There has been an age-long debate over who is the better boyfriend on television, like Vampire Diaries and Twilight. That debate continues with the new television series, The Summer I Turned Pretty. This show involves a love triangle between Belly Conklin and brothers Jeremiah and Conrad Fisher. As the show progresses, we see how the love triangle affects the characters as they grow up together. I’m here to talk about who the better brother is and how my opinions have shifted throughout the seasons.
At the beginning of the show, viewers are introduced to the contrasting personalities of the brothers, Jeremiah being the happy, silly golden retriever, and Conrad being the dark, mysterious black cat. During season one, Jeremiah seemed like the better option; he always lit up a room and was the life of the party. As the season progressed, I came to prefer Jeremiah, but when we discovered Susanna, who is the mother of the two boys, was diagnosed with cancer, people became sympathetic towards Conrad. Conrad found out about his mother’s cancer before most of the characters, and he had to keep this secret, which was really hard on him. When season two came out, many others in the fandom started to dislike Belly, the main character, because she strung the boys along and couldn’t choose a brother. Belly messed with the boy’s feelings and caused them to drift apart as they fought for her attention. Personally, I stayed on ‘team Jeremiah’ because Conrad kept upsetting Belly due to his emotional instability.
As the episodes for season three are gradually coming out, I put my entire day’s plans on hold to watch, and I’ve found that I have switched teams. Conrad has had some major character development and has become a much better person since starting therapy. His love for Belly is strong, and you can tell he doesn’t want anyone but her. Jere, on the other hand, has declined as a character. He immediately moved on to another girl when he and Belly were on a break, he has a bad credit score, and partied so hard that he was unable to meet Belly on the beach for a date.
Conrad realizes his flaws and has genuinely tried to change, while Jeremiah hasn’t grown up and has decided to follow in his dad’s footsteps by working for his dad’s business. Jere let his wedding become more of a business deal rather than a celebration of his love, and instead of understanding Belly’s reasoning for not wanting that, he guilt-tripped her into agreeing with him. Jere loves to make Belly feel bad about little things, like a cake and her own wedding. Most people have seen the infamous cake meme, and the fact that it has become such a joke just proves he is too immature to get married. We, as viewers, realize that while Conrad loves Belly, Jere just loves that Belly isn’t with Conrad. I do think that Conrad was selfish for telling Belly he was still in love with her in the midst of her wedding, but I understand why he did it; he was holding in his pain and just couldn’t take it anymore. This did ruin the wedding, but Jere only proposed because that was the only way he could get Belly back, so there was no thought behind any of it.
Overall, I admit the show can be cringy, but I’m hooked. It’s messy and dramatic; it’s the perfect show to sit down after a long day and binge-watch. I can proudly say I am ‘team Conrad’ now, and I really hope that Belly and Conrad end up together, or else I will be extremely disappointed. I don’t know anyone who still stands with ‘team Jeremiah,’ and if you are one of the few who do, good luck with that man-child.
