Do you have any tsitp thoughts ? đ
[I hope this thing makes sense because I'm sleep deprived, but I've already waited to answer because I couldn't finish writing it before episode 10 came out, so I at least wanted to publish it before the final episode]
Ok, first of all, whoever you are: THANK YOU for this question. I have so many things to say, and I was just waiting for the right opportunity.
TSITP truly stole my soul this summer, but I would like to specify that I've been watching since season 1 came out, I'm not some last-minute fan. I mean... to be fair, I did not like season 1, but when season 2 came out, I was like well, why not and then angry and sassy Conrad in the car stole my heart (and staylor, I love them).
So, of course, I'm team Conrad. I'm not really sure how you can not be team Conrad, to be completely honest. Even if for God knows what reason, you prefer Jeremiah as a person, it was obvious from the very first episode that the endgame was BellyXConrad. I've never understood how people pick the wrong side of love triangles. The endgame is always so obvious. But this story specifically is not even a love triangle; it's Belly and Conrad's story with Jeremiah as an obstacle. And, listen, I grew up watching HIMYM, so I understand that the writers can always go insane at the last second, but if Belly ends up alone or with someone who is not Conrad, it's just bad writing. It's never going to make any sense.
That said, on a purely emotional level, I'm team Conrad in the sense that I want whatever makes him happy (if it's Belly, give him Belly) more than an actual bonrad shipper. But these sorts of stories are always a bit like this: the female main character is a bit of a blank slate for girls to project on; it's part of the trope. It makes it, therefore, difficult to root for the couple in the sense that you have actual solid points on why they are great together; at best, you have points to claim why they are better than the other option, but nothing much on why they are great in absolute terms. In this case, I have points on why Conrad can be good for Belly, for sure better than Jeremiah, but I don't know if anyone can really come up with a solid argument on why Belly is the one for Conrad, if not that he thinks so. But there's really no point in talking too much about it, it's the genre.
I love Conrad because, of course, I adore characters who love deeply and do it with masochistic tendencies. Have you seen this blog? And add that he is sassy, I'm sold. Truly my favourite genre of character (I'm trying to not think too much about what that says about me). As an older sister, I also need to say: he is an amazing older sibling representation. I had no idea I needed this representation in media until I watched Conrad in this third season. The way he needs to deal with all the family drama while also trying to protect his brother, and ends up putting himself last? I genuinely don't remember a more accurate representation of what it's like to be the oldest sibling.
So, it goes without saying that my other favourite character is Taylor, who is basically just Conrad but female and only child version.
Honestly, at this point, what I really want, and I'm probably not gonna get, is Conrad and Taylor being best friends. That's literally all I'm asking for, everybody else can throw themselves in a volcano for all I care. There was that thing in episode 10 about Taylor being the only one who answers his texts, so I'm still hoping.
But to get into this properly, we need to start with what happened with Steven and Taylor during this season, because I think it was a good idea, but it wasn't really brought home properly.
It took me a bit to realise why Steven and Taylor couldn't just be the fun solid couple in the supporting roles, but then it got pretty obvious that they wanted to make a parallel between Conrad and Taylor: both of them giving up on the love of their life, thinking they are going to be better off with someone else. Great idea, loved it. But what's the point if there's not some epic showdown between those two? You build all this tension, and you never make it explicit? You don't have at least one big scene where Conrad gets mad at Taylor because she is telling him off when, really, she is just like him, and then Taylor answering that exactly because they are the same, she thinks he should stay away from Belly?????? Like, come on! It's like one of those songs that seems constantly ready to explode but never does.
There are a couple of moments when you can argue Taylor is warming up to Conrad because she does get where he is coming from, and as she learns to accept herself, she starts liking him, but it's not enough to compensate for how much time we spent on Steven and Denise. This is an eleven-episodes season; if there's a secondary storyline, it needs to be well-tied in with the main one.
And let's talk about Steven and Denise: the boredom, the absolute boredom of those scenes! And for what exactly? First of all, for what's the point of that storyline, fewer scenes would have been more than sufficient. It makes sense, the storyline of Steven finding someone there's nothing wrong with, she just isn't Taylor, but that's not how you write it! That thing of the kiss where they felt nothing was such lazy writing. Make them kiss, but earlier on, make them sleep together, who cares, but build the scenes so that it's clear that there's nothing wrong with Denise, that Steven can be content without Taylor, but where Steven still constantly thinks about Taylor, on how those situations would be different, better, with her.
After episode 10, I understand why they didn't give Steven and Denise a proper relationship but it doesn't change the fact that the Steven and Denise's storyline was boring and just generally badly written.
While I'm on the topic of Steven and Taylor: it weirded me out so much how mad people got at them for cheating on other people. Like, come on! They are not cheating on each other, they are both cheating on other people! And, listen, I hate cheaters, but this is a teen/young adults drama, the rules are different. The main character has been toying with two brothers who are basically her cousins in everything but blood for years, you need to have some mental flexibility! [These people would have died with Chuck and Blair]
Talking about things people got mad at Steven for: I think his anger towards Conrad makes sense. Besides the fact that he has like half of the story at best (he still doesn't even know that the only reason why Conrad confessed to Belly is because he found out about Cabo), he feels abandoned by Conrad. But phones go both ways! Yes, but I think it's made pretty clear that Conrad cut contact with everybody. He still talked to Laurel! Yes, but she is a parental figure, she doesn't care for or need a reciprocal relationship.
Also: I need Conrad to learn how to argue. Of course, everyone is mad at him and seems to mistreat him, eight-year-old me knew how to argue better than he does! Thank God, he is studying to become a doctor and not a lawyer. If every time someone accuses you of something, you can't bring up one reasonable explanation, people are not going to stop being mad at you! He does seem to be getting a bit better at this, though, considering his argument with Jeremiah on their mother's grave, but it's not enough.
Also, about that argument and Conrad getting mad: he was right in pointing out that Jeremiah got with Belly a month after he broke up with her and that Belly is not an object, and she can't be stolen. BUT my brother in Christ, if you actually saw her as a real person and not an idealised version of a human being, you would be mad at Belly too for getting with your brother a month after you broke up. You tell Jeremiah he didn't really love Belly because he slept with some other girl right after he thought they broke up, but Belly getting into a serious relationship with your brother right after she broke up with you doesn't make you wonder what kind of person she is, what kind of regard she has for you?
But before getting to Belly, I want to talk about Jeremiah for a second.
I thought a lot about what I could say about him, but overall, I think the most relevant opinion I have on this topic is that he feels very much like a character whose author is unable to empathise with. A character can still do shitty things, but have a convincingly written perspective. Jaremiah can be manipulative, and a cheater, and whatever else, without being so weak writing-wise. Every scene he has could have been written ten times better. It's like the writer is trying to offer his point of view and be kind towards him, but because their heart is not in it, it falls flat.
I'm also not really a fan of love triangles where one guy is shitty, so the other gets chosen. The guy who gets chosen should be the best in general.
(but I'd like to specify: this is not a third-season problem, he was shitty and manipulative from the beginning. It's one of the reasons why it never really felt like a proper love triangle. But at that point, just make him go full evil instead of being in this weird tepid limbo.)
I like that they are trying to give him a "he finds himself" kind of storyline at the very least.
I'm not sure how to feel about the thing with Denise. It's not a bad combination, but in two episodes? Seeing that they didn't even give Steven and Denise a proper relationship, at this point, most of those scenes could have been friendship scenes with Steven, Denise, and Jeremiah.
And in the end of course, let's talk about Belly.
I'm not even sure what I'm supposed to say about her, considering that the only two personality traits she seems to have are being competitive and not taking responsibility for any of her actions.
It just drives me insane how the story treats her. Why does everybody think she is a saint who never did anything wrong???
No, but honestly, I think maybe in a month I'll be able to have a more complex and detailed opinion about her but the only thing I can focus on right now is how unbalanced her relationship with Conrad is.
Cornad has been living like a monk for years, in love with her. She, on the other hand, got with his brother a month after they broke up. Then she stays with Jeremiah for four years, emotionally cheating on him the whole time, and when she breaks off her wedding, she doesn't say half a word to Conrad, runs off to Paris to not deal with the consequences of her actions and then dates someone else four months later? All while Cornad is still writing to her, and she doesn't even answer for months, and when she finally does, it's the most underwhelming thing on earth. But I'm supposed to believe she loves him just as much as he loves her? How?
But she doesn't owe him anything. Ok, then write to him and tell him to move on with his life! Give the poor man some closure.
The main problem with this show is that it refuses to choose the plane of morality we should judge these characters by.
Conrad needed therapy, but apparently, no one else here does.
Jeremiah, Taylor, and Steven all did shitty things by cheating, but Belly didn't.
Belly needs to have another relationship outside of the Fisher brothers to heal, but Cornad needs to be hang up on her for the whole time. If Cornad spending years obsessed with Belly is not unhealthy, then Belly should have just run away with him after the wedding. If it were unhealthy, then they both need to have experiences with other people.
The problem is not what's right or wrong in the real world but that the show can't seem to decide what's right or wrong in its own worldbuilding.
Other things I didn't know where to put in this long rant:
I like John and Laurel's second chance thing
but saying that your soulmate is your best friend while you are married to someone else is diabolical
The title of this story makes no sense, the catalysis of this story is not Belly turning pretty, it's a very charismatic woman with manipulative tendencies getting a terminal illness
Taylor and Steven are by far the best couple in this mess
Belly canonically doesn't know how to be alone, that would have been a far more important healing journey than the Benito thing (I can't believe that in Spanish you can call people like the guy who invented fascism)
Laurel having an obvious preference for Conrad over Jaremiah and Susannah having an obvious preference for Belly over Steven is weird af
Adam is a piece of shit but he is hilarious
Laurel feels like someone who loves her children but didn't want to be a mother
Belly was very obviously a "I'm not like the other girls girl" originally and when they tried to clean that up for the show they were left with nothing
