The Big Picture
- Belly’s affections shift from Conrad to Jeremiah in Season 2, but she fails to consider the boys’ feelings and the impact of her actions.
- Conrad’s lingering feelings for Belly are clear, but she dismisses their past relationship and fails to acknowledge the wrongness of moving on to his brother.
- The writers treat the love triangle as if Conrad and Jeremiah are separate individuals, ignoring their brotherly bond. Belly’s lack of consideration for this causes tension and conflict and makes her difficult to root for.
Prime Video’s The Summer I Turned Pretty, which just wrapped up its second season, is all about Isabel ‘Belly’ Conklin (Lola Tung) and her love triangle with brothers Conrad (Christopher Briney) and Jeremiah Fisher (Gavin Casalegno). Season 2 sees Belly’s affections shift from Conrad, whom she picked at the end of the first season, to Jeremiah, his younger brother, and Belly’s oldest friend. Their will-they-won’t-they is a clear trope of teen dramas – Belly’s indecision is central to the story, and in a way, we can’t really fault her for that. However, her lack of awareness and basic compassion towards the boys this season, especially considering their grief in losing their mother to cancer only a month before, is entirely on her (or, more accurately, on the writers.) It’s clear that, above all, we’re supposed to be rooting for Belly’s happy ending with whichever boy she chooses. But as the season continued, it became hard to keep that mentality in mind.
In ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty,’ Belly Gives Up On Conrad First
At the end of The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 1, Belly made her choice between everyone’s two favorite brothers, riding off into the hypothetical sunset with Conrad Fisher, whom she claimed to have loved her whole life. Season 2 starts on a much darker footing: We find our teens struggling after Conrad and Jeremiah’s mother, Susannah (Rachel Blanchard), loses her battle with cancer, leaving everyone devastated in the wake. Conrad and Belly are no longer together, after a dramatic breakup at Belly’s prom just a few months before Susannah’s death. The story Belly tells – to herself, to the audience, to her friends – is that Conrad simply walked away from her, that he gave up on them. He hurt her, he never really cared. In reality, he was a 19-year-old kid losing his mother, in his first year of college, without the skills or tools to cope. Even Susannah, in her emotional final scene with Belly, begs her: don’t let him push you away. Belly, in the end, did just that. At the beginning of Season 2, she’s not on speaking terms with either one of the Fisher boys.
When Belly reconnects with the boys, it’s for all the worst reasons. Belly calls Jeremiah in the middle of the night, ready to confront him about their lack of communication (again – she broke his heart, she dated his brother, and then his mother died). Instead, she finds out that Conrad is missing, and immediately heads out uninvited to help look for him. The two reunite in their hunt for Conrad and manage to put their conflict behind them. Little by little (and also, all at once), we see Belly’s perspective of Jeremiah shift. And before you know it, she’s made up her mind – she picked the wrong brother. The two find Conrad in Cousins, at the beach house they grew up going to every summer, which is now devastatingly up for sale. Before they know it the entire gang is back together, and the rest of the season is a mix of teen hijinks and family drama.
Belly Never Takes the Fisher Boys’ Feelings Into Consideration
At every step, the chemistry between Belly and Jeremiah keeps growing. But where Jeremiah tries to slow things down – continually bringing up how Belly broke his heart just the summer before, occasionally (though not enough!) bringing up how she just ended things with his brother – Belly pushes forward with full force. One of the most ridiculous moments is when Belly gets upset when Jeremiah doesn’t kiss her in a game of Truth or Dare, even though Conrad is sitting right beside them. She approaches their romance as if it is brand new, completely ignoring the very relevant history that is quite literally surrounding them. Everyone is grieving, and everyone is hurt. But to Belly, this marvelous thing was happening, and that was all she could see. She at no point takes any responsibility for her feelings or actions, nor does she stop to consider the impact they might have. To the audience, it is clear that she is actively pursuing Jeremiah. But in her eyes, everything was simply falling into place.
This season showed a much fuller side to Conrad Fisher. Where in Season 1 he was simply the moody, broody, older brother, Season 2 shows him fighting to save his family home, devastated by the loss of his mother, and, most relevantly here, mourning the end of his relationship with Belly. Conrad’s lingering feelings for Belly are clear, as is his hurt at the way things transpired between them. But every attempt to discuss what happened is met with a stoic Belly, who continually repeats that their relationship is in the past. All of her emotions seem reserved for Jeremiah, so much so that the exes’ truly heartbreaking confrontation at the end of Episode 6 feels completely out of place. Excluding that moment, Belly seems to be clear: she has moved on. However, at no point does she acknowledge the wrongness of her having moved on to his brother.
Belly Seems to Forget: Conrad and Jeremiah Are Brothers
Season 2 does a great job of setting up the love triangle between Belly, Conrad, and Jeremiah. But at many points, it seems that the writers treat the three as if they were all separate individuals with no deep ties to one another. If Conrad was replaced with, say, Cam Cameron (David Iacono), who Belly had a light flirtation with at the beginning of Season 1, the characters’ behavior might make more sense. In that situation, it truly would be Belly’s choice as to which guy was right for her – she wouldn’t owe anything to anyone. That’s the attitude Belly brings with her to her relationships with Conrad and Jeremiah, but here, it doesn’t quite apply. Conrad and Jeremiah are brothers, and that is not something that can be ignored. They’re aware of it, and each have tried to make concessions and take the other into consideration to keep their relationship intact – Belly, who claims to love them, never does.
In the emotional climax of the season, after pulling an all-nighter to help Conrad study for his Biology final, Belly and Jeremiah finally kiss. It could have been beautiful, but Belly was wearing Conrad’s sweatshirt. And Conrad, who was on his way with a plan to win Belly back, saw the whole thing play out. After, Jeremiah was clearly distraught at the pain he had caused, and deeply worried about his brother. Belly just seemed angry that Conrad’s hurt had ruined their moment. And with that choice, she became nearly impossible to root for.
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Khushi Patel is a science fiction author who lives in Austin, Texas. She has published three novels, and her work has been praised for its originality and imagination. Khushi is a graduate of Rice University, and she has worked as a software engineer. She is a member of the Science Fiction Writers of America, and her books have been nominated for several awards.
