The release of the second season of My Life With the Walter Boys basically parachuted right into the middle of the weekly craze over the third and final season of The Summer I Turned Pretty. As a result, the internet was only talking about two things: “Are you Team Conrad or Team Jeremiah?” and “Are you Team Cole or Team Alex?”
If you’re lost right now, don’t worry, I’ll catch you up!
Inicial Context
The Summer I Turned Pretty, an Amazon Prime series based on Jenny Han’s books of the same name, follows Isabel Conklin – also known as Belly – who spends every summer at the beach house of her mom’s best friend, Susannah Fisher.
Belly and her brother Steven join Susannah’s sons, Conrad and Jeremiah, for another memorable summer at Cousins beach. The show centers on Belly’s coming of age and her messy love triangle with the Fisher brothers.
Meanwhile, My Life With the Walter Boys is a Netflix series based on Ali Novak’s books about Jackie, a New York teen who loses her parents and sister in a tragic accident. After that, she ends up moving to Colorado to live with her mom’s old friend Katherine and her husband George Walter, who together have eight kids plus two nephews under the same roof. During the story, Jackie falls for two Walter brothers, Alex and Cole.
Both series have super similar storylines — a teen girl falling for two brothers while also dealing with grief.
Why do we love this so much?
You might be wondering why two shows with such a similar setup are blowing up among young viewers, especially women. And the answer is simple — we’ve been obsessed with this forever.
Gen Z grew up on shows and movies built around love triangles. The Vampire Diaries gave us Damon, Elena and Stefan. How I Met Your Mother had Robin, Ted and Barney. Dawson’s Creek had Dawson, Joey and Pacey. Grey’s Anatomy had Derek, Meredith and Addison. And, last but not least, One Tree Hill had Lucas, Peyton and Brooke (my personal favorite).
All these hits came with the classic “Which team are you on?” debate, and that sparks media buzz, online engagement and FOMO (fear of missing out). Nobody wants to be left out of the trending topics, right?
That’s why writers keep coming back to it. Love triangles generate drama, tension and complexity. The uncertainty over who the protagonist will choose keeps audiences glued to their screens.
The Psychology behind it
Still, it’s fascinating how we, as viewers who have probably never been in a real-life love triangle, get so immersed in those storylines, that we start projecting them into our own lives, which isn’t always healthy.
Murray Bowen’s Theory of Triangulation says that in a stressed two-person system, bringing in a third party can temporarily ease tension and instability. But in practice, that dynamic can create dysfunctional behavior cycles and manipulation, where someone uses the “triangle” to trigger fear and anger in the other person.
Our obsession with triangles may come from craving drama, emotional complexity and the intensity of love, all of which create more engagement than stable, healthy relationships. The instability and uncertainty fuel tension, conflict and a kind of “narcissistic supply” for the characters, making the plots juicier and more captivating for the audience.
Fiction vs. Real Life
In fiction, this idealization of love triangles serves to build conflict and drama. In real life, though, it can lead to pain, emotional dependency and the chase of an unattainable love. Instead of looking for perfection in one partner, fiction often shows characters projecting impossible ideals onto each other, creating an “unreachable romance” that traps them in cycles of heartbreak and disillusionment — exactly what happened to Belly in Season 3 of The Summer I Turned Pretty.
And just like fictional heroines, it can be tough to choose between two people. It’s an emotionally loaded dilemma — letting go of a potential love, fearing you’ll make the wrong choice, and struggling to understand both your own feelings and theirs.
When you’re facing that situation, don’t just rely on a pros-and-cons list. Look at how each person makes you feel and what they truly mean to you.
Being desired by two people can feel amazing, but it can also be an ego booster. If what you’re feeling is fueled by insecurity, fear of rejection, or a need to be adored, it’s probably the ego speaking. If it’s about a real connection and a genuine desire to love and be loved, then it’s probably genuine love.
So yes, love triangles are super fun to binge on your couch with a bucket of popcorn in hand and live tweeting your favorite team, but when you’re the one caught in the middle, the plot twists aren’t nearly as fun.
Since we’re talking fiction, I’m dying to know who Jackie ends up with, but rumor has it we won’t find out until 2026 when Season 3 of My Life With The Walter Boys drops. As for Belly’s choice, you can already watch it in the final episode of The Summer I Turned Pretty on Amazon Prime.
——————————————————————————————
The article above was edited by Luna Bahdur.
Liked this type of content? Check Her Campus Cásper Líbero home page for more!