‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’ Star Christopher Briney is Giving Us an All-American Mr. Darcy in Conrad Fisher

The last few weeks of The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 3 have firmly placed me under the show’s intoxicating spell. The Prime Video series has always been great, soapy, escapist drama, but the last few episodes have managed to tap into my psyche in a way few other romances have. I have become a woman addicted to rewatching the “peach scene,” specifically a fan edit capturing Belly’s (Lola Tung) perspective. I am addicted to the various Easter egg hunts and theory videos overtaking my social media algorithms. I have unnaturally negative feelings about a certain Jeremiah Fisher (Gavin Casalegno) and am ride or die for “Connie Baby,” aka Conrad Beck Fisher (Christopher Briney).

I’ve been trying to figure out what exactly it is about this show, this specific YA adaptation, that is hitting such a nerve for me and countless other people all across the world. I’ve seen arguments that The Summer I Turned Pretty deepens the tried and true love triangle formula by tearing Isabel “Belly” Conklin between two brothers. I, myself, have mused that series creator Jenny Han has sagely adapted her books into something more akin to a stylish K-drama than a tawdry teen show you’d find on the old CW. However, I think what really pushes The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 3 into must-watch territory is Christopher Briney’s performance.

I think it’s easy for some to write off Conrad Fisher as just your basic, brooding teen heartthrob, but I actually think Christopher Briney is throwing down one of the great all-time romantic lead performances on TSITP Season 3. The more and more I think about what he’s done over the last three seasons, it becomes clear that he’s built Conrad into an all-American version of Pride & Prejudice‘s Mr. Darcy.

Like the Jane Austen hero, Conrad is depicted as cold and aloof at first, and absolutely atrocious at communicating his feelings. Now in The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 3, we’re not only getting Conrad’s POV, but the moments where he gallantly supports Belly behind the scenes, much like Darcy does to win Elizabeth Bennet. (Conrad driving to New Jersey to appeal to Belly’s mom is so much like Darcy quietly settling Lydia and Wickham’s marriage.)

In fact, all the big “Bonrad” moments that have melted down the internet lately — the peach scene, the bathtub scene, the Christmas flashbacks — carry similar electricity to when to one Colin Firth emerging from the Pemberley pond to meet Jennifer Ehle’s Elizabeth Bennet. In all of those scenes with Belly and Conrad, there’s the same unspoken attraction, the stubborn repression of feelings, and quiet yearning that can be felt in 1995’s Pride & Prejudice.

Yes, Jenny Han has pulled from countless influences in the creation of The Summer I Turned Pretty. Sabrina, Bye, Bye Birdie, and The Notebook are all consistently referenced throughout the show’s three seasons. However, the Conrad/Darcy comparisons feel more organically grown out of Briney’s approach to the character than an intentional homage.

When we first meet Conrad back in Season 1, he comes across as a stereotypical mopey teen boy. He’s more sullen and withdrawn than Belly remembers, indulging in binge drinking and pot. His reluctance to take Belly to the Deb Ball seems like disinterest, but he admits that he was glad he got to be the one to dance with her during her big moment. We later understand that Conrad has been quietly grappling with the secret that his mother is dying and his father is cheating on her with his secretary. He really does love Belly. The problem is he doesn’t know how to juggle his feelings for her with the grief and pain he’s also dealing with.

The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 3 has finally given us Conrad’s perspective on key events in the first two seasons. After he discovered Belly and Jeremiah kissing at the end of Season 2, he really was hurt. He meant it when he whispered to her in the dark that he still wanted her. However, Conrad ultimately lies, by telling Belly that his late night confession was a lie, because he feels he can’t give her the love she deserves in his grief-stricken state. Furthermore, we learn that he promised his mother on her deathbed to take care of his brother.

Much like how Darcy accepts Elizabeth’s initial rejection, but continues to love her from afar, Conrad has never stopped loving Belly. He loves her so much he avoids the east coast for years so he doesn’t have to be near her. He loves her so much that he helps her shop for wedding decor at the craft store Michael’s. He loves her so much that he cooks for her, bakes for her, yearns for her. This is the energy that is making women all over the world root for Conrad Fisher. A gentle masculinity that manifests itself in tender gazes and tense pauses. The masculinity of a Mr. Darcy, a man who will quietly show his love with action when all else fails.

Which brings me back to Christopher Briney’s performance. The more we learn about Conrad, the more we can see all the complex layers of pain, pining, and self-pity that Briney has been playing this whole time. There’s a darkness that Conrad carries around with him like its his shadow, a darkness that is nowhere to be found in his off-screen interviews. This is not an instance where an actor is riffing on their own personality, but carefully building a character onscreen.

Beyond this emotional depth, Briney has also fully thrown himself into the potent romance of Season 3. Moments like the peach scene doesn’t work unless you see the look of awe on Conrad’s face. The Christmas flashback feels extra important because of the way Briney gasps, “Belly,” when he first sees her. The Summer I Turned Pretty is a story that works because Christopher Briney takes it seriously, the way any committed actor would.

The Summer I Turned Pretty is blessed with a whole cast of great actors who consistently elevate the material — like Lola Tung, Rain Spencer, and Sean Kaufman — but it’s Christopher Briney that’s leveling the entire series up. He’s turned what could have been yet another run of the mill y.a. love interest into a modern riff on Jane Austen’s most beloved hero. Conrad Fisher might have a crisp white tee instead of a cravat and a beach house in lieu of Pemberley, but he’s totally our new Mr. Darcy.