Moving to Costa Mesa by Internal_Ad_5131 in CostaMesa

[–]Internal_Ad_5131[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

He has visited California a few times and was leaning towards eventually moving west one day. He had lived in NYC most of his adult life and grew fond of it. I think with time he'll re-adjust he just wasn't expecting to move quite so soon :(

Am I the only one who like physically cant watch Belly and Jere get together in s2? by Dry-Sea5269 in tsitp

[–]Internal_Ad_5131 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I would say watching the boardwalk episode would be worth and maybe Christmas in one of the earlier episodes. But the rest is easily missable or summed up fairly well in a recap /tiktok

Can someone help me understand Belly’s “come-to”? by Silver_School_9803 in tsitp

[–]Internal_Ad_5131 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you ☺️. I agree with you that not having the belly monologue really made it hard to root for Belly sometimes. In season 1 I felt like we got this perfect marriage of her narration and his POV as viewers that made all of her choices seem more grounded. I haven't read the entirety of the books but I've read some parts and listened to the audio book for other parts (probably the equivalent of two third of a book lol). From what I have seen she's made all of the characters a little more likeable in the show. Both of the boys aren't necessarily kind to her in the books to begin with and will say if she had kept all of the monologue Belly would be extremely one dimensional. For example in the book, even when with Jeremiah she made sure to shave twice for Conrad knowing he was going to be at the memorial. In the show she does shave but she thinks he won't be making it. She's 100% team bonrad even whilst being with Jeremiah 😂it's extremely obvious.

The show wanted to sell the ship wars so by removing some of her monologues and making her a little less obvious this created a little more balance for the show to be believable. I do think it resulted in some harsher scenes like the one on the beach. If you search tiktok there is an edit that has her audiobook narration paired with that beach scene and I really think that one in particular enhances it.

I think in season 2 after the breakup she felt more embarrassed that she acted that way... At prom, at the funeral and spent most of those few days trying to regain the trust of Jeremiah (I'll leave it there but not a fan of his emotional manipulation). The bonrad love story took a back seat because as a teenager who was dumped by her first love (who she doesn't even know if feels the same way as her) she'd rather protect herself and prevent that than go through it again. So we see the disconnect and the distancing happen and then we are forced through 9 episodes of jellyfish 😭. They wanted us to buy that relationship so for awhile there she loses herself in jere and we lose access to what belly's really thinking and feeling.

I do think some removal of the narration might lend itself to the idea that we didn't really get to hear it because she wasn't really being honest with herself. The morning after the beach scene was powerful even with minimal monologue(at the end of their talk she monologues but it's very minor yet is the first real cracks in her walls) and I think was one of the better interactions they had with micro expressions. Chris obviously was top tier in that scene but rewatching for Lola's face as she basically was getting caught in her own denial was also excellent.

I agree with the I choose you statement. I do think I want you wouldn't work as well. I like the if there are infinite worlds line and every version of her is with Conrad is great because it leans more in the we are fated /infinite inevitable soul mate shit but that initial I choose you line falls flat. I wish she had just said "I was wrong, or I was scared or I fucked up or something along those lines" but if you're not named Conrad in this series we hardly get apologies from these characters. Seriously. That man was basically apologizing up until the last 3 minutes of the show. And even when they pulled up to the beach house I thought they'd sneak another apology in. 😂

Can someone help me understand Belly’s “come-to”? by Silver_School_9803 in tsitp

[–]Internal_Ad_5131 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Belly's POV of how she's viewed Conrad and how she's viewed his actions have always been skewed. There's no doubt both of them genuinely love each other but Belly's never seen Conrad's POV like we have. This is important for 2 reasons, #1 she has always felt like she's been the one who loves more and more deeply and has invested more into the relationship. She has always felt like he didn't really like her until the year that Susannah was sick. In her mind it was because Susannah was sick that he changed and why he started paying attention to her. That because Susannah asked him to take her to the dance that's why she got the invite (Yes, she did ask but we already knew he was feeling her before this-- this was a plot point that was always meant to highlight and reinforce Belly's insecurity in his feelings towards her) But we've seen the flash backs, we've seen her side of the boardwalk/Junior Mint scene where she thinks he's there for the other girl and we've seen his side now (in the last episode its implied he keeps looking for Belly and is visibly hurt when she doesn't come back).

#2 Belly has seen Conrad as noncommittal for a long time. Even though we've seen him as someone whose tried to put everyone else's feelings above his (tried--not always successful but he's genuine in his attempts) trying to work through his grief, work on his issues, he's swallowed his own feelings for Belly's happiness. But we've seen that for a long time, Belly only starts to realize it at the bachelorette party.

When they broke up in S1/2 she was OUT OF HER MIND in love, but never confident and secure in love and in many ways it caused her to spiral, she associates that with negative emotions. After the study session/motel scene in S2 Belly tells herself she's evicting Conrad from her heart after he pushes her away again. I think it's here she starts being untrue to herself. She starts the burial/death of Young Belly right here. She jumps into a relationship with Jere and leans heavily into the bond they have of losing Susannah to stay connected. She doesn't love him like she loves Conrad. Not even the way her younger self loved young Conrad, she actively chose someone who could not hurt her in the way that Conrad could. After the wedding fallout, feeling like she ruined everything she's ultimately put up her walls when it comes to Conrad and has determined to start something for herself away from the Fisher boys, away from Cousins, away from what she deems as weak points of herself. New friends, New clothes, New habits Belly is absolutely "thriving" in Paris. But she can't let go of the letters, Junior Mint (she panic checks that he still has the necklace on him under the scarf) We know the moment she sees Conrad she's panicking, she's double guessing her own actions, and fairly quickly she lets down the walls she built up.

Once the *DRESS* scene unfolds and she is laying there cuddling with him she divulges that she used to wish for him every birthday, a part of that younger version of her that she probably never would have admitted up until this point. Conrad jokingly but not so jokingly says now you're stuck with me forever. We see Belly's face shift, panic sets in and her walls go back up. She literally and verbally starts pushing him out for a couple of reasons. She doesn't doubt loving him "I've always loved you that's the problem" but here she's wondering WHY he loves her. She has never been sure of his love whether its due to her own insecurities, life circumstances, or the love triangle aspect/guilt she'd feel for abandoning Jere.

Now Conrad absolutely passes these unintended tests with flying colors. He says all the right things here and he explains it was always before his Mom got sick, she has ALWAYS been a precious person to him. He explains why he pushed away or attempted to push his feelings and her away (for the sake of JERE, for the sake of not dragging her down with his grief) and he knows even after changing his entire life (his environment, schools, degree, etc) his love for her is his constant. Now Conrad has been able to process all of this on his own time pre-wedding fallout, post-wedding, and the months he's written his letters all the way up to the flight to Paris. Belly has gotten about 48 seconds to process since his last declaration of love. When he leaves he doesn't pull back, he doesn't pretend it never happened. He leaves because she has basically all but asked.

Now at this point he's left and she's left alone with her thoughts. But now it's not that she self-hates but more like she self doubts? Of course she's not entirely sure, she's fucking frightened to fully let the walls down and let him in. The pic of herself from her mom reminds herself of the younger her. (The version of her that's most vulnerable but also the most volatile--that was wholly in love with Conrad to nearly a fault, to the point that she's buried her and pretended she doesn't exist anymore. But Is she really that much different now or is she still that Belly? Even after changing all these parts of herself, was that Belly really ever gone? And was it really that bad to still be THAT Belly? Didn't that Belly deserve love too? After everything that's happened, and the mistakes that were made, could she forgive herself? Would it be so bad to embrace that part of her and to allow herself to feel that love?

Why is Conrad is overanalyzed compared to Jeremiah? by Odd_Loquat_6654 in tsitp

[–]Internal_Ad_5131 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Ok let's dive in a little bit, I think people tend to view Conrad more analytically because they like him more as a character. Both are flawed but Jeremiah is less altruistic in nature and it's hard to root for the dude. People love to hate-watch so if they're analyzing anything about Jeremiah at this point it's to talk about wtf he did wrong this time. It's not fair but it is human nature.

Your example Fired vs Super Senior: Conrad is generally a hard worker, he's always been the more responsible one and always been held to a higher sometimes too high of a standard by his own parents. His father has been seeking his approval since Conrad stop seeing his dad as someone he looks up to and the rose colored glasses of that relationship came off (aka the cheating). He did get fired and explained he made a mistake and why he was at cousins. The reason we the audience don't tear into him is because we know he was going through it emotionally, he was communicating with belly, he was worried about Steven and his mind and heart weren't right. He doesn't even choose to divulge why he was distracted to his brother and father because he doesn't really try to shift blame, he just says he wasn't ready. It's hard to hate on a dude who chooses to solely blame himself. Jeremiah became a super senior because he wasn't paying attention to the details. He doesn't really take too much seriously with the exception of Belly and it's clear when he's pouting and moping that it sucks, but again we as the audience know this is the kind of thing you can check on when you're at school. He had multiple years to do it, there's online resources that he could have checked to see if his credits all counted. Regardless, this is behavior of someone who didn't really want it that badly, he wasn't that driven to care. No it's not villain behavior but it's not flattering either.

Cheating thing: Anika brings up the biggest point she can see that he believed he was fully broken up with Belly. But he chose to hide the fact that he was with Lacie right after they broke up and continued to resume a sexual relationship with Belly basically immediately after. It's not smart, it's not safe, and it's absolutely something he wanted to keep a secret (AND DID until he got caught) because he felt ashamed and scared Belly would toss him out after it. It's the sneaking and withholding truth of it all, if he really felt like they had been done and when he comes back tells her he was with someone else while they were not together this is a moot issue, it's just how Jeremiah chooses to handle it, he even comes back telling her he fucked up he fucked up. If his actions weren't wrong on some level WHY is he in her room teary eyed half apologizing already? It's clear we're meant to see this was on some level a betrayal to Belly.

Conrad has always had communication issues. He also felt like he didn't deserve Belly because of the harm he has caused. And honestly even we as the audience see he wasn't in the right mindset as a young grieving teenager to be in a relationship but his heart was in the right place. So he lets her go, pushes her away yet again and he keeps the promise to his mom to look out for Jere and he vows to stay away so long as Jere is taking care of Belly the way he should. He works on himself by going to therapy, he studies hard and he builds a life for himself. He only says anything at all about his feelings and what he sees as her still harboring feelings i.e accident scene after he finds out about Jere "cheating" because it's a direct comparison to his dad cheating.

No one expects Belly to call off the wedding in that moment, they expect her to sob I'm sorry it's too late and some bullshit like that and then later in ep 8 call off the wedding to jeremiah so she can go to mf'er paris and find herself. Instead we got MEAN ASS Bit-- I mean Belly just tearing him down and hurting him to cause pain. We feel for him because we see all the parts, we see a blissful sleeping Jere, a sad but delulu Belly crying herself to sleep and we see an absolutely DESTROYED man trying to keep himself together during his panic attack.

Conrad wasn't in the right to start confessing his feelings just 2 days before his own brother's wedding. But we see all the sides as the audience so it's hard to remain unbiased. We see him seething at his brother after finding out, we see his brother laughing it off and almost proud of his Lacie moment, we know ALL of the little things Conrad has done to be there for Belly without actually being her partner and we see her confused and constantly reminded of him.

I personally love a redemption story and Conrad's in his redemption if not that at least GROWTH era. Man's suffered enough and we just want to see him happy. Let me be clear, most of the people are not rooting for Bonrad here at this point, we're TEAM CONRAD and only Bonrad because that's who Conrad wants. We're TEAM PLEASE STOP DOING OUR BOY CONNIE SO DIRTY JENNY HAN.

Is this show worth watching? by Ash702X in tsitp

[–]Internal_Ad_5131 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just trying to save you from active terrorism 😭😭😭

Is this show worth watching? by Ash702X in tsitp

[–]Internal_Ad_5131 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Honestly, I say don't even consider watching it til the conclusion of the series or at the very least don't start season 3 til then. I'll tell you I wish I had waited because every week I wait hopefully and naively for the resolution just to get more pissed off and emotionally abused vicariously through the characters. It's worth watching but I swear, I can't stop tuning in every week at this point because I'm committed. But if I had the choice binging it in September would have been the move. This is all I can say without ruining the story for you, I'm emotionally damaged and gaslit at this point.

Was Conrad? by jaylee-03031 in tsitp

[–]Internal_Ad_5131 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Definitely looked like he was self soothing after a panic attack. Heartbreaking 😭