The challenging thing about Isabel “Belly” Conklin in The Summer I Turned Pretty is that she’s been lost for three whole seasons. The character is missing a sense of who she is, what she likes, where she wants to live, and even which Fisher brother has her heart.

Belly has been pulled between Conrad and Jeremiah like some kind of tug of war since she was a teen, and we’ve watched as the love triangle has played out and become messier and more complicated. From being in love with one to nearly marrying the other, the current situation sees the three of them single, pining for each other from their respective cities. 

Moving to Paris signalled Belly putting herself first for once; she went with the aim of finding out who she was, separate from her ex-fiancé Jeremiah, bestie Taylor, and her family. However, episode 10 of the last season of TSITP saw Belly homesick, but she couldn’t bring herself to go home for the holidays because, as she says in a voiceover, she hasn’t “seen enough” yet. She “hasn’t changed enough” to go home, as she might not then have the guts to return.

Even if she hasn’t quite figured it all out yet, I’m all for a gal moving cities, getting a new boyfriend, dumping him, and then getting a break-up haircut, because Belly choosing herself and choosing Paris was the best thing she’s done in the entire series. But we also can’t forget the lack of character growth we’ve seen until this past episode. 

Before now, as Elise Taylor writes for Vogue, Belly has measured her life in the summers she spends at Cousins Beach and even defines herself by them. Taylor writes: “It’s a bit uneasy to observe the intense familiarity that she has with the Fishers while also understanding that, well, she’s not a Fisher. (Sorry to be blunt, but family doesn’t fuck family.) Without that beach house, who is this girl? And without a Fisher boyfriend? Belly barely tries to find out herself.”

Back in season two, Belly recalls that “Susannah told me that when I was born, she knew I was destined for one of her boys.” Did she take that run with it, barely exploring outside of the brothers, except for Cam Cameron and now Benito in Paris? 

Look, no character is ever perfect. And there have been multiple occasions where Amazon Prime Video and TSITP have reminded fans to separate the art from the artist (Gavin Casalegno has even spoken out about the bullying he has experienced due to viewers hating his character Jeremiah). So, while the character Belly is labelled ‘annoying’ and ‘maddening’ by some, it’s very important not to direct that at actor Lola Tung, who plays Belly. Tung has even mentioned on Teen Vogue that she is “grateful that [fans] care so much, but people get a little scary about it.” 

However, on the character of Belly, Ilana Frost had a rant over on Betches, claiming that she is “objectively the villain of TSITP.” She writes: “Why the hell are these brothers still fighting about Belly after all these years? These incest-adjacent shenanigans began back when Belly was 15 years old, and somehow, they’re still going on six years later. This diva can vote and go to bars now, but she still hasn’t figured out how to date anyone outside of the Fisher family.” 

On TikTok, replying to a comment saying Belly gives one user “the ick,” @wittycommittee wrote on screen that “the problem is, Belly is kind of a loser,” and she explained in the video how “if they don’t turn around Belly’s character and make her actually interesting and someone worth two brothers fighting over, the whole thing…is not going to pan out.”

@wittycommittee

Replying to @Dani_Scout the summer I turned petty #thesummeriturnedpretty #tsitp

♬ tsitp intro - ashyrami

Perhaps some viewers can’t see what draws these two brothers to TSITP’s main character, but that doesn’t mean she’s not endearing.

There is just one episode left of the final season, and we’re in uncharted territory in that the plot of the books ended episodes ago and we’ve now seen all the scenes from the mid-season trailer that dropped after episode eight. So, what does that mean for Belly? 

While there may have been a sense of closure in the air when both brothers reached out to her on New Year’s Eve, with Belly and Taylor claiming it to be the end of an era, a later scene in episode 10 shows that’s all wrong. Conrad and Jeremiah symbolism is peppered throughout the episode, including in references to the film Sabrina. 

Author and creator Jenny Han nods to Golden Age films throughout the series, with Sabrina even being the inspiration behind the main season three image. But the parallels are running way deeper now. The film poster is in the background when Belly and Taylor discuss Conrad and Jeremiah, and Belly mentions that her new apartment has a view of the Sacré-Cœur while on the phone to her mum, just like Audrey Hepburn’s in the film. It’s worth noting that Hepburn ends up with the older brother in the plot of Sabrina, just saying…

@bernina85

A nice Easter egg In episode 10: the „Sabrina“ poster is looming in the background when Taylor and Belly talk about Jere and Conrad both reaching out to her on New Year‘s Eve, as a reminder that that chapter is definitely not closed yet 🥹🤭#thesummeriturnedpretty #tsitp #easteregg #jennyhan #conradfisher

♬ Originalton - Nina

And as @conradsinfinte wrote on X: “Jenny Han had a vision and she delivered it like the queen she is,” alongside side-by-side comparisons of TSITP and Sabrina. 

Jenny Han had a vision and she delivered it like the queen she is pic.twitter.com/1j0Ox3LoE0

— Tani 🎀 tsitp spoilers (@conradsinfinte) September 10, 2025

Clearly, Han does not do anything accidentally, and a flashback in the last episode shows a conversation between Susannah and Belly as a young girl, speaking about dreams of spending a summer in Italy. But little Belly just wants to go to Cousins, to the same beach house, with the same Fisher boys. She tells Susannah: “I know what I like.” To which Susannah replies: “You’ve always been a kid who knows her own heart.” 

Perhaps this flashback is telling us that Belly is forming her own opinions and realising her likes again. She’s rediscovering her own heart, away from Fisher-shaped distractions.

@conradisinfinite

Replying to @Tiny this is a new Belly and she responds differently than before. #thesummeriturnedpretty #bellyconklin #tsitp #conradfisher

♬ original sound - Conrad Fisher ♾️

Belly is finally discovering which direction will lead her out of her lost era—and not just by following an AirTag around Paris, like with her stolen backpack. In Belly’s self-discovery montage, she knows she has to be alone to get the most out of the experience. And it’s actually working for her. 

While the last episode of the series holds a lot of promise in all it has to wrap up, at least we’ve finally got a main character we can get behind. If she chooses Connie Baby, I’m here, if she somehow thinks it’s a good idea to go back to Jeremiah, then go for it, but I lowkey hope she stays in Paris in her Hepburn apartment and remains in touch with her own heart. She’s still growing and learning, and as we know from pop culture moments in Friends, The Hills, and Sex and the City, you have to choose Paris for yourself, away from the guy, otherwise it will never work out.