The Worst Thing Belly Conklin Does On The Summer I Turned Pretty

It's unfair to complain about Isabel "Belly" Conklin, the protagonist of "The Summer I Turned Pretty" played by Lola Tung, having a horrendous case of "main character syndrome," largely because she is the show's main character. Still, if I had to hang out with Belly in real life, there would definitely be times where I'd want to throttle her. As the titular pretty-turner, Belly, a girl whose parents Laurel Park (Jackie Chung) and John Conklin (Colin Ferguson) decided to nickname her "Belly" instead of "Belle" or "Izzy," is the center of attention pretty much all of the time. Plus, when she "turns pretty" before spending the summer in the fictional town of Cousins Beach, thereby catching the attention of her lifelong friends Jeremiah and Conrad Fisher (Gavin Casalegno and Christopher Briney), whose mother Susannah (Rachel Blanchard) owns the beach house where Laurel and Belly while away the warmer months, the two boys basically start to orbit around Belly and her newfound beauty.

Still, Belly's tendency towards navel-gazing can be not only tiresome, but it can also be frustrating for anyone binge-watching "The Summer I Turned Pretty," an Amazon Prime show helmed by original series author Jenny Han. (If that name sounds familiar, she also wrote "To All the Boys I've Loved Before," which got its own adaptation over on Netflix.) Thanks to Tung's absolutely winning performance, Belly always remains relatable, and you can't help but root for her, but as a reminder, her character is barely 16 years old when the series kicks off. She's young, and as a result, she makes some slightly infuriating mistakes.

Even though it's important to consider Belly's age, "The Summer I Turned Pretty" leans heavily on flashbacks and time-jumps to tell its story, so we do watch Belly grow up throughout the show. With all that in mind, what's the "worst" thing Belly ever does on "The Summer I Turned Pretty?" Well, there is a clear winner here, but there's also a very obvious runner-up; Belly is a complicated girl, after all.

I want to be fair to Belly once again here and say something in her defense, which is that Conrad, with whom she's involved before Susannah's death, treats her really, really badly after his mother does pass away. (In season 1, we learn that Susannah has cancer that's at such an advanced stage that she's making the personal choice to not seek treatment, and by the time we catch up with the Fishers, Conklins, and also Laurel in season 2, Susannah is gone.) Before Susannah's death, Conrad comes back from Brown University for a weekend to take Belly to her prom but forgets her corsage and basically acts like a distant jerk the whole time, even refusing to stay the night with her; they argue outside of the dance, and Conrad, feeling like he can't be a good partner to Belly under the weight of his college course load and Susannah's decline, ends the relationship, leaving her in tears at her own prom.

This, obviously, sucks. I get why this bothered Belly quite a lot. What I can't defend is how Belly behaves at Susannah's funeral. Worried about Conrad even though they're not together, Belly assembles a plate of food for her ex-boyfriend and finds him being comforted by another girl, Aubrey (Mohana Krishnan), who also happens to be one of Conrad's ex-girlfriends. Enraged, Belly flies down the stairs with Conrad at her heels, and the two have a knock-down, drag-out fight where Belly angrily says she's glad one of Conrad's exes can be there for him; he tells her to grow up, and she tells him to go to hell. (Because this show loves pointed needle drops, the whole exchange plays over Fleetwood Mac's "Silver Springs.") It's decidedly not pretty!

Belly's reaction is sort of understandable, but it's also Conrad's mom's funeral. This was not the time to pick a huge fight, and the worst part of all of it is that, unbeknownst to Belly, Conrad suffers from panic attacks, which is why Aubrey was helping him. This is a decidedly bad display from Belly, and her second-worst move comes one season later.

The third and final season of "The Summer I Turned Pretty" has some serious twists and turns, but the biggest surprise — and plot point — is easily the ill-advised engagement between Belly and Jeremiah. Some context: The two both end up attending the fictional Finch College and date during their time there, only for Belly to find out, during Jeremiah's senior year, that he cheated on her during spring break in Cabo with Lacie Barone (Lily Donoghue). Belly, obviously, breaks up with him, but she also ends up reuniting with Jeremiah after experiencing trauma-induced psychosis when her brother Steven (Sean Kaufman) gets into a massive car accident and almost dies. During this scary and weird time, Jeremiah, a clown, proposes to Belly, and Belly, who's sleep-deprived and freaked out, says yes.

The way that Belly and Jeremiah handle their wildly hasty engagement is bizarre and weird, especially when it comes to their parents. Although Jeremiah's dad Adam Fisher (Tom Everett Scott) eventually gives in and agrees to pay for the nuptials, Laurel steadfastly stands her ground, maintaining that Belly and Jeremiah are way too young to get married and that they should wait. (She's right!!!) During a particularly gnarly argument at Laurel's house in the suburbs of Philadelphia (not to editorialize, but go Birds), Belly completely loses control, screaming at her mother about the engagement and even storming out, leaving both of them in tears. 

On the one hand, it's understandable that Belly, who's barely 21 years old at this point, feels like she has to dig in her heels after making a truly absurd commitment to Jeremiah, but still, the way she treats Laurel over the whole thing is awful. Thankfully, Belly and Jeremiah come to their senses (sort of) before the wedding can actually happen, leaving Belly free to go to Paris like she originally planned (she's set to study abroad there before Jeremiah's impromptu proposal), and leaving Laurel, presumably, very relieved.

Belly, despite her nickname and occasional bouts of wrongdoing, is actually a delight to watch — and if you've already binged "The Summer I Turned Pretty" on Amazon Prime Video, check out these other 12 shows.