The Summer I Turned Pretty fans are gearing up for battle; as the latest episode in season two gave us a pretty significant case of the ick before providing us with the motivation to protect Conrad Fisher at all costs — not like we needed it.
We’ve always been Team Conrad, and with the events of this week’s episode, ‘Love Affair,’ fans are more willing than ever before to fight for him. A love triangle was born between Belly, Conrad, and Jeremiah in seasons one and two, and we’ve never hated a shape more.
The heart wants what it wants, and in any other case, we might be able to look at Jeremiah and Belly with a bit of a smile and warmth, but there’s a lot to the bond between all three of them, that leaves us with a bad taste in our mouths when things turn romantic between Belly and Jeremiah.
We could give you a TL;DR version of the story, but that would be doing it a great disservice, so we’ll encourage you to read Jenny Han’s book trilogy and watch the series for yourselves if you haven’t yet, and we’ll say this: Belly has loved Conrad since before she knew the meaning of the word, and Conrad has done the same. So when the penultimate episode of TSITP showed Belly and Jeremiah engaging in a make-out session on Conrad’s car, we threw up a little in our mouths.
Is this Conrad’s recently used emoji list, or is it ours?
On his own car? In Conrad’s hoodie? The disrespect.
If you’re a casual viewer of the series, or someone who hasn’t read the books and crafted an intricate connection with them, it’s easy to be perplexed by the intense dedication and sense of protection fans on Team Conrad feel towards him. Jeremiah likes Belly too, and as we said above — the heart wants what it wants, right?
In any other situation, we may agree with that, but Jeremiah knows that Belly has always longed for Conrad, and he knows how much his brother loves her too. We’re not denying that Jeremiah has developed feelings for Belly, but it’s a recent development, and he now understands what Conrad has been going through, so his actions just don’t sit right with many fans.
Plus, every time Conrad does anything kind for Belly, Jeremiah looks like it’s causing him immense pain; it reminds us of the newborn vampires in Twilight when they got within 83 miles of a human. We’re just not a fan.
Plus, Jeremiah and Conrad had just talked about being more open with one another, and yes, one could argue that Belly came on pretty strong, but Jeremiah neglected to tell Conrad that he had feelings for Belly during their talk or at any moment after. Jeremiah is quick to point out anytime he hurts Belly or any flaw he perceives his brother to have, but he’s not doing a lot of self-reflection, and that irony isn’t lost on us.
All in all, it’s time to protect Conrad.
Why are fans so passionate about Belly and Conrad? It’s in the way he loves and values her, how he remembers the smallest things about her and holds onto every moment they’ve ever shared. Conrad sees Belly for who she is now, and who she’s always been. He recognizes her for her strengths and weaknesses and loves her through it all. It’s always been Conrad for Belly, but it’s always been Belly for Conrad — too.
If you need us, we’ll be holding onto all of the Belly x Conrad moments until season three gets here, and crossing our fingers that Han doesn’t lead us astray. Sure, Jeremiah is great, but he didn’t give Belly the moon and the stars — he didn’t give her infinity.
But Conrad did.