The internet loves a love triangle, but maybe too much. And the internet loves a love triangle even more when it involves two brothers. Everyone is sitting at the edge of their seats, once a week, watching the most recent episode of the Amazon Prime show The Summer I Turned Pretty, to watch the train wreck that is Isabel Conklin (Belly)’s love life, waiting to see who she chooses out of Conrad or Jeremiah.
The question we should be asking ourselves however, is not which brother is the best fit (even though that is quite clearly Conrad), but why do we care so much?
This connection that viewers have (or at least think they have) with either Conrad or Jeremiah, is a very common case of a para-social relationship. A para-social relationship is defined as a one-sided emotional attachment viewers develop with media figures (often influencers, celebrities and fictional characters) that make the viewer feel like they know these people in real life, when in reality they have never even met.
Amazon Prime have deliberately paced out the episodes of the final season by releasing them on a weekly basis as a strategy to mimic the emotional highs and lows of a real-life relationship. This further encourages fans to have these para-social relationships, as now viewers have time to process, dissect, debate, mourn and defend the characters after each episode, which makes fans deeply invested in the show and its outcome.
However, this has made some fans too invested and has resulted in fans harassing Gavin Casalengo for Jeremiah’s actions and even criticising other fans if they are on the opposing ‘team’. These fans are reacting to the show like it is personal to them, and that is because, to them, it is.
One fan even said “I hate Jeremiah so much, I don’t even want Belly to realise that she doesn’t want to be with him and then leave him to be with Conrad. I want her to cheat on him with his brother.”
This kind of engagement doesn’t just benefit the show, it creates unwavering fan loyalty. Fans are no longer tuning in just for the plot, they are tuning in for the high of seeing “their” character on screen, and the heartbreak of emotional scenes that leave them in tears.
The Summer I Turned Pretty isn’t just a TV show, it is a reminder for everyone how quickly we can and do get attached to fictional characters and love stories, as if they are our very own. So, maybe the real plot twist isn’t which brother Belly chooses, but how much we have grown to care about these fictional characters.
Kathrynf 
Alexander Hanjin De Filippo 
Eabha Quinn
So true! Honestly, my fyp is filled with never-ending fan edits of people crying over Conrad and suggests the para-social relationships we have with these characters, which can be quite intense. But lowkey I’m also a Conrad supporter.