If you’ve spent even a little time online lately, you’ve probably seen memes of Jeremiah Fisher’s laughably tiny engagement ring from The Summer I Turned Pretty. But the ring isn’t even the biggest joke. It’s Belly, who is a walking, talking contradiction.

Her Decisions Make Zero Sense 

Every time Belly makes a decision, she’s really acting out on impulse. One minute she’s in love with Conrad, the next minute she’s all over Jeremiah. When both situations inevitably blow up in her face, she’s in tears about how unfair everything is. Instead of displaying a relatable love triangle, the show just gives the viewers emotional whiplash. The exhaustion led me to root for the brothers to walk away instead. 

To be fair, Belly’s behaviour isn’t completely unwarranted. She’s young, and who hasn’t made a mess of their relationships at that age? Part of growing up is making bad choices and facing the consequences. The issue is that Belly rarely reflects on those choices, let alone learn from them. Jenny Han may have intended to capture the turbulence and uncertainty of first love, but instead, what comes through repeatedly is Belly’s immaturity. This results in a main character who feels less authentic and more out of touch with the emotional weight the story is clearly trying to deliver. 

Victim Complex 

Belly somehow always manages to centre herself in moments when she’s not the only one hurting. After Susannah’s death, Conrad was clearly shattered – I mean, the guy had just lost his mom. Instead of showing patience or empathy, Belly took his detachment as personal rejection. This happens again later at prom, where Conrad was visibly out of it. Given that Conrad had promised he’d take care of prom, her disappointment wasn’t completely baseless. Rather than recognising that he was barely holding it together, Belly escalated it into another argument, failing to show the viewers that she is more than the one-dimensional version we see up to this point.

Belly expects everyone to understand her, yet rarely extends that same empathy back. What could have been a moment of compassion became yet another spiral of accusations, with Belly somehow managing to make his grief about her.

It’s not that Belly shouldn’t have been allowed to grieve; the problem is in how quickly she shifted the narrative so that she became the most ‘wronged’ person in the room. Rather than recognising Conrad’s pain, she leaned into her usual cycle of tears, accusations, and self-pity. Watching Belly inevitably make things worse felt unfair towards the brothers, turning grief into just another subplot in her ongoing drama.

Future Family Gatherings are Going to Get Real Awkward

Most infuriatingly, Belly drives a wedge between the Fisher brothers. It’s not just the fact that she’s letting the two boys down with her indecisiveness; it fuels real tension in a family already broken by tragedy. Rather than helping Conrad and Jeremiah lean on each other, Belly’s mixed signals constantly drove them into competition. 

What makes it highly unrealistic is that Belly rarely acknowledges this fallout. She frames it as ‘following her heart’, with the cost of Conrad and Jeremiah’s relationship as brothers. Jenny Han might have meant for the love triangle to feel heartfelt, but in execution, Belly comes off less like a relatable protagonist and more like the reason two brothers can’t be in the same room without tension.

Final Thoughts 

At the end of the day, Belly is frustrating, dramatic and often unbearable to watch. But she’s also a fictional teenager written to be messy. The love triangle wouldn’t exist without her questionable choices, and honestly, that chaos is what keeps people talking every season. Do I roll my eyes at her? Obviously. But do I also keep watching? Guilty. Because for better or for worse, Belly is the drama, and maybe that’s the whole point. Just remember: don’t ever let anyone do you dirty like that in real life.