The Summer I Turned Pretty is everyone’s summer obsession. More like the summer I became obsessed with a show about teenagers dating each other at a beach house. But this week’s episode really showcased how young Belly Conklin (Lola Tung) is. And how she’s not ready to get married.
Belly has loved the Fisher brothers her entire life. Conrad (Christopher Briney) was her first love and she says as much still in the show. But her new love is his brother, Jeremiah (Gavin Casalengo). The two rushed into an engagement after Belly found out that Jeremiah cheated on her and the most recent episode takes Jeremiah and Belly to their bachelor and bachelorette parties.
**spoilers for season 3 of The Summer I Turned Pretty lie ahead**
Everyone takes the trip to Cousins to get ready for Belly and Jeremiah’s wedding. But what was once a do-it yourself wedding has become something that Belly hasn’t ever really wanted. And she admits as much to Taylor (Rain Spencer). But what makes this episode so fascinating is how Belly will justify things that Jeremiah does but doesn’t give Conrad that same respect, which shows to me that she shouldn’t be with Jeremiah in the first place.
Conrad and Belly were together as his mother, Susannah (Rachel Blanchard) was dying. So arguably, not the best time in Conrad’s life and it made him not the best boyfriend to Belly. She has since, held that against him. On the one hand, rightfully so, but she then allowed Jeremiah to cheat on her and she forgave him but she couldn’t forgive Conrad for shutting her out when his mother died…it is a little uneven.
But Belly’s lack of understanding for Conrad and forgiveness to Jere doesn’t come from a bad place. It’s because of who she loves most.
You don’t hold a grudge like that unless you love someone
Conrad and Belly have it out (finally) on the beach, the same beach that a drunk Jere was supposed to meet her at. She purposely didn’t drink that much at her own party because Jeremiah and her agreed to “take it easy.” She was fine to go to the beach but he was so drunk that he crashed on their bed and left no room for Belly. Now, it is okay that he had fun at his bachelor party but maybe just tell your fiancé nevermind?!
When she goes down to the beach, Conrad is there and after having learned that Jeremiah cheated on her, he feels the need to tell her and it is like a dam broke for Conrad. He shares everything with her, including the fact that he still loves her and Belly throws their relationship back in his face, claiming that no one has treated her the way that Jere does, including him.
Now if you’ve been watching the show, you know that Jeremiah hasn’t really cared about her and has only wanted things for himself when it came to this wedding. But she’s so blinded by it all and loves to justify his actions that she ignores the red flags and thinks that Conrad hurt her more than Jere could. Jeremiah CHEATED on her. Conrad was checked out of their relationship because his mother was dying. I don’t really think those are comparable issues with your significant other.
But Belly’s anger shows a lot, especially how she’s really feeling about her relationship and her wedding.
Belly needs to be honest with herself
As a viewer, it should be a wake up call to Belly that she could not stop thinking about Conrad on the night of her bachelorette. But I don’t think it will be that easy for her. When your first love “wrongs” you, you do feel like it is the worse pain in the world. I think that’s why she’ll justify Jere’s bad behavior and ignore the signs that he’s not who she should be with.
All of that is fine but she’s about to marry him. She was dancing and thinking about Conrad, won’t tell Jere that she just simply stayed in a HOUSE with Conrad, and all of this just points to the sign that not only should Belly not get married right now but she shouldn’t be with Jere either. I think part of Belly’s issue is that she went from one Fisher brother to the next without really taking a moment to breathe.
It doesn’t help that Conrad admitted his feelings but clearly Belly shouldn’t have rushed to Jere after her break-up with Conrad. But what she really shouldn’t do is get married to a man who cheated on her and then decided to propose to her after she found out.
(featured image: Erika Doss/Prime Video)
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