get through this. Belly asks her mom if she’s made a huge mistake, not being clear if she’s referring to almost marrying Jeremiah or fleeing to Paris. Belly agrees to buy the next ticket home as long as her mom doesn’t tell anyone about her embarrassment.
Back in Cousins, Jere is hydrating. He finds Steven and Taylor cuddling asleep on the couch, which is not what any jilted groom wants to see. The couple’s obvious happiness annoys him and he demands his phone back.
“Don’t make me regret giving this back to you,” says Steven.
Jere sees Belly didn’t even call and is hurt all over again. Taylor goes to get ready for check out and Steven tries to herd Jere into the shower. Jere refuses, because he doesn’t want to get clean clothes from the Cousins house. Steven says he will go when Taylor returns, torn about leaving Jere alone.
Before she heads back to CDG airport, Belly stops by a classic French bistro. She turns around for two seconds and gets her backpack stolen, including her wedding ring and passport. She follows the AirTag across Paris, ready to confront the thief. Belly’s journey ends up being an unofficial sightseeing tour, but then her backpack gets on a bus. She figures out the map in record time and attempts to intercept the thief by train.
Laurel goes to speak with Jere at his hotel and he is pissed at her, too, assuming she’s happy the wedding didn’t happen. She wants to be there for him, but he throws it in her face that she’s not his mom and he knows she’s glad he didn’t marry her “precious daughter.”
Steven sees Conrad at the house, already carrying fresh clothes and red Gatorade for Jeremiah. Steven is angry and tells Conrad he can’t fix the problem, he is the problem. He tells him that if he wants to help Jere, he needs to leave him alone.
Taylor gets back to the room and tries to get Jeremiah out of bed. She feeds him some red Gatorade and he is marginally revived. For some reason, Taylor admits the Gatorade was from Conrad, which sets Jere back. He wants to know if Belly has contacted Taylor and she still hasn’t. Jere doesn’t know what to do right now, because Belly is his “whole life.” Taylor tries to gently talk him out of his co-dependency. Jere notes that she and Steven are back together and he wishes her better luck.
Night has fallen on Paris and Belly has gone to a creepy warehouse that requires a password for entry. She helps a British tourist named Gemma who’s being harassed by a creepy dude and intervenes. Gemma knows the password, so they both get into the club. It’s quite a scene inside and Belly knows her bag is close. She has no time for dancing. Gemma drags her to meet her friends, her girlfriend Max, Celine, and Benito. Belly sees her backpack on some dude and confronts him. He tries to dance it out, blowing her off and saying the backpack is his. At the end of her rope, Belly gives him a kick in the ass. She opens the bag and pulls out her wedding dress, confirming the knapsack hers.
Back in Cousins, Steven and Taylor are debating whether Conrad’s interest in Belly is that serious. She brings up their Christmas meet-up and then reveals the cheating in Cabo. Steven, who is just learning of this for the first time, is enraged. He and Taylor then actually try to talk about themselves. It starts to turn into love-making instead, except Taylor pumps the breaks. She confesses that when Steven changed his mind about their relationship at the hospital, it “broke her.” She knew his words then were true and she wants to know what has changed.
Steven says that he had changed his mind then because she had rejected him before his accident. He says he admires how she shows up for her friends and wants to know why she can’t show up for him in a romantic relationship. Taylor says she wants to, but she’s just scared it won’t work out again. They decide together that the risk is worth it. Lovemaking recommences, with confessions of love on both sides.
Gemma and friends take Belly out for drinks post-rave. She tells them about her horrible day and the end of her relationship. They also now know all about Conrad. Happily, they are not judgmental because they’ve all done messed up things. Belly thanks them for being so nice. She starts to get ready for the airport and they are aghast. She is in Paris already, after all. One more drink!
Belly does hop on the bus to the airport, but her new French pals have influenced her, as have several Aperol spritzes. She calls Jeremiah, who is looking at old photos of her. He tells her he can’t sleep without her. Jere rats out Taylor and Steven’s rekindling and they laugh. Jere is confused and wants Belly to come home to talk. She admits she’s in Paris and Jere gets desperate, saying that just because they didn’t get married doesn’t mean they have to split up. She is shocked. Belly doesn’t know who she is anymore, but she can’t go back to being his girlfriend right now.
He insists he can show her who she is, which seems to be the motivation she needs to stay in Paris and figure it out herself. Jere tells her she should—just don’t call him again.
Taylor and Steven are enjoying being in love that night with fries and champagne in bed. Jere is back in the house in Cousins, where he and Conrad have a final showdown. Jere has found a framed painting by Susannah of Jere and Belly playing on the beach as kids, a planned gift from Conrad. Jere is in a sarcastic and pissed-off mood and drops the news that Belly is in Paris and that Conrad didn’t win her.
“She didn’t choose me, but she didn’t pick you neither,” says Jere, adding that Conrad should head back to California and “never come back.”
Conrad meets up with Adam, who still hasn’t checked in on Jere. Conrad confesses that Jere didn’t screw up the wedding, he did. Adam seems oblivious to the fact that Conrad was in love with Belly and is baffled he sabotaged the ceremony. Conrad seems to want actual fatherly advice here and pours his heart out about hurting Jere. Adam looks disgusted by all the open communication. Surprisingly, he comes through with some perspective, saying giving Jere space is good. Unfortunately, it just brings up bad feelings around Susannah’s death and how MIA Adam was. Adam says his sons didn’t want him around and he had to trust that space was the right thing.
After being told to give Jere space 500 times, it finally seems to get through: Conrad heads to the airport (again), trying to trust that he can’t be the one for Jere right now. In fact, it’s Adam whom Jere finally leans on, hugging his father as he cries.
Still hauling her baggage around after a night vagabonding in Paris, Belly is reflecting on how all the pillars of her life have crumbled and she has no idea what is going to happen next. She looks at the Notre Dame and considers how rebuilding is always possible.
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