The Summer I Turned Jealous

If you haven’t been living under a rock the past three months, you’ve probably heard of Amazon Prime’s hot new drama The Summer I Turned Pretty. You probably even fell for the peer pressure and ended up obsessed with the crazy love triangle it follows. Whilst season one premiered in 2022, this year’s season three has us hooked and rewatching all of the chaotic ‘what NOT to do’ behaviour.

Although the characters’ ridiculous choices are what keep us watching, they’re riddled with red flags. The initial premise is not ideal… Being stuck in a romantic tandem with brothers isn’t exactly on anyone’s bucket list. But romance can be messy. We can end up in unconventional situations but deal with it in healthy ways. Unfortunately, this is not what Belly, Jeremiah, and Conrad displayed.

Right off the bat in the pilot episode, Conrad and Belly show a weird ownership over each other that's uncomfortable to watch. In Belly’s newfound maturity, she puts on a cute dress, sneaks out, and joins the boys at a bonfire party on the beach. Conrad is clearly not happy and Belly’s even less stoked to find him making out with another girl.

She immediately lets her jealousy take over and attempts to sabotage by pointing out what's wrong with the girl. This pick-me behaviour is especially odd as they have no relationship that would mean this was crossing any boundaries. Merely minutes after Belly has icked us out, Conrad picks a huge fight with a guy that hit on Belly when she first arrived. As Olivia Rodrigo's ‘Brutal’ blasts, the two guys tussle on the sand.

This bonfire scene perfectly illustrates Belly and Conrad’s confusing dynamic. They both have a strange claim on each other even though neither of them has communicated any romantic interest towards each other. This build up of feelings results in huge tantrum-like bursts towards respective love interests.

We can’t act as if our trust has been broken when there haven't been any boundaries set in the first place. They both react like they’ve been wronged yet neither have told each other their feelings. You can’t expect your crush to play by a rulebook they don’t even know exists.

When resentment turns to possessiveness

Jeremiah’s jealousy of Conrad has been brewing their entire lives as Conrad has always been the stoic sporty older brother. Jeremiah has always felt like he's living in second place. Although this is a family issue, it all explodes in season three when it manifests as possessiveness over Belly.

Entering the new season, Belly and Jeremiah are officially together. But the tension of Conrad's romantic involvement is a huge rift even as the couple get engaged. Belly has clearly chosen Jeremiah but his unresolved insecurities about Conrad never seem to fade.

In episode eight, season three, Jeremiah outright asks his fiancée, Belly, if she still loves Conrad. She answers, “Yes. I think I’ll always love him a little. I’ll always have him in my heart, but he’s not the one that I choose. I choose you. I choose us.” Jeremiah exclaims that this is not good enough and storms off.

Navigating exes in current relationships is raw and complicated. Belly offers Jeremiah complete honesty and reassurance in her choice of him, yet he cannot accept her past with Conrad. We may have past relationships that can be vulnerable in our current ones. Insecurities in ourselves make it hard to move on, but when our partners are actively choosing us, we need to have the trust to believe them.

When ego gets in the way

Throughout The Summer I Turned Pretty, the brothers’ love for Belly becomes less apparent and their competitiveness towards each other seems to become the main priority. As Belly flip flops between the two, the boys feel the urge to win instead of actually truly wanting to be with Belly.

In a fight between the boys, Jeremiah makes the competition clear, “You don’t even know what you want, but you can’t stand to let anyone else have her.” Their jealousy of each other ends up clouding their true desires.

It's easy to let our egos get in the way of what's truly best for us. If Jeremiah and Conrad had an open conversation about their family issues and could work through the resentment between each other, their individual relationships with Belly could become a lot simpler. When rivalry is involved, we can become more focused on the person we feel as though we’re up against. Putting this aside and focusing on our romantic interests would reveal our real wants.

The Summer I Turned Pretty is jam packed with this juicy drama. It's one of those shows that will have you screaming at the TV, “Just talk to each other!!!”. So much of the heartache and pain could be avoided with honesty and communication. Often the characters (and arguably the show itself) mixes up this jealousy for passion, leaving characters fired up and confused.

Obviously, the show's job is to entertain. But a lot of the actions shown aren’t far from people’s behaviours in real life. Feelings of entitlement over someone are never a good sign. If competition and ownership seem to be core elements in any relationship, it's definitely time to step back and assess why you're engaging with that person. Is it for a healthy fulfilling connection? Or because you couldn’t deal with seeing them with someone else?