u/Appropriate_Trip_530

In season 3, after Conrad's declaration of love on the beach, we see Belly break down (we can all agree that she'd been dreaming of this declaration for so long). She learns during this declaration that Conrad loves her & always has, that he's suffering from being away from her ans that he hates Jeremiah for seeing her with him. One might have thought that after this, Belly would regain some empathy that she would realize that Conrad has suffered immensely since Brown in season 2 and from his closeness with Jeremiah right in front of him because Belly & Jeremiah exposed their relationship (touching, kissing) clearly within a meter of him.

Except that after the declaration, Belly never manages to show any empathy or consideration towards Conrad. She even calls him heartless, even though in season 3, it's clearly her she is, as Conrad himself says, we see how much she's suffering so it must affect her personally. Despite all this, Belly continues to ignore Conrad's feelings, especially his pain and at dinner she kisses Jeremiah several times right in front of him, we should have seen her with a more closed, more hesitant expression, realizing that she's ultimately inflicting on Conrad what she herself would never have wanted to suffer from him, but it's all in vain.

Even in the last episode of season 3, Belly never manages to have any empathy or consideration for Conrad. That's really what made me sad about season 3.

From the beginning, we hear Belly say that Jeremiah is her best friend, yet throughout all three seasons, I've never seen a best friend. Steven has been Jeremiah's best friend from the start.

In flashbacks, we see Jeremiah not caring about Belly, even wanting to abandon her to pursue his own activities (I'm not judging this of course because we've all had brothers or cousins ​​who acted like that) but for me it's proof that this wasn't the case during their childhood.

When we look at the beginning of season 1, Jeremiah learns at the dinner table that Belly's cat died weeks ago, outside of the summer they don't speak, a best friend isn't someone you spend two months a year with and then who forgets you exist and doesn't care about you for the remaining ten months.

In season 2, we see Jeremiah completely cut Belly out of his life for 10 months, then become close to her again when he realizes that she and Conrad are breaking up and that he can therefore take a chance.

It's the same in season 3, Belly never talks to Jeremiah about important things, she holds back from being sincere and bringing up certain topics for fear of his reaction, she's walking on eggshells around him. At the end of season 3, we even see Jeremiah almost hinting at wanting to kill her, outright telling Belly never to call him again..

Let's be realistic, Jeremiah was never and never will be her best friend; it was more that Belly used that as an excuse in her head to justify being in a relationship with him (she never saw him as her soulmate, the love of her life).

I rewatched the episode last night & tried to put myself in Belly's shoes only.

The moment of Conrad's declaration of love is a lot of reactions from Belly, but I think the hardest moment was when Conrad explained that 4 years earlier he felt unworthy of her & that he wasn't making her happy, but he saw that Belly was happy with Jeremiah 4 years ago, so at the beginning of her relationship with Jeremiah, he left and let her go.

In that moment, Belly's reaction shows that she realizes the mistakes she made. She loved and had always loved Conrad but 4 years prior, she decided to be with Jeremiah to move forward in her life and above all to forget Conrad (that was her goal).

However, Belly saw that from Conrad's POV, Belly was in love and happy to be with Jeremiah wanted to be with him and no longer with Conrad (which was untrue). Clearly, this was a mental breakdown for Belly. She had always felt that Conrad also knew she was madly in love with him and that she would always choose him 4 years ago (there was only you and there always was only you).

But at that moment, Belly knew she had misinterpreted Conrad and she had also given him the wrong impression (knowing that she chose, loved Jeremiah and not Conrad 4 years earlier). That's also why at the end of the scene, Belly says to Conrad those awful things (it's pure survival instinct at this point) and we know that Belly has been very much in survival mode from the beginning.

When Belly collapses on the beach later, it's clearly Belly regretting having lost the love of her life because of her bad decisions and misunderstandings in the past.

She gets up to continue her life, "Making the Bed," the song by Olivia Rodrigo is truly for Belly in S3. She's not in love with Jeremiah, we feel it in this scene. She created a life of illusion for herself to survive, not to truly live (she wanted that life with Conrad).

I enjoy discussing astrology and we know the zodiac signs of some of the characters.

* Conrad is a Scorpio (we don't know his exact birthdate yet, but it's October or November 2004)

* Belly is a Cancer (June 25, 2006)

* Jeremiah is a Libra (September 30, 2005)

* Susannah is a Virgo (September 8, 1976) which is surprising because it would mean she had Conrad around 27 or 28 years old and from what we understand about Laurel, she started her family life far too early and had to marry John quickly during her early pregnancy but 27 or 28 doesn't seem extremely young to me).

What would you say the other characters are signs?

I would say Steven is a Capricorn, Taylor is a Leo, Adam is a Capricorn and Laurel is a Taurus.

Conrad is portrayed as the eldest, the one who has to look after everyone and with completely disproportionate responsibilities, but when you look at Jeremiah's age compared to Conrad, ​I find the difference in mentality astounding. The fact that Jeremiah is so demanding of Conrad, as if he were his big brother ​and Jeremiah the baby who needs protecting​ is striking.

* ​Conrad was born in late October/early November 2004 & ​Jeremiah in late September 2005, ​they're only 10 or 11 months apart at most ​not even a year. Steven was born in early 2004 (I've seen rumors that he's a Capricorn born in January 2005).

When Conrad was born, Laurel was pregnant ​so it makes sense.

Even Belly is only 20 months younger than Conrad and therefore 9 months younger than Jeremiah.

Ultimately, we can still say that Conrad matured far too quickly and that the others (especially Jeremiah and Steven) selfishly let Conrad have this role of the grown-up who had to manage them when they were the same age within a few months.