The three-way romantic conflict chose a terrible moment to begin being truthful.
Key Points
- Belly informs Jeremiah about Conrad’s declaration of love, leading the brothers to confront each other about her.
- Steven and Denise come to the realization that there is no romantic connection between them, while he and Taylor share an emotional moment following his defense of her against Belly.
- Belly confesses that her feelings for Conrad will never change, and she and Jere decide to cancel their wedding.
- Awaiting her flight to Paris, Belly notices Conrad at a nearby gate.
The wedding is off. Hopefully Adam can recover some of his deposits.
Belly (Lola Tung) didn’t remove her makeup before falling asleep after Conrad’s revelation, and she didn’t cry it away either, with her blurry, smeared appearance fitting for what’s ahead in this episode ofThe Year I Became a Teenager.
A message from Taylor (Rain Spencer) informing her that the house is vacant gives her the courage to wash her face and go downstairs, where she runs into Conrad (Christopher Briney) as expected. (He didn’t want to spend the morning fishing with his hungover brother, as expected.)
Con asks Belly to put last night out of her mind, and when she protests, he feels a bit better about it.notdesiring to erase it. However, this is completely not what she intended, and she snaps at him to leave and never speak to her again.
But he doesn’t back down easily, and even though she laughs and says it’s been ages since they were together, he points out that Christmas wasn’t that long ago. Nor was the peach episode or his surfing mishap.
Even though she claims that everything was insignificant, both of them are aware that she is not telling the truth. Once he departs, she retrieves the Junior Mint polar bear, adorned with sunglasses and Conrad’s infinity necklace, and realizes that while Conrad evokes anger, sadness, and joy in her unlike anyone else, she can’t risk ruining her life for him.
Taylor also gives Conrad a hard time for leading Belly on, and he goes through a second round of confessing his feelings, which is a big weekend for our courageous friend. However, when Taylor tries to bring it up with her best friend at the spa, Belly wants to put it aside and push forward toward the “I do’s.”
At the practice session, “Bizarre Love Triangle” by New Order is playing while the Fisher brothers wait for Belly to walk down the aisle towards them. Awkward.
The standout moments from the dinner later: Conrad praises Kayleigh’s (Emma Ishta) efforts in arranging the table; Taylor expresses regret to Lucinda (Kristen Connolly) for beingawful to herand discovers that her mother is aware of what she gave up for her that summer; and Jere (Gavin Casalegno) had lobster rolls on the menu, which could be his most significant addition to the wedding.
Belly and Conrad share intense looks before Jere pulls her away for the toasts, which are beautiful until he praises Conrad’s loyalty. Then Conrad can’t hide his “I just tasted a lemon” expression as Jere declares Belly his soulmate.
Afterward, Adam (Tom Everett Scott) informs Jeremiah how proud he is of him, and Belly is surprised to find out he took a job at Breaker without consulting her. He mentions this will allow them to move into that nice apartment, but mainly he wants her to GO. TO. PARIS.
Conrad skips the ice cream later, and Laurel (Jackie Chung) discovers him thinking by the pool. He leans into the hand she places on his cheek, clearly longing for a mother’s affection, and confesses that this weekend is killing him.
“I wish,” he begins but doesn’t complete, perhaps because there are simply too many items on that list.
At the tavern, Steven (Sean Kaufman) and Denise (Isabella Briggs) finally share a kiss. It doesn’t go well. “It’s like kissing a plant,” she says, quickly shifting to discuss their business contract. Well, that’s certainly settled.
Belly is unable to sleep that night, so she takes a late-night swim and realizes she can’t begin her marriage to Jeremiah with a falsehood. She sneaks into his room to share what Conrad told her on the beach.
Jere goes through every phase of a boy’s sorrow: I knew it, I’ll kill him, how could he do this, are you leaving me, let’s get married anyway. But the next morning, he’s gone.
Steven acts as if he’s been startled by a cat when Belly informs him, then shifts to offering comfort and taking action. He shouts at Conrad for his brooding and his “sad boy whatever-the-f—” and tells him to fix what he ruined.
So Conrad gets into his car and locates Jeremiah at Susannah’s memorial garden. He suggests that Jere punch him, but his brother doesn’t accept the offer until Connie mentions Cabo. Then Jere punches him twice.
It forces the truth from Conrad, who claims he loves Belly, but she chose Jeremiah, so he must return to his wedding.
He also hands Jeremiah a sealed envelope that Laurel provided to him. It is the letter Susannah wrote to her youngest son, intended to be read on his wedding day — or so it was meant to be. When Jere opens it, he discovers that Susannah mistakenly exchanged it with her letter for Conrad.
With barely restrained tears, Jere informs Conrad they are no longer brothers, thrusts the letter into his hands, and walks away.
Back at the club, Taylor has seen enough and advises Belly against marrying Jeremiah. Choosing Jere over Paris, Jere over Laurel, and now Jere over Taylor—this isn’t love. It’s losing oneself in codependency.
Belly criticizes Taylor for her TikTok therapy and her self-centered behavior, prompting Steven to enter and defend Taylor while revealing that Jere has returned.
Among the gathered guests, Denise acts as Steven’s companion, gesturing toward Taylor, who seems to be going with that damp, crunchy beach hair style for the wedding. Belly’s words penetrated her skin, but Steven reassures her they aren’t true. Additionally, he isn’t involved with Denise. A prolonged, hopeful glance exchanges between them before wedding planner Paige (Sarah Hudson) quickly leads them away.
Jere is, indeed, back and is applying ice to his punched hand in a champagne bucket when he discovers Susannah’s ring along with a note from Conrad stating that he asked Adam to deliver it for Belly. Thus, he has the girl, the ring, the wedding, and parental approval. It’s all he desired, yet his expression suggests it may not be sufficient.
Conrad, on the other hand, enters the bridal suite to apologize and informs Belly that he is leaving and won’t be returning for a very long time. But no matter what happens, loving her was all worthwhile.
Now it’s time for Belly and Jere, both dressed for their wedding, to confront each other. He knows she loves him, but he needs to find out if her affection extends to Conrad as well.
Belly knows this is a pivotal moment in her life, and she decides to be truthful. Indeed, a part of her still loves Conrad and likely always will.
That’s insufficient for Jere, who desires everything from her. Oh, and just so you know, he is aware that Belly lied about encountering Conrad during Christmas.*record scratch* Wait, Jere knew??
Sure, a neighbor said they saw Conrad at Cousins when he visited Susannah’s grave, and he kept waiting for Belly to explain. When she didn’t, he started that argument before Cabo. He also knows that the relationship between his brother and his girlfriend wasn’t entirely innocent this summer, regardless of how much they tried to convince him otherwise.
Is… is this a form of Jeremiah’s redemption? Knowing everything all along gives this season a different perspective, right down to his urgent push to get married quickly. It’s not the way he should have dealt with things, obviously, but it does offer an explanation for some of his choices.
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Jere’s ultimate disclosure was what he discovered in Conrad’s letter: Susannah mentioned she had only witnessed her eldest son in love once, and that was with Belly.
“You can’t marry me to get rid of him,” he says, but at the same time, he doesn’t know how tonotLove her. So she allows him to leave.
Laurel is there to let her break down, and Steven brings his friend a beer and quiet encouragement. (The soundtrack of this heartbreak is “Cardigan,” for the record.)
One point to consider: Laurel retrieves Belly’s unopened letter from Susannah, Conrad only briefly looks at the one Jere gave him, and Jere hasn’t seen his own at all, meaning they can all still read Susannah’s words on whatever their wedding days end up being.
A deflated Belly tugs at her jeans, packs her belongings, and leaves the key Jere gifted her for her birthday on the counter, silently saying farewell to the beach house alongside the Fisher brothers.
She goes to the airport and purchases a ticket to Paris at the counter — YAY!!! but honestly, how much did that cost?cost? — and as she waits in line to board the plane, she catches a glimpse of an equally dejected Conrad quietly awaiting his own flight back to California.
She inhales deeply and moves out of the line toward him.
Kissin’ cousins corner
- Wowwwowwwowww. So that occurred. Congratulations to Team Conrad, and condolences to Team Jere. Also, can you picture if that was the final episode??? It isn’t, of course; there are three more episodes left. But what a delightfully unclear ending that would have been!
- Even though John (Colin Ferguson) is the one placing what seem like cancellation calls, how furious do you think Adam is at this moment? Not only because of the money, which must be substantial, but also because of the ruined social event for his business friends? Hmm, maybe it’s for the best. I have a feeling the wedding industry is about to experience a revival thanks to thenewly engaged Ms. Swift.
- The episode’s line is actually the nonverbal element this week, and there’s a connection: Laurel’s “don’t forget to smile” gesture toward Steven as he walks down the aisle during rehearsal and Steven’s brief expression of disgust when he chugs a flute of champagne. Those Park-Conklins are really kind nerds.
- Regarding the next three episodes,The Year I Became a Teenager book enthusiasts are aware that the events of “Last Kiss” take place in the final chapter of the last book inJenny Han’sseries, with the narrative ending in a brief epilogue that follows. So whatever happens over the next three hours will be largely unexplored. I can’t wait.
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