In Season 3, Episode 8 of The Summer I Turned Pretty, Belly Conklin has some strong words for Conrad Fisher. The night before she’s set to marry his younger brother, Jeremiah, Conrad confesses his love for her on the beach outside his house. This is something viewers have known for a while: Years earlier, Conrad, grieving his mother’s death and dealing with anxiety, broke up with Belly. A few months later, she started dating Jeremiah.

Now the three are a bit older—around 21 instead of 17—and Conrad is begging Belly to call off the wedding, not just for his sake. Neither Belly nor Jeremiah has graduated college yet, and neither has a job. She’s wearing a ring that looks like it came from an arcade, and Jeremiah’s credit score is a repo man’s dream.

But Belly isn’t having it. “I want you to leave,” she tells Conrad. “Make up one of your bullshit excuses and go—to Boston, to California, I don’t care where. Just get out of here.”

Conrad looks confused. Maybe it’s because she’s been flirting with him lately: She leaned in to kiss him while tending to a surfing injury, and over Christmas, they spent a few days together that she kept secret from his brother. Or maybe it’s because she’s telling him to leave his own damn house.

Let me be clear: I’m a millennial woman who watches The Summer I Turned Pretty. Is it age-appropriate? No. But is it part of my DNA? Absolutely. As a teen, after finishing homework and chores, I’d watch Gossip Girl, Gilmore Girls, or the 90210 reboot. On Wednesdays, I’d sneak down to the basement for The O.C.—which my mom banned after catching 12-year-old me watching an episode where Mischa Barton’s character chugs vodka alone on the beach. (A smart parenting move, but it didn’t stop me. “What are you doing down there?” she’d yell. “Watching Kim Possible!” I’d shout back, sly as ever, while Marissa Cooper made out with Olivia Wilde.)

It’s my long history with these shows that gives me the confidence to say something that might get me cyberbullied on TikTok: Belly Conklin is currently the most infuriating female character on TV.

In Season 1, we meet Belly as a wide-eyed teen who measures her life by summers spent at her family friends’ beach house in Cousins Beach. The Fishers, that family, have two sons around her age. What was once innocent childhood friendship changes the summer Belly “turns pretty” (hence the title). Flirtation with both brothers follows.

A love triangle is at the heart of any good teen drama, from Gossip Girl’s Serena, Blair, and Nate to The O.C.’s Seth, Summer, and Anna. The Summer I Turned Pretty delivers this trope in spades. For the first two seasons, you’re torn between whether Belly should choose brooding, brilliant Conrad or fun, sensitive Jeremiah. But by Season 3, nearly every character has grown—except the protagonist herself.

We find Belly at Finch College (which the show heavily implies isn’t very prestigious), where she’s made only one close friend besides her boyfriend Jeremiah and childhood bestie Taylor. She’s unsure what to do with her life (maybe sports psychology?) and considers studying abroad in Paris, but when Jeremiah needs an extra semester to graduate, she drops those plans—even though he cheated on her.

The transition from young adulthood to real adulthood is famously tough. But what’s frustrating about Belly is how sure she is that she’s already grown up. She accepts a rash…Belly accepted Jeremiah’s proposal against the advice of her family and friends. While her brother Steven graduates early from Princeton and starts his own company, and her best friend Taylor lands a prestigious internship in New York, Belly spends most of her time drifting between the two homes of her fiancé’s wealthy family—much to the annoyance of Jeremiah’s father. (“You said she could stay as long as she wanted,” Jeremiah reminds Adam Fisher after Belly clogs the shower drain in their Boston apartment. “Yeah, but it’s been two weeks, Jer,” Adam replies.)

It becomes clear that Belly doesn’t just measure her life by the summers she spends at Cousins Beach—she defines herself by them. It’s a little unsettling to watch how completely at home she feels with the Fishers, even though she isn’t one of them. (Let’s be honest—family doesn’t treat family that way.) Without that beach house, who is she? And without a Fisher boyfriend? Belly hardly makes an effort to find out. “Susannah told me that when I was born, she knew I was meant for one of her boys,” she says in Season 2, referring to Conrad and Jeremiah’s late mother.

There’s a reading of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice that suggests Elizabeth Bennet only truly falls for Mr. Darcy after seeing his grand estate, Pemberley. Austen writes, “She had never seen a place for which nature had done more, or where natural beauty had been so little counteracted by an awkward taste… at that moment she felt that to be mistress of Pemberley might be something!” A similar idea echoes in the way Belly talks about Cousins. I don’t doubt that she loves the Fisher boys for who they are. But it also seems like she believes their lifestyle and home are rightfully hers. As she says in the very first episode, “I don’t really begin living until June, until I’m at that beach, in that house.”

Still, there’s hope for Belly. In Episode 9, after Jeremiah breaks off their engagement, she finally goes to Paris. Forced to make new friends and take care of herself—with no parents, no attractive brothers, and no multi-million dollar home to rely on—she also leaves behind her childish nickname and embraces the more mature name Isabella. We’ll have to wait and see who she becomes.

Frequently Asked Questions
Of course Here is a list of FAQs about the problem with Belly Conklin in The Summer I Turned Pretty written in a natural conversational tone

BeginnerLevel Questions

Q Who is Belly Conklin
A Belly is the main character and narrator of the book series The story follows her summer experiences and her complicated relationships with two brothers Conrad and Jeremiah Fisher

Q What is the main problem with Belly
A The main problem is that she is often seen as immature selfcentered and indecisive Her actions frequently hurt the people around her especially the two brothers shes torn between

Q Why do people find Belly annoying
A Many readers feel she is overly dramatic makes everything about herself and flipflops between Conrad and Jeremiah without fully considering their feelings

Q Is she a bad person
A Not necessarily bad Shes a flawed and realistically written teenage character who is navigating first love and grief Her mistakes come from immaturity and a lack of selfawareness rather than malice

Advanced Deeper Questions

Q How does Bellys selfcenteredness affect the story
A It drives the central conflict For example after Susannahs death Belly is so focused on her own grief and her romantic problems that she often fails to see or support the much deeper grief experienced by Conrad Jeremiah and her own mother

Q Can you give a specific example of a problematic choice she made
A A key example is her engagement to Jeremiah She knew she was still in love with Conrad but said yes to Jeremiah anyway essentially using him as a placeholder to avoid being alone and to force a sense of moving on This set everyone up for more heartbreak

Q How does her relationship with her mother Laurel play into her behavior
A Belly often rebels against her strongwilled mother and seeks validation and a sense of belonging from the Fisher family instead This desire to be part of their world fuels her obsession with Conrad and Jeremiah

Q Is there a positive side to Bellys character
A Yes She is fiercely loyal to those she loves shes persistent and she does grow