Warning: Spoilers for TSITP

As media continues to advance, a trope/concept remains stagnant throughout the romance genre and that is love triangles.

One of the most prominent has to be the web of love between Conrad, Belly, and Jeremiah in the recent book-to-series “The Summer I Turned Pretty” (TSITP) produced and written by Jenny Han.

As much as I would love to talk about the ambiance of the show, the debate between the two brothers Conrad and Jeremiah Fisher needs to be solved, with the obvious choice being Conrad. 

During seasons one and two, there was a pedestal that not only Belly pushed Conrad onto, but so did the audience. This entire stigma that Conrad is emotionally unavailable or a bad boy is nonsense because, in reality, there’s this tangible disregard for his mental health issues.

His mother is dying and it’s causing him to go into a deep depression, Yet again Jeremiah’s supporters love to just pin this as him being a horrible boyfriend to Belly. 

But there’s also the counterargument that Jeremiah never reacted in this way, however, Conrad shouldn’t be held accountable for expressing his grief over his mother’s passing in a certain way simply because Jeremiah didn’t.

Additionally, Jeremiah is just Belly’s easy choice, even Steven, Belly’s own brother, said, “Jeremiah’s easy, he doesn’t challenge Belly the way Conrad does.” This is proven again and again when Jeremiah’s immaturity shines through across the entirety of season two.

Every single time Belly even acknowledged Conrad’s existence, Jeremiah would be there giving her looks and making her feel guilty. She couldn’t congratulate him on getting into Stanford without Jeremiah getting upset.

This even happened when Belly was in a relationship with Conrad. During Thanksgiving, Jeremiah made her feel uncomfortable for being with her own boyfriend. He was so bothered that he would rather miss spending time with his dying mother than be around Belly and Conrad.

But from what I recall, Conrad was totally supporting Belly and Jeremiah, despite the fact that Jeremiah did not once talk to Conrad about how he felt about Belly after he discovered them making out on his car with Belly in his hoodie.

However, this ongoing argument wouldn’t be possible without Belly’s constant push and pull with the two brothers. What made it even worse was that during season two, there was no narration from Belly’s side, making it so that the viewers couldn’t see into her mind.

Belly can’t hold onto the fact that the brothers can love someone other than her and constantly makes herself the center of attention. Belly is selfishly keeping around both brothers for her own benefit, not acknowledging that maybe if she just lets them thrive on their own, there wouldn’t be this driving wedge between them.