The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 3 Thankfully Gets The Best New Character Right After Just 2 Episodes

The Summer I Turned Pretty season 3’s two-episode premiere has perfectly introduced the show’s best new character. The Summer I Turned Pretty season 3 is off to a dramatic start, as the show’s four-year time skip catapults Belly and Jeremiah’s relationship into new territory. The central love triangle hasn’t been fully resolved yet, though, as older brother Conrad eases his way back into Belly’s life.

In the last few years, Conrad has been hidden away on the other side of the country, fulfilling his mother’s dying wish and pursuing a degree in medicine at Stanford. The time away from his family has seemingly done him good; he’s in therapy, he’s excelling at school, and he’s made a new friend: Agnes.

Agnes, played by Zoé De Grand Maison, is not a character created for the show. She was introduced in Jenny Han’s third and final TSITP book, We’ll Always Have Summer, as a new friendly fling for Conrad, but she played an important role in giving the reader a chance to understand the depth of Conrad’s feelings for Belly.

Agnes does that in the show, too – it recreates her and Conrad’s biggest scene – but it looks like there’s more to their relationship this time around, and I, for one, am all for it. Agnes is, by far, the strongest new character in The Summer I Turned Pretty season 3.

Agnes Is The Best New Character In The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 3 & The Third Book

She’s Exactly What Conrad Needs In His Life

In the third book, Conrad tells the reader that Agnes asked him out. He agreed. They dated casually for a few months but ended things on friendly terms, and she’s very understanding about his feelings for Belly. She’s introverted but confident, kind, and compassionate. Agnes has a relatively small role in We’ll Always Have Summer, but she gives us a glimpse of Conrad’s life away from Cousins.

In the show, Agnes has a larger presence. Zoé De Grand Maison plays her with the kind of excitable energy that Conrad could use more of in his life, and she’s also one of the few, if only, people he truly, fully opens himself up to. He refuses to mention Belly to his therapist, but he tells Agnes just how much he loved her.

His friendship with Agnes has slowly transformed Conrad into the softer, playful version of himself that we’ve only really heard and seen Belly reminisce about.

Much of Conrad’s monologue during their shared scene at the bar is lifted straight from the book, but in the original story, he never mentions any of his thoughts out loud. This version of Agnes is just as sweet and empathetic as her book counterpart, but there’s an added layer to her friendship with Conrad that he sorely needed.

She’s not afraid to speak her mind. When she visits him after he loses his internship, she says, “The truth is, you’re smart as hell, obviously, but you need to pay more attention to your feelings. You can deny your emotions all you want, but they’re not going anywhere. As long as you’re afraid to face them, they’ll run you and not the other way around.”

The cast of The Summer I Turned Pretty season 3 on the beach

The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 3, Episodes 1 & 2 Review: I’m Thrilled The Last Season Already Feels Like A Love Letter To Book Fans

The Summer I Turned Pretty kicked off its final season with a bang, as the two-part premiere emulated the book and added something new to the story.

Being so far away from Cousins and his friendship with Agnes has slowly transformed Conrad into the softer, playful version of himself that we’ve only really heard and seen Belly reminisce about. She’s an important part of his healing journey, and I hope we see more of her as the season continues.

Why Conrad & Agnes “Broke Up” Before The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 3

They Were Probably Better Off As Friends Anyway

Agnes and Conrad in The Summer I Turned Pretty season 3

In the book, it’s made clear that Agnes and Conrad dated for nearly three months. They ended things because Conrad couldn’t give her what she wanted (and deserved). She tells him it’s “impossible” to get close to him, and that she knows he’s still in love with Belly. Crucially, she doesn’t blame him for any of it. She states the truth and lets him go.

In the show, Conrad and Agnes’ romantic history is more ambiguous. However, it seems they ended their fling/situationship/dating streak before the events of TSITP season 3 for similar reasons. Conrad was upfront with Agnes about not wanting a full-on relationship, and though she originally “pressed the issue,” she accepted his answer, and they became friends instead.

Given everything Conrad’s been through, it’s good that he has a friend removed from the somewhat co-dependent and traumatic history of his life and family in Cousins. There’s no baggage, no toxicity. Even if we’ve seen most of Agnes’ screen time already in The Summer I Turned Pretty season 3, she’s played an undeniably important role in Conrad’s life.

New episodes of The Summer I Turned Pretty season 3 release weekly on Wednesdays exclusively on Prime Video.