The Summer I Turned Pretty Theories

Splash into another messy summer//Changing from the books, this new and final season is going to be even crazier than the last two seasons. Theories are being formed, and everyone is on the edge of their seat to see how this popular show will end. (Photo courtesy of Creative Commons)

The Summer I Turned Pretty, earning three awards and three nominations, has finally started to release new episodes for the third season every Wednesday. The show consists of a love triangle between Belly, the main character, and two brothers, Jeremiah and Conrad. They all meet at the summer house in Cousins every summer, and this season they are in college, increasing the drama. This incremental release of the show has caused many people to form theories regarding the trailer, released episodes, the titles of episodes, and guesses on how it will be different from the book.

From the first trailer released about season three, fans were already guessing what every little detail could possibly entail for the episodes. Jenny Han, the author of The Summer I Turned Pretty, had said that there would be twists and differences from the book, so nobody can be positive about what is going to happen next. One of the most popular theories about the trailer had to do with the Taylor Swift songs within it. From an article on the Marie Clare Australia site, Maddison Hockey shares an interesting quote.

“In the first half of the video, ‘Daylight’ plays as we see glimpses of Belly and Jeremiah’s relationship before the music switches to ‘Red’ and we see Conrad still pining over his first and only love,” Hockey said.

The lyrics in “Red” say, “Losing him was blue, like I’d never known… But loving him was red.” Fans looked into these lyrics and found symbolism with the colors red and blue in the trailer and the first couple of episodes. Jeremiah is seen as the color blue while Conrad is seen as the color red. The website, Parade, published an article that gives us more insight on color theory written by Michelle Stein.

“During the scene when Belly talks to Conrad on Jeremiah’s phone, she wears red sunglasses; she also wears red at the summer house with Conrad. Similarly, she wears a lot of blue outfits in scenes with Jeremiah, a callback to ‘Losing him was blue,’ in Swift’s song ‘Red’,” Stein said.

The fact that Jeremiah’s color is blue shows that she will be losing him, while Conrad’s color is red, showing that loving Conrad would be red. “Red” is Taylor’s way of saying that the love was deeper and powerful, with stronger feelings. 

After the first two episodes, there appeared to be a pattern with the names of the episodes. They all started with the word “Last.” This symbolizes the last season, and many fans are thinking the episode “Last Dance,” has to do with Jeremiah Fisher dancing with her in the closing scene, for the last time. From an article written by Nicole Gallucci, we can understand the meaning behind the titles of The Summer I Turned Pretty episodes.

“The words ‘Last Dance,’ as Jenny Han shared on her Instagram story, have several meanings, including a nostalgic last run and a final romantic time together. Judging by Conrad vowing to not slip up and cross a line with Belly again, ‘Last Dance’ could easily apply to their 305 storyline," Gallucci said.

This implies that Jeremiah and Belly will not do that dance at their wedding, or even have a wedding in the end. Throughout this episode, Belly is with Conrad at the summer house, while Jeremiah is working. She gets a lot of help from Conrad with preparing for the wedding, and throughout all of the scenes, their current friendly relationship starts to change.

Many theories and opinions about The Summer I Turned Pretty are being formed, making the show more hyped up each week when another episode comes out. There are so many different stories within the show happening at once, and it is our decision to choose what sides we want to believe.