Spoilers ahead for The Summer I Turned Pretty.
After three long years, we finally have a conclusion to the viral TV show of the summer, The Summer I Turned Pretty, a classic you-can-only-choose-one romance based on the novel series by Jenny Han. All in the span of three years, the series’ protagonist, Isabel “Belly” Conklin, navigated grief, love and being a home wrecker.
For those of you not caught up on TSITP, here’s the situation: we follow the Conklins and the Fishers, two families who spend every summer together in a boujee beach house in Cousins, a town on the coast of New England. The house is owned by Susannah Fisher, a carefree, rich white woman and the mother of brothers Conrad and Jeremiah. Susannah wants nothing more than for Belly, the daughter of her best friend Laurel, to marry one of them. And she’s definitely got a preference for Conrad.
But I’m not here to talk about why raising your sons to marry the girl that’s basically their sister is weird. That definitely has some moral implications, but I’m here to discuss how going back and forth between two brothers and telling one of them to go to hell at his mothers funeral is maybe not the best way to make yourself the hero in any story.
The series finale aired on Sept. 11, and we finally got the one thing we’ve all been waiting for. Drumroll, please…. Belly admits it’s her fault that the Fisher brothers hate each other! In a wine fueled conversation with her brand new Paris friends, Belly admits that she was the villain. She is absolutely right.
Belly Started a Situationship with Conrad After Leading Jeremiah On
After a cruel rejection from Conrad in season one, Belly turns her attention to Jeremiah when he “heroically” rescues her from a skinny-dipping-gone-wrong adventure. Conrad showed up to rescue her, too, but Belly picked Jeremiah. They make out in a pool, and she asks him to escort her to the Deb Ball.
So she finally makes a choice… kind of. Everything is all well and good between her and Jeremiah until he ditches her at the Deb Ball and Conrad steps in to dance with her. Flash forward to the next morning, and Conrad and Belly agree to start a relationship – even though she still has something going with Jere.
Once Belly ends things with Jeremiah, she sees how hurt he is, and ultimately ends up leaving Cousins without a relationship.…So she caused all that pain for nothing.
She Called Conrad a Terrible Boyfriend… Because He Was Grieving His Dying Mom
When your boyfriend knows his mom has terminal cancer, you should probably give the guy a break. But Belly yells at Conrad at prom for forgetting the corsage, something he already feels awful about. The poor guy clearly has a lot on his mind and tries to end their relationship maturely and respectfully. Sure, doing it at his girlfriend’s junior prom might not be the move, but Belly yelling at him and ending it poorly? That’s worse. Even Conrad tells her not to leave it like that. But of course, being a very mature junior in high school, Belly absolutely leaves it like that.
The slander doesn’t stop there, folks. Let’s jump all the way forward to season three, when Conrad is standing on the beach professing his love to Belly. He tells her that Jeremiah cheated on her, because a sane person wouldn’t marry someone who cheated on them. Right? No. Belly tells him that she’s well aware of this little tidbit and that she put up with “much worse” from Conrad.
Ah, yes. Being depressed because you’re losing your mother is absolutely worse than picking a fight with your girlfriend of four years, cheating on her twice, and then lying to her about it.
Yep. Everything’s just fine here.
Then she Led Jeremiah On… Again.
Is this the third or fourth time? I’ve lost track. Anyway, Belly spends the summer before her wedding at the beach house. With Conrad.
Essentially, the two of them have a summer fling without anything tangible happening. But emotional cheating is still a thing. You can tell Belly knew that as soon as Conrad got in his surf accident, but she still continued planning her wedding with Jeremiah. I’m a personal advocate to tell your significant other as soon as you know you’re no longer interested, so they can start the healing process right away. But Belly had to have her cake and eat it too.
This emotional affair inevitably caused a fight between the Fisher brothers, and led to Jeremiah disowning Conrad to his face.
Let’s Hope She Sticks With One Brother This Time
Of course, when Belly finally admits that she was the villain that tore the Fisher brothers apart, Conrad tries to convince her that he was the bad guy in the whole debacle. I guess we can’t let the girl get some character development by admitting she messed up big time, multiple times. Hopefully, The Summer I Turned Pretty movie won’t give us a repeat of her back-and-forth with the Fisher brothers. But with the money this family feud has brought in, all we can do is hope.