The shippers can finally lay down their swords, because as we always knew they would, Team Bonrad has emerged victorious.

On Wednesday, the finale of hit teen romance show “The Summer I Turned Pretty” dropped. Fans got to watch Conrad show up in Paris and yearn for Belly all over the city. Their reunion culminates in a very steamy sex scene, a temporary freakout, and a rom-com-worthy chase-after-his-train reconciliation. Cut to an epilogue, where Belly and Conrad arrive at the Cousins beach house, just the two of them.

Meanwhile, our side characters also got their happy endings. Jeremiah connected with his former colleague Denise, Belly’s brother Steven and best friend Taylor are moving to California, and all of the parents seem to have reached a place of peace. Things are (mostly) neatly wrapped up — we do have a movie coming, so not *everything* could be clearly resolved — and the romance in the air of Cousins Beach remains.

And yet… there remain fundamental things about “The Summer I Turned Pretty” that we find a bit hard to swallow. In this episode, we discuss the underlying conservatism of TSITP, the wild Bonrad vs. Jelly shipping wars, the fandom’s allergy to delayed gratification, and why we loved Belly in Paris so much. Hope you enjoy! Xo

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