In June 2022, many people found a new show to binge on the long, hot summer days: “The Summer I Turned Pretty”. Originally a book series by Jenny Han, the show features a messy love triangle and ups-and-downs for many of the characters.
The main character, Isabel “Belly” Conklin has spent her summers at Cousins Beach with her mom’s best friend’s family, particularly her sons Conrad and Jeremiah Fisher.
The show (and books) follows the storyline as Belly falls in love with both brothers and struggles to pick between the two.
The show has grown in popularity and spread globally, collecting 25 million streams within the first seven days that it was released, according to Katie Campione’s article, “’The Summer I Turned Pretty’ Season 3 Splashes On To Prime Video With 25M Viewers In 7 Days Post-Premiere”.
Since the release of the final season in mid-July, social media has been flooded with edits and discussion of plot predictions and symbolism that Han placed throughout the episodes.
Much of the social media posts made about the show had to do with which team people were on: team Conrad or team Jeremiah, or as some fans call them, team Connie Baby and team Jeremy, referencing lines from the show.
A poll on Fizz showed that a majority of Samford’s student population (represented by 462 anonymous students who voted) is team Conrad. Out of the 462, 179 have not watched the show. However, as aforementioned, social media also played a huge role in the spread of this show by showing many of the plot points that influenced which team people picked.
The results show that 93% of the people who voted are team Conrad (including both people who have or have not watched the show). The remaining 7% is team Jeremiah.
Freshman Alyssa Hess has watched the show, and she has claimed her spot on team Conrad. “Jeremiah, I mean, he’s cheated on her twice and low-key, I just don’t mess with that,” said Hess.
Audrey Coggin, another freshman, has not watched the show and made the point that choosing sides over characters is “kind of silly”.
Freshman Molly Deas has read the books and watched most of the show (the first two seasons in full, and some episodes in season three) and has come to a different conclusion.
“I’m team, technically, Anti-Belly. I just think she should move on,” said Deas, “but if she had to be with either of them, then I would choose probably Conrad.”
Deas believes that he was not a good character in the first two seasons, however she found him to be more attractive and to have had significant character development in season three that swayed her decision.
People who have not watched the show, like graduate student Hannah Duffin, pick a side based solely off what they have seen on social media.
“I’m going to go with Team Conrad only because that’s the name I hear most,” said Duffin.
With many different perspectives and contexts influencing which side is supported the most, the motives for choosing one team or another can be on opposite sides of the spectrum, from being an avid lover of the show or seeing things on social media.
Overall, based on the poll and student discussions, Samford appears to be team Conrad.
Arts & Life Editor
