Fans have been waiting patiently for an episode on The Summer I Turned Pretty from Conrad Fisher’s perspective, and creator Jenny Han has delivered. Conrad narrated the latest instalment of season three, episode five, and it was everything viewers had hoped for and more. It gave us an insight into Conrad’s thoughts and feelings, and a small glimpse of what goes on in his mind behind the ‘black cat boyfriend’ demeanour.

As the story nears its ending, fans are getting extra animated about the love triangle between Isabel “Belly” Conklin (played by Lola Tung) and Fisher brothers Conrad (Christopher Briney) and Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno).

In episode five of season three, the latest weekly episode to drop on Amazon Prime Video, there is one specific car scene that’s got everyone talking. We see Belly and Conrad driving around, running errands for Belly and Jeremiah’s wedding, but fans are saying this could be “the most important conversation in the entire show” because Conrad finally gave viewers the context they needed about why he and Belly broke up.

TikTok user @karanailedit explains what we’ve learned from Conrad’s narration; he thinks Belly “deserves the world,” and he admits that he has previously struggled to “look weak” in front of her. But in the car scene, he begins to open up to her, including about losing his summer job.

During this episode, we also see a flashback from when the pair were together, showing Conrad’s consistent ‘protective’ nature over Belly’s feelings. In the scene, Conrad tried to talk with Belly about his mum Susannah’s illness deteriorating, but chose not to in order to protect her, as he didn’t want to ruin the part of her that believed Susannah would get better and everything would be fine.

The flashback shows that, actually, Belly had no idea what was going on with Conrad or Susannah ahead of the prom scene in season two, which saw the two ultimately break up. Despite what was going on for him, Conrad knew how special the prom was for Belly and wanted to show up, but he felt he was constantly disappointing her and that she deserved better than that—she deserved the world.

@karanailedit

Living for the self discovery and growth that took place in this car 🙏🏻 #tsitp #thesummeriturnedpretty #bellyconklin #tsitpseason3 #thesummeriturnedprettyseries #conradfisher #jennyhan #tsitps3

♬ Cherry - Harry Styles

But Conrad’s past mistakes, the one he made at work and the one with Belly at prom, are mirrored. He tells her, “That day at work, I was so scared that I was gonna fuck up. And then I did.” This is exactly what happened during the prom scene. He was so worried about making the night perfect for Belly, but his one mistake meant the two ended up breaking up, just like his one mistake at work got him fired.

At work, Dr Namazy called Conrad out for not knowing his limits, and his friend Agnes previously told him that he needs to learn to deal with his emotions before they come back and bite him. So it definitely shows a lot of growth from Conrad considering that he’s actually opening up to Belly in this episode.

His POV voiceover also makes it clear he still wonders about his mistake with Belly. Conrad is asking himself “what if?” throughout this whole episode. “What if I hadn’t fucked it up four years ago?” “What if I hadn’t pushed her away like I always do?” The questions could be a premonition that Conrad might continue to open up and talk about his emotions, and Belly will realise he loved her then and still does now.

We also need to talk about that peach scene. This scene highlights again how much of an unreliable narrator Belly is throughout the whole series. She remembers a lot of events incorrectly, including Conrad having a peach allergy, yet he remembers every detail—Belly’s birthday, the debutante ball dance steps, and even that his mum had peonies in her wedding bouquet just like the ones Belly asked for in the flower shop.

@karanailedit

I literally neeed belly to realize all the ways her relationship with conrad was real and that he never stopped loving her 😭 #thesummeriturnedpretty #tsitp #bellyconklin #tsitpseason3 #thesummeriturnedprettyseries #conradfisher #jennyhan #tsitps3

♬ Wild Horses - 2009 Mix - The Rolling Stones

But some say Belly’s misinterpretations of events aren’t her fault. One user on X gave the example of the narrative that Belly “intentionally lied” to Susannah by saying Conrad broke up with her as “so ridiculous” because that’s “genuinely how Belly interpreted that moment.” In the prom scene, she thinks Conrad is breaking up with her, so she calls it out and says through tears, “Should I just call it?” And so she does. She breaks up with him.

While we as viewers may see all that Belly is blind to, we’ve been left to watch their miscommunication in frustration for three seasons now. But fans are saying that her misremembering is going to come to a self-realised head soon, with Belly recognising that what she thought to be true isn’t so clear, that her ‘dream’ relationship with Conrad was in fact reality. And it might be how the two come back to each other. Let’s see how the next episodes play out…