The Summer I Turned Pretty – Season 3 Episode 4 'Last Stand' Recap & Review

The Review Geek

30-07-2025

Episode 4
Episode 4 of The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 3 begins two weeks after the lunch disaster, where Belly and Jeremiah told their families they're getting married. And four weeks before the big event takes place. Jeremiah is doing an internship with his father and Belly is working shifts at a restaurant.
It's Belly's birthday today! Jeremiah calls her up and wishes her. They discuss how they're saving up for the wedding. After the call, Belly heads downstairs and receives a breakfast surprise from her parents. She tries asking Laurel to come wedding dress shopping with her but Laurel refuses. Laurel still thinks the wedding is a mistake and is intent on changing Belly's mind.
Jeremiah tries to speak to his father but gets a cold shoulder in return. He's also being called a nepo baby at work, to make things worse. Jeremiah then asks Steven to be his best man. He's excited but asks Jeremiah to keep his participation a secret for now.
Meanwhile, Taylor and her mother tried to sort out their finances. But when Belly calls and asks Taylor to come wedding shopping, they decide to meet her. They look for white dresses in regular stores and after a lot of trial and error, Belly finds her wedding dress! But she's upset that she had to do this without her mother. She later calls Jeremiah and asks how they're going to do this without both of their moms.
That night, Jeremiah makes a surprise visit at Belly's house with a cake and a gift – a key to the summer house. He's also got flowers for Laurel and tries to talk to her about the wedding. But she stands her ground and asks them to at least wait till school. However, things spiral into a fight between Belly and Laurel, with Laurel saying she can't watch Belly make such a stupid mistake. Belly decides to leave the house for good after this.
The two end up at the Cousins summer house. In the morning, they're surprised to see Conrad there. Turns out, he's been staying there the whole time and continues to lie to them about the summer job, saying it will start soon. Belly considers going back to either of her parents' houses but Jeremiah insists he's fine with her staying at Cousins.
While out on a run, Agnes calls Conrad and tells him he got the internship at Garth. When he returns to the house, he and Jeremiah go out surfing. Jeremiah brings up the wedding and soon realises Conrad thinks they're getting married too soon. He storms back to the house and tells Belly what happened.
When Belly texts her father, he confronts Laurel. He urges Laurel to let Belly make her own mistakes and makes it clear that if the wedding happens, he'll be there. Meanwhile, Conrad buys a flight ticket back west. Over the weekend, Steven and Denise meet in the office for some extra work and end up connecting with each other.
Belly says goodbye to Jeremiah who is headed back to work. Realising how hard it is to say goodbye, she decides to cancel her Paris trip and stay with him. Steven then calls Taylor and says he looked into Scott some more. Turns out he opened some lines of credit in Lucinda's name, leaving her with a huge debt. He offers to help pay but she shuts him down.
As Belly looks at her old debutant ball dress in her room, she recalls the first time she stayed there. Susannah had done the room up for her but Belly got scared on her own at night. Laurel hugged her all night. At present, Belly cries thinking about her mother. Conrad sees her but he's on his way to the airport and he doesn't say anything.
Back home, Taylor tells Lucinda she's not going for the New York internship and has even paid half her mother's debt.
Belly wakes up from a nap to see a text from Jeremiah that says Conrad is in and has agreed to be best man. Belly goes downstairs and sees him still there. He says Belly and Jeremiah look happy together. He's even baked Belly some birthday goodies which earns him a hug from her. As she hugs him, he thinks to himself, 'What have I done?'
The Episode Review
The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 3 Episode 4 continues to be a bit of a drag. We get to see the fallout of Belly and Jeremiah's decision and naturally, no one is very happy about it. Laurel and Belly's relationship takes the strongest hit here and the issues between the mother and daughter feel quite compelling, in part due to Jackie Chung's compelling performance as a concerned mother who is at her wits' end.
Overall though, the pace is slow and watching Belly and Jeremiah struggle isn't very engaging. This is largely due to the same reason the previous episode didn't hit the spot — this wedding has been rushed and their relationship isn't convincing enough to warrant it, particularly due to the cheating plotline. If Belly and Jeremiah could convince us of deep romance and everlasting love, like other stories about young marriages have done before, the episode would be a better watch.
But as it stands, they do feel like kids rushing headlong into something they don't understand. Even more so when Belly cancels her Paris trip. Funnily enough, the part of the episode that hits the most is Conrad changing his mind, just because he can't stand seeing Belly crying.
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Expect A Full Season Write-Up When This Season Concludes!